was the title of an essay I never wrote about Clear Channel’s banned songs list after 9/11/2001. That phrase appeared in a list of songs that were not to be played on Clear Channel stations. Rage was the only band to be completely banned. Though I imagine there wasn’t a lot of Jefferson Airplane or Led Zeppelin on the air in those early weeks either.
I don’t quite remember the premise of the essay (beyond the usual decrying of Clear Channel’s control over public discourse in the U.S.) but it was probably something about the fantasies that media institutions held regarding their own affective power in that particular moment. The “new seriousness” that lasted for all of — what — two weeks? I was thrilled when that was over.
“Everything by Rage Against the Machine” was also the title of a bittorrent file I downloaded last night after posting that I liked them better than Audioslave.
One reminds me of the other. Wicked bass sound on the Ghost of Tome Jode, though.
Jonathan,
Your point about “the fantasies that media institutions held regarding their own affective power” in the wake of 9/11, and indeed in general, is spot-on. In fact, at some level, I think your point is only multiplied as media multiply. Media everywhere, ubiquitous, but ultimately more easy to ignore/disregard/etc. for their ubiquity.
….there should have been a verb in that last sentence–“are.” 🙂