Disability Pride Month: July songs

Going way back in time, to the second Family Blood book, the band's rhythm guitarist (sometimes bass player) has a badly injured arm and struggles with not being able to play. 

(The drummer has a pretty bad injury too, but there's not as immediate a need for him to be able to pound on the drums, plus the new bass player is dead. Vampires, man; they'll mess you up.)

Trying to be able to work out some way he can play something, his mind goes to guitarists with injuries. First he thinks of James Hetfield's burns when Metallica played in Montreal:

https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/when-did-james-hetfield-catch-on-fire-metallica-guns-n-roses 

(We watched that VH1: Behind the Music a lot, as well as the Def Leppard one, which will also be pertinent.)

Back to our injured guitar player, Hetfield is his first thought, but Hetfield got better; what if he doesn't?

Then he thinks about Django Reinhardt, working through his permanent burn injuries, and Tommy Iommi losing the tips of two fingers on his fretting hand, and having to change how he played for that.

I felt that scene a lot. Maybe that's weird for someone who is a terrible guitar player, but I still felt the emotions and struggle.  

Cory White (Coalesce, The Esoteric) liked my book. He can play.

My point is that it felt pretty personal.

I remember years ago reading about a band who often ran into accessibility issues at venues. I couldn't find that article. There were some others, including this one that gave me three of the musicians: 

https://batec-mobility.com/en/disabled-musicians-icons-from-beethoven-to-today/

You will see that Metallica is not in there. As Papa Het was only temporarily unable to play and still sang during that time, I did not use him. 

Similarly, Elton John had seizures for a time, but it may have been due to his drug use. That's okay, he's got a song in August. Musicians who can no longer hear because of not protecting their ears are also not included. (The cause of Beethoven's deafness is not certain, but may be from lead poisoning.)

Also, I did not include mental illness as a disability; Joy Division is in there because of Ian Curtis' epilepsy. Also, putting "Love Will Tear Us Apart" right after "Love Will Keep Us Alive" seemed kind of cheeky; love is versatile! 

Joe Walsh has autism, apparently combined with some ADHD and OCD.

That drug abuse thing... sometimes it's self-medication. Hank Williams' spina bifida and the back pain it caused may have been a big part of his alcohol abuse. 

I could have used several more autism cases, mostly self-diagnosed. I don't judge for that, as it is often hard to get diagnosed. Sometimes the balance between including or excluding was how much I like the song.

Having Ray Charles' version of "America the Beautiful" on July 4th was a bit of a protest, because of some flack that people gave to his version. Jose Feliciano's "No Dogs Allowed" is specifically about his service dog not being allowed in England without a 6-month quarantine. (Their dog policies are ridiculous.)

The other thing that struck me was how much effort there was toward concealment. Paul Stanley's hair always covered his microtia. It was very hard to know that Prince had seizures.   

So, if there are people and bands listed here where you don't know how they ended up in this list..., I thought about putting notes on everyone, but maybe it's better to make that something that people have to pursue on their own. None of it is impossible to find.

Though, I do feel like knowing Iggy Pop has scoliosis explains a lot about the way he dances.

Daily songs: 

7/1 “Ode to Joy” from the 4^th Movement of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony, performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Philharmonic Choir
7/2 “Minor Swing” composed by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, performed by The Quintet of the Hot Club of France
7/3 “Hey Good Lookin’” by Hank Williams
7/4 “America the Beautiful” performed by Ray Charles
7/5 “No Dogs Allowed” by Jose Feliciano
7/6 “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young
7/7 “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers
7/8 “Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder
7/9 “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane
7/10 “Love Will Keep Us Alive” by Eagles
7/11 “Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division
7/12 “Smoky Mountain Rain” by Ronnie Milsap
7/13 “Rock And Roll All Nite” by KISS
7/14 “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath
7/15 “Lust For Life” by Iggy Pop
7/16 “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince
7/17 “Same Ol’ Situation” by Mötley Crüe
7/18 “Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)” by Simply Red
7/19 “Brass Monkey” by Beastie Boys
7/20 “Angel Eyes” by Jeff Healey
7/21 “When Love and Hate Collide” by Def Leppard
7/22 “Everything to Everyone” by Everclear
7/23 “Vivo por Ella” by Andrea Bocelli feat. KAROL G
7/24 “Factory” by The Vines
7/25 “So Young” by Portugal. The Man
7/26 “Litost” by X Ambassadors
7/27 “Colors” by Halsey
7/28 “Heaven” by The AutistiX
7/29 “TACHI” by Langui, A93, Young Gipsy
7/30 “Moziki” by Staff Benda Bilili
7/31 “Girls Can Fly” by Katcross