I'm glad that I learned a long time ago that the ability to act, sing, shred a guitar, dance or look pretty has absolutely nothing to do with the validity of your political opinions. Otherwise I'd only listen to music by conservative artists, and I mean, what's even out there? Pat Boone?

I am of two minds on this: I agree entirely that celebrities are given far too much time to express their views, not because they are well-formed or logical or whatever, but simply because they are celebrities. But on the other hand, I do not wish to prohibit or inhibit anyone, even stupid celebrities, from speaking their minds.

The anti-Bush forces are showing very impressive organizational abilites and are highly energized. this is a very interesting and strange time.

Oh certainly, I think that people are silly to equate performance skills with good politics, but, by all means, let the show go on!

And encourage more Republican musicians ;-)

Death Cab for Cutie are famous because they sing beautiful songs about girls, relationships and other situations. I really hate mixing politics with their music by doing a concert. Write something on your website, do interviews, but don't combine it with the thing that I love you for. It is self-important.

Just my opinion.

Crap. Why does the Steel City get stuck with Dixie Chixxx and gramps Taylor and denied the Boss and REM?!?! How do those yokels on the eastern (RIGHT side if yer lookin' at a map!)rate? This is a heinous slap in the face to the fine people of Western PA, and the home of the Heinz-Kerry compound, to which I can only assume is some sort of vast right wing conspiracy to deny me of my right to rock. I feel quite sure that Rick Santorum is involved in this somehow!

Um, wait a minute, the yokels get Pearl Jam, and Philly gets the Boss. Okay, my bad. The city of brotherly luv deserves it, cos' that town rocks. I apologize. But we should have gotten Pearl Jam then, dangit all!

I don't even know why people take their views seriously. People act like celebs are in on some special information, that they are gifted with extra vision and can see clearly things we pions obviously aren't privy to. Me, I look at it this way: if I wouldn't trust my neighbor or coworker's view on something, why would I trust the view of a rock star or actor? That also doesn't necessarily mean they're stupid - it just means they're just like us, they know just as much as the rest of us, or just as little depending on your view. Their viewpoints should be given no more creedance than the viewpoint of any random person you happened to bump into.

I actually covered this topic a few months ago over here:

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/05/13/135029.php

At least in this case, ticket buyers will know up front that there's an agenda, and I wouldn't expect anyone who didn't agree with the agenda to buy a ticket. My feelings about musicians spouting their political views from the stage are pretty simple -- it's fine, just as long as they happen to be *my* political views, too :-)

Hmmm, the only act mentioned above that I've actually paid to see is Ted Nugent. (Well, I also saw Keb' Mo', but he was an opening act.) So the Democrats aren't yet the run away leaders for my musical dollar.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN? The guy has no musical talent whatsoever. Not only does he sing like a dead cow, but his songwriting skills are like those of a 6-year-old. Anybody can write songs about how bad police officers are and anybody can exploit 911 for every penny that it's worth.

Hey, don't hate on the Boss like that. He may have some twisted political views (in my not so humble opinion), but songs like "Thunder Road", "The River" and "Dancing in the Dark" will always have their place in my heart (and CD collection).

there is a vast amount of talent and almost innumerable great songs in this lineup, and Springsteen is the msot important American rocker of the last 30 years.

Bruce has the op ed in Thursday's NY Times--"Chords for Change"

http://nytimes.com/2004/08/05/opinion/05bruce.html


pretzelboy

Weak-willed fans: "Oh, if John Cougar is gonna vote for Kerry, so will I!"

This is indeed a strange and interesting time. My blog also is often a mouthpiece to eliminate the Bush regime. It is true that musicains aren't any more knowledgable than us... but at least they are taking a stand and making a commitment to something they regard as important... how many of us do that?

Viva Democracy,
Viva John Kerry

regards,
Lono

Thanks for the link Greg, Lono, they guys should get blogs like we do

re:

Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Dave Matthews

- vs -

Toby Keith, Ted Nugent, Kid Rock


Our pretentious, has-been, past-their-prime, marginalized, rock singers can whip your pretentious, has-been, past-their-prime, marginalized, rock singers!

like the Dream Team vs Uganda

I love how you kicked this entry off with "It's too bad the atmosphere of repression in the United States is preventing musicians from speaking out on matters political." Yeah, I'm waiting for Bush to call out the National Guard when these concerts start too!

For Fogerty, Browne, and Mellencamp, it's just their way of striving to remain relevant in the the music biz.

As for Eddie Vedder, he has always been the most prominent character screaming, "We're losing our free speech rights!" Yeah? Well, dude, you must be quivering with fear at the thought of taking the stage at these concerts, mustn't you?

RE: "...atmosphere of repression..."

Oh, and don't forget:

Hundreds of radio stations NEVER pulled the Dixie Chicks from their play lists;

and there really WERE Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Feh.

"Atmosphere of repression" is the PERFECT phrase.

Weak-willed fans: "Oh, if John Cougar is gonna vote for Kerry, so will I!"

Give the fans a little more credit than that. I stayed up way past my bedtime last night to catch Bruce on Nightline. His fans give him a piece of their collective mind when they disagree with his politics. If you spent any time on the Springsteen boards, you'd know that he's pissed off a sizable portion of his fan base by stating his position. I'm not at all interested in Mellencamp, so I don't know if he talks politics during his live performances, but I would imagine his fans might respond in much the same way if they disagreed with him.

Springsteen certainly doesn't need any more money, so while he's not going to suffer financially by alienating a segment of his fan base, I do give him credit for taking a stand in spite of the boos and the "New Jersey salutes" (his words to Ted Koppel last night).

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN THE MOST IMPORTANT ROCKER OF THE PAST THIRTY YEARS? lol! Please give that title to someone who has at least an OUNCE of talent. Bruce can't write, can't sing, and can't play guitar well. He spoke out against police officers, exploited 911 for every penny it was worth, and is now trying to exploit the current political situation. The most important rocker of the past thirty years would have to be someone like Elton John or Kurt Kobain.

It is a sad day when the youth of America see Nirvana as more influential in the currents of Rock than Bruce Springsteen. And it's spelled "Cobain".

I might agree with you on Elton John, though.

?? Elton John ?? Really?

I like Elton John a lot, but has he really been important since about 1978? And what's his last new song that actually rocked?

Actually, what I meant was not that Elton fit the title for "Most Important Blah Blah Blah", just that he was at least, if not more, influential as the Boss.

Nirvana's just below the radar, IMHO.

Re: Springsteen's liberal political views

Jeesus. Is anybody in America paying attention? I swear this nation seems to be turning into a horde of slobbering, sleepwalking morons.

ANYBODY who has listened CLOSELY to Springsteen's songs over the last 30 years shouldn't be surprised that he's one of those dreaded 'liberals' and is against Bush.

Reminds me of the millions of morons who thought "Born in the USA" was some sort of pro-American Republican anthem...


Good gawd. Read the fuckin' lyrics.

(Hint: "Tom Joad" isn't a character in "Wind in the Willows")

Daniel obviously worships Elton because he immortalized him in song.

BTW: Daniel, your musical opinions are as good as your spelling!

Exselent, dood!

Elton is far more important than Sprinklestein, who RAPED the 911 Victims with The Rising. I bet you Brucie is helping to plan the next terrorist attack so he can write a new no-talent, nursery rhyme song. By the way, I hate Bush too.. but I'm sick of has-beens like Bruce Springsteen milking every political situation for every penny it's worth and no-brain idiots actually falling for his bs.

Notice how the advertisement isn't endorsing Kerry. It merely asks for "change."

I suspect very few Dems actually support Kerry. They just hate Bush.

BTW, I liked several songs on Springsteen's post-9/11 album. He has talent.

Unfortunately, he aims to use this talent against the one candidate who is truly anti-terror.

I think Bush loses in November. I think Kerry brings US forces home. And I think Iraq becomes another Vietnam, with Americans flown out of Baghdad at the last moment before Sadr's forces gain power and turn Iraq into another Iran.

Thank you John F. Kerry! We Americans really enjoy your help in causing us to LOSE wars!

I'll be dipping my freedom fries in mayo from now on...

I sometimes bitch about musicians taking advantage of their audiences with cheap political crap, but this is actually perfectly fine. They are making an organized effort to make a statement.

Notably important point: You know what you're getting when you buy a ticket. Eddie Vedder has every right in the world to go on stage in this context and just completely unzip himself and go on a big hatey-hate rant against the pres. I still tend to think that they're idiots, but, hey, knock yourselves out.

I do, moreover, hope that ticket buying eyewitnesses, plus reviewers and reporters carefully and accurately report any foolishness that comes from the stages for the record.

As to Bruce being the "most important" American rocker of the last 30 years, well that's a little silly. His first four or five albums were quite good, but it's been rapidly downhill on any artistic criteria since Darkness on the Edge of Town.

As to rockers more important than Bruce [and sticking to Americans], on any artistic level Prince has him 10 to 1. It's really not close.

If you want to arbitrarily ghettoize Prince to R&B rather than "rock" (in which case I swear to Rand I'll sic Diva on you - and you DO NOT want both of us after ya) there are still at least several other choices. Perhaps he lacks some cheesy mythology thing, but as a songwriter, singer, and band, Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers have it all over Springsteen.

I would also take Mellencamp over Springsteen, though perhaps that's Hoosier hometown hero pride talking.

Oh, and did I mention LYNYRD FRICKIN' SKYNYRD?

Why should i care what Dave Mathews thinks. First of all hes south african, second of all he dumped feces on many many people, and third of all HES A MUSICIAN.