So today is the anniversary of the death of Bill Hicks. It's been 15 years since the great man died, and I thought i'd spend a little time expounding on the reasons he is important, and why the world would be a better place if more people thought like Bill.
I got into Bill Hicks the same way most 15 year olds do, having a mate lend me a CD and being told that "this guys swears a whole lot, and talks about fucking". And for the first little while, that's all I really knew about him. I knew he was funny, but it was more of a knee-jerk reaction to the crudity of the pieces and the incessant swearing than an appreciation of the ironies and satirical nature of Bill's comedy.
And let's be honest, Bill was the king of crude humour.
Having sid that, the "crude humour" tag follows Bill incessently, but if one really breaks down his act there isn't that much crudity in it. A lot of swearing, yes, definitely a LOT of swearing, but the base, graphic "Dick Jokes" are kept to his famous Goat Boy routine, and of course, graphically descriptive discussions of pornography. Apart from that, his act was much more about using shocking images to create a scene, or as a juxtaposistion within the joke.
Once I had grown up a little, and had started to hear Hicks' routines for what they were, I noticed how much you heard Bill's words and thoughts echoed in everyday life, even years after his death. Most political stand up loses its punch as the politicians change and retire, but Bills work stands strong, because it isn't about particular politicans, it's about the concepts of freedom and democracy. 15 years ago Bill denounced George Bush (the first) for "selling unstable nations weaponry, and then running on a platform of "The world is still a very dangerous place". These very sentiments were echoed in countless protests against the Iraq war early in the new millenium. In fact, pretty much all of Bills pieces on the Gulf war can be updated for our times, by replacing "Gulf War" with "Operation: Iraqi Freedom".
His discussions of JFK, and how the wool has been pulled over our collective eyes is not so much about JFK, or even the events surrounding his death, it is about how people seem happy to accept the simple answer, no matter how ridiculous and impossible it is, rather than the more uncomfortable truth about life. JFK and his unfortunate death is simply the most memorable and poignant example of what Bill saw as an endemic problem with the American people. They didn't want the truth, they wanted a simple lie, and more Gladiators on TV.
And that idea really lies at the core of Bills political work. Bill saw that the problem with America was not the corrupt politicans, it was the citizens who let corruption run rampant without a word. It was every person who closed their eyes, rather than ask questions. Bill wanted to slap everyone on earth in the face with a massive dose of reality, and scream "Remember this!? Remember reality?!? This is what's important! Not taxes and schools, not gays in the military, but the fact that we now fear the people we chose to lead us!!" He didn't have an issue with politics, or democracy, or even with any particular politician. When he said that he believed that "GW Bush is the son of Satan", what he meant was.... well, no actually, Bill did really believe Bush was evil. Turns out he was right on that one.
But political satire was only part of Bills genius. His thoughts and observations on drugs and their role in our evolution and society are incredibly acute. I can't sum up Bills thoughts any better than he can, so I will merely quote:
“They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you're high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize that it's not worth the fucking effort. There is a difference.”
“Today a young man on acid realised that all matter is just energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather”
"Three weeks ago two of my friends and I went to a ranch in Fredericksburg, Texas, and took what Terence McKenna calls a "heroic dose" of Magic Mushrooms. Five dried grams. Let me tell you, our third eye was squeegeed quite cleanly. Wow! And I'm glad they're against the law, 'cause you know what happened when I took 'em? I laid in a field of green grass for four hours, going "My God, I love everything." The heavens parted, God looked down and rained gifts of forgiveness onto my being, healing me on every level, psychically, physically, emotionally. And I realized our true nature is spirit, not body, that we are eternal beings, and God's love is unconditional 'n' there's nothing we can ever do to change that. It is only our illusion that we are separate from God, or that we are alone. In fact the reality is we are one with God and He loves us. Now, if that isn't a hazard to this country... Do you see my point? How are we gonna keep building nuclear weapons, you know what I mean? What's gonna happen to the arms industry when we realize we're all one. It's gonna fuck up the economy! The economy that's fake anyway! Which would be a real bummer. You know. You can see why the government's cracking down."
These quotes alone, which are only a handful from hours of material, show a man who was not out to get fucked up, but to really experience life on all levels, and hopefully discover profound truths about himself and the world in the process. Yes, for many years Bill was an alcoholic and a coke addict, but those negatives fed off each other, and eventually, "I woke up one day and thought, I can keep paying people for things that will slowly kill me, or I can laugh my ass off with my friends by ingesting a natuarally occuring substance". And with that, he walked away from 15 years of alcoholism and drug abuse, and never touched another hard drug or drop of alcohol again. "Don't take drugs, but I have no problem with them. I think it's a personal choice". Many would do well to heed this advice.
Material like this (obviously) did not work well for television, and Bills last recorded piece for The Late Show was pulled due to censorship issues, and has only this year been resurrected and aired. To go into the whole story here would be too long, suffice it to say Dave pulled Hicks' stand up minutes before it was to air, with many speculating it was due to Hicks' pro-life material upsetting advertisers. I highly recommend taking the time to watch the full interview with Bills mother, as it serves well to contextualise the type of man Bill was, and how important his artistic integrity was to him.
Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUbB_D-dYp8
Part II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yTVDoSRKq0
Part III
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBC1dKGO2_A
There was an anger inside Bill as well. He could turn in a moment from a man pleading for unity and oneness amongst the human race to a raging demon of hatred. A massive, whirling hurricane of obscenity and vitreolic anger. There is nothing like seeing Bill go head to head with a drunk crowd member, as evidenced in Bill vs. Female Heckler.
His anger was truly righteous (adjective: arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality), in every sense of the word. He was furious that people would have the gall to interrupt an artist at work. He was furious that morons walked the earth, never having to answer for their actions. But most of all, he was furious that people didn't get the message.
And at the end of the day, that was it. He really wanted people to hear what he was saying. Not in a self-satisfied, moralistic way, but in a truly humanistic way. Bill didn't want people to listen to stroke his ego, he wanted them to listen because he was trying to help. Just like Jesus, and Gandhi, and Mother Theresa, and every other great person to walk the earth for too few years, Bill was trying to help. He was trying to get people free, to get them out from under, no matter how uncomfortable the trip might be. Bill, in his own strange way, was trying to free us from the Matrix of our own lives, and make us see the real world.
"The Message" was his red pill.
And even now, 15 years later, the message is right on point.
Rest in peace, a great man who is still sorely missed.
