#thebadguys
@[G] you instigated me, and now to stop me you must shoot me...
John Phillips -"Drum"
“Polemos is the father of all things” (Heraclitus)
Isn't evil the true engine of the Universe? A peaceful world would be a dead world.
But instead of boring you with trivial philosophical musings, here’s a little story I was saving for a rainy day… (when I found the time and the motivation to tell it properly).
He is Papa John Philips, and if his name doesn’t ring a bell, think of “California Dreamin’.”
That’s right, the Mamas & Papas….
The California dream, the flower children, universal love… and a crystalline, sunny pop. Too bad the group breaks up over a story of infidelity!
Okay, John is the main mind and continues solo, putting out an album that is a masterpiece: “John, The Wolf King Of L.A.”. Then he releases a couple more nice ones, but this one! This is a Perfect Pop Album! Beautiful.
Our Papa John is also generous enough to gift his friend Scott Mackenzie that “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” which will become his biggest hit (and one of the best-selling records of all time).
So what’s the dark side lurking behind all this?
It’s a love story (love, yes), a diseased, deformed, unacceptable love, because it is directed towards his underage daughter, Mackenzie (a name that recurs). He introduces her to drugs and subjugates her (but her sister, on the other hand, says she was willing) for a whole ten years.
Then Mackenzie gets pregnant….
Now this story I will need to tell better than this because it deserves it, because it’s more complicated than it seems (it’s incredible, it’s absurd, but it’s a love story), because it raises some questions.
For now, let’s just listen to that crystalline, sunny, clear pop album. Perfect!
And be astounded knowing what dark abyss enveloped it.