Here at hecklerspray, we don’t have a motto. But if we did, it’d be "Your heroes always let you down". Well, either that or "That rash won’t clear up if you keep touching it", although that one’s a bit less relevant.
Anyway, heroes letting you down. Where to start? Johnny Rotten mincing about in the woods? David Bowie‘s career since 1980? Pele doing those erectile dysfunction adverts?
The biggest catalyst for helping these people to
make fools of themselves has been reality TV. It’s tarnished the
careers of a huge amount of celebrities, from Bez to, um, Les Dennis.
Nobody has slid such a heartbreaking distance down the reality TV dumper than Flavor Flav. Back in the late eighties and early ninties, Public Enemy released three scorching albums full of political fury and righteous anger. These albums, Yo! Bumrush The Show, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back and Fear Of A Black Planet still hold up to repeated listening today, and Public Enemy are still firmly held in the lineage of The MC5, The Clash and Rage Against The Machine as revolutionary rock and roll bands.
True,
for the last 15 years, Public Enemy have been aiming for those same
heights, and mostly falling short. But their spirit has been kept alive
by their leader, Chuck D. Here we have a man who bleeds integrity and authority, the man who wrote Fight The Power and still writes thoughtful, powerful articles for various publications.
Balancing out this onslaught of intelligence was Flavor Flav, a man who wore a big clock around hisYeahhhh Bwoyy!" a lot. But even he managed to come up with 911 Is A Joke, an attack on the length of time emergency services take to arrive at black neighbourhoods.
And then last year he appeared on American TV show The Surreal Life, where he basically wriggled around naked in a hot tub with Brigitte Nielsen. He was such a freakshow hit that another series was made, Strange Love, where
Flavor dresses up as a viking and tries to woo Brigitte. And,
tragically, has a big fight with his six estranged children. "He’s a
jester, she’s a fox. She likes smoking, he likes clocks" is the theme
tune, by the way.
And now Chuck D has had enough too. In a posting on his website, he writes "His
character and private issues are being trashed in front of millions
for the mere sake of profit and ratings… To
showcase the troubling conflict between his kids and ex is uncalled
for, and we can’t stand by it."
Even Public Enemy’s fans are asking for Flav to be kicked out of the group, though this is unlikely.
Like we said, your heroes always let you down. Now just don’t get us started on Vanessa Feltz…
flava says
Flaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavor flaaaaaaaav
shamrock says
flava has falen from grace, it’s obvious he’s doing it for the money alone despite the trade\off