Music: Band of Horses - Part One - Everything All The Time
Mood: Dry
A few weeks ago, I wrote an amateur rant on how I feel that music and politics need to be separated. In light of a recent series of conversations with friends, I felt the need to clarify my talking points.
Since the Dixie Chicks had a pop at George Bush in 2003, there seems to be a worrying trend towards musicians writing political songs and using interviews as a political platform. It's like they've all realized that making a political point, however banal, is a quick way to get some attention. In the case of the Dixie Chicks, they didn't even have the courage to stand up for what they said and ended up apologizing, like they were only kidding all along. That sums up for me just how dim-witted most so-called political artists are.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's important for musicians to be politically aware, like Thom Yorke, but they shouldn't write songs about it because, when they do, they invariably end up sounding completely wanky. The list of offenders is endless. From Culture Club singing War is Stupid to Green Day's American Idiot album, it all sounds far too patronizing. I think we can all agree that war in Iraq is beyond stupid and that Bush and Blair are fucking idiots. I have my own opinions about politics and I know what music I like. I don't see why I should buy into a political belief when buying a record.
I'm not saying that there haven't been bands who've mixed music and politics successfully. A band like Dead Kennedys managed to make great, politically fired records like Holiday in Cambodia and California Uber Alles', that had a sharp satirical edge, but they backed it up by being involved in grass roots activism. There was something genuinely subversive about them. It's a long way from that to Pink's Dear Mr. President that's clearly come about as a result of a marketing team sitting around a glass table with a pie-chart, deciding that it's time for Pink to get a bit edgy.
In 2006, it's becoming very fashionable for acts to have a couple of 'political' songs. Next thing you know, it'll be Hillary Duff putting out a single telling us not to vote for the GOP. Can you imagine anything more horrific? Because if you need a pre-pubescent tweener to tell you that the GOP are not a good thing, then you're beyond hope. We're all better off with the likes of The Streets, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, The Strokes, and countless other bands who write about the realities of their lives in a gritty, believable way and refuse to insult their audiences with slogans so generalized as to be so meaningless.
Mood: Dry
A few weeks ago, I wrote an amateur rant on how I feel that music and politics need to be separated. In light of a recent series of conversations with friends, I felt the need to clarify my talking points.
Since the Dixie Chicks had a pop at George Bush in 2003, there seems to be a worrying trend towards musicians writing political songs and using interviews as a political platform. It's like they've all realized that making a political point, however banal, is a quick way to get some attention. In the case of the Dixie Chicks, they didn't even have the courage to stand up for what they said and ended up apologizing, like they were only kidding all along. That sums up for me just how dim-witted most so-called political artists are.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's important for musicians to be politically aware, like Thom Yorke, but they shouldn't write songs about it because, when they do, they invariably end up sounding completely wanky. The list of offenders is endless. From Culture Club singing War is Stupid to Green Day's American Idiot album, it all sounds far too patronizing. I think we can all agree that war in Iraq is beyond stupid and that Bush and Blair are fucking idiots. I have my own opinions about politics and I know what music I like. I don't see why I should buy into a political belief when buying a record.
I'm not saying that there haven't been bands who've mixed music and politics successfully. A band like Dead Kennedys managed to make great, politically fired records like Holiday in Cambodia and California Uber Alles', that had a sharp satirical edge, but they backed it up by being involved in grass roots activism. There was something genuinely subversive about them. It's a long way from that to Pink's Dear Mr. President that's clearly come about as a result of a marketing team sitting around a glass table with a pie-chart, deciding that it's time for Pink to get a bit edgy.
In 2006, it's becoming very fashionable for acts to have a couple of 'political' songs. Next thing you know, it'll be Hillary Duff putting out a single telling us not to vote for the GOP. Can you imagine anything more horrific? Because if you need a pre-pubescent tweener to tell you that the GOP are not a good thing, then you're beyond hope. We're all better off with the likes of The Streets, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, The Strokes, and countless other bands who write about the realities of their lives in a gritty, believable way and refuse to insult their audiences with slogans so generalized as to be so meaningless.
NOW you're talking. political music, like anything else in the world, can't possibly appeal to everyone.
HOWEVER, don't forget that rock music was founded on political dissatisfaction. remove politics from music and you lose the beatles, pink floyd and too many more (many of which even you listen to).
also, i don't understand how you can imply that the "reality of peoples lives" can't include political opinions. roger waters wrote "the wall", a fiercely political album, after his father died in world war 2. how is that not a part of his life? bob marley wrote about redemption and freedom against racism and prejudice because his culture fell victim to it. kurt cobain was all about anti-establishment angst, which made him the voice of his generation. this stuff brings people together and gives them comfort, as well as a voice. THAT is the epitome of the impact music can have.
besides, if we all agreed that our leaders are fucked and the war is stupid, then they wouldn't be leading us and the war wouldn't exist. which is not to say that all political music is great. there will always be fake trendy followers with nothing worthwhile or original to say, but it doesn't mean the concept is wrong in the first place.
lastly, remember that if you feel undermined when musicians are being political, you're perceiving it all wrong.
"My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all." - John Lennon
you make some very valid points, and i appreciate where you are coming from. i don't think what i wrote was absolute or a generalization that should cover everyone's precepts, and i am glad that you gave the other side of the argument it's due. cheers.
ps - i'm sending you the dmv book tomorrow. just haven't had time to get around to it, and can't send it from the office.
i think, by the way, that your best point was that the concept is not wrong, its just the followers that feel the need to latch themselves onto the political musical bandwagon. that is what really drives me crazy. there will always, for me at least, be those select artists and bands that defined and defied boundaries to create songs that capture the essence of political unrest. those are the sticking points which we can universally embrace. its the posers and pretenders that boil my blood.
yea.. i was only stating the facts. no matter what i believe, who the hell am i to tell others what's right or wrong, good or bad for them?
political art does a lot of great things for a lot of people and it's invalid to say it's unworthy and musicians should stop writing songs about it. we simply can't judge a movement or concept by its followers; it's senseless on so many levels.
for example, i'm a big fan of punk, but avril lavigne calls herself punk and sings about fucking skater bois (pun intended). but it doesn't mean all of punk suddenly sucks because of her. just leave the people that don't belong out of the equation.
(i understand about the book; whenever you have time)
hey don't worry about the book, i've got it