David Crosby's Had It With 'Evil Bastard' Trump and the Rotten Music Industry

[babylonsister]

David Crosby’s Had It With ‘Evil Bastard’ Trump and the Rotten Music Industry
THE CROZ
Anna Webber
The famously outspoken musician opens up about selling his publishing during COVID, streaming services, and why he thinks “Rupert Murdoch should be taken out and shot.”
Jeff Slate
Published Jul. 27, 2021 3:26AM ET

snip//

I want to talk to you about our former commander-in-chief—

Ah, jeez.

—because you’ve been calling him out as a con man for as long as he’s been in the public eye. You and I had this conversation 10 years ago about him, before he was even on the radar, politically. Does it feel like he’s ever going to have to pay the piper?

Yes. Probably because he was sloppy. He and his cohorts were sloppy in their crimes. So, he will, probably. I don’t have confidence in the legal system, because it’s too easy to buy your way out of things, and I think that he believes that, too, and that he’s going to be OK. But the Southern District of New York, they know who he is. They know he’s been taking Russian mob money and laundering it into New York real estate for probably 30 years. They’ve watched him do it; they know where the money is coming from. So, the folks at the Southern District may nail him. There are certainly people in there that want to nail him, and they’ve got the goods on him. Whether or not he can buy his way out, that’s a tough one to call.

And your feelings about him since the election and the insurrection?

He’s an evil bastard. He’s done an enormous amount of harm. He ripped the scab off of the racism in this country so that people have to look at it, and maybe that’s actually a bad guy causing a good thing to happen. Because it was there the whole time. There are plenty of people—not just in the South, mind you—who are racist, so it’s better that it’s out in the open so that we can try to deal with it, but that’s a good thing he did unintentionally, while being evil. And he and the other corporate guys who won’t pay taxes? They’re all setting a shitty example. They’re all saying, “Well, cheat if you can, man, yeah, it’s great. Everybody does it.” Well, everybody doesn’t fucking do it. I don’t fucking do it. I pay my taxes because I think I'm a citizen and I think I should. But they don’t feel the need to do that. My beef with [Jeff] Bezos, and even with [Elon] Musk, whom I admire tremendously, is that just because you can beat it, just because you have really clever guys working for you, and you can beat it, doesn’t mean you should. Because you’re setting a shitty example. You’re saying, “I don’t have to do it because I’m clever. I win. Ha-ha.” Well, that means everybody else reads it as, “Oh, the rules don’t count. I’m going to cheat, too.”

more/paywall...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/david-crosbys-had-it-with-evil-bastard-trump-and-the-rotten-music-industry?ref=home

[Casady1]

1. Loved his music

and one of my favorite albums is "If I can only remember my name". Unfortunately, he is kind of an asshole but he is right on this.

[Paladin]

2. Yeah, that "Remember My Name" documentary really wrecked Crosby for me.

Love what he's saying about trump, though...

[hlthe2b]

3. Crosby is like the incredibly talented but problem-prone elderly uncle that you both look up to

and yet have to accept his many problems. You still love him but have to accept a considerable degree of "disruption" and cringe-inducing comments here and there.

Frankly, I actually do agree with a lot of what is considered among his more controversial statements and opinions--especially re: Trump, but likewise Kanye, if not his views on rap as a genre.

I've never seen the documentary others have mentioned. I suppose that might make it harder for me to be so forgiving, but damn.. He is one talented guy, despite his many flaws.

[Casady1]

4. Rap

Gregg Allman's greatest quote "rap is crap" I think if you can't play an instrument or sing on key then you are not a musician. It takes years of practice to be competent to play well enough to play in person. There are no shortcuts.

[lagomorph777]

5. Rap is no longer alone in the music-less music category.

Yes, rap is irritating, but modern pop is equally tuneless and irritating in a different way. Instead of shouted rhymes and a pounding drum machine, pop is nursery rhymes and a "breathing" side-chain throb that makes me feel like I'm suffocating.

[hlthe2b]

6. I have to agree... n/t

[Casady1]

8. I completely agree with you

Today's pop and country is mindless dribble with little originality. Watch Ricke Beato's piece on today's music on youtube. He encapsulates today's mindless music. He has a great youtube channel.

[marble falls]

7. Don't sell all rap short. There are incredibley good musicians and vocal artists in rap ...

I certainly wouldn't devalue all rock because of bubblegum rock.

All rap is not misogynist and party music.

[Casady1]

9. Miles Davis it is not

sampling has to be about the bottom of the barrel.

[marble falls]

10. How about people who post four paragraph samples for OPs? Sampling is fair use and legal.

[Casady1]

11. IMO it is simply not

what creative people do. My mom was good enough to be a professional singer(2 1/2 octaves) in the 1940's There was no place for the Chinese in the music or arts scene.
Artists can span multiple mediums. My mom ended up being a terrific watercolor artist and was in the Pearl S. Buck touring company as an actress. It is not the medium it is the mindset and nerve to be creative.

Show me the other endeavors that most rap artists have delved into and when they do that then I will agree that they are artists. There are multiple examples of singers doing canvas and other art forms.