OW 73 - Outweek.net

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meSsase is cloaked in music so adored by the establishment
th!lt nobody could say no. But AIDS-phobia, it seems,
proved much stronger than they anticipated and not so
easily veiled.
~ ,.. .' ... . .
.
. For starters, despite many months of m~g'with CEOs
of over 75 majOr international corporations, Red Hot and
Blue .never found a sPollJiOf to help them defray the costs of
p.toduction. Even after Chrysalis signed 011 as the record
~y batidling the project, not a single corporation cJare9
, .to breiak with the pack by lending even token support to the
· , .fight against AIDS. Only Entertainment Weekly stepped for-
\Vard, sponsoring a dinner party for Red Hot and Bi~ in Los
· . . ~geIes that garnered a 19t of press. It was an exercise that
..' left; Blake quite astounded.
:..... ," "~" ~ ' .
. '.
.'· . '.
:, '~e were turned down for
. ~..
'.' ..~ ., .
sponsorship by everyone you
. :.".
;:;,
." cO,illd ilJ)agine;
.""want ~oget ~to
I don't really
nameS at .this
.: poiDt--l'dJike to get into names
• •
, on Dec, " though-because,
,
who knows? I've still got this
. , ,
op~mism that maybe· someone
Will come. out of the woodwork,
what with all thepress.B~t
.' essentially we were turned
,:;,;:,'" . !iown py eyeryone: sneaker
'. , companies, Soft drink comiYanies
and eV~r:Yone for whom t4ese
artists' . images were images
yOu!d assume' that they'd want
•,
~ , "
:, .. ;',
to i~tifywith. '
.,". .
."I.saJd to them, 'You ,know, .
, . .
'; . ,~peopl~ wit? HIV and AIDS
.'
,
-l"" - k f' ',-'. • ,
,
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•
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,'.
.' ,
wear jeans; They wear sneakerli.
They:, do e:verythingthat
evetfbOdy else does~No't:ruinks
to you, though.' Their excuses
were things like, ':That's not our
prime focus for 1990:' Well,
their prime focus is bullshit,
quite honestly.",' .
At ABC-TV, which had
. bou8ht the rights to air the video,
program in America, network
execs were saying no to a number
9,f'the more provocative .
. (and effective) videos, cutting,
large portions of the original
~ and niIiog in the gaps,
with their.oWn script. As we go
to press, nobody working on the
project seems able or willing
.....to'say just how similar·
ASC's shoW will be to the original
[~estory .·on page 4i], but
riobody'isharboring any illusions.
Nor have BritiSh music crit-
, ics helped matters any, accOrding,to
Wainer. Much In'keeplng
with the tradition' of macho
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38 OUTWII.K Dao..... _r" f_
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Above: Era......
Video, directed
by Adelle Lutz
and Sandy McLeod,
may)_t·
prove to be
"'1'00 Darn Hot."
Optioalte, left: David .
Byrne. directed hi.
,
own video of "Don't
•
Fence Me In.''
Right: .gD Pop
and DebbleHany
.pelr off In
... e •••Did You .vahl"
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..rock criticism, British Pop journalists sOund jaded at best and
doWnright spiteful at worst. ,. , ,
"Here in England, a lot of music journalists .nave
attacked the actual record, saying that Cole P9rter would
tum in his grave," explains Watney. "How th!'! hell do they
know what Cole Porter would think? I, think Cole 'Porter
•
would cheer. As a man (acing an epidemiC and thinking that
,
his music could help raise some money and win'over some
minds, I think he'd. be absolutely cheering. How can they
say that you can't tamper with something a$ sacred as Cole
Porter? It's like saying that you can't paint a picture [a certain]
way because the Sistine Chapel will decompOse. That's
so absurd., It's just lightly veiled homophobia, spoken by
male' rock critics who are just Jbcious little &hits, really.
They're only revealing th~ depthS of their own ignorance,
and they contribute to the' ignorance, sadly, because they
are the gate-k~ to mass culture."
. Overall, the album is a wonderful presentation of Cole
Porter" with styles ranging from Sinead O'Coniler's spine-tin-
81ing rendition of "You Do Something to Me" to the apocalyptic
spoof of "Well Did You Evah!" interpreted by Debbie
Harry and Iggy Pop. The videos are breathtakingly beautiful, .... :"
with Jean-Baptiste Mondino's ~on of Neneh Cherry in. :"j
"I've Got You Under My,Skin" settlDg new standards. On the .• ,.:
otµer hand, while it is unrealistic to expect that'all of the
Songs in this package could be' manipulated to give a blata.(ltly·AIDS-related
message, the:videos offered a perfect
oppo~unity to contextualize the music with thoughtful
imagery that would have carried .the 'theme·a little further.
S?ffie of the artists jumped at the opportunity by Including
sex-positive imagery, documenta'ly footage or Simple sloga~