Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote, Unquote “I remember thinking, ‘this can be done. I can do that.’” -Billy Joel, singer, on the Beatles Zte (5mmck Serving the Carolina Corrmjnity since 1908 Editorial Board Miranda LaLonde • Editor in Chief Ann Marie Miani • Managing Editor Pete Johnson • Viewpoints Editor John Huiett • News Editor Stupid or deceptive: please cast your vote With the Republican National Convention taking place next week and the De mocratic National Convention not far behind, both parties are exhibiting either baf fling choices for its host city or blatant hypocrisy in preparation for its conven tion. For the Republicans, choosing Philadelphia as their host city is almost public relations suicide. As a notoriously labor-union-focused city, and with labor unions historically in the back pocket of the Democrats, the Republican Party is just beg ging for trouble. Imagine a citywide bus or security guard strike, throwing the city into chaos and giving Democrats ample opportunity to say something along the lines of, "the Republicans can’t even hold a city together for a night, let alone the coun try for four years." As for the Democrats, the party’s pre-convention cleanup attempts reek be yond the stench of the homeless and stray animal waste they are seeking to cover up. While the party espouses societal responsibility to the collective homeless, and raising the welfare of animals to a level almost mimicking divinity, they ap parently find both pieces of evidence of their societal sensitivity closer to eyesores than proof of Los Angeles’ need to reach out with kindness to the defenseless drunks sleeping on the comers and puppies and kittens littering the streets. The party has effectively seen to it that both the homeless and the strays were rounded up and shipped out of the city, ironically out of eyeshot of a media machine in bed with Democrats almost as much as the labor unions are. The Republican choice of Philadelphia borders on the unforgivably boneheaded. The Democrats’ flagrant cosmetic cover-up of two favorite left-wing issues re veals more about them than one is ever likely to hear from anyone other than AM radio talk show hosts. The most disturbing aspect of both parties’ behavior is that one of them is go ing to be running the country for at least the next four years. Let’s hope that each have the capacity to govern with more forethought and honesty than they have demonstrated in putting their respective conventions together._ About Us Address The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia. SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 Advertising and Classified 777-3888 Fax >77-6482 Office 777-3888 Newsroom 777-7726 E-mail Editor gcked@sc.edu News gamecocknews@hotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Etc. gamecocketcetera@hptmail.com Sports gamecocksports@hotmail.com Submission Poucy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from ail members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250 300 words. Guest columns should be an opinion piece of about 600-700 words. Both must include name, phone number, pro fessional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten sub missions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333. E-mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation.The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published. Photos are required for guest columnist and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. The Gamecock s the student newspaper ot The University of South Carolina and is published Monday. Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesterc and nme times during the summer with the exception ot university holidays and ecam periods. Opinions expressed n The Gamecock are those ot the editors or author and not those ot The University of South Carolra. The Board of Student Publications and Communcations s the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media s the newspaper s parent organization The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities tees. THE GAMECOCK Miranda LaLonde Edita in Chief Ann Marie Miani Managing Edita Features Edita John Huiett News Edita Pete Johnson Viewpoints Edita Stuoent Media Ellen Parsons Directa Susan King Creative Directa Kenton Watt Advertising Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Sherry Holmes Classified Manager Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Jeff Romig Sports Editor Jacquelyn Poston Copy Desk Chief Photo Editor Sean Rayford Photo Editor Will Gillaspy Online Edita Jonathan Dunagin Graduate Assistant Todd Hooks Creative Services Brantley Roper Gina MeKeIvey Robyn Gombar Melissa Millen Advertising Staff Washington Post "IF WE LOSE A MULTimUOfMtfUAR UWSOIT WE WflUWPEir j! i maps m/ pecisioi | Llra&*eJ Arrtxus$iiH6 TO oOKz 2>xa>a Social Issues Will we still need them when we re 64 r This week, VH1 and En tertainment Weekly voted the Beatles’ appearance on “The Ed Sulli van Show” as the number one top moment in televi sion entertainment history out of a list of 100. This follows last week’s vote by a panel of world-fa mous musicians, including the likes Pete Johnson is .a journalism senior and view points editor. He can be. reached at gamecock viewpoints@hot mail.com of Bob Dylan and Brian Wilson, on the number one pop song of all time. Not surprisingly, the winner was a Beatles song - the autobiographical John Lennon classic, “In My Life,” off of their 1965 album, Rubber Soul. In case there was any doubt, this proves once and for all that the Beatles are infallible. Yes, the Beatles are probably the most popular band of all time. To this day, they have legions of adoring fans across the world. But there are still some who don’t get it. Whether it is because they are try ing to go against the grain, or maybe just a general dislike for British bands, amaz ingly, Beatle haters have been an ever present phenomena. To a certain extent, I can understand where they are coming from. I mean, let’s face it; Beatlemania was pretty much the same kind of pathetic, pre-teen boy crazi ness that N’Sync and Backstreet Boy fans display today. However, I sincerely doubt that ei ther N’Sync or the Backstreet Boys will one day decide they are unsatisfied singing sappy love songs, expand their minds (drugs optional), experiment with their sound and change the face of music for ever. Hey, if you sold a million records on the first day your album came out, you wouldn’t change your sound either. It is easy to draw comparisons be tween the early music of the Beatles and the music of today’s boy bands. Most of the Beatles’ early tunes were about girls - and girls flocked to their shows to scream their heads off until they passed out, not bothering to listen to a single note because, hey, they were just so damn cute - in a bad teeth, British kinda way. You can see the same kind of pre-pu bescent mania with today’s boy bands. Maybe they do have better teeth, but flu oride is a common thing these days, and I hear your teeth have to be impeccable to be in the Mickey Mouse Club. Any way, if you took a look inside an arena during an N’Sync or Backstreet Boys con cert, the majority of the audience woulc be screaming, pre-pubescent girls and the rest, their parents (many wondering where they went wrong) who were draggec along because their daughters are toe young to drive. Still, there are many who resist lis tening to the Beatles for a variety of rea sons. In high school, I believed that the Beatles were overrated, and I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. I guess that I wouldn’t give my par ents the satisfaction of complimenting my taste in music. Someday, we all real ize that maybe our parents taste in mu sic isn’t entirely that bad. Whether you like them or not, with out bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and other, more under-appreciat ed artists like Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, the Who, David Bowie and the Velvet Underground, your favorite band likely wouldn’t exist today. Anu no mauei now auamam yuu aie against the old, lame music your parents listen to, you know deep within your heart that Kid Rock wants to be Mick Jagger. You have a sneaking suspicion that Eminem and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst were first drawn to rap when their dads put Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues on the turntable back in their toddler days in the trailer park. And just about every pop group in the past 30 years wish they could con sistently string together hit after hit like Lennon and McCartney did. Well, all you need is love. Maybe mom and dad aren’t so out of touch after all.