Oh yes, the list could have been a whole lot longer.
A lot of British and European artists have had problems with alcohol- I wouldn't deny that- but there's a whole masculity package (booze, violence, sex, chest-beating and muscle-flexing) that's peculiarly American.
Though it does intersect with an Irish package that has similar features.
I think the difference could be that the Irish substitute religion for the chest-beating and muscle-flexing.
There was also a pan-national culture of artistic booziness that flourished in the 1950s which had a lot to do (I reckon) with the post-World War II blues.
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Date: 2007-05-14 11:44 am (UTC)A lot of British and European artists have had problems with alcohol- I wouldn't deny that- but there's a whole masculity package (booze, violence, sex, chest-beating and muscle-flexing) that's peculiarly American.
Though it does intersect with an Irish package that has similar features.
I think the difference could be that the Irish substitute religion for the chest-beating and muscle-flexing.
There was also a pan-national culture of artistic booziness that flourished in the 1950s which had a lot to do (I reckon) with the post-World War II blues.