In 1996 Tricky released his third album, Pre-Millennium Tension. Then the whole Y2K bug hysteria blew over and we all lived happily ever after. Psyche! There are still bugs and glitches - maybe more than ever. And there are hackers, crackers, cracker-jackers, phreakers, sneakers ... sorry, I'm getting carried away. I know Tricky's better than me when it comes to spitting rhymes.
Anyhoo, the whole album is full of paranoia, discomfort, and doom - if you don't believe me you can check Wikipedia. If you don't trust Wikipedia, well, join the club ;) Or you can decide for yourself. Here's a taste:
I was fascinated when I first heard this line from "Tricky Kid": "everybody wants to be naked and famous." It's a popular ambition for kids to be famous someday, even if they don't care what they're famous for. Some would be happy to be infamous! And then there's the naked part. You can interpret that to mean anything from literally to figuratively naked, and it's the figurative that fascinates me. Naked can imply honesty, vulnerability, apathy - lotsa stuff, really. As far as the internet goes, I think people want to get to a point where they have countless friends (or "friends") and don't worry who they offend, who sees their nipples, or what information gets leaked or money gets stolen.
When I listen to "Tricky Kid," the desire to be "naked and famous" feels like an ugly disease. Isn't it better to be happy, or kind, or an asset to society? But too often I think we fantasize about fame, wealth, power, and/or comfort. I've written about it before, and I don't mean to beat a dying horse, but ... mo' money -> mo' problems? How do you count and measure problems? Why do rich and powerful people whine? Why do we let them? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind ... (btw, I may be a bigger fan of Jay-Z than Bob Dylan.)
I don't really know how to wrap this up without trailing off again, but here goes: my advice to anyone who might be reading this is to give Pre-Millennium Tension a try, buy it if you like it, and then take a walk :)
