With all the attention that the conservative talking heads at places like FOX News have been paying the so-called "Liberal Hollywood Elite" in recent years...you know, the usual suspects like George Clooney, Sean Penn, Alex Baldwin and the like...the rock music world has got to be feeling just a little ignored lately.
Oh sure, you still get your occasional rock and roll blip on the right wing radar — an Eminem lyric here...A Janet Jackson nipple there. But it just isn't the same anymore.
It's hard to believe that not all that long ago, rock music was considered nothing less than the great demon scourge of American society itself. Those were the days when guys like Bob Dylan and John Lennon were routinely shadowed (and in Lennon's case, harassed to the point of being kept out of the country for many years) by various government spooks.
These days even guys like the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne, a guy whose albums we're once routinely used by guys like the Reverend Pat Robertson to cite evidence of the impending fall of civilization itself, are considered respectable enough to show up at Republican functions.
Former "Cop Killer" Ice T is the star of one of those "Law and Order" shows on NBC now for crying out loud.
Of course it isn't like today's musicians are writing incendiary lyrics the likes of "Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers," as the Jefferson Airplane once did on the album they originally wanted to call "Volunteers of Amerika".
So the question is...how does your everyday commie pinko liberal rock star get some respect from guys like Hannity or O'Reilly these days?
The answer is simple, as Bill Clinton might say, "It's Protest Music, stupid."
The good news is protest music may be making a comeback. It's something I first noticed back in 2004 when Bush was running for re-election against Kerry. Back then a bunch of good old liberal guys headed by Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., and the Dixie Chicks organized the "Vote For Change" tour in support of the Kerry campaign.
The thing is those shows were occurring at exactly the same time as a number of long standing annual benefit concerts...shows like Willie Nelson's Farm Aid and Neil Young's Bridge School benefit. It almost seemed like an old time sort of "liberal benefit circuit" with many of the same names among them, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, and Pearl Jam showing up sometimes at all of these liberal benefit shows criss crossing the country at the same time.
Article comments
1 - ryan
Using that "Economy stupid" line is the crutch of a weak writer.
2 - Glen Boyd
...or at least that of one who downed a few too many Bud Lite's while writing it.
Now go back to your room pal.
3 - Dawn
I knew Dave Matthews was evil, but I just thought it was his music, not his political influence.
4 - Glen Boyd
One of the key ingredients of vigilance Dawn... Gathering credible intelligence. LOL...
5 - SV
Neil a Canadian.... So what. Here's what he had to say about that: "I love being a Canadian and I love my American wife, and my 3 american kids. I love that I've lived in American for the last 40 years, and that I contributed to the greatest country in the world by glady paying American taxes for those 40 years. What I also love about both Canada and America, is that one can say what they feel. That's what makes these 2 countries the best in the world."
6 - Glen Boyd
SV,
Thanks for the comment.
But just to set the record straight here...
The entire article is written from somewhat of a perspective of humor. And I'll be honest here...humor or satire writing has never been my strongest suit as a writer...so I can understand where it might be entirely possible that somebody might take my article completely seriously or at one hundred percent face value.
So just for the record, I DO NOT think that Neil Young should be run out of the country for being Canadian. Nor, do I have any problem whatsoever with guys like Neil, Springsteen, and the rest of the "liberal cabal" writing protest songs. Quite the opposite actually...I applaud it.
So I'm glad I could clear that up. I probably need to give up on shooting for any kind of humor or irony in my writing and just go back to being the analytical snob that I'm so much better at doing (as a writer anyway). LOL...
Now, about Dave Matthews music being boring? That I was being straight up serious about...
Glen
7 - Glen Boyd
So to reiterate here...
I don't REALLY think that Neil Young is a "no-good sumbitch". Nor do I REALLY think that Springsteen, Seeger, or Mellencamp are "commie pinkos". I don't even REALLY think that barbra Streisand is a "bitch" (well, okay, maybe I do just a little).
I do REALLY find Dave Matthews music to be "dreadfully boring" though.
Hope that clears things up.
Glen
8 - WashedUpNeverBeen #1
(yeah.. well weve been speakin out - Heres some)
PEASANTS WITH PITCHFORKS (C)2005 washedupneverbeens
WE'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE
YOU'RE ALWAYS TALKIN TRASH
WE ELECTED YOU
WE'RE GONNA KICK YOUR ASS
WE'RE GONNA BURN DOWN GEORGETOWN
TURN YOU MOTHERS LOOSE
WE'RE GONNA BURN DOWN GEORGETOWN
THE SCAFFOLD, THE HINGE
THE HOOD AND THE NOOSE
WE'RE GONNA BURN DOWN GEORGETOWN
COMON YOU PEASANTS WITH PITCHFORKS
COMON
BURN IT DOWN
WE WILL NEVER EVER PLAY GEORGETOWN
BUT THAT'S OK CUZ WE'D PUKE AT THE STENCH
OF THE TRAITORS AND THE BACKSTABBIN GRIFTERS
WHO CALL THEMSELVES "STATESMEN"
HA! - THEY'RE FROM HELL
MAMA DIDN'T RAISE NO DUMBASS
AND WE WONT FIGHT FOR YOUR DISEASE
WE AINT GONNA DIE FOR YOUR DOLLAR
AND OUR CHILDREN WONT BE FODDER FOR PERPETUAL WAR
WE'RE GONNA BURN DOWN GEORGETOWN
TURN YOU MOTHERS LOOSE
WE'RE GONNA BURN DOWN GEORGETOWN
THE SCAFFOLD, THE HINGE
THE HOOD AND THE NOOSE
WE'RE GONNA BURN DOWN GEORGETOWN
TURN YOU MOTHERS LOOSE
WE'RE GONNA BURN DOWN GEORGETOWN
THE SCAFFOLD, THE HINGE
THE HOOD AND THE NOOSE