Entertainment For Lively Minds
Are rock and politics a good mix?
An opportunity to go see U2 live on their latest mega bucks tour this weekend has prompted some musings on the subject of rock's flirtation with politics and vice versa over the last 40 years or so.
It could be argued that politics and rock's symbiosis has mostly been inspired by two dynamics:
1) the desire by those practitioners of populist politics to curry the support of (mainly) young voters and push their agenda though popular culture and the hip media (New Labour's risible "Cool Britannia" project is a good example);
2) artists seeking to validate their art through some notion that their music might change perceptions about/influence the direction of political arguments, be it Vietnam, African hunger, Brazilian rainforests or Climate Change.
But whatever the merits of these campaigns in terms of raising consciousness among the young about the world in which they live I would argue, perhaps controversially, that on balance politicians have not done much to either inspire and promote truly good music, and secondly, that musicians have rarely achieved anything truly lasting in the political sphere either. Africa is still poor and hungry, body bags are still coming back to crying mothers from places other than Vietnam and it won't matter a jot how many pop stars bang on about global warming. The solution there seems to lie solely in a painstaking combination of political compromise among the top nations, global economics/development, new science and energy saving technologies.
I would also argue that political campaigning by musicians is the very antithesis of the spirit of rock'n'roll which, lets remember, is an art form for expressing human freedom from political norms and social pressures and not supposed to be a vehicle for reminding us of the things that make us unhappy/insecure. Thats why I respect those artists like Bob Dylan who have distanced themselves from politics and instead used their art form to move beyond that particular sphere and reach a higher plane of human emotion and existence. And why I respect artists who play music purely to play music, entertain us, make a million dollars and have fun.
And its why when Bono (whom I respect as a performer and lyricist) gets a bit too "political" this Saturday at Wembley I'll be popping out to the bar for a beer.
I look forward to views on this one.
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I
wouldn't want my politicians to tell me what music to listen to. And I don't want musicians to tell me what to think.
For some pop stars politics seems to be a career move
Getting their mugs on the front of the latest charity single for the trendiest good cause/political issue seems to be more agent driven than anything else. Madonna's sudden conversion to the Green cause seems to be the most cynical example of this. I just don't believe them any more. I think the majority of them are less sincere than the politicians.
No
And very well argued Mr Rocker43 (Does that make you 66 this year??)
my age
44 next month. too young to remember Vietnam, but old enough to remember Live Aid.
Won't Get Fooled Again
This is a big subject. Music has probably changed from "anti-establishment" (always a popular subject from the 1960s onwards) to more assertive political commentary when musicians realised that they had a true global voice (Live Aid was an important catalyst for this, but the Vietnam War was probably the first collective try at changing the world through Love, Peace etc.). I don't think musicians go out to encourage people to vote, but to give themselves more publicity so they will be listened to more seriously. The best of these get the message across through their music rather than their musings (Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changing, Townshend & The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again, U2 - Sunday, Bloody Sunday - very brief examples). Whether the punters listen is another matter. My political opinion has never been moved one jot through listening to a musician fire off opinions, no matter how much I love their music.
The mixture of rock music and politics
contains a multitude of embarrassments I'd agree, but The Clash confirmed in me that there were ways to be and attitudes you could take that were oppositional to what was going on - disregarding for a moment that they were also a bunch of appalling poseurs who collapsed under the weight of their contradictions.
U2 I believe consciously tried to finish The Clash's job. They had enormodome video screens pelting you with ideas and statements where The Clash's multimedia zenith was 2 tellys either side of the stage that were on the blink most of the time. When I saw U2 during Zooropa this 'everything you know is wrong' effort worked for about 3 songs - but a live link up to the then war torn Sarajevo was both tragic and priceless. One teenage girl on the other end berated Bono (and a few tens of thousands of us) for doing nothing about their plight. Bono quite literally flicked her away with a wave of her hand - cueing a cut of the video feed and the launch into another song that trod their familiar line between righteous and compassionate. I'm still unsure how I feel about it. It seemed like Catholic self flagellation in the middle of enjoying yourself yet it provoked something in the middle of the hedonistic atmosphere of a long Wembley gig - and maybe that's what U2 were after.
It might just be me - I like my comedy deadly serious (eg Life of Brian, Jeremy Hardy) and I like rock music that challenges and opens you up to new possibilities - The Clash even just calling an album Sandinista caused a lot of us to investigate further. But maybe rock as just a Genesis / Coldplay (pick your decade...) soundtrack to love, university, marriage and mortgages. Of course as a 40 something I'm out of the game but I hope my children and others are finding music on the net that opens their minds up beyond school results and the world they're going into.
Sting probably saved a few rainforest trees, though I'd would have to question whether the excruciating pain of his music was worth it. As long as I don't have to be subjected to it too often then probably yes.
Why not?
We all have opinions,why should a singer or musician be any different?
You don't have to agree with them all the time ( I wonder how many Ramones fans shared Joeys views ) and a lot of the time they wont even be consistent but it's definitely more interesting than the usual "I never thought I'd ever play the main stage at glasto" type gubbins.
By the way I do think pop has had a positive effect in the fight against racism and to a lesser extent homophobia.Having said that though Bono is an absolute twerp.