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Rock stars' patriotic rip-off: Debbie Schlussel downs Aerosmith's faux morality
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Monday, November 5, 2001 | Debbie Schlussel

Posted on 11/05/2001 4:48:12 AM PST by JohnHuang2

WND Exclusive Commentary
Rock stars' patriotic rip-off


© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

Patriotism isn't just the last refuge of scoundrels. It's also the last refuge of aging or fading rock stars struggling to stay relevant.

Take Steven Tyler, lead singer of and brains behind rock group Aerosmith.

"We need to go back to the way it was 30 years ago, when everybody had Grandma and Grandpa, and we were willing to pass moral judgments about right and wrong," Tyler told Detroit Free Press rock critic Brian McCollum. In other words, we need to go back to a good time – before there was Aerosmith, which blurred the morality of right and wrong. It's the last thing you'd expect from counterculture hero Tyler.

And it's a bit hypocritical.

I'm glad Tyler – whose band made it big during the early '70s amidst Vietnam War protests – found religion. But he's part of the reason many people never knew both a grandma and a grandpa on both sides of their family, much less a father sticking around. Tyler was a leader in the casual sex, drugs and disease culture, which spawned out-of-wedlock kids – including his own – in single-mother households. If anything made America weak, Aerosmith's attitude – and its socially devastating consequences of disease and crime – did.

One of Aerosmith's greatest hits was "Walk This Way." But, while Tyler now "talks this way," he never walked it. Speaking of not having both a grandma and grandpa, Tyler led by example. His own daughter, Liv, born out of wedlock to Playboy model Bebe Buell, didn't know the identity of her real father, Tyler, until she was already growing up. Abandoned by Tyler, Buell raised Liv with rocker Todd Rundgren.

And there's the 14-year-old Seattle fan Tyler brags about in Aerosmith's 1997 biography. He got her parents to sign her over to him as her guardian. Then, Tyler, her new "guardian," got her pregnant, made her get an abortion, and dumped her. Grandma and grandpa, moral judgments about right and wrong, indeed.

Aerosmith's self-absorbed, drug-induced haze of a biography is the story of Tyler and his band mates snorting plaster from a wall when the cocaine ran out, of uppers, downers, assorted other pills, heroin, coke, multiple sex partners and multiple out-of-wedlock and abandoned kids. It's a drawn out version of VH-1's "Behind the Music," in which Tyler's newly desired "moral judgments about right and wrong" are laughable.

So, it's hard to listen to Tyler's newfound values when his old ones – proudly spotlighted for his fans for over three decades – helped destroy the fabric of American society.

Tyler now thinks "there should be a mandatory draft ... for three years," as in Israel. But, strangely, when there last was a draft, during Vietnam, no Aerosmith members, including Tyler, were drafted or served, though they were all of prime draft age. When patriotism was lonely and needed, Tyler was too busy singing, "Dream On."

Sept. 11 "brought me to my knees. It made me change," Tyler explains. "We need to get back to some serious thinking."

But, are these the true sentiments of a new patriot "brought to his knees," or are they the words of a now-53-year-old rocker whose knees are arthritic? Ditto for his selling ability, with Aerosmith's latest CD selling only 2.5 million worldwide. "Not great," he admits. Tyler (whose third family and second wife are now growing older) must realize that he's now less relevant, less hip. And that, with an endorsement deal for Dodge – read, minivans – he's now hawking uncool transportation and less cool music to women who were once his wild groupies, but are now patriotic, settled-down soccer moms with kids and flags. That explains Tyler's new advocacy of "flags in school, children respecting their hometown."

Then there's Tyler's buddy, "Kid Rock," a.k.a. Bob Ritchie.

At a Saturday video shoot in Detroit for his soon-released new CD, Ritchie instructed fans appearing in the video to wear and sport flags and red, white and blue. But the patriotism of Ritchie – the self-styled "Pimp of the Nation," who likes to give the one-finger salute in every publicity shot and toured the country in his "White Trash on Dope Tour" – rings hollow (even with his entrance via star-spangled monster truck). It's less than patriotic to use the Michigan chapter of crime-prone "Outlaw Biker Gang" as security. "He respects us more than anyone else in this town," said a tattoo-covered gang-member.

Ritchie is another rocker with an unthrilling new CD, whose patriotism seems little more than a marketing tool, especially considering the damage he creates as role-model for American kids. The scion of a wealthy car dealer, he's an admitted former drug-dealer and crack-user, who fathered a kid out of wedlock with a woman he says was a drug dealer. In his phony working-class, trailer-park act, Ritchie praised "Bill Clinton ... a [expletive] pimp. ... The guy's my hero." This is patriotism?

Or this? "I'm a pimp. You can check my stats . ... Smack all the hos." Or, "Because I do so much pimpin', one day I'll probably walk with a limp ... one day, watch, I'll be the pimp of the nation."

Or, "I be the early-mornin' stoned pimp, straight-limpin', Boone's Farm-drinkin', at the party big-booty pinchin'."

Patriotism isn't just about waving a flag and supporting a war. It's about doing what's good for America in peacetime, too, and these rockers haven't.

P.T. Barnum said there's a sucker born every minute. Fall for Steven Tyler's and Kid Rock's strange new patriotism and count yourself in the Barnum-specified gene-pool.

For Education And Discussion Only. Not For Commercial Use.



TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 11/05/2001 4:48:12 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
Tyler has always been a jerk. He just figured out a new way to be a bigger jerk.
2 posted on 11/05/2001 5:06:58 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants
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To: JohnHuang2
If you have followed Kid Rocks music, you would know that he has been patriotic sense day one. Long before sept. 11.
3 posted on 11/05/2001 5:10:06 AM PST by just looking
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To: slugbug
*ping!*
4 posted on 11/05/2001 5:11:35 AM PST by Teacher317
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: cdwright
Please. Listening to Aerosmith is hardly the catalyst for the downfall of society.
6 posted on 11/05/2001 5:14:09 AM PST by riley1992
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To: JohnHuang2
When patriotism was lonely and needed, Tyler was too busy singing, "Dream On."
Sept. 11 "brought me to my knees. It made me change," Tyler explains. "We need to get back to some serious thinking."

Gee, what a great idea! Let's kick everyone who is finally 'seeing the light' right in the shins.
THAT'S the way to welcome the prodigal son home, right?

/sarcasm>

7 posted on 11/05/2001 5:14:41 AM PST by Teacher317
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To: JohnHuang2
I think there are many other celebrities that need to be called for their hypocrisy than Steven Tyler or Kid Rock. Aerosmith was one of the few bands who were totally destroyed by drugs and alcohol, were able to kick it, and made it again. Relatively well known facts about Mr. Tyler's past have no relavance to anything current.

Not sure why the author would even come down of Aerosmith.

8 posted on 11/05/2001 5:15:17 AM PST by FreeTally
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To: JohnHuang2
So, it's hard to listen to Tyler's newfound values when his old ones – proudly spotlighted for his fans for over three decades – helped destroy the fabric of American society.

Hyperbole anyone ?.

9 posted on 11/05/2001 5:16:35 AM PST by Eddeche
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Flashback: Indy 500, Memorial Day weekend 2001.

Was it not this clown who made a mockery of our National Anthem???
I didn't see it, only heard it from the next room, but as I recall it was awful.

10 posted on 11/05/2001 5:16:55 AM PST by fone
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To: Teacher317
My sentiments exactly. Besides, not all of us can be *right* from the beginning. ;^)
11 posted on 11/05/2001 5:18:15 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: FreeTally
Not sure why the author would even come down of Aerosmith.

I'm puzzled by that, too.

12 posted on 11/05/2001 5:19:27 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
Very interesting post. I agree with the writer's indictments. Every one is true. Hypocrites, unstable in all their ways.

If culture is a reflection of the people in a society, we are, as a people, dissipated. Consumers of everything immoral. Rotten. We have exalted and listened to these entertainer idiots for 30 years, and have always looked the other way and rationalized away the consequences. Much of the responsibility is our own, for consuming it. Choices we make. Obviously, etc., etc., etc.

But, people can change. How huge is it for someone like Steven Tyler to "change" in such a way? That is, in a way, cause for hope. We'll see how consistent he is. Judge the tree by its fruits. The entertainment industry's has been particularly bitter.

13 posted on 11/05/2001 5:20:26 AM PST by ecomcon
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To: JohnHuang2
I was not aware that Tyler had "found religion"? If he is going to condemn our society as it is now... it wouldn't hurt for him to condemn those who helped it get to this point. And Aerosmith is one of those. When he comes out apologizing for the impact he and his band had on society, and asks for forgiveness.... Let me know.
14 posted on 11/05/2001 5:21:09 AM PST by kjam22
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To: JohnHuang2
He's from Massachussetts. What did we expect?
15 posted on 11/05/2001 5:23:01 AM PST by NC Conservative
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To: fone
I was there. It was awfully painful to listen to, even though it was the style that made him very popular for 30 years... but...
*putting on my Lib-Thinktm hat*
he obviously didn't intend to demean the anthem, or the country... and he also notes that Sept. 11 had a lot to do with his 'epiphany'... that would be four months after his poor rendition of the anthem.
16 posted on 11/05/2001 5:23:29 AM PST by Teacher317
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To: JohnHuang2
Great article. btw, have you seen what Debbie Schlussel looks like?

Conservative women are beautiful.

17 posted on 11/05/2001 5:26:54 AM PST by VRWCmember
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: JohnHuang2
I think Steven Tyler and Aerosmith are great examples of overcoming their old ways and are now living a decent life. They've gotten off the flowerchild bandwagon. Not so the Clintoons and their ilk. I didn't see one mention of all the good the band does for those in need. They are very generous with their time and money helping others.
20 posted on 11/05/2001 5:27:56 AM PST by ThePoetsRaven
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