John Wayne

I have had a long conversation with a friend today on the subject of film stars of old and how they don’t make them like they used to. No Jimmy Stewart's, no Yul Bryner's, no Garbo, no Betty Davies and no Errol Flynn. How John Wayne and his films possibly couldn’t be made in this day and age. The Quiet Man, easily one of the greatest films ever made, would not have got past the script stage I will wager.
What does this have to do with music Peter? I am coming to that. John Wayne, that glorious all American god of epic proportions, thats who I am celebrating today in song, verse and lyric.

John Wayne was born with a girls name, like Sue I guess you learn to either fight or get beaten. John Wayne oozed masculinity and maybe that's why. I don't know. Seemingly he also had very VERY Conservative politics. Unapologetic concerning his views on race and homosexuals, today he would be laughed at. As he said in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, "Don't apologize—it's a sign of weakness."

John Wayne died in 1979 and his death at least in our household was every bit as important as John Lennon or Marty Robbins and time and again I find myself going back to True Grit or The Cowboys.

In 1982, Hardcore Punk band MDC released their debut album, Millions of Dead Cops, on it was the track John Wayne Was A Nazi.



John Wayne Was A Nazi by MDC


Its not an opinion they were alone in sharing and this release had some influence on Mike Burkett of NOFX and the song and the band get a mention on their song 13 Stitches from War On Errorism.

“The next time I went to the whiskey,
It was DOA with millions of Dead Cops.
The latter band played faster than I could believe,
But the Songs sounded the same and kinda sucked.
'Cept John Wayne was a nazi,
And Joey Shithead was a drunk.
Then John Macias beat some hippie to a pulp,
Cuz Having long hair was a mistake.”
- 13 Stitches by NOFX



13 Stitches by NOFX

1982 at least in song was the year that John Wayne was getting name checked as Haysi Fantayzee released their debut single “John Wayne is Big Leggy.” Naivety saw me thinking this was a rude song but no, again its a critique of Waynes apparent racism. 1982 and the kids are pissed off. Maybe True Grit was repeated a little too often.



John Wayne Is Big Leggy by Haysi Fantayzee

"Any man who'd make an X-rated movie ought to have to take his daughter to see it." John Wayne.

In 1973 The Duke released an album in the shadow of Watergate entitled, America, Why I Love Her. Its an odd spoken word album, but hell you have to love the mans unbridled patriotism. As someone that loves Johnny Cash’s Ragged Old Flag, its another at times that sounds like “Barts People” but as it’s John Wayne, criticise it? The hell I will.



America, Why I Love Her by John Wayne.

Billy Idol celebrated Marion Morrison in his song John Wayne and stepped back from the name calling, Billy wanted to feel like John Wayne, cos John Wayne was brave. Psst Billy, he was playing a character.



John Wayne by Billy Idol

Celebrated in song, loved and hated in equal measures John Wayne was a childhood icon as important as Evel Knievel or The animal Kwackers. The only difference with that is The Animal Kwackers never said;

“I believe in white supremacy until blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.... The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically.... I don't feel guilty about the fact that five or ten generations ago these people were slaves. Now I'm not condoning slavery. It's just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and can't play football like the rest of us.”

Sometimes John Wayne was a bit of an idiot.

Radar

It's funny how some things can just pass you by. Living in Chile means that I don't really know who The Sugarbabes are, what the deal is with Frightened Rabbit, or how Chris Moyles became so popular. The tentacles of UK popular culture do sometimes extend to south America, Paul Potts and that other show tunes Scottish woman of curious looks, with their viral YouTube fame, made it on to my radar. Of course, like swine flu, Coldplay never fail to spread their latest mutation, and Duffy managed to get a fair bit of airplay, as did Katy Perry (who is not from the UK I know) and Lilly Allen. According to the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) the 50 global best selling albums of 2008 include Leona Lewis, Exile, Namie Amuro and One Republic - all of who I would fail to recognise if I bumped into them in aisle 3 of Jumbo when out buying empanadas.

Strangely, Amazon's best selling MP3 album of the year 2008 was Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV, which was actually available free (legally) elsewhere. I'm not sure what that says about people who buy Nine Inch Nails albums. The best selling UK singles of last year also contain numerous artists that have failed to penetrate my consciousness or cross the Andes. Who are Girls Aloud? Or Wiley for that matter? But, and this is where I have been meandering to, how did I miss the Ting Tings? Number one album and single?

They Came From Manchester: The Story of Mancunian Pop is a lightweight BBC affair which is basically a string of clips with that TOTP 2 tickertape news rolling thing at the bottom, telling you daft things about the artist. It was nice to see Ian Brown's limp wristed abuse of the microphone while miming to Fools Gold again. That daft dance from Freddy and the Dreamers always baffles me as this was a time before irony. Wrapping up the whole thing are the Ting Tings with (what I now know to have been a big hit) That's Not My Name, which I am sure everyone in the UK is now royally sick of, but impressed me no end. I have no idea why but it reminded me of Lene Lovich, or perhaps one of those shouty all-women groups, or even Haysi Fantayzee, none of who I particularly like but I like That's Not My Name. Judge for yourself.