Fox News has been gushing all day about Mitt Romney going along with their choice of choosing Paul Ryan as a Vice Presidential candidate. As part of the enthusiasm, host Bret Baier asked Fox contributor Stephen Moore – who just happened to be in Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin – if Ryan would be a factor in the youth vote. You betcha! Why? Because he walks into meetings listening to Metallica and Led Zeppelin on his IPod! And he’s an avid bow hunter!
In an exchange fairly typical of Fox coverage, Baier asked, “You talk about the generational excitiement. Is that a factor? I mean, the youth vote, we often talk about it. Can it factor in for Republicans this time?”
Moore answered:
I think it sure could. You know, you go to a meeting with Paul Ryan and he walks in with his IPod playing and his earbuds in and you ask him what he’s listening to and he’s listening to Led Zeppelin or he’s listening to Metallica. You know, this is a guy who has some interesting habits, some interesting hobbies I guess I should say. He enjoys the sport of noodling, which involves sticking, basically, sticking your arm in the face of a fish. (Baier chuckled heartily). He’s a bow hunter. He’s an avid bow hunter. So I think this is a guy, this is a guy we will learn, as people get to know him a little bit better, who has sort of an outsized personality. He’s a big personality. He doesn’t take himself too seriously but he has the kind of optimism that Bill Kristol was talking about, that I think allows him to make the case that goes well beyond the austerity case that we’ve all come to know him for making on the national stage but allows him really to make a much more optimistic case about the direction of the country going forward.
This could be the second coming of St. Ronnie, folks!
In fact, part of what makes this so strange is that it’s even insular to the bands they’re fans of. Like, to use Metallica as an example in a vain attempt to keep on topic… people who tested high for negative personality traits hated their more technically impressive songs. The ones who were the worst, the only song they liked pre-black album was Seek and Destroy.
That’s always stuck with me, because I’ve noticed that- the cruder someone is, the more they hate their music having a level of complexity. Though that would explain the 90s…
“I do find it ironic that as one of his few ârealâ jobs, he once was the driver for the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.”
Know what I find ironic? According to opposition research,
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/08/11/the-complete-opposition-research-file-on-mitt-romneys-running-mate-paul-ryan/#disqus_thread
Ryan said he regularly worked out to P90X {page 16.}
Remember how the rightwingnuts regularly excoriate the First Lady for her emphasis on nutrition and exercise? I can’t WAIT for their response to this . . .
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Every generation has its music, styles and slang. The present laughs at the choices the older made, and the older does the same with the present. It’s always been that way and always will be.
I grew up in the 70’s and love Zeppelin also. Enjoy your youth everyone. One day people are telling you, get a haircut you god damn hippie, and before you know it you’re a Rogaine failure. With us men it’s worse. One morning we just wake up and we all look like Dick Cheney, eck. It’s hell getting old.
Here’s a Led Zeppelin classic that I think fits for Ryan and Fox News lovers. Dazed and Confusehttp://youtu.be/auDv6cf2PBMd
Metallica is still a strong seller, they’re still considered an important band musically. The reason few people respect them is because of how much they mistreat their fans- they’re so spiteful to the hand that feeds them that they’ve become the very face of musicians that treat their fans like that.
It can be compared to celebrities that are hot now- Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift sell themselves on role model images, and most people who know anything about their personal lives know that they’re both actually horrible, horrible people off camera.
But their music sells- in enough quantity to sweep award shows that are based purely on sales.
And any musician worth their salt, regardless of age sees your Zeppelin comment as fighting words. I know 12 year olds that would rather I teach them a song from a 30-40 year old band when I can give a lesson than the stuff they’re growing up with. You want bands that only seem to survive in retro off Hot Topic and Hipsters, look at Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Korn. No one’s learning them, no one’s covering them, Pearl Jam’s only getting radio airplay because of their deal with Target…
Ok, stopping before this becomes a flame.
