04/21/2004: 
That's Entertainment?
Another Hippie Icon Sells Out; Youth Laugh
from the London Daily Telegraph
There could be blood on the tracks for Bob Dylan after he appeared in a television commercial yesterday for luxury lingerie.
Asked in 1965 what might tempt him to sell out, Dylan replied: "Ladies undergarments". Now the the Woodstock generation has been jolted by the sight of rock's most enigmatic performer appearing alongside model Adriana Lima as she slips into something sheer to cavort in the Palazzo of Venice.
The author of Lay, Lady, Lay stays fully clad, all in black, with plenty of eye-liner, a pencil thin moustache and goatee beard, while leering at Lima, who is in bra, panties and spike heels. Dylan then sings a remix of his 1977 song Love Sick, surrounded by other scantily-clad models, who wear feathery angels' wings.
There is nothing I love better than seeing the baby boomer/hippie/yuppie/New Puritan generation being taken down a peg. These people, who revolted against the "plastic hassle" of their "greatest generation" parents like to think that their 1960s youth was the apex of human civilization and that people my age have contributed nothing socially or politically. That being said, I laughed with unababshed glee when I heard that Bob Dylan, the poet laureate of the hippies, has decided to take the money and do an ad for Victoria's Secret. Rather than shuffle off the stage with grace, Dylan has joined the Rolling Stones in their steadfast refusal to retire, opting instead to chuck the last remaining shred of their credibility for the ca$h.
Whenever you see one of the endless procession of documentaries idealizing the '60s you always hear about how "important" Bob Dylan was, and how he "spoke for them." These same cultural arbiters pretty much neglected to mention that Kurt Cobain committed suicide ten years ago this month. I consider Nirvana's music to be far superior than anything Dylan has ever released, yet Kurt has always been viewed by the hippie rock journalist establishment as something dangerous and weird and they didn't understand what they were doing at all. The musical genius of Nirvana and their fellow alternative, grunge, punk, and indie- pop travellers seems to be viewed as a musical aberration. Well, if there is any sort of upside to Kurt's suicide, its that we will never have to see him all bald and wrinkled hawking Mc Cain's Crinkle- Cut Fries for a hit of heroin.
I laugh at the pain of the Bob Dylan fans and I ask them one favor: get out of the way and leave us alone! They have screwed up politically and culturally, and they refuse to admit their mistakes, forever thinking with unabashed smugness that they are the best and brightest, yet they seemed to not learn ANY of the lessons of the 1960s- Iraq anyone? Now, at long last, they have been revealed as the "plastic hassle" and with any luck the Bob Dylan commercial is the beginning of the end of their relevancy.
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Hey, Mr Lingerie Man . . .By Hugh Davies
There could be blood on the tracks for Bob Dylan after he appeared in a television commercial yesterday for luxury lingerie.
Asked in 1965 what might tempt him to sell out, Dylan replied: "Ladies undergarments". Now the the Woodstock generation has been jolted by the sight of rock's most enigmatic performer appearing alongside model Adriana Lima as she slips into something sheer to cavort in the Palazzo of Venice.
The author of Lay, Lady, Lay stays fully clad, all in black, with plenty of eye-liner, a pencil thin moustache and goatee beard, while leering at Lima, who is in bra, panties and spike heels. Dylan then sings a remix of his 1977 song Love Sick, surrounded by other scantily-clad models, who wear feathery angels' wings.
Fans immediately flooded internet chat rooms, many ranting at their idol, who hardly needs the money. One said: "Dylan certainly has the right to use his music however he sees fit, but UGH!" Another wondered if his Visions of Johanna were of floral-lace baby doll nighties or a lady in a camisole.
The New York Post dubbed the commercial for the US underwear chain Victoria's Secret as "sell-out of the week". Dylan has also signed a deal to allow an Italian wine to bear his name and that of his 1974 album Planet Waves. The singer, 62, was similarly scorned eight years ago for allowing The Times They Are A-Changin' to be used in a Bank of Montreal commercial.
Ed Razek, the lingerie company's creative director, said that the idea of Dylan selling their products came straight from the chairman, Les Wexner. "We had done some spots last year with Dylan's music, and they got a great response. So Les asked: 'Do you think Dylan would do a commercial?' It was a bold idea. We called his management, they found a two-day hole in his schedule, and off we went to Venice."
The advertisements will be shown on US television for the next two weeks, the company added.
Just how much Dylan was paid is being kept secret, but he will have asked for a tidy sum. Noted, with Mick Jagger, as one of rock's most astute businessmen, he often gleefully charges journalists to cover his concerts, demanding £100 from each critic for his 25th anniversary gig at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The move is a long way from his origins as the pianist with Bobby Vee's backing group who travelled to New York down Highway 61 to visit Woody Guthrie. His music set a trend in a world caught in the doldrums between the advent of rock 'n' roll and its 1960s apotheosis.
Since then, he has become one of entertainment's most curious figures, never explaining himself or why he constantly performs. His latest concert, at the 9.30 Club in Washington DC this week, was typical. The place was packed, but he barely acknowledged the crowd, crouching behind a keyboard, facing his band instead of the audience
8 Annotations Submitted
Wednesday the 21st of April, Abe Froman noted:
No offense Santos but get a F@#$ing clue! Its statements like "Nirvana's music to be far superior than anything Dylan has ever released," that made Kurt blow his own F@#$ing head off. Kurt didn't write his music for you, or our generation, or so we could clash with our parents over who is more political superior.
Kurt and Dylan are both musical gods, both awesome, both incredible writers. They wrote the music for the music and because the music was inside of them. For you to take credit is as bad what you claim the hippies are doing with Dylan. (side note Dylan is the F@#$ing man, then and now, and Adriana Lima is a goddess and I would sell out just to drool near her.)
Take some of your own advice and get some relavency of your own.
Wednesday the 21st of April, Abe Froman noted:
I don't mean to get thing angry, but its bull-shit conjectour and generaliztion that gets us all into trouble most of the time. How have "Bob Dylan fans ... screwed up politically and culturally?" Do you even listen to your self? Its not like the folk rock party is in the oval office? What the hell are you talking about?
Also, I've known about this for almost a year, since Dylan's last album "Love and Theft" (which is great) came out. The partnership has been in the works since then at least, so why the non-sensical rant now?
Wednesday the 21st of April, B NICE noted:
MR. FROMAN your tone might be insulting to some people. Please tone it down.
Athena censorship board
Wednesday the 21st of April, Abe Froman noted:
Sorry! There are few thing I take as serious as music or politics, and for Santo to irresponsiblly marry them together is terribly unsetting. No insult meant.
Thursday the 22nd of April, crazyrockcriticinla noted:
dylan sucks. my $0.02.
Thursday the 22nd of April, santo26 noted:
Mr. Froman, say whatever you want- free speech, man! For the record, i don't mind if you have a strong opinion- i'm glad you have one and decided to share. I started out just reporting/harshing on Bob Dylan's commercial, but as i was writing it, i remembered what George H.W. Bush, Sr. said before Desert Storm: "This will not be another Vietnam."
Since everyone is linking Vietnam to Iraq right now, it got me to thinking that it is not only miscasting our role there, it is deliberately setting ourselves up for failure. I think we need to take our example from the "greatest generation's" rebuilding of countries they destroyed in wars like Japan, W. Germany, and S. Korea rather than retreat at the first sign of hardship. In fact, we should have been responsible and done this rebuilding thing in 1992, not 2004, but that's another story. Blowing up Iraq and then ducking our responsibilities and leaving the place a mess is what inspired Assama and his bretheren.
What does this have to do with the baby boomers and Bob Dylan? We have listened to them for far too long on far too many issues! if we let their "Vietnam" thinking obscure what needs to be done in Iraq, it might end up becoming one.
As for Kurt, i just wanted to mention his passing because his music is very important to me and i feel that he does not get his due.
Thursday the 22nd of April, Abe Froman noted:
Santo, right on! You are making some sense in your second paragraph there. I agree with you whole-heartedly and I just wanted you to defend and/or clarify your allegations. My problem was in your leap from something as trivial as Bob Dylan in a lingerie commercial to a soapbox on why yuppies suck. You can't generalize about whole groups of people like that, not all Bob Dylan fans support the war in Iraq, I would guess very few.
As for the 60's, it did have significance. The principles of this country that we are all created equal and with certain inalienable rights was held to task by the civil rights movement and by the peace movement. We need to hold ourselves to this standard in our foreign policy today.
Personally, I think the late 90's were thus far the apex of modern civilization, unprecedented peace, prosperity, in a world moving toward globalization with an abundance of technology and optimism. Not bad.
As for the problems of today, keep in mind that not all people of President Bush's age group agree with him. More than half don't. As for your statement, "get out of the way and leave us alone!" How do you propose they do that? Die off, retire, or blow us all up first. This is a very complex time and given the increasing life expectancy we have to live with them for the next 20 to 30 years so you best have a better plan for dealing with them than that.
Lastly, Kurt Cobain was awesome, but if you are 40 and are still saying Nirvana was the best band ever you are going to sound just like those who speak of the 60's as the apex of human civilization and I just caution you on this or else some punk kid 20 years from now is going to think we are out of touch and that we screwed it all up and that we should up and die. Nirvana put out 4 0r 5 albums over 5 or 6 years. Dylan has put out 40 over 45 years. My favorite band is Sublime but I never tell anyone that they are better than something else. It is what it is, apples and oranges.
Know that my beef was with your statements and not you. I respect your right to free speech as well, but as the presidents of the future we have to really shape our thoughts as best we can. I may not have done that either as I reacted initially to your ideas but I found them very upsetting and insulting and for that I apologize.
Thursday the 22nd of April, santo26 noted:
well, mr. froman, what i personally want to do here in the athenaeum is to improve my writing, and as you can see, i still have a ways to go. i am trying to write columns based on current events. one thing that i keep on indulging myself in is my need to be snide and sarcastic.
i started out writing a snide article about one thing and then added sarcasic comments about similar but non- related issues. i think that if i have learned so far in my athenaeum postings, its that browsers do not read sarcasm tags, and neither do readers. where i think myself witty, other rational readers such as yourself think "wtf is he doing?"
i think i may have learned a valuable lesson about writing think- pieces: readers think that you are serious about what you're saying. coming up with snide yet witty couplets may make you feel cool, but perhaps if i want to be taken seriously outside of the athenaeum i should try to write intellegently and write columns that i would want other people to read and say " wow that santo26 has a lot of good points and puts forth some pretty rational solutions."
i wrote my initial article with emotions clouding my writing's clarity. no need to apologize mr. froman, as i prefer all honest reactions good or bad, because if i do not get any feedback, how am i going to know? keep up the good work.
