Bitter rivals, loony trials and grim tragedies made up the playlist of our lives in summer 2016. And contrary to what Janis Joplin once sang, the living was not easy, but it will be one that will continue to be remembered for years to come.
Should we be surprised? When Prince died at the end of April, we should have known we were in for a bad acid trip smack-dab in the middle of Death Valley, leaving us malnourished of any courage, understanding or artistry.
“The Voice” star Christina Grimmie also joined the choir of angels, as if taking away Prince and David Bowie was not enough torture for music fans.
Of course, Grimmie’s assassination was followed up later by the largest mass shooting in United States history in Orlando because apparently one murder wasn’t enough for the world that weekend.
It didn’t get better as time went by either. About mid-June, Led Zeppelin was sued for accounts of plagiarism for “Stairway to Heaven,” which, I might add, is a song that came out more than 40 years ago.
That alone was a crash course in craziness. The fact this was a case even taken seriously is depressing enough, but to have a silver-tongued, bar-fighting snake like Francis Malofiy as the prosecuting attorney is the final bullet in this shotgun of disaster.
Not all conflicts this summer have entered legal territory, however. In the 21st century, social media replaces the courts and Snapchat stories are the new testimonies.
Or so is the case in the ongoing battle between Taylor Swift and Kanye West. Remember when West’s “Famous” came out with those pretty misogynistic lyrics toward Swift? Yeah, Kim Kardashian said Swift approved of them and has just been playing the victim.
What?
To add more fuel to the fire, West released a music video for the song that included a wax figure of Swift’s likeness sleeping naked next to West in his bed. Yikes.
The plot only thickens from there. Almost a month later, Kardashian began releasing to Snapchat the recordings of the phone conversation of Swift approving of the lyrics.
As you can imagine, Swift wasn’t too happy about this exposure and has actually threatened a lawsuit against Kardashian and West. Thus far, nothing has happened, but it’s still very much possible.
I normally loathe celebrity feuds, but seeing Kardashian throwing her two cents into this cat fight is more entertaining than “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” has ever been.
Speaking of reality television, I want to meet the writers of 2016 because they manage to invoke more terror in me than Edgar Allan Poe or Stephen King ever could. Suddenly those guys walking around with signs that say “The end is nigh” don’t seem so crazy.
What year is this? Is this even real? Perhaps this was how our grandparents felt when the Summer of Love came crashing down in a cataclysmic blaze of fire and brimstone.
Not everything this summer has been this awful, though. After all, we got some good music from Chance the Rapper, Meghan Trainor, Bob Dylan and Blink-182. Wait, is that it? Seriously? Oh, boy.
As you can see, the darkness managed to swallow up the miniscule glimmer of light we had. It’s all like some massive Wonderland trial — both sides are mad, the jury is mad, the judge is mad and none of us know what the hell is going on.
