OS93: Mean Old World

It’s been just about a year since Professor Mikey pulled out an Old School podcast entitled Brave New World. You can dial it up anytime anywhere you get your podcasts. I bring this up only because there are those who may think this particular episode is flying just a little too close to the 21st Century sunshine in tone and manner. Like Icarus singing “Here Comes the Sun” after a long cold lonely winter, this particular theme may indeed get singed wings and a quick trip down to terra firma.Enough similes and beatitudes. The theme for Old School episode 93 is MEAN OLD WORLD.Most of us need no convincing that there is a lot of meanness afoot. Not rudeness, not antipathy, just plain old rotten meanness. The kind you get from a portion of the population made up of jerks, tightwads, miscreants, lost loves, and bill collectors.So how can a set of music temper the ill effects of a Mean Old World. It ain’t easy, but this Old School lesson plan will try.Exhibit A.Humans are wired with what psychologists call negativity bias. Bad news grabs our attention faster than good news because, evolutionarily, ignoring danger could get you eaten by a tiger.So the brain remembers insults, losses, and dangers much more vividly than pleasant moments.Which leads to the famous newsroom rule: “If it bleeds, it leads.”Turn on the news from commercial radio, a source that fears for it’s FCC license. Or from public radio, an outlet that can no longer rely on government funding to supplement the truth.Media coverage amplifies that paranoid instinct we all share, focusing on disasters, war, and the price of eggs, rather than slow improvements. Over time that creates the feeling that everything is going to shit—even when many long-term indicators are improving.Then there is declinism–the belief that society is going to hell in a handbasket. For a long time now, at least ever since we began receiving instant news, we feel everything used to be better. So nostalgia and the love of old time rock and roll becomes even more important.Another weird fact. Where most people feel the world as a whole is getting worse, they feel their own lives will improve.Today we are going to spin tunes much older than that. Cautionary hits and deep cuts from more hopeful times. Are times better now than when these joints dropped. It is too heavy for me, that’s why I hide in an imaginary radio school with the curtains drawn and the volume cranked. We begin with a little show and tell from two honor students.Duane Allman plays a 1930s Dobro/Regal wooden-body resonator guitar using a Coricidin bottle for a slide. Eric Clapton accompanies him on acoustic guitar, with both playing in open G tuning.Welcome to Professor Mikey’s Old School, this is episode 93. Mean Old World.Mean Old World - Little WalterKing Heroin (Inst) - James BrownMean Old World - Duane Allman & Eric ClaptonMean Woman Blues - Roy OrbisonMama He Treats Your Daughter Mean - Ruth BrownMean and Evil - Elmore JamesMe and the Devil - Gil Scott-HeronEvil - Howlin’ WolfMean to Me - Dean MartinMean Mr. Mustard - The BeatlesKilling Floor - Electric FlagLonesome, On’ry, and Mean - Waylon JenningsWorld of Trouble - Big Joe TurnerMean When I’m Mad - Eddie CochranThe Unknown Soldier - The DoorsWar - Edwin StarrMean Old World - Sam CookeEnjoy the Silence - Depeche ModeCruel to be Kind - Nick LoweProfessor Mikey here, getting ready to put a cap on the nasty and draw the shades temporarily on Episode 93 of Old School, Mean Old World. It gets really mean out there, but the music can smooth those cosmic rough edges, especially with songs like our closer from Nick Lowe. A true cure for a world gone mean.If you are curious about the songs you just heard, you can listen to this podcast again anywhere you get your podcasts. The playlist is actually written down on the Old School newsletter which you can ready or subscribe to for free anytime at professormikey.substack.com.This episode had its share of samples and easter eggs along the way, including clips from the movie Devils Advocate with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves, the instrumental background to James Brown’s “King Heroin,” Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men,” a real Coca Cola commercial with Roy Orbison, Kevin Spacey in “The Usual Suspects,” James Spader in the TV Series The Blacklist now available on Netflix, HBO’s series The Sopranos, The David Letterman Show with guest star Eminem, and US Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Any and all music heard resides within the public domain or is used within the guidelines of fair use provided for in Section 107 of the copyright act of 1976.I’m Professor Mikey, join me next time on Old School. It gets really mean out there, but the music can smooth those cosmic rough edges, especially with songs like our closer from Nick Lowe. A true cure for a world gone mean.Here’s the link from our most recent world view:Thanks for reading and listening to Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe