London riots: what happens when you sweep people and other troublesome things under the rug

I have been transfixed by the violence and destruction going on in England over the past week – cars and buildings set alight, stores ransacked. It is upsetting on so many levels. Lives and property are being ruined for no apparent reason. It’s horrible.

Rioters burned the Sony warehouse in London - and may have taken down some fine independent record labels

Of particular interest to me, the rioters burned a Sony warehouse. Big corporation can afford the loss, right? Not so fast. A lot of very good independent record labels are distributed through Play It Again Sam, which subcontracted with Sony for storage space in that warehouse. Some of the most notable ones being Beggars Banquet, 4AD and Rough Trade. Labels that have released some of my all time favorite music, especially in the postpunk genre. There are also many smaller labels that aren’t as well known. Some lost all their UK inventory and may go under because of this.

Here is an article about what was lost and what it could mean.

As livid as I am over the mindless destruction. I find myself being just as angry if not more so at the people and institutions that created this explosive situation.

Just as the law & order types say, the rioters are mostly just thugs. Or in the terminology of one of my favorite postpunk bands, “hammerheads” who need to be locked up. They’re not rising up against some dictator. Mostly they seem to be saying “free shit!” and grabbing all the iPods and Xboxes and running shoes they can get their hands on. And setting things on fire just for fun. I don’t think there are a lot of revolutionaries  pondering the politics of the situation.

This song describes these people pretty well I think:

Yet, the root cause is certainly political, whether these tools realize it or not.

This is basically about greed, but the rioters are not the only greedy ones. Are there not plenty of greedy politicians and business people? How about the crooked cops who sold out the public to the crooked journalists? I don’t think the rioters are thinking about much beyond loot and what they call “fun,” but they probably realize there are a lot of people who have things they don’t deserve to have, yet are getting away with it.

The motive for theft is pretty simple to explain, but what about all the fires? To me it comes across as a generalized fuck you to society. They’re not smart enough to know who to be pissed at, but they know things are rigged against them somehow, so they just attack randomly. Buildings. Stores. Things that are other people’s not theirs. They obviously don’t feel any loyalty or connection to the society around them. It’s just a world where some people always seem to have more than they do. There is a recession on that they didn’t cause, and now social services are being slashed. They don’t feel like they have any future, or anything to lose.

I thought Massive Attack had a pretty good take on it. They posted it on their Facebook page and promptly lost a bunch of fans who thought they were condoning the violence. They weren’t. They were simply pointing out the cynical conditions that led to this situation:

In context with the complicit support of the government, the banks looted the nation’s wealth while destroying countless small businesses and brought the whole economy to its knees in a covert, clean manner, rather like organised crime.Our reaction was to march and wave banners and then bail them out. These kids would have to riot and steal every night for a year to run up a bill equivalent to the value of non-paid tax big business has ‘avoided’ out of the economy this year alone.
They may not articulate their grievances like the politicians that condemn them but this is absolutely political. As for the ‘mindless violence’… is there anything more mindless than the British taxpayer quietly paying back the debts of others while contributing bullets to conflicts that we have absolutely no understanding of?It’s mad, sad and scary when we have to take to the streets to defend our homes and businesses from angry thieving kids, but where are the police and what justice is ever done when the mob is dressed in pin stripe.   -Massive Attack

This interview with television presenter Darcus Howe also got my attention, not just because of what he said, but because of the dismissive, arrogant attitude of the reporter, who simply WON’T LISTEN.

It’s a perfect illustration of the problem if you ask me. There were a lot of angry people getting ready to explode, and they had no voice. Still don’t. A problem was brewing and society didn’t want to see it. So here it is out in the open, impossible to ignore.

As an American, maybe it’s not my place to butt in, but I see the same forces at work here. Lots of young people with nothing to do and no future that they can see. It’s a recipe that has led to riots in the past and it’s just a matter of time till it happens again.

How ‘indie’ are your favorite tunes?

I guess it was around 2002 when I got bitten by the indie bug. I was pissed at the way the major labels sued consumers and cheated artists – and I had discovered the wonders of college radio. Back then I listened to KTSW from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas (then known as Southwest Texas State University), which turned me onto so many great bands & artists: …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Cornelius, McLusky, Elliott Smith, Interpol…

I figured who needs the majors? I started paying really close attention to an artist’s record label and if they were on a major label, I would avoid their album or try to get it used. I wouldn’t even download it. Eventually I found out it wasn’t as simple as I thought. I knew who the major labels were, but a lot of times what seemed like a small label turned out to be a one-off, owned by a major. At some point I discovered a tool called the RIAA Radar, which will tell you if any artist or label is affiliated with the RIAA.

There was a period of more than a year when I wouldn’t buy any CD without first running it through the RIAA Radar to make sure it was truly indie. I’ve since gotten over that. Too many of my favorite artists are on major labels and one-off labels. Am I going to give up The Dandy Warhols? I don’t think so. I also don’t blame artists who sign to major labels. There are certain services a large label can provide that an artist can’t always get on a smaller indie or by going it alone, services like promotion and tour support. I totally understand why The Decemberists signed to Capitol (I still liked them better when they were on Hush Records though). It’s a risk though. A band might lose artistic control, or might find that it can never recoup the money the label puts in.

That old attitude I used to have, of “they signed to a major, they’re dead to me now” just isn’t practical or fair. Artists have to do what they have to do. It would be nice to stay in a hotel room instead of sleeping on floors while on tour. I get it.

However, it still makes sense to use the RIAA Radar. It can show you things about the music you love. Years ago when I used it, I was surprised at how many bands I thought were on indies were actually not. For example, Built to Spill used to be on Up, a true indie, but they later went to Warner, obviously one of the majors. Trail of Dead used to be on Merge, one of the big indies, but later went to Interscope, which is part of Universal Music Group.  (BTW, in the ’90s, there were six major labels. The majors currently consist of the “Big Four” – Warner, EMI, Sony, Universal. I understand EMI is having trouble, so we may be down to a “Big Three” before too long. The Wikipedia article on record labels is pretty informative if you want to learn more.)

Now when I use it, what strikes me most is how many high profile artists are self-released or on independent labels. For example, I felt a little twinge of conscience when I posted that Vampire Weekend video early on. They’re high profile enough, I was sure they must’ve been on a major, but they’re not. Totally indie. Beggars Banquet, which put out so many great postpunk albums and 4AD, which put out albums by bands like Dead Can Dance and  His Name is Alive, are RIAA safe. I kinda thought those might be sub-labels of some major label. Daptone Records (featuring Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings) and Truth & Soul Records (Lee Fields) are straight up indies.

And thanks to the distribution possibilities of the internet, a lot of artists are simply doing it on their own, without even small label support. It’s pretty exciting to see that change unfold.

And BTW, if you’re interested in independent record labels and the DIY spirit, you should read Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, about the American indie underground in the 1980s. I have a lot of respect for those artists and their labels, which include: SST, Sub Pop, Dischord, Touch & Go and K Records.