Sun Down, Smoke Out

[Restless]

Watch out, Gordy! They're coming for YOU with their big erasers!

"Capitol Records have air-brushed cigarettes from an original picture featured on the cover of a Beatles four-CD box set, in a bid to fit in with more health-conscious times. The Capitol Albums Vol 2...will see the Fab Four's former tobacco habit and TWO OF RINGO STARR'S FINGERS magically erased."

Apparently, TOLERANCE doesn't pertain to Christians or smokers!

[Borderstone]

Hmmm..editing out the cigarettes?

Ah...GOOD!! Erase 'em all,I say.

Early apologoiess to those who wont agree but as someone who lost a father to lung cancer that's just how I feel.

[New 12 String Mike]

The same thing shows on the Simon and Garfunkel Old Friends collection. This isn't the recent live recording, but a digital remaster of the records.

The cover shows Art and Paul sitting on a stage floor. Paul's fingers are posed to hold a cigarette and the cigarette is missing. I know the photo, so I know there was one there... once.

I'm a non-smoker myself, but I think it odd to alter 30+ year-old photos that show artists in their younger days smoking.

Oh well...

[DJ in MJ]

Originally posted by New 12 String Mike:
I'm a non-smoker myself, but I think it odd to alter 30+ year-old photos that show artists in their younger days smoking.

I'm a (now) non-smoker also, and I agree with Mike. Sure, keeping today's photos "clean" is sending a good message to young people, but 30 years ago smoking was part of the culture, and this is part of how we have lived, learned, and evolved through those years.

I believe the message can be made stronger by leaving those old photos alone and providing a comparison, rather than brushing the offending stuff away and denying its existence.

Hey, I've had my smoking and drinking days, so I speak with first hand experience, but what the heck do I know? I've forgotten most of it anyway. :D

[charlene]

[quote]Originally posted by David (djb):

Originally posted by New 12 String Mike:

I believe the message can be made stronger by leaving those old photos alone and providing a comparison, rather than brushing the offending stuff away and denying its existence.

Hey, I've had my smoking and drinking days, so I speak with first hand experience, but what the heck do I know? I've forgotten most of it anyway. :D

I agree....a valuable lesson can be taught to the young'uns....I never smoked but know that 'airbrushing' realities of history doesn't make them "not exist."

Char

[vlmagee]

I don't agree - not popular here on Corfid, but that's how it is. My son is 21. He smokes. He knows it's bad, but he started - got hooked - and hasn't been able to stop. I'm sure that a combination of direct peer pressure and the subtle influences of our culture are the reason he took it up in the first place. The fewer "stars" the next generation sees holding cigarettes, the fewer positive reinforcements for what is a deadly habit.

So, if you want to collect the old version of the picture, that's fine, but I would prefer to see new CD artwork without the cigarettes. When somebody's kid - rather than parent - ends up with a lung ailment because of smoking, it won't seem so "historical".

[DJ in MJ]

Not popular? Hardly.

Valerie's comments are an excellent counterpoint to my post, as her own feelings and beliefs come from first hand experience too.

I really hope your son can give up smoking one day. Starting was the dumbest thing I ever did, and quitting was the smartest thing I ever did.

Anytime we are talking about the health and well-being of a loved one, the argument is valid and I thank Valerie for a personal glimpse of the other side of peer pressure and cultural influences.

[charlene]

My 22 year old also took up smoking a few years ago. This was a boy who wouldn't even stand 20 feet near a person smoking outside! Yet his fathers behaviour and that of his peers had more influence on him than I could...and with alcohol as well. He couldn't stand the smell of beer either...his father's favourite beverage.
He does not smoke or drink anywhere near me as I told him that it makes me sick to think he's smart enuf to know better but CHOSE to partake in something so dangerous. The influence (good and bad) of those close to home is much stronger than that of a musician/movie star etc. I think. He's told me he started because "everyone else he knows was doing it."
And sadly that seems to be the case for a whole generation. This goes for drugs as well. My son and his peers also read a lot about musicians of the past who have musically influenced their favourite musicians....and all the 'sex/drugs/alcohol/rock and roll" escapades they went through....should those passages of historical stories be deleted? Their songs about those topics?
I'm sure that some have been influenced to a degree by celebrities but peer pressure makes kids do things beyond our imagination regardless of the influence otherwise at home.
And I also think he'd find it hypocritical for such whitewashing to be happening.....regardless if he smoked/drank or not.
They are invincible...like we were at that age....thankfully peer pressure was not an issue for me but I saw many a friend fall victim to it and suffer the rest of their lives for bad decisions made because of it.
just my thoughts....
and I hope my son stops one day too - a few a day is still too many....
Char

[Borderstone]

It may have becaome part of the culture then but remember,that was only through the tabacco companies lies and deceit to the American consumer.

Especially paying wads of money to the stars for endorsing and using their product on camera!

From movie idols and TV stars ranging from Lucy & Desi to Fred and Barney in a B & W animated ad! Musicians smoking definetly sends out the worst message and/or image.

There's nothing cultural or cultured about putting a flaming rolled up paper stuffed with leaves in your mouth and it's smoldering waste falling down into your lungs. Period!

[Auburn Annie]

Here, here! My dad chain-smoked at work and pretty close to it when at home; he also like his martinis. But I never saw any romance in cigarettes. Actually it was my maternal grandfather's smoking, and subsequent emphysema, that put me off smoking completely. When you watch someone you love struggle for every breath - and still smoke - it is a definite turnoff. As for booze, more than two drinks and I'm sick, so that's sort of self-regulating.

i know about the old friends box set where paul simon's cigarette was airbrushed out cause i have that box set, also mccartney is holding a cigarette on the abbey road cover, haven't seen that one airbrushed out, but also gord is smoking on the back of cd2 in songbook while playing his 12

[BILLW]

anyone ever read the novel "1984" ? worth a read if you're interested in things of this nature.

Bill

[Cathy]

I've read it, although it was a long time ago. I'm just glad the world didn't end up the way it did in the book.

[DJ in MJ]

Great book, and while things didn't turn out that way per se, in today's reality it doesn't take much effort for the authorities to gather information on people if they wish to anyway. Any type of bank card or store card, telephone account info, actual phone calls, health card numbers etc - all easily traced.

(No, that's not a political rant - that's just the way the world is.)