Howl by Allen Ginsberg

More beatnik, love it. I have of course read On the Road, which actually I liked alot, but that was about ten years ago. Ive also read Queer and Naked Lunch by Burroughs. Naked Lunch is supposed to be the classic but I found it pretty much unintelligable, I think most of the stuff in that book is written while Burroughs is out of his tree on smack. However Queer is a great book, better than any other beatnik stuff Ive read. I must read Junkie, which is also supposed to be very good.

Before this Id never read any Ginsberg and Ive got to say its brilliant. I dont know much about poetry at all and cant say Ive read much, but this just unfolds, its dynamic and you feel yourself rolling along with it.

The discussion about industrialisation and the machine (society) is I think why the beat generation became so famous, not just because of that initself but because of the liberative reaction to it, which I guess in no small part brought about the social changes in the sixties.

I was interested to read that Ginsberg studied in great detail early classical writers and from that was able to create his style, for example using parataxis to engage the reader or listener.

Anyway so I guess the link to Archigram is the MACHINE, weve been talking about the societal machine, but something that the world has been obsessed with ever since the industrial revolution is technology, the future and the machine. Archigram heavily drew on technology to imagine future living growing cities and I guess this will tie in with Corb who must have been one of the first architects to start directly relating architecture to the functionality of machines and industry.

Now my videos are becoming a bit more relevant so Im gonna put another one up..

these guys have to be the only band to succesfully infuse heavy metal with rap, except maybe Cypress Hill, but unfortunatley spawned years of shite music from people like Limp Bizkit

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE




this album was released 17 years ago yesterday! I couldnt find the original video so this will have to do. The images are a little on the anarchic side but at least theyre fairly provocative.