Band: John Mellencamp
Album: The Lonesome Jubilee
Best song: Awful. None.
Worst song: The whole album is poopy.
In the pantheon of my early memories, one of the most striking is that of Harold Washington’s death.
Harold Washington was Chicago’s first black mayor and an extremely popular mayor, at that. In office for four years, he’s seen as a bit of deification since his 1987 death while in his office. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I knew something happened. Why? Because it preempted cartoons.
Washington died the day before Thanksgiving. I was home from school that day, sick. I was watching George of the Jungle on a UHF channel (50, which is now a Spanish language channel) and they broke into the show. My cartoons were canceled. I didn’t understand why.
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In this and of previous things, I’m a product of my times and the world. The Harold Washington death is a big deal to me because it’s one of the first big events I remember. It’s not the national news of the time and Washington wasn’t even my mayor. But, it’s my childhood touchstone.
I grew up in the suburbs, of parents who grew up in the city, yet identify strongly with both. My parents were and are super Chicago-y, which I somehow inherited. I adore the Chicago pro sports teams. I’m extremely provincial about the Chicagoland area, but specifically about Cook County.
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This fact means nothing in regards to The Lonesome Jubillee, the 1987 album of my life. But, tangentially, it informs my life very well.
You see, I despise John Mellencamp. Hate hate hate hate hate him. I imagine some of this was fomented during the time when my dad played the record nearly endlessly. My dad likes a ton of great music, but he — like so many boomers — is into blue collar rock. I cannot fucking stand blue collar rock.
It’s a dichotomy. I try to run away from the consumerist/suburban upbringing that peppers my life, but I hardly embrace the steel town/stockyardyness of blue collar rock. I grew up in the suburbs. I went to high school in one of the most affluent communities in the nation. I want to be The New Yorker or The Atlantic, because too much of my upbringing was McDonald’s and TV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lonesome_Jubilee
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