When people speak of Liverpool in the 1980's, they often make reference to the massive unemployment of the era, and in Alan Bleasdale's (for better or for worse) famous portrayal of struggling in 'The Boys From The Blackstuff', the city gained an image that, if slightly exaggerated, was fitting for the times. In the series, in fact, one of the most poignant & resonant lines is when Liverpool is referred to as dead... "it's dead now, isn't it, just dead".
That and when Graeme Souness was in it, obviously.
Having been traveling round various parts of the States, it's been hard to detect where exactly the financial meltdown of recent years has been hitting for the most part. Seen somewhat superficially through a tourists eyes, New York seems it's usual black hole of consumerism, Boston is a thoroughly well off port and Chicago seemed as in fine shape as you could find a modern city. However, in Detroit, once the USA's 3rd largest city up until the 1950s, the image of business as usual fades alarmingly.
Upon arriving in the bus station in downtown area, I was immediately greeted with 'I can tell you're from out of state, why would you want to come to a DEAD town like this' by a man. This was followed by the even more ominous quote of 'Boy, that bus don't exist no more, and if it did you don't want to get on it'.
Moments later, still completely disoriented, I was approached by a crackhead ( no more generous a description can I afford the man) who was morbidly confused as to why I should come to Detroit voluntarily. He was friendly enough but I was happy to be rescued from his ever- increasing animation and urine soaked garments ("no, that's cokey- cola, honest" ) by a white middle class couple who could see I was out of my comfort zone and took me to a safe haven of a rather swanky hotel and bought me a beer.
I talked to Alan, the man of the couple (obviously) and he told me that, walking downtown where he worked, he no longer sees the bustling street of a metropolis morning - but the slow, weary trudge to work of those fortunate enough to still have it.
According to him, unemployment in inner city Detroit is an almost unbelievable 25%; Think of our current 8% and then you get some perspective on the predicament Motown finds itself in.And like Liverpool in the 70s-80s, it's problems stem from the over-reliance of it's economy on one particular area. In Liverpool's case, the decline of the shipping industry effectively killed the city's lifeblood of the docks and ports upon which it was built.
And the literal and economic car crash of the American motor industry has had a similar, if not graver, effect on Detroit.
This would perhaps not be as poignant if both cities did not also share the fact that their economic low-point came shortly after their cultural and fashion booms.
The rise of Motown and Beatlemania went almost hand in hand, but whilst the clubs and bars and streets of both towns were filled with excitement, their economies were being undermined by the fact that they only really had one sector to fall back on. In other words, both places were victims of their own success, and once the main supports had gone, the rest collapsed in itself.
Liverpool has for now escaped the harshest effects of the global depression this time around, mainly because it was fortunate enough to be heavily invested in right before the major meltdown, but if you really want to see the real victims of this, Detroit is one of the places where you will find them.
And if I ever doubted the effects of economic dereliction andhow deep-seated they may or may not actually be, as I have sometimes done (believing there to be more than a hint of truth in Stewart Lee’s summation “ Liverpool, where cloying nostalgia passes for entertainment” and being bemused by my city’s obsession with wallowing in ‘fondly remembered’ “shittier times”), then this really opened my eyes.Oh and the couple, they were nice and all, but the man said the city now has 'too many Indians' . I did overlook this casual racism in the spirit of their generosity in taking me in..............
.........................................................but they did also exude a swinger-ish vibe.
One drink.
Exit.
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