Post by TotalInformation on Dec 16, 2003 20:48:51 GMT
Review by Russ Kick; July 2001
The Covert War Against Rock
Alex Constantine
Los Angeles, CA: Feral House (0-922915-61-X), 2000
In The Covert War Against Rock, we have researcher Alex Constantine doing what he does best: trashing our preconceived notions of recent political history by assembling a jigsaw puzzle made up of declassified documents, court transcripts, quotes from the participants themselves, and forgotten or ignored articles from the mainstream media. This time, his target is the world of rock music (and, to a lesser extent, rap and reggae), specifically the roles played by government intelligence and the Mob.
"The central revelation of this volume is the fact that the Central Intelligence Agency and Organized Crime have, for over thirty years, engaged in a program to silence popular musicians whose influence subverts the cynical thought control tactics of American government and media." The power elite of the US, as represented by intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies "takes a dim view of critics in the music industry, particularly young 'communards' who advocate demilitarization, dread-locked musicians standing up for their rights, or street Thugs who condemn police violence and suggest shooting back."
The book starts off with some background on the turbulent period of the very late 1960s through mid-1970s, particularly the reign of Richard Nixon. Constantine presents intriguing evidence that political assassination was standard operating procedure under Nixon. For example, G. Gordon Liddy has twice testified in court proceedings that he was approached to murder investigative reporter Jack Anderson at the behest of the CIA. This is fascinating stuff which deserves a book of its own, since the true depths of corruption under Nixon have never been systematically investigated, with the mainstream media content to look at only one of the most trivial aspects of the whole mess, the Watergate break-in.
Anyway, this is just a set-up to demonstrate that the powers-that-be in the US are not above rubbing out troublemakers. Constantine follows this with a muddled chapter that talks about FBI surveillance of 'subversives' and the CIA's illegal Operation CHAOS, which destabilized radical groups in the US through techniques that included framing for murder. In the middle of this, Constantine quickly looks at the strange deaths of
the Byrds' two guitarists (within two months of each other) and even throws in a parenthetical aside about Jim Croce's death.
There follows a brief chapter showing that a Mafioso and a veteran of the OSS (the CIA's forerunner) were largely responsible for creating the Top 40 radio format. Then Constantine points out the heavy CIA involvement in the rise of LSD--as well as PCP and STP--in the counterculture.
It's around this point that the connections in a web involving Timothy Leary, Kenneth Anger, Charles Manson, intelligence operatives, and a plethora of rock musicians--from the world-famous to those known only by aficionados of the music of this period--becomes so amazingly Byzantine that I can't even follow it myself, never mind summarize it in this review. Although Constantine does reveal shady circumstances around a lot of performers' deaths, this book goes much deeper than that. We learn all
kinds of things, including that Errol Flynn was an "avid admirer of Hitler," Beach Boy Dennis Wilson claimed in a San Francisco Chronicle article that he and Manson co-founded the Family, and the Hell's Angels have attempted to kill the Rolling Stones at least twice.
{CONTINUED BELOW...}
(Edited by PB to fix syntax with a couple of URLs)
The Covert War Against Rock
Alex Constantine
Los Angeles, CA: Feral House (0-922915-61-X), 2000
In The Covert War Against Rock, we have researcher Alex Constantine doing what he does best: trashing our preconceived notions of recent political history by assembling a jigsaw puzzle made up of declassified documents, court transcripts, quotes from the participants themselves, and forgotten or ignored articles from the mainstream media. This time, his target is the world of rock music (and, to a lesser extent, rap and reggae), specifically the roles played by government intelligence and the Mob.
"The central revelation of this volume is the fact that the Central Intelligence Agency and Organized Crime have, for over thirty years, engaged in a program to silence popular musicians whose influence subverts the cynical thought control tactics of American government and media." The power elite of the US, as represented by intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies "takes a dim view of critics in the music industry, particularly young 'communards' who advocate demilitarization, dread-locked musicians standing up for their rights, or street Thugs who condemn police violence and suggest shooting back."
The book starts off with some background on the turbulent period of the very late 1960s through mid-1970s, particularly the reign of Richard Nixon. Constantine presents intriguing evidence that political assassination was standard operating procedure under Nixon. For example, G. Gordon Liddy has twice testified in court proceedings that he was approached to murder investigative reporter Jack Anderson at the behest of the CIA. This is fascinating stuff which deserves a book of its own, since the true depths of corruption under Nixon have never been systematically investigated, with the mainstream media content to look at only one of the most trivial aspects of the whole mess, the Watergate break-in.
Anyway, this is just a set-up to demonstrate that the powers-that-be in the US are not above rubbing out troublemakers. Constantine follows this with a muddled chapter that talks about FBI surveillance of 'subversives' and the CIA's illegal Operation CHAOS, which destabilized radical groups in the US through techniques that included framing for murder. In the middle of this, Constantine quickly looks at the strange deaths of
the Byrds' two guitarists (within two months of each other) and even throws in a parenthetical aside about Jim Croce's death.
There follows a brief chapter showing that a Mafioso and a veteran of the OSS (the CIA's forerunner) were largely responsible for creating the Top 40 radio format. Then Constantine points out the heavy CIA involvement in the rise of LSD--as well as PCP and STP--in the counterculture.
It's around this point that the connections in a web involving Timothy Leary, Kenneth Anger, Charles Manson, intelligence operatives, and a plethora of rock musicians--from the world-famous to those known only by aficionados of the music of this period--becomes so amazingly Byzantine that I can't even follow it myself, never mind summarize it in this review. Although Constantine does reveal shady circumstances around a lot of performers' deaths, this book goes much deeper than that. We learn all
kinds of things, including that Errol Flynn was an "avid admirer of Hitler," Beach Boy Dennis Wilson claimed in a San Francisco Chronicle article that he and Manson co-founded the Family, and the Hell's Angels have attempted to kill the Rolling Stones at least twice.
{CONTINUED BELOW...}
(Edited by PB to fix syntax with a couple of URLs)
;DT.I - wow - that was incredible. Thanks so much for sharing it with us !!!