Dom Kureen returns. Guest opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. Ed
Twerking is the greatest ‘new’ dance fad since Psy brought his ‘Gangnam Style’ horseplay into the public consciousness.
Not your move Miley
Credit must go to Miley Cyrus, the former child prodigy, who popularised a move typically associated with destitute African-American women, whilst in the process being labelled an innovator. It seems that Ronnie Biggs and his motley crew of train robbers had nothing on the lax-tongued singer, who turned 21 yesterday.
It’s not the first and certainly won’t be the last time that one person pilfers the brainchild of another, besides, anyone brought up in the shadow of a mullet like the one that adorned the crown of Miley’s papa, former country music superstar Billy Ray Cyrus, probably deserves to be cut some slack.
Everything is borrowed
The real issue is that centuries of existence have left us with a dearth of available originality. How many different ways can chords be arranged? What taboos have yet to be broken? What haircuts are left to try?
Pink Floyd’s troubled genius, Syd Barrett, got so fed up with it all that he resorted to rapidly insufflating as many mind-bending psychedelic drugs as he could, quickly frazzling a once beautiful mind, as the lights permanently went out. I’m sure whatever reality thereafter absorbed the marshes of his psyche was easier to reside within than the world that had so consumed his joy in the first place.
Soak it in
More worryingly, I recently realised that one writer affiliated with a local publication, who I’ll call Scarlett Tofton, made moaning popular on these shores long before I expressed the occasional grievance, with her critical observations about litter bins and school uniforms (or whatever opposes the logical/popular viewpoint.) This is cutting, provocative stuff.
As a species, we’re surrounded by interpretations of truth, so inevitably large chunks of it get soaked into the soul. It’s part of the reason that I don’t really blame people for thinking burgundy skinny jeans and Ugg boots look good on a man, we have this nonsense forced into our brains from all angles, so unless you live under the sea you’re likely to be affected.
A redundant argument
So, what the hell does any of this have to do with Twerking? I sat through a couple arguing about bouncing buttocks for almost an hour recently, the man eventually persuading his partner that Cyrus had stolen the move, rendering her recent success a sham – Yes these are apparently the things to get hot under the collar about.
He was telling the truth, but simultaneously exposed himself as having missed the point. The 99p shop copied the £1 shop, snipping a penny off for good measure. Virgin Megastore copied HMV. Peter Kay said all the things other comedians had already said and so on.
Mitigation for imitation
As Louis Armstrong sang: “Everything’s been done before”, even Cyrus’ scene stealing shake that some uninitiated continue to laud as a shift of paradigms.
That doesn’t mean we can’t be happy with repackaged material, although, as regular readers will know, I do draw the line at abhorrent boy bands desecrating legendary songs with creepy karaoke – No danger of that here, a simple dance move couldn’t inflict any further damage on the stature of a loathsome creature such as Robin Thicke… But that’s another story.
Image: Whatleydude under CC BY 2.0
