In music, Johnny Cash's latest (posthumous) album just hit No. 1., a sign of the EWI prediction that we'll dislike the guys in the white hats more & prefer the imperfect heroes, the men in black. Just rented Walk The Line [the Academy Award winning 2005 film about the life of Johnny Cash]. The bear market connection with Johnny Cash is obvious. He was the quintessential Man in Black in more ways than one. All-American boy made it good, but got in trouble with drugs & alcohol only to find true love in the end & live happily ever after. Didn't think of it before, but Walk The Line won lots of awards.
--MR
The quote at the top of this section is from 2002 which is where the first leg of the bear market left off. The dark themes in Cash’s latest album fit perfectly with its return. Another relevant aspect, is that Johnny Cash was extremely popular in the late 1960s when he had his own TV show on ABC and a big hit with "A Boy Named Sue” (see past entries on gender bending manifestations of a peak social mood and the symmetry with the mood peak of the late 1960s). Johnny Cash’ only other No. 1 album, Live at San Quentin hit the top of the charts in February 1969, two months after the Dow’s countertrend rally peak. So here we are again, two months from a twin-like secondary Dow peak and who should rise to the top of the charts? None other than the “notoriously hard-drinking, hard-drugging man who sings searing songs of death, loss, God, and work.” Later in the bear market (1971), Cash explained his appeal in the song "Man in Black":
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime
But is there because he's a victim of the times
Ironically, however, Cash’s own success demonstrates that there’s no such thing as a victim of the times. Anyone has the power to recognize hard times and, if they have a guitar, a smooth voice and a tale of woe, they can even produce music that can be wildly popular in the harshest social environment.
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