Post by RS Davis on Apr 27, 2004 10:31:10 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Brian Doherty Wrote:[/glow] Would-be second lady and former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities Lynne Cheney is no coward—and no fool. During her Senate testimony about media violence in September, Cheney didn’t flinch while naming those she believes are polluting American culture with intolerable filth and vulgarity. And unlike Tipper Gore 15 years earlier, Cheney didn’t finger nowheresville bands like W.A.S.P. and the Mentors as examples of pop perfidy. She attacked one of the biggest-selling recording artists around, rapper Eminem, whose birth name is Marshall Mathers and whose self-consciously sinister alter ego is "Slim Shady." Since its release in June, Eminem’s latest offering, The Marshall Mathers LP, has sold over 7 million copies. His first CD, 1999’s The Slim Shady LP, has moved more than 3 million units.
"The time has come to get very specific, to ask individuals to be accountable," Cheney told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. "So here is a name: Marshall Mathers. In [the song] ‘Kill You,’…he…imagine the joys of murdering any woman he might come across. ‘Wives, nuns, sluts,’ whoever ‘the bitches’ might be."
What Cheney and a host of other critics either won’t or can’t acknowledge is that Eminem is not merely a bestseller; he’s also one of the best pop artists of his time. He’s an unparalleled verbal wizard and a master of his chosen art form: the provocation. Perhaps more to the point, The Marshall Mathers LP is a sophisticated, though profane, meta-pop meditation on his relationship with his fans and his responsibilities toward society.
"The time has come to get very specific, to ask individuals to be accountable," Cheney told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. "So here is a name: Marshall Mathers. In [the song] ‘Kill You,’…he…imagine
What Cheney and a host of other critics either won’t or can’t acknowledge is that Eminem is not merely a bestseller; he’s also one of the best pop artists of his time. He’s an unparalleled verbal wizard and a master of his chosen art form: the provocation. Perhaps more to the point, The Marshall Mathers LP is a sophisticated, though profane, meta-pop meditation on his relationship with his fans and his responsibilities toward society.
The Marshall Mathers LP
The Eminem Show
The Slim Shady LP
...when he's around
