And in the meantime, back to politics, writing, and music...

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Once I had gotten my final grade and left summer school, I had a few weeks before the days got subtly shorter and cooler before going back to school - in this case, community college. At this time, I had an urge to write, but as of yet, no subject. (Yes, there's an awful lot of irony going on here.) So, for lack of anything better to do and to improve my skills, I enrolled in Intensive Secretarial to learn how to type better, and have, as they say, something to 'fall back on' or do...this did not exactly work out as planned, but I did get, in my second semester, a creative writing course that showed me that my urge was not a folly or a waste of time.

Another mixed and sampled day: it is cloudy and humid. An afternoon of heat and stillness: I am working for an hour for my mother's art jewellery business, which means I am painting small squares of wood with gesso and then, when they are dry, painting them with some jewel or stone color, and then my work is done. They dry slowly as you might expect. I am at the kitchen table, in my seat. My father sits opposite, perhaps reading the paper. The radio is on NPR and the President, our President (we are American expats) is speaking about South Africa and apartheid. He does not seem to understand the problem, or if he does, he thinks things are getting better. My father and I give exhausted sighs and continue on with what we are doing. I wish I could do more work, the last step on these brilliant squares: taking the very small and delicate pieces of gold leaf and putting them on as decoration. It takes skill and because of the expense and delicacy can't be messed up. But I am new, so I leave that to my mother and go back upstairs, or maybe outside, to the wild raspberries and summer stillness and ripeness...

...It is said that rock music began in 1955, or thereabouts; maybe a bit earlier. I'm not sure when it became a self-conscious form of music, or whether in some way or other it always was; but by late 1984 it had been around long enough to have a history, and movements within that history. It had 'grown up' to be very big in every sense of that word, bolstered by being very very popular all over the world. And with one day - Live Aid - it was a mature, responsible, global force, if it so choosed, and on that day, it did choose.

Not only did Live Aid happen in 1985, but so did the Artists United Against Apartheid album Sun City and the founding of the Red Wedge movement in the UK. It was a very political year.

Politics and music at any level is a difficult mix. Politics can elevate or flatten anything, from conversation to art to music. If an artist is political then something will always get lost, unless the message is stated very clearly; with music in particular, you either have to be very direct and obvious, or so subtle as to be missed altogether...at first...

...and political messages can and will be misinterpreted or dismissed, depending on the agenda of the person listening and then responding. "Original Sin" by INXS, for instance, a song about interracial love, was banned by some radio stations. (Citation!) This in turn caused M+M (formerly Martha and the Muffins) to write "Black Stations White Stations" about the banning of this song. (At the time, I didn't know this.) "This is 1984!" they sang, with just about every way of interpreting that phrase being very much meant. MTV were reluctant to show Michael Jackson videos, or any videos by black artists, for that matter. (OMG please citation!) But after 1984 this began to change...

...was it a political act for Green to go to New York, listen to nothing but Run DMC and Afrika Bambaataa and work with both white and black musicians to create Cupid & Psyche '85? Was it also meaningful for the album to be received very well by the hip hop community of the time as well as the general public?

Yes and yes. (Just as it's a political act to call Green and his many Second British Invasion fellow musicians "limeys." [citation unfortunately possible, an English one at that]). For someone as political as Green, he could not have not known what he was doing, even though it was also an artistic choice as well - hip hop as the new punk, direct and cheap and fun and cool. He wasn't 'selling out' (how can an entryist sell out?) or for that matter buying in, as he still wanted to write pop songs (as opposed to rap ones) and was as political as ever in his lyrics, though those politics might be missed altogether (I certainly didn't understand him at first) by the public.

Altogether, Cupid & Psyche '85 was part of the whole political upsurge of the time, though its politics were ones more of practice rather than slogans or theories. Those who feel this is a self-regarding album made by a narcissistic artist are sadly mistaken.