Rodney Anonymous Tells You How To Live

It’s the second single from the “Small Claims Court of the Crimson King“

Lyrics:
Walkin’ down on South Street
Voices in my head
Lettin’ everybody know
That Complexity is dead
Yes, Complexity is dead
So you’ll reap just what you earn
Gonna need a bigger TV
Just to watch Brooklyn burn
Watchin’ Brooklyn burn
From the comfort of my home
While Nepo babies flee
From the ghosts of The Ramones
Yes the ghosts of The Ramones
Are out for revenge
Gonna sacrifice some rich kids
In the middle of Stonehenge

You’d better watch out
You’d better not cry
The ghosts of The Ramones
Are watching the sky
If they catch you playing math rock
on late night TV
You’re gonna be the target
of their hostility

Playin’ the spoons
And your 12 string bass
with a banjomonica
Strapped to your face
Strummin’ jazz chords
In 4/20 time
Songs without lyrics
Cuz you don’t know how to rhyme
But the ghosts of the Ramones
Have taken down your name
They’ll empty your trust fund
From the Astral Plane
Mom & dad paid
For your rehearsal space
So next week on SNL
We’ll see your stupid face

[Imagine that 1970s Golden Grahams commercial but this time the family of campers is slaughtered by an ax-wielding maniac shouting “It’s gonna be a GOLDEN day!”]

You’d better watch out
You’d better not cry
Cuz the ghosts of The Ramones
Are watching the sky
If they catch you playing math rock
on late night TV
You’re gonna be the target
of their hostility

You’d better watch out
You’d better not cry
Cuz the ghosts of The Ramones
Are watching the sky
If they catch you playing math rock
on late night TV
They’re gonna kill you
And your entire family

Playin’ the spoons
In 4/20 time
Play the banjomonica
In 4/20 time
Strummin’ jazz chords
In 4/20 time
Songs without lyrics
In 4/20 time

Video Test:
Do you want to know why Rock Music sucks so badly these days?

Two words: rich people.

From Little Richard to the Nine Inch Nails, the majority of Rock music was written and performed by the working class.

Springsteen worked and slept in a surfboard factory.

The Ramones lived in abject squalor in the Bowery.

Do you think The Supremes wanted to return to their jobs on the assembly line?
If so, then you greatly misunderstand both The Supremes and assembly lines.

These acts all sang about things the average person could relate to: Being broke, going to public school, Flo being unaware that the boy she loves is a Romeo.

But, over the decades, as the income disparity between the working and the privileged classes began to grow, working people found that increases in rent and the cost of food left them having to take multiple jobs.

This left very little to no time to focus on making music. Who can afford a guitar, and apartment in the city, and practice space?

The offspring of the wealthy, that’s who.

This is why Brooklyn and the “Alternative Rock” charts are flooded with the progeny of Entertainment company executives.

What better use of that big tax break than to set junior up with a gig as a Rock Star

Wealthy families used to secure roles for their dumbest members in the church.

They’d become vicars, or bishops, or Mother Superiors.

Today, little Winthrop Wallingford IV gets to font his own Math Rock band.

He just has to play two live shows then it’s off to an appearance on SNL,

If you want a picture of rock music’s future…

Imagine a Nepo Baby stepping on a human ear…

FOREVER

But it doesn’t always have to be this way.

You, yes YOU, have to power to stop this madness.

You’re smart enough to know that just because a band is using “real” instruments – guitars, basses, and drums – that doesn’t automatically grant authenticity.

Call out their meaningless, non-confrontational lyrics and “really good for standing in line outside the Apple Store” music.

Support Underground music.

Trust me; no Nepo Baby wants to make Underground music.

And maybe also apply this philosophy to film, art, and literature.

A better world can be ours…

We just have to reach out and take it.