Sweeping it Under the Carpet

Rip It Up, Issue 227, 1 July 1996, Page 7

Sweeping it Under the Carpet

Mr Cammick, Don’t be putting racism or racial issues into this magazine. The last thing we need is a gang of snot-nosed grunge kids and a posse of tryhard homegeeks slinging insults across the letters page. i Don’t get me wrong... I’m not coming out against Leonie (Letters, June issue), because she was only being defensive? Point is, she shouldn’t have had to be.

Melissa was only reacting in the same way. Freedom of speech, I vehemently believe in, but if you’re just going to print every letter that lands on your desk, you should fire yourself, because you’re not doing your job. I’m also not saying you can completely divorce the colour issue from the rap versus rock debate, and I know how it feels when the music you passionately love is abused. It just seems to me the battle lines have been drawn in the wrong place. No ‘alternative’ kid is going to tell me Green Day and Rage Against the Machine are better than Ice T or Cypress Hill, and no homey will tell me Snoop Doggy Dog and Toni Braxton are worth two cents while they dis Rollins Band or Soundgarden without me laughing in their shallow, pitiful faces. Fact is, there is shit on both sides, but if y’all get a bit colourblind for a while, you’ll see there’s some damn fine sounds there too.

And you, Mr C, could show a bit of discretion when you choose what words you slap onto the pages of this gem of . a music mag. Please. Jamin, Underground Locust Yard, South Auckland.