From: CMU

Following another weekend of anti-war protests around the world more artists are working on anti-war music, with some following the Beastie Boys lead and making their anti-war music available via the internet so as to have immediate impact.

Former Rage Against the Machine vocalist Zack de la Rocha has collaborated with DJ Shadow to produce 'March of Death' which can be downloaded at http://marchofdeath.com, while Sony artist John Mellencamp has written an anti-war track called 'To Washington' which you can download at http://www.mellencamp.com.

And former Clash guitarist Mick Jones has recorded his first material in ten years to make an anti-war statement - the track, 'Why Do Men Fight?', is a collaboration with former Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik member Tony James and is available on the Poptones website - http://www.poptones.co.uk.

Word is Lou Reed also has been in the studio to record an updated version of 'Walk on the Wild Side' which has been reworked as a commentary on the war.

Meanwhile hip hop moguls P. Diddy and Russell Simmons have promised the hip hop community are putting together some anti-war releases.

Whether radio stations will play the tracks remains to be seen. All radio stations have instructed presenters to respect worldwide events in their programming, which probably means the black lists of tracks deemed insensitive during war are back in operation - whether black lists will include the plethora of anti-war tracks appearing, mainly on the internet, remains to be seen. Though in an interview in this week's NME Audioslave's Tom Morello (formerly of Rage Against The Machine) reminds readers US based radio conglomerate Clear Channel banned their entire back catalogue, as well as John Lennon's 'Imagine', in the week's following September 11th because of their political message.

Elsewhere in the world of anti-wardom, Robbie Williams has said that while he isn't pro-war he is supporting the British army fighting in Iraq, and that the b-side on his next single - called 'Happy Easter (War Is Coming)' is not a direct statement on the current conflict. He says the song was written long before the schedule for the current war became clear. Probably just as well because by the time the single is released on 14 Apr the Lennon track on which it is based will probably be more accurate (ie 'War is Over').

Finally in the anti-war section of today's Daily, Matchbox Twenty are the latest American band to postpone a European tour, due to start in Germany this week, in reaction to the war. Frontman Rob Thomas said in a statement:

"Our concern is not only for the safety of our band and our crew, but, more importantly, for the well-being of our fans, whom we certainly do not want to put at risk just by coming out to see us play." Still not sure why these Americans think Islamic fundamentalists are more likely to target the clearly anti-war European mainland rather than the American cities where the war is being run from, but there you go.

Marty: Looks as if Robbie is trying to cover his arse on this one. It is possible he got some angry email/mail on his position or maybe he looked at the flack the Dixie Chicks are getting.

There seems to a rush of people trying to put out the "best" anti-war song. We will just have to see if this was a good goal to go after. Some of this smacks of "career revival", I have to say.