Saw him at Gilley's around '85ish not sure of the year I was little pretty little. I remember being there but not more.
He came from just about the most backwards place in the USA in Louisiana and while 13 was young for where he came from, it certainly wasn’t viewed as criminal. For example he married for the first time when he was 16. His aunt married at 14 and another relative of his was supposedly 13. She wasn’t his first cousin and he didn’t grow up around her, so it wasn’t controversial in his hometown. He married a total of 8 times and he married this sister in law of his 13 year old wife. He grew up about as backwards as possible. He could barely spell and write and grew up steeped in superstition, a fear and distrust of anything outside the church and believing people practiced vigilante justice. Honestly his upbringing is a lot like some of the Muslims I have met from Afghanistan or Yemen.
elvis started daing prescilla when he was 24 and she was 14. and her parents were totally cool with it. going back a little further, hero of the alamo almaron dickinson was 30 when he married 15 year old sussana. like i said in my initial post, it was common in dixie. its not like they were sneaking around behind peoples back. everyone around them knew. also, like i said in my initial post, its f***ed up to think how normal and accepted it was not that long ago. anothony from RHCP put out an autobiography less than 20 years ago where he bragged about having sex with a 14 year old.
People now don’t realize how big he was because the marriage to his 13 year old second cousin and alcoholism black listed him in rock and roll and also gospel music. Had he not married his cousin he would certainly be bigger than Cash. He left rock music and became a massively successful country singer and was along with Hank Williams, the first real outlaw of country music.
its also crazy to think that jerry lee lewis, mickey gilley and jimmy swaggart were all cousins. considering where those 3 came from, its pretty impressive how well they each did in their respective careers.
Men ******* early teens is disgusting but nothing new… David Bowie did it as well…. Disgusting but not shocking. Now standards are better, but I am sure the desire to do it is still there for some. Cash didn’t screw young teens as far as I know, but he was very abusive to his girlfriends and wives.
social media is definitely putting a check on some of those rockstar impulses. the average person has a world-wide platform to out celebrities being creeps, abusers and sexual assaulters. ryan adams, arcade fire guy, maroon 5 guy, louie CK, ect.
