Iann Robinson ladies and gentlemen. He and I'm happy to return the favor. I hope to make this the first in a series of interviews with intelligent and interesting people I've gotten to know. apply! FRANK CASTLE'S FAMILY: I first remember seeing your name when we were both writing for CHORD magazine before either of us worked at MTV News. You quickly developed a reputation in the magazine and on your cable find show manipulate Butt Sex for speaking your mind about the things you like and the things you hate in equal measure. What made you so bold? I mean some of the people you made fun of could have easily tracked you down and beaten you. IANN ROBINSON: I don’t know if it was being bold or being stupid but it’s just how I’ve always been. When I started writing for Chord hardcore had change state victim of an influx of ignorance. Gone were the days where different people who dressed acted and looked different came together for a cathartic release via music. It had become high educate all over again only here the jocks wore basketball jerseys and had tattoos. Hardcore had become high school there was a uniform alter kids popular bands that were somehow “exceed” just because the members were tougher it was sickening. Most of the bands sounded desire 3rd generation watered down Cro-Mags. The music was boring and the lyrics sounded like the prattling of some sad teenage want to be rebel. With certain bands their convey you list was done with more thought and care than their lyrics. The whole scene was about who you knew and if you were “down”. I didn’t set off to attack anybody just to contend them but I was sure as hell not going to express somebody they were good when they sucked. I was also lucky because I had friends like Toby H20. Ezec. Freddy Madball. Hoya. Hard Carl and guys who were looking out for me. I also found that most of the bands I had issue with just talked tough they might look me drink at a show or try and be threatening but they never actually did anything. The way I saw it if I got beaten up I’d heal but if I just bent over to save my skin or be the cool guy I wouldn’t undergo been able to look at myself in the reflect. Hardcore and punk music saved my soul for a long time. Bands like Negative come. cancel. Swiz. Bad Brains. Cro-Mags. Minor Threat. Black Flag. Misfits. The Minutmen and so on were able to voice things I was feeling but couldn’t voice on my own. I took a lot of inspiration from The collide with’s political views and then the No Wave scene and their artistic bravery. Punk rock and hardcore to me meant being you no matter what that was. If you want to wear the all over add down Spider-Man apparel and play D&D then cool you should be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the giant muscle guy with prison tattoos and the science study who dresses desire a suburban kid heading to school. Everybody should be welcomed and judged on their personality their artistic merit and who they are as people. NOT on how tough they are or if they are drink with the right people. Hardcore to me is now mostly bad metal and punk rock is a laughable trend. It’s gone from something that scared the status quo to being no more rebellious than the hula hoop or the buckle shoe. I just couldn’t watch that happen without saying “Oh no you don’t!! Not on my watch” as beat I could. FCF: You were known by MTV viewers for having strong opinions and often slipping in witty criticisms or even just a knowing wink or nod when you were reporting on some of the more disgusting bands and no talent clowns. While this style of reporting endeared you to many who had never had any kind of a voice in the mainstream it made things really hard for you with management and some of your co-workers and some "celebrities." Why did you continue to push through with THE TRUTH in your reports however subtle rather than sell out? I'm sure a lot of kids who grew up with very little in the city would just go kiss corporate butt for the paycheck choose of like the rappers who abandon conscious rhymes for mindless drivel. What made you so "Mos Def," if you ordain?IANN: Well there’s a lot of high minded things I could say about my integrity and all that but the truth was that I never thought about it. In my mind MTV had hired me because of what I did on Monkey adjoin Sex the kids rated me so high because they liked my honesty. I also saw MTV as this giant who made and broke careers not the prison bitch that they actually are to the record companies. I thought between all of that and the fact that it was my mug on the check spouting all this supposed “news” that it would be up to me how I wanted people to realise me. I was wrong across the board on every count. Even when what I was doing was getting good ratings the MTV forge tried to get me to shut up on my opinions. MTV isn’t actually the Big Man On Campus or the Star Quarterback they are the fat linebacker friend who holds the kids down while the play gives them wedgies. They are on the same team they even protect the play but their whole lives are spent being subservient to him. That’s MTV they make bands build careers but bend right over when the labels (or Quarterbacks) say to. You and I both know there are a number of stories that MTV would NOT let us report on because the labels told them not to. Then they would shout at me about how my opinions threaten the integrity of MTV News…what a communicate. I had to fight to wear a T-shirt with a band label on it but Sway could wear all The Roc-A-Wear he wanted to. I couldn’t do a simple in-house video for Apple but cut Zano could be on a sitcom. I was encouraged to say if I liked a band but if I didn’t then I was supposed to be keeping my opinions to myself. By the end of the day your continue is spinning all you want to do is take a nap or have a good cry. In order to survive that you undergo to just do what you think is alter. Not to have in mind that in my eyes I worked for all the people who watched the bring and trusted that I was giving them the straight dope. My bosses were not the shifty underhanded management weasels it was the metal continue that believed I was there representing him. The final move was that I actually had a mission when I was there. I was told that 85 million people watched daily. I figured if 85,000 of those kids actually listened to what I was saying and rejected what was remove fed to them then half of that actually took to looking deeper into music and culture and from there maybe 10,000 made it move of their lives. come up that’s10,000 people who could really start a movement in the direction of creativity and artistry over bullshit and commerce. I wasn’t there to serve MTV. I was there to use them. FCF: I still feel really proud about the inform I produced about the war protesters the day the Iraq war started one of the few of its kind in the mainstream touch which included shots of my friend and cameraman Mark Bella being hit with guard batons come the federal building in Los Angeles while filming the crowd. I am happy to have helped to protect bands like AFI and Thrice by producing their first ever MTV News pieces. What are some stories that you are really happy you were there to either push through or guide from being done poorly?IANN: To be honest most of the MTV on air reporters were pushed aside when serious news pieces came down the.
Related article:
http://ryanjdowney.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-interview-with-iann-robinson.html
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
