Arts & Entertainment
 

Arrogance spawns too many bad poets

However, several poets have successfully made the leap into world of musicianship

Stay sick

Jason Gagnon

You know how many people are quick to praise pseudo-intellectual-faux-tortured rock musicians as poetic geniuses? It's pretty sickening. Not only does it degrade poetry but rock 'n' roll as well. And, to add insult to injury, these misguided losers become blinded by their own egos and actually set out to write a volume of poetry that your goth little sister could top. There are two problems with this. First, it's forced writing, and therefore not honest or sincere. The "artist" is applying his "talents" to an unfamiliar medium of which confines they cannot restrict themselves.

Consequently, and this is problem No. 2, the work fails to impress and is a puffy, pulsating black eye on all forms of art. Don't believe me? Take a look at Jewel's disastrous foray into the field, or check out some of Henry Rollins' failed attempts at macho-sensitive poetic verse.

But, on the bright side of things, poets who've taken a stab at rock 'n' roll have sometimes produced phenomenal results and left an impressive impact on music. I don't think this is because rock 'n' roll is a too-simple form to grasp, because it's not. Constructing a great rock tune is about as simple as writing a resonant sonnet about heartbreak. At first, you assume that it's so easy you could do it, but once you try, clarity rushes past your ego and gives you a brass knuckle kiss across the teeth and shouts, "Hey, you arrogant jerk, knock it off and get back to what you know!"

Let's view some examples of when this mixture of poetry and rock has worked. For the sake of general enlightenment, I've selected the cream of the crop from a specific place and time period: New York in the 1970s.

Patti Smith

Yes, this is the best known example. Smith ingested as much Jagger and Morrison (not a poet, folks) as Rimbaud and began having guitarist Lenny Kaye accompany her during readings. Eventually, a band was formed and a one-two knockout of albums emerged. Horses, which receives the most critical acclaim, perfectly fuses Smith's poetic rants into the songs. On certain songs, such as "Land," the words will fire from her lips building and building until the band explodes in and the song moves to another level of intensity. 

Easter, the group's second album, features the controversial "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger" that readily employs the artistic notion that nothing is sacred. Smith starts off with a fierce free verse diatribe on her identity and liberation as an artist. Within the song, certain poetic constants are used, with the poet challenging common notions of language and social mores.

Jim Carroll

Everyone probably saw the horrible interpretation of The Basketball Diaries that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and unheard-of author Jim Carroll's band's music at various parts throughout the film. If you listen to his brilliant debut, Catholic Boy, you'll notice that Carroll is trying to write rock songs, but can't shake his poetic talents. Even something as repetitively simple as "People Who Died" is a conscious numbing of the listener's sense of dismay at the harsh realities Carroll has endured in his junkie lifestyle. He purposely chose to work in the new genre of punk rock due to vocal inability, but what he viewed as flaws adds charm to the steady beats and great accounts of romance ("Day and Night") and youthful rebellion ("Catholic Boy").

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