The Kinks

One of the top British Invasion bands from the 60's. Their early songs cemented the way for hard rock with their powerful riffs. Eventually they matured and refined their sound.


I've heard the phrase "they're more British than the Kinks!". This is because they were one of the first bands to do sketches and portraits of everyday life, though mostly in a satirical way. Village Green and Arthur, their greatest albums, are the best examples of this. In the 70's they had moderate success and a few hits (Lola comes to mind), till they faded away.




My Top 5:
5. All Day and All of the Night
4. Picture Book
3. A Well Respected Man
2. You Really Got Me
1. Sunny Afternoon

Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan

Men are asocial by nature. They only move towards what they desire and away from what they fear. Their two greatest fears are death and the loss of possessions. The three main factors of discord among men are egoism, mistrust and the desire of glory.

Imagine there were no laws acting on us, no State to impose fear and force us to obey (aka State of Nature). Everyone would fight each other to death for their possessions. Under such conditions, we can't acquire wealth. We can't even assure our own safety!


But we aren't idiots. We give away our power to stomp on others in order to live in community, to guarantee our safety (Social Contract). The sum of all those powers, given away by all the people in a nation, is called State. The State must impose fear onto us so we all follow the rules. However, since this is a contract, the State must also respect the citizens.

I'm Back!

I finally have free time, so I'll be posting on the blog again. For those of you who are already following, you know what to expect. For any new followers, please be welcome. In this blog I mostly talk about rock music, but I'm considering widening my horizons.

Feel free to read any previous post you haven't already.

In the meantime, here's a relatively obscure song, Fonz by Eugene McGuinness. Enjoy

Traffic - Feelin' Alright

You feelin' alright? I'm not feeling too good myself.



If you liked this try two more of their songs: Dear Mr Fantasy and Roamin' Thro' the Gloamin with 40,000 Headmen.

Pink Floyd - Dogs

Lyrics
You got to be crazy, you gotta have a real need
You gotta sleep on your toes and when you're on the street
You got to be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking

And after a while, you can work on points for style
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to
So that when they turn their backs on you
You'll get the chance to put the knife in

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder
You know, it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder
As you get older
Yeah, and in the end you'll pack up and fly down south
Hide your head in the sand
Just another sad old man
All alone and dying of cancer

And when you lose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around
So have a good drown, as you go down all alone
Dragged down by the stone

Gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this maze

Deaf, dumb and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable, and no one has a real friend
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
Everything's done under the sun
But you believe at heart everyone's a killer

Who was born in a house full of pain?
Who was trained not to spit in the fan?
Who was told what to do by the man?
Who was broken by trained personnel?
Who was fitted with collar and chain?
Who was given a pat on the back?
Who was breaking away from the pack?
Who was only a stranger at home?
Who was ground down in the end?
Who was found dead on the phone?
Who was dragged down by the stone?
Who was dragged down by the stone?



Though the song was primarily a satire of egocentric businessmen, it can apply to any of us. Fast-paced, stressful life turns us into Dogs, mistrusting the rest of the pack, trying to always be one step ahead; extreme individualism. Well, you aren't supposed to be Sheep either, just being manipulated. Anyhow, there should be some sort of balance between trust and mistrust, which I think is hard to find.

So, are you a dog yet/still?