by C Harrison
RavensWish - gutted at @TotenHerzen deal being canceled #badsony will never get to meet them now def want to kill myself after this
WhiteRotterdam @ravenswish you don't want to kill yourself over this deal there are other opportunities
RavensWish @WhiteRotterdam so let down everything I do is to meet TH feels like the world is against me
WhiteRotterdam @ravenswish put things into perspective and live with hope
RavensWish @WhiteRotterdam all hope went down when the deal blew up
WhiteRotterdam @ravenswish trust me. . . .
27 (June)
Mark Lawson
"Hellobackin1977 there was a twelve hour gap between the discovery of four bodies in a tomb in Highgate Cemetery and the public hearing the news of the murders of four members of the rock band Toten Herzen. Today, with twenty four hour rolling news and instant reactions on social media, that kind of delay is simply unimaginable. When the band's comeback single Give Me Your Heart was leaked online the public heard the remixed track before the band did. So tonight I'll be asking the question who is in for the greater shock? The public faced once again with the antics of a rock band best known for fans taking a dead horse to one of their concerts, or a band who haven't been involved with the music industry or modern society for over thirty five years?
"My guests to discuss this are the rock historian Anna Parkinson, former band photographer Lance Beauly, gothic novelist Jonathan Knight, and new age blogger and writer Terence Pearl. If I can start with you first Terence Pearl: is the public shockable anymore or is their reaction more morbid curiosity?"
Terence Pearl
"I don't think they are shocked, I think they are entertained and the shock is more akin to that experienced on a roller coaster ride or a horror film. It's a reaction that is expected. They expect to be shocked and they expect things to happen that will shock them. It is a new virulent form of entertainment."
Mark Lawson
"Anna Parkinson, there's nothing new in this behaviour or the response it provokes, but is the audience's reaction today different in any way?"
Anna Parkinson
"Not really. What it takes to shock a modern audience is obviously greater year by year. If a singer split his trousers on stage people would giggle. . . ."
Mark Lawson
"And call it a wardrobe malfunction. . . ."
Anna Parkinson
"Exactly. But fifty years ago P.J. Proby was virtually deported for that kind of thing and we saw the kind of headlines we see now. So the reaction will always be the same and it comes down to, basically, the same old generation gap, with young people wanting to upset their elders and their elders, who write the headlines, reacting right on cue. It's as if everyone is following a script or stage directions and no one has bothered to update that script."
Mark Lawson
"Although the incident from which we get the phrase wardrobe malfunction did cause a near hysterical reaction when it happened."
Anna Parkinson
"I think that was more to do with the context. A Superbowl final, the display of a female body part and an America that is seeing a revival of protestant conservatism. If that had happened during a regular concert the reaction would have been different. I think it would have been confined to the arts pages, maybe a bit of titillation in some of the tabloids, but happening in the middle of a mainstream family event like that raised the bar."
Mark Lawson
"The reaction to Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction was transmitted around the world at the touch of a smartphone button and that may have multiplied the severity of the indignation."
Anna Parkinson
"Yes, but if the technology to do that had existed in the 1970s the reaction then would have been exactly the same as it is now and by the same people. The usual suspects."