Metal at the Smithsonian

What metal artifacts from the 1970s-1990s belong in the Smithsonian?

The Mothership — the iconic stage prop made famous by legendary funk collective Parliament-Funkadelic — has been acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture where it will help anchor a permanent music exhibition when the museum opens its doors in 2015.

[…]

It isn’t the original Mothership. This 1,200-pound aluminum spacecraft was built in the mid-’90s — an indistinguishable replica, Clinton says, of the smoke-spewing stage prop he first introduced to slack-jawed funk fans in 1976.

[…]

When the band lowered the Mothership from the rafters of the Capital Centre in Landover in 1977, the response was rapturous. Not only was it instantly stunning — it felt like a cosmic metaphor for the sense of possibility that followed the civil rights movement.

That symbolism isn’t lost on the Smithsonian.

“With large iconic objects like this, we can tap into . . . themes of movement and liberation that are a constant in African-American culture,” says Dwandalyn R. Reece, curator of music and performing arts for the museum. “The Mothership as this mode of transport really fits into this musical trope in African American culture about travel and transit.”

It will be exhibited alongside other artifacts from American music history — Louis Armstrong’s trumpet, James Brown’s stage costumes, Lena Horne’s evening gowns. – VAPO

Surely metal counts as some kind of “protest movement” or social phenomenon worth studying. Or is it too tightey whitey?

0 thoughts on “Metal at the Smithsonian”

  1. LOL YAY!!!! GO QUEEN LATIFA!!! says:

    IM YOUNG AND IM RACIST!!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YZHXJiCYpA&feature=related

  2. LOL YAY!!!! GO CULTURAL MARXISM!! says:

    LOL YAY!!!

    MULTICULTURALISM TURNS US ALL INTO POO POO FLINGING MONKEYS!!

  3. Look at the audience, they look so nobel and solemn!!! OMG THIS VIDEO IS CLEARLY IMPORTANT! says:

    WATCH DA FUCK OUT FOO!! IMA GET SUPER EMOTIONAL ON YO ASS!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Xe1kX7Wsc

  4. Fuck yeahhh bitches!!! KILL WHITEY!!! says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uH0vpGZJCo

    IM YELLING!!!

  5. yay>? says:

    TIM WISE VS JARED TAYLOR

    SHIT GETS REAL!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eKoFKP9OT4

  6. LOL YAY I'm so glad the nice people in hollywood have all the answers to reality! says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3cGfrExozQ&feature=related

    OMG so simple!! Race is just imaginary, yo!

    Reality can be like… anything you want it to be, man!!

  7. GO MEDIA JEWS!!!! says:

    LOL YAY!!!

    PlAYING MAH JEW CARD!!

    LOL YAY!!!

  8. LOL YAY GO MULTICULTURALISM!!!! says:

    MULTICULTURALISM IS AWESOME! I LOVE TACOS!

  9. Relativist. says:

    Language like, totally shapes reality dude!

  10. Bacharach says:

    Metallica – Master of Puppets OR Ride the Lightning

    MAYBE also Slayer – Reign in Blood

    That’s it. Once you have those you’ve nailed down all of metal, at least the part worth preserving. Everything else is just superfluous.

  11. LOL YAY GO WHITEY!!!! says:

    White people are cool, they’re always cleanin’ up the place. They worry… about trees. White people, always watchin’ NASCAR, drinkin’ bud light, eatin’ McDonalds…

  12. internatio says:

    Stage objects ?

    That’s for the arena early metal bands : Motorhead’s bomber, the whole Maiden paraphernalia…

  13. Moon Magic says:

    Damn niggers smell bad. Sacred Power: Rest in Peace niggers. Kay kay kay.

  14. ಠ_ಠ says:

    ಠ_ಠ

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