In Poor Taste

As a long-time subscriber to Uncut magazine, what I thought was one of the most intelligent music and film magazines out of the UK, I was very disappointed when the July 2006 issue arrived on my doorstep. Two months ago, Uncut changed their format and look to compete with Q, or other magazines of that ilk--read, "not as smart". Now they have this pointless column listing the 10 worst songs of a particular genre on one page, and when you flip to the next page, there's a list of the 10 best songs of that same genre (just more of those stupid ranking lists polluting magazines these days). The topic of the lists this month is "Protest Songs." Their third worst protest song is "Give Peace A Chance", which in and of itself is fine. I'm all for free-speech and opinions, etc., so hating that song is not an issue. The issue is with their commentary about the song. It consists of two sentences: "That MC (I don't type out his name). Was he really so bad?"

I threw down the magazine and began pacing through the house ranting and raving about the idiots at Uncut stooping so low as to joke about the murder of one of the most beloved artists in history. They could have joked about Yoko, Lord knows that happens all the time; they could have joked about John & Yoko's political views, peace campaign--you name it. They did not have to use hyperbole to illustrate how much they hate that song-- insinuating that John deserved to die for writing and recording it! There is no humour to be found in that. John's murderer took a father and husband from his family and a man who inspired so much happiness, love, and beauty from the rest of us.

Do you think that Uncut's comment was in poor taste? What would you do if you were a subscriber--would you cancel your subscription, write a well-thought out letter that doesn't make you sound like a crazy John fan, or what? Would you just overlook it? Please leave me some comments and offer some advice. I know I won't be renewing my subscription next year.