[King of Snake]

Originally Posted by pandamagic

actually the stewardess bit didn't really register as problematic to me at all. what rubs me the wrong way is how banal iggy's rant is. like - you used to be able to smoke on a plane, and now you can't? that's it?

Well someone brought up the word "sexist" so that's what I responded to.
Anyway, of course everyone is entitled to their opinion and it's always fun to try and dissect Underworld tracks.
For me the track, or at least Iggy's part is about having fun, doing what you want, being perhaps a bit rebellious. All these things should not be alien to people immersed in dance-music culture like us Underworld fans. Hedonism and escapism was always a big part of that. He speaks about more things than just the smoking on the airplane but I actually like how he zooms in on this banal detail when he remembers having fun, feeling good back in his day, and contrasting this with perhaps today, where some of these things are no longer possible (smoking on the airplane) or at least frowned upon (hitting on a stewardess).
Obviously UW saw that too, hence the repetition of the phrases "Smoking on the airplane" and "You can't do that".

It's not like UW's lyrics don't often do the same thing. "Lager lager lager"... Karl loves to zoom in on banal little details of the world, and in the context of the music they take on different meanings. Of course where Karl's lyrics came from a darker place, at least back then, Iggy here seems to recall details of those days with some fondness.

is this supposed to be some kind of elegy for the 70s when you could be as insensitive as you wanted without repercussions? cause that's a bit suspect coming from someone famous and privileged enough to have enjoyed self-indulgence with impunity during a decade that was really shitty for a lot of other kinds of people.

Well, which part do you find "insensitive"? Smoking was not considered as bad as it is today back in the 70's. As he says in the track: "everyone was doing it". Also, I'm sure every decade has been really shitty for some group of people but what does that have to do with anything? While we are dancing our asses off to Underworld, other people in the world have nothing to eat. You, me, all of us here are priviliged in the extreme compared to most other people in the world. Are we then not supposed to enjoy our lives anymore? I'm sure Iggy worked hard for his success and fame and loads of people love his music. And he probably has had enough difficult times as well (remember Lust for Life is about fighting heroin addiction) so who are we to judge the guy's "privilige". As far as I'm concerned he can do whatever he wants to make himself feel good as long as it doesn't come at the direct detriment to other people.

and if its supposed to be self-parody of rock-star ego well then its just too subtle to register and that's entirely the fault of the creators. there's no give-away that leads us to that interpretation.

I don't think it's a self parody. I think he's genuine. He's not taking himself too seriously, but that's not the same as parody. Of course all these big rock star types turn into a bit of a parody of themselves at some point (if they survive long enough), but that's part of why people like rock stars I guess. They're supposed to be larger than life.