During the Vampire Weekend profile in the current New Yorker, Lizzie Widdecombe raises the question of class wars. This is a hoary old cliche in rock terms and although the band met at Ivy League Columbia University, nothing in their bios suggests they are that priviledged. Ezra Koenig is Jewish and (I quote from the article) “His mother is a familiy therapist; his father a a movie-set dresser”. Ok, a lick above middle class.
Of course the template for rock stars are black men a coupla generations away from slavery and white trash Presley and blue collar Bruce. Even when you find a distinctly Upper Middle Class musician, a Carly Simon (her step-father owned Simon And Schuster), they went out of their way to repudiate their past and be reborn.Julian Casablancas dad owns the modelling agency but Julian is the real son of the Ramones with the lower west side habitat and the leather jackets.
The Paris Hiltons of the world are laughed at when it comes to music.
And second generation rock squires, Harper Simon or Ben Taylor or the Lennon Brothers, aren’t taken particulalrly seriously either. Being a rock star is a high stakes poker game and only that certain je ne sais fucking quo will buy you a seat at the table. Lady Gaga is upper middle class upper east side but nobody could give a shit about who she was.
The result of this is that unless you were raised in Bed Stuy you better not discuss your bling.
Vampire Weekend do. Whether watching their ex love on the Columbia dorm room on “Campus” or claiming “Know your butler not like other guys”, they don’t hide from privilege and given their use of African influenced backing tracks, it sometimes proves unpopular among the liberal dinizens of rock criticism. They smell the whiff of colonialism somewhere and they don’t like it.
Money, or at least being on the other side of the class wars, is not something rock tends to deal with. Joe Strummer was the son of a diplomat but his past was another country: for all his skills, he couldn’t forgive himself for being born into wealth and he didn’t write about it. On the other hand, Johnny Rotten was born in poverty (as was Sid Vicious, Glen Matlock -all the Pistols and most of the English punk stars), The result for Rotten was he hightailed it to LA at his first opportunity.
Can anybody write about money except hip-hop stars who don’t know where they’re going but they’re getting to the money. When Jay-Z discussed his real life on Kingdom Come, it was true but tedious. Paling about with Chris Martin will only get you so far. Jay-Z can’t mention his wealth without mentioning his drug dealing first.
Which leaves Vampire Weekend pioneers in a form no one wants to admit to.