Image courtesy of xkcd
There is a lot being made of the claims of some Christian groups that the so-called ‘Rapture’ will occur on May 21st of this year. At 6pm. By time zone. Apparently this orderly ascent of ‘the chosen’ is well detailed in coded messages in the Bible (despite direct statements in the same book in direct conflict with such knowledge), as revealed in an NPR interview:
On May 21, “starting in the Pacific Rim at around the 6 p.m. local time hour, in each time zone, there will be a great earthquake, such as has never been in the history of the Earth,” he says. The true Christian believers — he hopes he’s one of them — will be “raptured”: They’ll fly upward to heaven. And for the rest?
“It’s just the horror of horror stories,” he says, “and on top of all that, there’s no more salvation at that point. And then the Bible says it will be 153 days later that the entire universe and planet Earth will be destroyed forever.”
Well … I have no insider knowledge, nor the desire to make fun of what anyone believes.
But I do like music. And 30 years ago the pop/new wave group Blondie had the first song involving rap/hip-hop to hit the top of the charts with ‘Rapture’. I have always loved the song, as it deftly combines nonsense lyrics, a great beat, smooth rap vocals from Debby Harry, and great work by the band.
Why is this under ‘Pop Goes the Music Diary’ instead of ‘Music Diary Songs of Note’? Very simple – Blondie was a Punk/New Wave band that transformed into a pop group – as it was, the first single from the album containing Rapture was the AM radio friendly ‘The Time is High’. Yet their songwriting and creativity remained intact as they crafted a song that had appeal to fans of rock, pop, jazz (like me!), rap, and more.
I have no idea what May 21st holds … but for today let yourself go and enjoy the classic Blondie song Rapture, which just passed 30 years since it topped the pop charts:
