City Of Quartz

The song title City of Quartz is a reference to the book “City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles” by Mike Davis. In his New York Times review of the book Bryce Nelson writes, “Mr. Davis attempts the historical equivalent of film noir. He offers a dark, almost unrelievedly oppressive picture of life in a tough, hardhearted city where the ruling elite crushes the poor, whites exploit people of color, public space is turned into fortresses, police abuse the citizenry, and traffic, pollution and urban decay conquer all.” The images in this description permeate the lyrics of this song.

The Whore of Babylon is a reference to the character that appears in the biblical book of Revelation, which was subsequently incorporated into Alister Crowley's occult system of Thelema as delineated in his book the Vision and the Voice and found it’s way to the Church of Scientology by way of the Babalon Working, which was a series of magic ceremonies or rituals performed from January to March 1946 by author, pioneer rocket-fuel scientist, and occultist Jack Parsons and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

The Whore of Babylon makes an appearance in “City of Quartz. Davis’ book includes a section on CalTech's connection to the emergence of Scientology. Davis writes:

“One day in August 1945, to Parson's delight, a LAFSFS acquaintance showed up at the Orange Grove mansion with a young naval officer, Lt. Commander L. Ron Hubbard, who had already established a reputation as a master of sci­fi pulp. Captivated by Hubbard's charm' and expressed desire to become a practitioner of Magick, Parsons welcomed him as house guest and sorcerer's apprentice. Hubbard reciprocated by sleeping with Parson's mistress. Perturbed by this development, but not wishing to show open jealousy, Parsons instead embarked on a vast diabolical experiment, under Crowley's reluctant supervision, to call up a truewhore of Babylon' so that she and Parsons might procreate a literal Antichrist in Pasadena.”

To fully appreciate all the connections, you can read the excerpt here: http://www.quut.com/berlin/me/caltech-cos.html

Davis’ book “City of Quartz” is clearly the source of the images in the song. It’s likely that the Ivory Tower is a reference to CalTech. What remains a question in my mind is the reference to a ‘citadel, a prison of sorts”. I found one 2004 article asking whether the Hungarian city of Nagykanizsa was to become a citadel of Scientology, but I don’t see the connection to prisons. Perhaps citadel is a metaphor for the organization itself which has built a wall of protection, a social and legal fortress against the folks who would like to see the so-called religion fall but also operates as a prison intended to keep its members from defecting

Finally, I wonder who exactly is the world famous clear? Davis includes this extract from Russel Millers “Bare­Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard”:

“As the highlight of the evening approached, there was a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation in the packed hall. A hush descended on the audience when at last Hubbard stepped up to the microphone to introduce the world's first clear'. She was, he said, a young woman by the name of Sonya Bianca, a physics major and pianist from Boston. Among her many newly acquired attributes, he claimed she hadfull and perfect recall of every moment of her life', which she would be happy to demonstrate.

What did you have for breakfast on 3 October 1042' somebody yelled. . . .What's on page 122 of Dianetics? . . . someone else asked. Miss Bianca opened her mouth but no words came out. . . . As people began getting up and walking out of the auditorium, one man noticed that Hubbard had momentarily turned his back on the girl and shouted, OK, what colour necktie is Mr Hubbard wearing?' The world's firstclear' screwed up her face in a frantic effort to remember, stared into the hostile blackness of the auditorium, then hung her head in misery. It was an awful moment.”

Is Miss Bianca, the worlds first clear also the world-famous clear? Is it L. Ron Hubbard? Could it be John Travolta or Tom Cruise?

This search for meaning looks at the historical connections only and so just touches the surface of the lyrics. A close reading is in order.