I have complete racial sensitivity and I think Perna is wasting his time, and his energy, in complaining about this. There are actual incidences of racism happening in the world that need to be addressed. A rock band getting second place in "best album" and being skewered by cartoon is hardly that issue.

Um, yeah...it definitely made me look twice.

I'm not sure it was intentionally racist (would Dylan "running over" a white artist have been acceptable?),but it's still an insult to both of these artists. If the critics were actually proud of their choices, the Pazz & Jop wouldn't suck as much as it does this year.

actually, i would say that this cover was intentionally racist, and it clearly shows the true colors, so to speak, of the village voice. seriously, you have a man getting run over, and a title that says "BLOOD ON THE TRACKS"!!! if that does not conjure up some ugly images from our country's history, you have some SERIOUS fucking problems. but then, that is sadly the state of our society. hopefully awareness will grow.

Seems to me like there's a disconnect between "runs over contemptuously" and "wins in a last-minute squeaker"

How about ageist, too? Look at that thing Dylan is riding. The whole visual metaphor is also stupid for its assumption of rivalry between musical artists who more than likely respect each other quietly.

C'mon, VV, stop being peppy little jackasses. Your inflammations are, frankly, boring.

Dylan running someone over with a scooter? As a wheelchair user, I am offended. Here's this icon of modern music and poetry, and since when does he railroad people? Also, why give people with disabilities a bad name? Hasn't the discrimination gone on long enough? What about our civil and human rights? Please take this opportunity to focus on issues that will make NYC more accessible in the future! Thank you.

These bleeding heart do gooders can't wait to pounce on anything and call it racist. Do they know Blood on the Tracks was an album name? If were all to be color blind how can that be racist. Maybe the complainers who see color are the racists.

Nick Cave addressed the silly poll/year-end best-of phenomenon effectively:

http://www.nick-cave.com/_mtv.php

voice sucks - racist old guys hate black music, except when played by whites

When I saw the cover I thought it was ageist. It looked like you were saying Bob is so old he needs a scooter to kill a black man.

Voice Media is run by a bunch of "hard drinking Micks and Swedes" anymore who blanche out and eliminate minority staffers. Why do you care? Maybe if you had a black person in the building wh wasn't sweeping up, they could have told you how offensive and insensitive the cover was. But you don't.

yes, unfortunately because of dylan's status of the most overrated artist of all time, virtually everybody knows that Blood on the Tracks is an album name. yes, it was really clever to use that, um, pun? or something? wait, nevermind, that isn't clever at all.

While the cover may allude to racism to those for whom lynchings and other racist events in this country's history are still fresh in the mind, this does not mean the cover inherently depicts a act of racism. There's a huge difference between any "unintended" racism of the cover and the mentioned ignorant frat-boy blackface parties. And it's a scooter for crying out loud! More intellect and less from-the-gut assessments is needed on the part of Mr. Perna.

If Dylan had beaten out Beck (for argument sake), would the illustration have been of Dylan stuffing him into an oven? Did it honestly not occur to you that this cover might be at best accidentally insensitive and at worst appear intentionally offensive?

Why is The Voice amplifying racial insensitivity? Let cooler heads prevail.

to say that it 'racist' is stupid. crying racist about everything does nothing but dull the word. save it for issues that actually deserve the title and maybe peoples eyes won't just gloss over the next time there's a issue that actually 'is' racist.
does anyone really believe that people sat down and thought of lynchings and black people getting dragged to death behind cars and THEN thought of the idea?
it absurd.

If I was the editor, I'd expect to be sending resume's to Field and Stream.

It's not the racist part of it; it doesn't always have to be race when there's a white guy doing something to a person of color. Instead, it's just violent. We get enough of that shoved down our throats daily.

some thoughts: offensive. not funny or clever. irresponsible journalism.

Yeah, the cover sucks. Definite echoes of racist imagery. And what's with the exaggerated hooked nose on Dylan? WTF?

I think that people should always look beyond what's given at face value for the unintended messages that are being sent out via the media. The fact that the artists chose to draw a man of a very noticeable darker hue, lets me know that perhaps on a subconscious, or even conscious level, they think that portraying images like that to the mass media is perfectly acceptable. Another good example is the latest "Saw" movie. The fact that the person cast as being the killer of the surgeon's son was of African descent struck a cord with me. The other two people shown as being involved with the case were of European descent, so logically, would it not have made more sense to have a killer of the same hue? Some people choose to turn a blind eye to these matters using the excuse that there are more important racial issues to pay attention to, but if the "less important" occurrences are continued to be ignored, dealing with the more "serious" issues will not stop people from saying and or doing racist things.

It's simply a stupid idea for a cover. Ugly and dumb, even from just a cover-designer's perspective. The concept in and of itself is not racist, simply because the TV On The Radio member happens to be black. Whatever racism is found in the illustration is brought to it by whoever chooses to see it. It's implied by the very history of racism, not the artist. What should have happened is that the editors of the Voice should have taken a second look at it, and realized a) it's an ugly, stupid cover concept, and b) some may find racism in it, even though we wouldn't intend it, therefore - let's come up with another concept. How about, let's say, Bob Dylan with a torn electric plug between his teeth, or Dylan with T.V. antennae coming out of his head. I dunno, anything...

I didn't notice. Then again I have better things to do than to feel self-righteous about cartoons in the village voice.

I'm offended at all this offensive offense. This material is materially questionable in terms of it's integrity. Clearly appearance and mode of transportation is something not to be taken lightly or mocked; REGARDLESS OF THE METAPHOR!

All this hate mongering reminds me of a song:

"Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth,
Blowing down the backroads headin' south.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe."

It's interesting that Martin didn't write anything about the very anti-Semitic depiction of the Jewish Bob Dylan. The scowl and the hook nose are straight out of Nazi propaganda posters.

It took me a minute get the intended pun. My first thought was ageist, not racist. But, I get that too. However, I am not offended. I am not inspired either. A better alternative would have been Dylan on a segway perched atop cookie mountain. IMHO

Dude, we live in the LEAST racist and most genetically-mixed nation on earth.
Is there still racism and ethnic tension in the U.S.? Hell, yeah. Is that good? Hell, no. BUT...

ANY time you have many people from radically, genuinely different cultures working and living together in close quarters, toes are gonna get stepped on. Cultural conflict is inevitable; sadly, there's no diplomatic way to TALK about this or try to work together as Americans without being accused of "racism". "Oh, you're not kissing my ass! You're, you're....JUST like HITLER!"

Funny how the hysterical writer to the Voice didn't go apeshit over the cover's depiction of a black man being deliberately run over by a rich, elderly Jew. Hmmm...I guess that when your only tool's a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

The cover art is not racist, just dumb. Dylan didn't run over TVOTR's leader, the Voice's pathetic excuses for criticism did the job. After over a year of glowing press, (why, I can't figure out... TVOTR sucks!) to give the #1 spot to Dylan's mess isn't just a slap in the face, they literally got run over by a train... of racist reviewers.

honestly, had all this touchy racial stuff not come up, it never would have occurred to me that there were inappropriate themes in the cartoon. i think this is more of remark on how TVotR (who had a much better album than dylan this year) was cheated out an award because of dylan's huge legacy in music.

Regardless of whether the cover can be construed as racist (an argument tailor-made for discussion in the Voice--hmmm, I smell a conspiracy), it's obvious and just plain not funny. Dylan is old? Really?! The Pazz and Jop folks seem as amazed that Dylan hasn't yet collapsed into a pile of dust as they are about anything on his latest record. And many of the contributers seemed downright annoyed that they had to still consider him a viable human entity at this late date. I guess longevity ain't cool, but I'll bet Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain, etc. would hand over all future royalty staements for some of it.

I don't understand how so many see that as racist. If the role was reversed, would there be a cry of racism? I sense an air of double standards. Though understandable to a degree with America's history, you would think that intelligence and reason would prevail.

Racists are always deriding people for lack of reason when people bring up questions of racism because it's just so damn easy to hide racist thoughts and attitudes. Racism is not always right there on peoples sleeves for everyone to see. Again, It's sooo easy to just keep the dis-belief, dis-trust, dis-interest, disgust, hate, and politically dirty jokes 'to onself' or 'amongst themselves'.

I am simply glad TV on the Radio called this racist, whether it is or not because soo much racist shit comes down the pike from these leftist/progressive posturing old media assholes it's just not funny. Generally, Americans and Europeans are just fucking racist and indifferent to questions of racism to the core. There is nothing we can do about it but wait it out in quiet dignity.

Think about this, when was the last time you went up to a brown man in a social context and introduced yourself because you were sincerely interested in that person? Is is it because you don't things 'have changed' that much and minorities are still 'the same'. Whatever, you think 'the same' is? If you find yourself thinking that way THAT is racism.

TV on the Radio is so bomb. I love thier music and have downloaded 5 of thier tracks. I mean how many fucking interacial american bands (Black and White)with some measure of exposure do you ever fucking hear about anyway?

What's going on here? Why does everyone think this is racist? BLOOD ON THE TRACKS is the name of a Dylan album; and Dylan's album beat TVOTR's album in some poll. Therefore, they depict Dylan beating TVOTR by showing him run over the lead singer of TVOTR, leaving "blood on the tracks." get it? Is it also racist that they ranked Dylan's album higher than TVOTR's? And they reason they depict Dylan with a big nose is that he HAS A FUCKING BIG NOSE! just as cartoonists depict Clinton w/ a big nose and Bush w/ big ears. It's called a caricature. The idea is to accentuate features. How can anyone assume this has anything to do with a gay, black man in W. Virginia being dragged behind a truck? How arbitrary of an analogy. People, just chill the fuck out, enjoy life, because we're all going to die one day.

this blog reads like a how to manual for pseudo intellectual, passive aggressive, self-absorbed shit headedness. The bigger issue at hand here is how these two desperately shit laden albums are being discussed in ther first place.

The Village Voice picks Dylan over TV on the Radio. And they chose to be deliberately racist?? You leftist freaks need to get a life!! If Dylan were running over Springsteen, we wouldn't even be having this arguement. If the Village Voice were actually racist, would they even pick TVOTR as the second best album of the year?? Get a clue you idiots!!

People see what they want to see. I saw the cover, then read the accompanying blurb. I took it at face value, and didn't even consider it to be "racists". Mind you, if the blurb was about corporate/economic racism against black folk, the people complaining now would be sending kudos instead. And yes, I'm a black American.

It´s just an expression. I think people in U.S. take things too seriously. There´s too much sensitivity about everything.
IT´S A MUSICAL RANKING!!

i agree with the complete disconnect between the headline, the description and the cartoon, which made for an awful cover. you'd think dylan clobbered TVOTR when actually they made it onto more ballots than Dylan...perhaps a more clever and less potentially offensive cover would have been Bob Dylan holding up a cover of the village voice showing TVOTR winning the poll with a big-ass grin on his face a la Truman vs. Dewey.

Unbelievable. Martin, you've got to chill out, man. This has nothing to do with anyone being run over because they are black or gay. You are the only person perpetuating anything racial about this cover. I know the illustrator personally, and he's one of the nicest guys I've ever met that would never intentionally do anything racist or mean spirited. Sheesh, you'd think a guy who plays the sax would be cooler.

The filthy racists who take issue with this cover need to join the 21st century. Learn to accept human variation for what it is. Stop seeing 'race' everywhere you look. Get over yourself Mr. Perna. You're a human not a 'race'. Just like everyone else (but a bit more illiberal).

Golly, I was bummed I didn't get sent a Pazz & Jop poll this year but now I'm kinda glad!

i think it is freedom of speech, i think it is racist.

Clearly it wasn't intentionally racist. But for those of you who are blasting the "overly sensitive" critics who "always cry racist over the smallest thing," are ignoring the blatantly insensitive nature of the cover. Of course Dylan running over Springsteen wouldn't have caused a stir. It wouldn't have had the historical ramifications of black lynching to consider.

Regardless of intent, the cover is in extremely bad taste.

if you know anything about the history of racism in this country the accusations about racism in the cartoon are not at all “over the top”

Readers were making comments about the inappropriate cover before the letter from the TV on the Radio guy was published. Since so many people think it was racist, there has to be something to it ---don’t ya think?
The VERY first thing i thought about when viewing the cover was that James Byrd incident in which a black guy was dragged behind a truck, particularly because of the really bugged out eyes (which could be interpreted as him being dead) Those type of eyes are also common in black face caricatures of african americans around the turn of the century.

Also the headline “Blood on the Tracks”. yes I know it’s from a Dylan abum, but if you think of the meaning of the words with the picture you come to a frightening realization that some peope could take it to mean that it’s the black guy’s blood is on the tracks---which makes all sorts of allusions to lynchings and killing of black men. In a sense that was the metaphorical message of the cartoon.

While its probable that this was not intentional, it’s amazing to me that no one in the Voice newsroom could see how the illustration could be misconstrued. THIS IS WHY MORE AFRICAN AMERICANS NEED TO BE IN NEWSROOMS.

Dylan has a big nose:
http://www.duncans.tv/images/apple-ipod-bob-dylan.jpg

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The cover is hideous.

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Whoever conplained about "pseudo-intellectuals" can suck it.

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It would have been better had the dude on the grounds eyeballs exploded.

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White people were lynched, too. Nearly 1/4 of lynchings were of "white trash." Not to say that black's weren't lynched for racist reasons, but let's get it straight, people.

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I'm definitely more offended by the ageism than by anything. It's a real shitty attitude prevalent in most music criticism that discounts older artists simply because they are old, and then acts all golly gee shocked that some old geezer pulls off a decent record. The problem is that most modern music is fed by drugs and hype, and that both drugs and hype can't keep talentless jerks going forever. Fuck modern music critics. Artists progress over a lifetime, and, hopefully, achieve their greatest works after they have reached a level of wisdom and maturity.

The reason so many people are so fucking retarded is because they live their lives humming/festishizing music written by other fucking retards. it creates a vicious, boring circle of 45 years old men crying when Joe Strummer dies and CBGB closes.

+++

You all suck, in conclusion.

And who cares what the whore-house clearing house Village Voice does anyway? Only good thing in the paper is Nat Hentoff, and he's even suspect for taking a paycheck from an organization that aids and abets sex trafficking.

yet another reason that artists should just do their art & shut the fuck up about everything else...that Voice cover was racist? How so? Substitute Dylan running over, say, James Blunt: would anyone be complaining?

It's like those who claim the word "niggardly" is racist because it's got the word, y'know, "niggar" in it[?]; can we stop being ignorant AND stupid now? Pretty please?

Hey , Great idea...Why didn't they have Dylan run over the white guy in TV on the Radio...Then none of us would be complaining!

you people are pathetic.

there are real fuckin issues out there and you choose your issue to be a cover of a music poll that may or may not be deemed racsist.

people are run over every fuckin day, regardless of what color they are. sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. who cares.

the real issue, here at least, should be that both tv on the radio and bob dylan suck. end of story.

I am surprised and distasted for various reasons.

The first and most important one: Village Voice is not answering directly and officialy to a serious letter from a person directly involved in the matter. Why? I think the issue requires a serious position by the magazine.

The second one: why people can't relate with different sensibilities? It's not important whether or not you see the offense. If a number of people get offended, then it's a problem. And you CANNOT tell them, "shut the fuck up!"
It's wrong...
I certainly believe that O'Keefe is not a racist. But the drawing caused an offence: for this reason the drawing is wrong. And excuses are needed. There's no debate on this, guys, in civil and respectful society.

IT IS!!!!! THE PAPER IS! AND IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN! BUT YOU ALL DO VERY SUBTLEY! YOU KNOW ITS LIKE THE OLD SAYING ABOUT THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH! THE SOUTH OF OLD YOU KNEW WHERE YOU STOOD! NY....WELL REMEMBER BENSONHURST, LUIMA(STICK IN BUTT) AND THE LATEST SHOOTING OF THE SOON TO BE MARRIED BROTHA! DONT ACT LIKE YOU DONT KNOW!!!

i'm black and no, i wasn't offended by the cover....an important part of being an American is being the occasional butt of a good joke.

PANTHRO SAYS CHILL OUT AND WHO THE FUK CARES ANYWAY. EVERYBODY ON THIS MESSAGEBOARD JUST NEEDS TO GET LAID MORE. HONESTLY WHAT A BUNCH OF SNIVELING LAMES THE LOT OF YOU ARE. PANTHRO THINKS THAT PEOPLE NEED A BETTER RELEASE THAN BITCHING AND MOANING ABOUT BORING NON-EXISTENT RACIAL BULLSHIT. THUNDERCATS HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Um, yes. A cartoon of a Black man getting triumphantly maimed by a white man should ring alarm bells in any semi-conscious citizen. Yes i know its a charicature. But of all the options in the realm of creative license why the hell would you depict a "squeeker" that way?

This is over a month
late, but what the hell. The cover is flat-out ugly; racist
as well as anti-semitic. What really
disturbs me, though,
is that the cover seems to have been created simply for a pun. Said pun being not "Blood on the Tracks", but "Tracks on the Blood". "Blood"
being an old school
euphemism for "black",
remember? Nobody won
anything on that cover.