Is there anything finer than a world-class rant? I mean, a really heartfelt, soulful spouting of one's viewpoint unleashed upon an unsuspecting public with all the force and fury of a hurricane in summer? There is something artful about a rant. The emotions, the language - sometimes eloquent, sometimes profane, but always a window into the ranter's inner soul. A good rant is cleansing, in a way that no other outlet can measure up to.
All this thought about ranting enters my mind every time I read blogs and discussion forums, not in just the Victoria Advocate, but just about any website these days. People on their soapboxes, shouting at the world, or at nobody in particular. Blogs have become a new public forum for the expression of ideas and viewpoints. Where once these thoughts may have remained in the private domain, with the advent of the world-wide web they have now become public display, for better and for worse.
Daniel Seidel expands upon this phenomenon in a great article, "The Lost Art of the Rant", here. Check it out; it makes many valid points and is an enjoyable read. Do yall think that the rant is a dying art, or has it been revived because of the popularity and scope of the Internet? Myself, I tend to believe the latter. And this is not a bad thing! Even though people can sometimes get nasty and go into attack mode against each other, it can safely be said that everyone is now free to rant and free to retaliate against rants. Each blogger and commenter now can stand upon their own personal soapbox and be heard (as they are seldom ignored)! What is your favorite thing to rant about? Politics? Religion? Inflation? Your paperboy? Well, then, rant on! Get it off your chest! Feel better.
Musicians have been known to rant amongst the best of them. There is a fine line between ranting and protesting (whatever one wants to protest about). Take a cue from Brando - Whattaya rebelling against? Whattaya got? Check out these cool videos of a couple of the finest rants/protests ever. The art of the rant is truly found herein - making your soapbox speech entertaining and relatable to many generations. No political statements from this blogger right now - maybe that will be a future rant. Just offering the audience a slice of rant by Bob Dylan (a supreme spokesman for the generation of rant) called "Subterranean Homesick Blues" in a classic video parodied by INXS and Weird Al Yankovic (among many others) a couple generations later. Also highlighted is Country Joe McDonald and the Fish's CLASSIC protest song, "Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag (Next Stop Vietnam)", performed in front of "half a million strong" at Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. As timely today as nearly four decades ago, you say? Well, isn't that the point of all great rants? ENJOY!
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Thank yew, CF. Some music just stands the test of time. And therein becomes timeless.
November 9, 2007 at 10:55 p.m.What a well-written blog! And thank you for the video clips, too. I'd much rather watch things like these than say, the newest Gwen Stefani video. I swear I was born in the wrong generation. Or, more than likely, I was a full-fledged hippie in my last life. :-)
November 9, 2007 at 7:54 a.m.