Gold! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I remember spending afternoons with parents deciding which cassettes and CDs needed to be ditched. Nuts!!
Thank you, George Couch!
by charonsdog 37 Replies latest jw experiences
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Athanasius
I remember a CO railing against "worldly music" at a CA back in the late 1970s. In addition to modern music he also condemned classical music, as he claimed that some of the composers were homosexuals. No doubt that was why the bethelite mentioned by the OP got rid of the Tchaikovsky tape after George Couch's tirade.
But being a classical music fan, I kept my classic collection as I could care less about the composer's sexual preference.
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Diogenesister
Back in the 80s I remember the big problem seemed to be about music. (Today, it's tight pants, I guess)
Wasn't it Just?!! It nearly drove me right out as I was such a big music lover. I had to sneak off to reggae sunsplash and to see The Stooges.If fact I did know one lad who wouldn't get baptised and he and his family freely stated it was because he couldn't give up his music.
Play the song backwards it says worship Satan.
I remember trying to rev my records backwards to see if it was true - The Beatles " John is dead" message ( which he was, sadly, by then) & Hendrix I remember doing it to, of course there never was!
I remember the whole African rhythm = sex racist nonsense ( & I'm sorry but it is racist) ...their other big thing was dancing. " The Twist" came in for a lot of stick for being based on an "ancient fertility ritual", even though they were about 20 years behind the times with that! The Conga was about the only approved dance in the days before line dancing and when ballroom was for old people.
Great story, tho! I even remember being warned about classical, which I also loved, Elgar was considered a little too jingoistic which might also explain Tchaikovsky- 1812 overture was celebrating a martial victory, which was the usual accusation hurled at classical!
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charonsdog
Yeah, about that whole backwards music stuff. The only way you could play it backwards (that I'm aware of) would be to use a phonograph and records. But I clearly recall an elder valiantly attempting to explain to the crowd at a circuit assembly in Panama City, Florida that you didn't have to actually play the music backward to be affected. He said (I shit you not) that our ears work the same way our eyes do. When our eye sees an image, it actually transmits a mirror-image to our brain, which must then reverse the image for us to process it properly. According to this elder's "science", our ears also inverted the sound waves and our brains understood the backward message before flipping the sound. I was probably 12 or 13 at the time, and a true believer...but even I recognized this as complete horseshit. I can't believe the other 3,000 in attendance let that go over their heads.
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smiddy3
That was a great story ,by the way I got rid of my young sons KISS album I think he was only about 12 or 13
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charonsdog
You horrible monster, smiddy! Tossing out KISS? Lol. I remember vividly the time when my brother picked up a copy of Def Leppard's "Hysteria" album. My dad almost shit kittens. Of course he had no idea what the music was, the cover was enough to produce a reaction.
I waited until later in life to begin collecting music. The main reason was because I was always poor. Poor pioneer, penniless Bethelite, poverty-stricken new husband and father. Eventually, I got a job that paid well, and had some discretionary income which I could spend on myself. I started buying all of the music I had wanted as a kid. KISS included. Unfortunately, investing in CDs wasn't the wisest decision. I had to give all of them away when I got rid of everything last year before my overseas move. Thank goodness for Spotify!
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WingCommander
Ha! I remember the rants of the 80's well. As a young JW kid, I wasn't allowed to own ANY of my own music. I remember rants against Michael Jackson, KISS, Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Guns-N-Roses, and especially Queen and Judas Priest.
Doesn't matter. I have them ALL now!
As a teen in the 90's, there were a lot of rants about Rap music, Grunge, etc. Like any kid in the 90's gave a shit. Ha!
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stuckinarut2
Ah yes!
We had the same sort of thing at Bethel in Australia in the early 90's!
A bethel family lecture was given by a branch committee member, who was staring to lose it. Jack Porter.
He arranged for a covert search of bethel rooms during a work day while the occupants were out. He then arranged samples of the "worst sort" of music, and had this played in the Kingdom Hall during his talk!
Just imagine hearing "The Offspring" playing loudly through the sound system!?!?!?
Oh, and ask jwfacts for more info on this! .....
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sir82
LOL, "backward masking".
Some time in the 80's when the Queen song "Another One Bites the Dust" was popular, a CO got up on stage and was foaming at the mouth about the dangers of "debasing" music. "Another One Bites the Dust" was Exhibit A.
So, during his talk, he played a snippet of the song.
Awesome, thinks teenage me. First cool thing ever to come thru the assembly hall speakers.
Next, the CO says, "Now, listen to that same snippet, played backwards".
So next, the sound guys plays (what the CO claims) was the same snippet, but played in reverse.
It sounded like this: "Dfertrver soiyter mqwexdrtyybg".
Thee snippet ends. There is dead silence in the auditorium.
"See?" exclaims the CO. "Did you hear that?!?!? They were singing 'decide to smoke marijuana' !!!!"
A collective gasp rose from 1500 throats, as 1500 people decided that "Dfertrver soiyter mqwexdrtyybg" really DID sound like "Decide to smoke marijuana".
I was young and impressionable at the time. I thought that's what it said too.
It wasn't until many years later that I determined that the CO was an idiot.
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scratchme1010
Love the story. About this:
"young people know that the rhythm of rock music is the rhythm of sexual intercourse."
That is what I hate the most about them. They make these insanely ridiculous claims about things. So many wrong things at so many levels!