Real World Part III: That which does not kill me still seriously pisses me off

I was standing at my P.O.S. station this evening (and no, P.O.S. does not stand for " Piece of Shit"- the acronym actually is Kohl's terminology for "Point of Sale". Technically my job position title is "Point of Sale Specialist Associate"- the Kohls corporation believes that applying psychology in the work place (i.e. fancy schmancy titles such as "Point of Sale Specialist Associate" instead of register operator) will thusly raise their employees self esteem, productivity, and overall enthusiasm towards accomplishing their goals (i.e. ringing in the copious amounts purchases of difficult soccer moms and "sales" conscious grandmas) by instilling a sense of self worth. I am beginning to get the feeling that my self worth is about the same as it was last year and has in no way been altered by achieving zed title of "P.O.S. Specialist Associate". Sorry Kohls to burst your bubble.

Pardon me, I digress.

I was standing at my P.O.S. Station this evening when to my shock and horror one of my favorite songs came over the "musac" Kohls station. Why horror you ask? Now nothing personal against Kohls but the company is becoming somewhat of a corporate monster. Not to mention that it does seem to target the bitchest customers in the world including most women over the age of 35 ( now before I get a bunch of whiny comments complaining that I am being judgmental and sexist , yes i concede to the point that other age groups and the male gender do at times frequent Kohls however 60% percent of the customers do happen to be middle age women...so there). These women tend to like easy listening artists such as Marc Cohn . Apparently these are the types of musicians that make you want to buy copious amounts of clothing. Artists such as Iggy Pop do not.

Iggy Pop for those of you who don't know has been dubbed "the Godfather of Punk". He has acted in movies such as The Crow: City of Angels and Tank Girl. Not exactly family friendly watching. He is one of my favorite artists primarily because of the work he has done with David Bowie. He collaborated with Bowie on such songs as "China Girl" and "Sister Midnight". He also added vocals on Bowie's album Low. You can't get much better than that. A forrunner of the rock world, he is still passionate about his music, and how it is considered within the history of rock. During that interview when asked to define what punk rock is he responded

I'll tell you about punk rock: punk rock is a word used by dilettantes and, uh... and, uh... heartless manipulators, about music... that takes up the energies, and the bodies, and the hearts and the souls and the time and the minds, of young men, who give what they have to it, and give everything they have to it. And it's a... it's a term that's based on contempt; it's a term that's based on fashion, style, elitism, satanism and, everything that's rotten about rock n' roll.

You see, what, what sounds to you like a big load of trashy old noise... is in fact... the brilliant music of a genius... myself. And that music is so powerful, that it's quite beyond my control. And, ah... when I'm in the grips of it, I don't feel pleasure and I don't feel pain, either physically or emotionally. Do you understand what I'm talking about? Have you ever, have you ever felt like that? When you just, when you just, you couldn't feel anything, and you didn't want to either. You know, like that? Do you understand what I'm saying, sir?*

....yup I definately think about saving up 30% on selected pairs of decorative socks when I hear the crooning tones of Mr. Pop.

Does Iggy know that his music has made the Kohl's "easy listening" music list,that the once crack/heroin/every drug under the planet is now in the same musical realm o Kenny G.

I think I speak for rock fans everywhere when I say my musical soul died a little tonight.


*quote taken from the interview as it appears on the link given through wikipedia, the fountain and source of all knowledge.