Other Mixes By G Rogers
CD
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Pop
CD
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Mixed Genre
CD
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Theme - Road Trip
The City of Lights: The French Riots, Autumn 2005
| Artist | Song | |
| Kaiser Chiefs |
I Predict a Riot 
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| Reel Big Fish | Revolution | |
| Iam & Funky Family | Bad Boys de Marseille | |
| ABC News (Australia) | Intro to riots (news clip) | |
| Operation Ivy |
The Crowd
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| NOFX |
Champs Elysees
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| ABC News | Disenchantment of the minority population (news clip) | |
| Lunatic |
HLM 3
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| Sound clip | French police siren | |
| 311 |
Don't Tread on me
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| Ol Kainry (feat. Raekwon) | 92 Pise a Park Hill | |
| Sublime | April 26, 1992 | |
| The Beatles |
Revolution
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| Pennywise |
My Own Country
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| Suicide Machines | Our Time | |
| News Hour with Jim Lehrer | Clashes with police/police interview (news clip) | |
| Disiz la Peste | L'inspecteur | |
| The Clash |
Rock the Casbah
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| News Hour | Fatwa issued/will government calm the suburbs around France? (news clip) | |
| Gorillaz |
Feel Good Inc.
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| Sniper | Faits Divers | |
| Mattafix |
Big City Life
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Comment:
This mix is meant to be a sort of soundtrack for the 3 weeks of unrest that swept throughout France as mostly minority youths torched cars, destroyed buildings, and clashed with police after the death of a pair of youths in Clichy sous Bois. The riots were seen as a general venting of frustration over unemployment, discrimination, and 2nd class status of France's large Arab/Sub-Saharan African population.Some of these songs are meant to be related to rioting and unrest in general: My Own Country, The Crowd, etc.
Others are meant to be of direct relevance such as the several French rap tracks that were chosen after being examined for lyrics involving life in the "suburbs," minority feelings, and outrage at mainstream French society. Other directly relevant tracks, such as Big City Life, and Feel Good Inc., were chosen because of their popularity in Europe/France during the time period of the riots.
An attempt was also made to find songs that could be closer to the police/government/non-minority population point of view during these events: Don't Tread on me, Revolution (Beatles), and the French anthem.
This idea was inspired after closely following the daily reports of the French unrest and further encouraged after seeing the excellent "La Haine" mix.
Feedback:
Interesting idea. Looks well executed.
Fantastique. Rock the fucking kasbah. Mail me if you want to trade.
Yes, let's make a soundtrack so we can revel in it, the same way Americans reveled in 9/11. Instant nostalgia. "Aren't we lucky, we live in such interesting times!" It's amazing to me how people LOVE to revel in these events.
wow, just wow.
Heh. Freakin Paris. Hope they burn it to the ground.
I'm a little bemused by Orchid's comment. Some of the best music ever made (Dylan, MC5, tropicalia, The Clash, Public Enemy) has been created in response to political events, and yes there is something tremendously exciting about seeing repressed people rising up and fighting back. Look out your window, there's a riot goin' on.
I'm actually with Orchid on this one, although this mix looks good.
Okay I'm starting to wish I hadn't got involved in all this now. What I do know is that the Brixton riots of the early eighties were a catalyst for radically positive changes, addressing racism in the criminal justice system, reintegrating the socially excluded into mainstream society and regenerating urban ghettos. So unlike 9/11 it can be something to celebrate. Maybe I'm just a naive old punk but I don't think you can separate politics and music and the reason that hippies were the enemy back then was because they were complacent, introspective and apathetic. Although I did later discover that they had the best music and the best drugs.
And before I dig this trench any deeper I should also say that I certainly didn't mean to imply that Orchid was a hippie. As far as I can see she's pretty much the best mixer on this site and the breathtaking diversity of her thing is anything but complacent. Okay, now I'm going to have two fingers of Glenmorangie and a lie down.
Maybe I should clarify. I had no idea this mix would spark such a controversy! This is not a celebration of the violence and unrest that took place. I am not reveling in the riots by making a mix inspired by them. I am merely making something that attempts to capture the events via music. I am not trying to elevate the cause of the rioters nor am I trying to belittle them. These songs try to capture the points of view of the French African minority, the embattled police, the innocent bystander, and the French government. No particular perspective is being elevated and this mix is not a celebration of a very complex situation.
I don't think I made my point very well. I agree it's exciting to see repressed people rising up and fighting back. One might even view Osama bin Laden as a hero for taking on the superpower that's been exploiting his region for decades (and since most of the governments of the middle east are in bed with the Bush administration, what other way is there to fight back? One might wonder ;) But my only point was this: on the one hand when these events occur (like 9/11, London bombings, etc.), we all think it's such an evil tragedy, but at the same time we want to look at dramatic photos of it all day long, bathe in the television coverage, make mixes about it, etc. That's a celebration in a way. I mean, it honestly seems like the Londoners and Americans who weren't directly affected by the events were downright proud, even gleeful to have gone through the experience. I realize it's human nature, because it is certainly exciting when such dramatic things are happening on the world stage. It's the simultaneous boo hoo and rah rah! reactions that I find interesting and ironic. (Oh, and thanks for the complement, Alma. It means a lot coming from a skinhead such as yourself ;)
good work! Maybe Rachid Taha's cover of Rock the Casbah could have fitted in! or even WMD by Faithless! And to all those whose knickers got in a twist - being creative about a political event is much better than calling the political correctness police.