Our Top Story: As the Coronavirus epidemic continues to spread, we are inundated with stories of grief, heroism, and in the case of Ted Nugent, outright stupidity. I told myself I wasn't going to talk about this peice of crap again, but he made a comment about the situation that leads me to something I would like to talk about, so he's only tangentially important to this discussion. If I ran across anyone else saying the same thing, I would have started with them rather than Nugent.
His number one advice for dealing with the crisis is, "remember that prayer does get us through some of the most tragic and trying times in human history."
I suppose it's a nice though, but it's utterly incomprehensible. If you are a devout Christian of the self-righteous sort that Nugent is, the core belief is that God created this world, and everything in it. That means, logically, that God also created the virus that is now shutting down the entire world. God created a disease that indiscriminately infects and kills the very same people Jesus died to save. How does that make any sense? Furthermore, if prayer is the answer, and will get us through this ordeal, how is it justifiable or right that those who already pray still get sick, still die? Prayer hasn't stopped the virus from emerging, nor spreading, so what reason do any of us have to think prayer will now get us, and us alone, through this?
Nugent is one of those people who believe in a God of convenience. When something good happens, it was God's will. When something bad happens, it just happens. It's a short-sighted, illogical cop-out of a belief system. You have to take everything, all or nothing, if you're going to be taken seriously. Obviously, no one should ever take Nugent seriously, but him expressing this kind of opinion pisses me off. When so many are suffering, to imply they weren't praying hard enough, or the right way, is beyond insulting. If we are all made in God's image, Ted Nugent is obviously his asshole.
In Other News: Rumors are now spreading that Kerry King's next musical venture, after the end of Slayer, will be a new band featuring him and his recent cohorts Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph, along with former Pantera singer Phil Anselmo. It's only fitting that someone from a band once lambasted (incorrectly) for a song about the Holocaust may not be in a band with a guy who has been accused of using white power slogans and symbols.
Kerry has long been the worst part of Slayer, writing songs that have gotten dumber and dumber over the years, and adding in the 'intellect' of Anselmo isn't going to help matters. Phil has spent recent years getting himself in trouble, and alienating people who used to like him, which means this new band would be taking the worst period of Slayer, and adding in a vocalist plenty of people are sick of. That doesn't sound like a recipe for success to me, and I don't know what any of these guys has left in the tank. It sounds to me like Kerry never wanted Slayer to end, and he's going to put together a band that more or less carries on with exactly what he was doing, using Phil's name to try to keep the band from having to start at the bottom. I'm not excited.
In Addition: An appeals curt has ruled in Led Zeppelin's favor, once again declaring that "Stairway To Heaven" is not plagiarized. Or at least it isn't a severe enough case for there to be any merit to a lawsuit. Let's be clear about this; Led Zeppelin stole plenty of material from blues artists (some of which they have been forced to admit over the years), and "Stairway To Heaven" absolutely knicks the opening chords from Taurus' "Spirit" (whom Zeppelin toured with, meaning Page probably heard the song), but it's only a couple chords at the beginning of a seven minute rock epic, and the meat of the song is Page's work entirely (we assume - maybe someone will find a tape of it being played by someone else earlier).
Copyright and plagiarism cases are tough, because while we do want to protect the creativity and intellectual property of artists, the fact is there are only so many chords and notes, and sometimes songs are going to sound like other songs. In this case, it's hard to argue that Zeppelin didn't do what they were accused of, but it's hard to see such a small part of a song being enough to claim ownership of it. I don't know what the precise amount of theft is before a song becomes plagiarized, but this doesn't clear that bar. "Stairway To Heaven" can have an asterisk, and we can acknowledge what happened, but it doesn't stop being their song.
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