brendan halpin

I wanted to write about horror movies today, but I saw something that bugged the shit out of me, so now I have to write about that.

I sometimes watch YouTube videos by this guy Professor of Rock. He does lists of like, “10 classic rock songs featuring stuff that was ad-libbed in the studio,” and I am a sucker for music trivia and the stories behind the art I like.

I have some qualms with his channel, mostly that his apparently genuine enthusiasm extends to, like, everything. I saw one where he was extolling the virtues of the first Asia album, for chrissakes. (For you young folks, Asia was a supergroup of washed up prog rockers who had 2 pop hits in the 80’s and are, today, the third most relevant 80’s band or song named after a continent, behind Toto’s “Africa” and Europe of “The Final Countdown” fame, who only had one hit, but it’s one that people still listen to, so…)

But then I was watching something yesterday and he cut in parts of an interview he did with Ted Nugent. He explained that when he first aired parts of that interview, he lost 5000 subscribers, and while he knows The Nuge is a “divisive figure,” his channel is a politics free zone because it’s all about the music, dude. Also Tom Morello is Nugent’s friend, so it’s okay! ( I looked it up. They had one pleasant exchange, and Tom graciously said “I consider him a friend.” It’s not like they go bowhunting together or something.)

First the music thing: can you run a channel about classic rock without interviewing Ted Nugent? Of course you can! He is a footnote in rock and roll history with one great song (“Journey to the Center of the Mind”) and one okay song (“Stranglehold”) to his credit. Ironically, if not for his politics, he’d be on the level of April Wine or Wishbone Ash or Uriah Heep. Hell, the dude is even a footnote in the history of musicians from Detroit. (Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, The Stooges, the MC5, Alice Cooper, The White Stripes and Bob Seger are the more significant names I came up with without even going to Wikipedia).

But okay, the Prof interviews a lot of marginal figures. It’s the “Politics free zone” thing that really grates on me. And so here’s where we get to the heart of the issue. When a straight cis white guy (I’m making assumptions about the Professor of Rock here—please correct me if I’m wrong) proclaims something a “politics free zone,” what he means is, “nothing here that will upset people like me, by which I mean white people, even ones I disagree with.”

Because the existence of queer people, trans people, and people of color has become politicized in this country. I’m sure lots of trans folks would enjoy a politics free zone, but they can’t have one anywhere ever because the fact of their existence has become political.

And let’s be clear about The Nuge. He’s into guns and hunting. I suppose you could characterize those as political positions that shouldn’t get in the way of talking about his music. He’s also made it very clear on many occasions that he considers Black people and gay men to be not fully human.

Now, as much as the Republican Party would like you to believe those are political positions, they’re not. That’s just bigotry. It’s not about governance or policy, it’s about the fundamental humanity of other human beings. That’s not a political difference. It’s a moral difference.

(The Nuge also became the legal guardian of a 17 year old when he was 30 so he could have sex with her, and of course Courtney Love alleges…well, I don’t want to get into it because it’s repugnant. I’ll just say he’s a sexual predator and leave it at that. Though I guess if you’re going to refuse to interview sexual predators, most of the classic rock canon goes right out the window and you have to be Professor of Herman’s Hermits or something.)

Here’s what I find disingenuous about the Prof’s “politics free” proclamation. He has a line. I’m sure he does. There have to be people in music history so unsavory he wouldn’t want to sit down with them. People like Ian Watkins (can’t be interviewed because he was murdered in prison) or Varg Vikernes. Right? I mean, at some point, the horror of what you’ve done as a human being overshadows the importance of your art.

So the issue here is that The Nuge’s racism and homophobia and pedophilia (I know, hebephilia, but you know what you sound like if you are a stickler for the difference between those two terms? A hebephile.) don’t rise to the standard of disqualifying for the Professor of Rock.

I am not queer or a person of color, so I can only imagine what it must feel like to have a guy go, “I will platform someone who does not believe you to be fully human, and if that bugs you, you’re the problem. Why do you have to make everything political?”

Everything is political. Maybe there was a time when you could pretend it wasn’t, but that time, at least here in the United States of America, is over.