You've probably heard by now that today the world will end, apparently by dinner time. I discovered this morning that the prediction is based on approximating how long ago the flood and the story of Noah took place, which has been calculated to have occurred 7,000 years ago today. The fact that I am writing this blog might lead you to the conclusion that I am a little dubious. However, the publicity has benefited REM, since chances are many of us will be repeating their signature - world-ending- verse over and over, that is, BEFORE supper.
Apocalyptic rock is hard to pin down. I tend to associate Pearl Jam and Kurt Cobain with world-ending tunes, because their music feels like the end, the combination of plaintive vocals and thundering chords suggesting either that Armageddon is imminent, or that it has already happened, and Kurt and Eddie are simply mourning the loss. Some of Ozzy Osborne's songs evoke chaos, as well as a long line of "devil" - ish performers from Alice Cooper to Marilyn Manson, Judas Preist to Metallica. Besides their twisted but marketable genre, mainstream pop has also produced "prophetic" hits like "In The Year 2525".
I guess I'll spend my last few hours listening to the blues, possibly Robert Johnson's fervrent odes to the Devil and Judgment Day. In general, I don't think blues musicians spent a lot of time obsessing about the "end". They were a lot more preoccupied with issues like food, money and love.
I've enjoyed the world as we know it, so I'm going to miss it when it disappears sometime after dessert tonight. Why is it I get the feeling that - 24 hours from now - I'll be thinking about food,money and love?
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