{"id":64799,"date":"2015-10-28T23:16:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T23:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=64799"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:10:24","slug":"music-of-q-932-speaks-to-real-cult-in-american-life","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=64799","title":{"rendered":"Music of Q 932 Speaks to Real Cult in American Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Sergey Tretyakov<\/strong>, under the name Serge Razor, writes the music for “Diegram,” an electronic band from Russia. He may be reached at <\/em>fatherlaw@mail.ru<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Usually before I start to compose a new track of music, I look for an emotional and meaningful voice, something that will inspire me. I was listening one day to audio samples on the internet, and came across a voice I had never heard before. It started off in a simple and commonplace manner, until I heard the following:<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not free with your Cadillac. You\u2019re doing just exactly what the man wants you to. Buy his goods, so you\u2019ll never have any real economic freedom. He wants you to buy everything, advertises on TV, so he\u2019ll keep you perpetually owing your soul to the company store. You\u2019re not free! You\u2019re a slave!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"art.jones.preaching\"<\/a>I was surprised. It was a strong, brave and unusual message. But the audio clip had no any information about the speaker. Who was that man? After an hour of searching I found the page which contained these words, and the larger text from which they came. Q 932<\/a>, a tape recorded by a man named Jim Jones, was exactly what I needed. I liked every word he spoke, I remember thinking, everything he said is true, and his voice was soothing, intriguing. I wondered who Jim Jones was, and thought that if I heard it in real life, I would have followed him. I chose passages that seemed to me the most interesting and started to work on my track.<\/p>\n

Now I know who Jim Jones was, and that the tape \u2013 an address recorded in Redwood Valley in 1972 \u2013 predated a unique event of American history by six years. I know that all that is connected with Peoples Temple is rather ambiguous and controversial, not only because of the tragedy of Jonestown\u2019s end, but because of its ideals and principles on racial equality during its life. I read the official story about what happened in November 1978, and then the alternative views of the Jonestown tragedy.<\/p>\n

Being a Russian citizen as I am, I don\u2019t think I have the right to make any conclusions about this American group. However, I do realize there is real confusion what can be called a cult. I also know, no government will tolerate the existence of a community with principles which are so divergent from society\u2019s. One thing I think I can say from my perspective, and that is the Cold War between capitalism and socialism was a dangerous time \u2013 with the world facing the real prospect of nuclear annihilation \u2013 and part of the hysteria which emerged during the period made its way to Jonestown, where it played a part in the community\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, my music track which captures the essence of Tape Q 932 isn’t about the tragedy, it’s about who we are. I like the words of Jim Jones about the cult of consumption. I think this cult is every bit as dangerous as any religious group, especially since, somehow or other, we are all serving that cult. Let his words make us think about that. If you can’t think about the whole of mankind, you may think about a fish or a seagull: Every time you buy a plastic bottle, at least one seagull or fish will die. Slave or not, let everyone needs to decide for himself. I have decided for myself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Sergey Tretyakov, under the name Serge Razor, writes the music for “Diegram,” an electronic band from Russia. He may be reached at fatherlaw@mail.ru.) Usually before I start to compose a new track of music, I look for an emotional and meaningful voice, something that will inspire me. I was listening one day to audio samples […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":64612,"menu_order":26,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-64799","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64799"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134178,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64799\/revisions\/134178"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}