Same Song. Same Riff. Same Words. Whole New Meaning.

I was eleven the first time I heard Cult of Personality by Living Colour. A lot of it felt familiar. The guitars were heavy, like the rock and metal I already loved. But there was something else in it too. The groove moved different. It had funk.

And the band. A Black heavy metal band. I had not seen that before. Growing up in a very white world in rural Maine, it opened a door I didn’t know was there.

I didn’t understand the lyrics yet. But FDR’s closing quote stuck with me: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Even if I didn’t know why.

Fast forward almost forty years and something pulled me to watch the video again. Same song. Same guitar riff. Same words. But a whole new meaning.

The voice in the song says it shines bright lights, collects prizes, holds up mirrors. It tells you that you don’t have to follow while making it almost impossible not to. The song throws leaders side by side. Gandhi against Mussolini. Kennedy against Stalin. One ruled by fear. One pulled by love.

As I listened, I couldn’t help but connect it to the testosterone research I’d just been reading. Were these all men with high testosterone? And if so, did their environments steer that same hormone in different directions? Did it amplify fear in some and love in others?

That’s the question Living Colour was asking in 1988, even if I couldn’t hear it yet. Pop culture has a way of planting seeds that only bloom decades later when you’re finally paying attention.

Read the full piece on Substack

Learn more about the adventure at www.heart-strong.org