Present Imperfect

There’s no “u” in “color.” | November 28, 2007

I was going to join the fray and write an entire post about what web writers can learn from the WGA strike, but it’s not really the same thing. Yes, TV and film writers should be compensated when their work appears online. Yes, I think the WGA should have thought of that years ago and worked to protect its members before the millionaire media moguls caught on. Yes, I think people can be frightfully shortsighted that way. No, I don’t think any of those yeses are contradictory.

Web copywriters need to get hired in the first place. Then we* can enjoy the dubious luxury of going on strike. The picket signs will read thusly: </p>

No. Instead, I’m going to write about music!

I love British music. Britpop, Britrock, even a bit of Britclassical. I listened to British music almost exclusively in my youth. I grew up in a small town on the edge of Appalachia, and British music talked about things I had absolutely no frame of reference for. Which was awesome. I wanted to be British quite badly, in fact. But I’ve been listening to more and more American music over the last five or so years. And I’ve been wondering why that is. And if there’s a difference between the souls of the two. And this is what I’ve come up with. (Sweeping generalizations, go forth and prosper.)

We had Pearl Harbor and 9/11. But Britain had the Blitz. We had 1776. But Britain had 1066. Even if rock ‘n’ roll was born in America, the sneering cynicism that often accompanies it is very British indeed. I hear the inevitability of disappointment in British music. British music has been there and done that. British music likes to smirk and say “I told you so.”

I hear hope in American music. Lost hope, maybe, but hope nonetheless. In American music, jilted lovers are always surprised. Cars are always cool. The moon always looks sooo pretty — even when your heart is busted into a billion tiny pieces.

Sometimes I don’t want to hear hope. Sometimes I want to be snarky in a different accent and with better shoes. It’s the writer in me. Snarkiness is next to godliness. Sometimes, though, hope just suits me better.

Also, I’m American. And I’m learning to deal with that.

*I’m speaking of the royal we here. I am one of the few, the happy few, who is paid to be a full-time web copywriter. Praise Jeebus.