1.29.2004

I Woulda Slit My Wrists if it Wasn't for RocknRoll

So, this morning, I was driving to Discount Tire in Livonia. I was listening to "In Name and Blood" from Murder City Devils (which I've listened to damn near every day since I got it a month ago). I noticed that the song "Lemuria Rising" mentions Kenneth Anger.
For those not familiar, Kenneth Anger was a child-actor in the 1930s. He was also a film-maker, the most well-known films being "Lucifer Rising," "Invocation of My Demon Brother," and "Fireworks." However, his most well known work would be his writing. Kenneth Anger wrote Hollywood Babylon, and Hollywood Babylon II. Both books chronicled the seamy side of Hollywood including addictions, sexual escapades, rape, and murder in one case (Fatty Arbuckle's murder of a young girl)(ED note: Arbuckle was accused of killing the girl, she actually died of syphillis. thanks, Eli). Some of the more extreme stories such as Lilian Gish sleeping with an entire football team have been proven false, but most of the stories of sexual escapades and addiction appeared in the press long before the book was published.
Anger's films and books have many subtle homosexual themes. The books portray gigolos like Errol Flynn as heroes, and then turn around and portray innocent young women thrust into difficult situations as whores. Most of the films feature light homo-eroticism, blood, men, car worship, the occult, Satanic imagery, and rock n roll. With the exception of car worship, most of these same qualities come up in MCD lyrics.
So, I started thinking, a lot of the songs from MCD feature men being celebrated for their masculinity, i.e. drunken sailors, cowboys, that sort of thing. And, the album "In Name and Blood" has several songs that reference Anger's work. "Idle Hands" and the idea of idle hands doing the devil's work runs through many of Anger's films. "Demon Brother" has no direct references from the film "Invocation of My Demon Brother," but hey, the title's close enough. "Lemuria Rising" shares half a title with two Anger films: "Lucifer Rising" and "Scorpio Rising." This is the song noted above where Kenneth Anger is actually mentioned several times in the lyrics. I don't recall ever seeing any reviews of the album that noted these connections. Interesting.
Maybe it's just my imagination, but I think there's a chance that Spencer Moody (singer from MCD) might be a Kenneth Anger fan.

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