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TechnoratiThe Dixie Chicks nearly lost their careers after bad-mouthing President Bush on the eve of the war in Iraq, but today there is a surge in protest songs by popular artists. They're not just penned by the people you'd expect to be topical, such as Neil Young or Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.
Songs with anti-war sentiments are popping up from some unlikely places in the pop music marketplace:
• With a casual listen, you might think Mat Kearney's "Girl America" is just another acoustic hip-hop song about a girl gone bad. But the "girl" is a metaphor for the United States, and she's "dying while she's trying just to stop this fight."
• Pink once primed listeners to "Get the Party Started," but she blasts Bush on her latest album with "Dear Mr. President," singing, "How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?"
• John Mayer's "Waiting on the World To Change" laments his generation's political powerlessness and inaction - a topical change of pace from the voice behind "Your Body Is a Wonderland."
• "Coming Home" by John Legend is an R&B slow jam about a homesick soldier. This from a singer who specializes in songs about breaking up and making out.
The difference between the protest songs of the 1960s - think "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire or Edwin Starr's "War" - and today's is that these newer messages tend to come in more subtle musical packages. And they can be so hummable that people may mouth the words and never know they're dissing the president.
"Particularly in the '60s, artists tended to just come out with much stronger messages with less fear of upsetting anybody," says Lee Abrams, the chief creative officer for XM satellite radio. "Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan didn't give a damn. When the Dixie Chicks came out with their Bush statement, a lot of country radio stations stopped playing them. A lot of record companies don't want anything over the top. It's symbolic of the era we're in."
Norah Jones' piano and breathy vocals are so soothing that the music could be a theme for Bed Bath & Beyond. But at the piano stool, the singer's taking a stand against the current political state in "My Dear Country":
" 'Cause we believed in our candidate
"But even more it's the one we hate
"I needed someone I could shake
"On Election Day."
Artists such as Linkin Park say they do a balancing act, especially on Linkin Park's latest album, which features a detour into politics with "Hands Held High."
"We're not a band that wants to be political or preach to fans," says Linkin Park drummer Rob Bourdon. "All of us are very involved in all of the lyrics, especially critiquing them, and were very aware that it didn't come off that we had a political agenda or were preaching. We don't like that when we're listening to music."
The rock band has sold millions of records with songs about self-loathing and inner angst, but "Hands Held High" wouldn't play so well in the red states:
"Like this war's really just a different brand o f war
"Like it doesn't cater the rich and abandon poor ...
"For a leader so nervous in an obvious way
"Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay."
All Top 40 music with a message depends on a common denominator: a tune that sticks in your head. Minus the scathing lyrics, Pink's "Dear Mr. President" sounds like a campfire song. The song is built on strummy acoustic guitars and harmony vocals from the Indigo Girls. Think of it as "Kumbaya" for the anti-Bush set.
"The best protest songs have melodies that are simple enough to be sung by almost anyone," says Christopher Reynolds, a music professor at the University of California, Davis. "'We Shall Overcome' is probably best in this regard. But in some cases the tune is why the song survives. The popularity of the Christmas carol 'It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,' which almost no one realizes originated as an anti-war song, is the reason why that song is still sung."
The pop charts otherwise look like one big fiesta, populated by such tunes as "Party Like a Rockstar" by Shop Boyz and Justin Timberlake's "Summer Love." Politically minded songs such as "Hands Held High" and "Dear Mr. President" tend not to be released as singles. These tracks are usually buried in the middle of an album - or in the case of John Legend's "Coming Home," at the very end.
"A pop star is trying to play to the greatest amount of people all of the time," says Dan Mason, program director and station manager of Sacramento's Top 40 radio station KDND. "They'd segment the audience by being too in your face. Artists might not mind that, but the record label will want to play it more conservatively. A song like ('Dear Mr. President') is also one that plays differently in Sacramento than the Midwest or the heartland. You've got to sell those concert dates in California, but you've got to play in Kansas, too."
More overt protest anthems may be coming soon. After the umpteenth song about partying and summer love - and with approval ratings for the Iraq war continuing to tank - the pop music landscape is primed for an even bigger swell of anti-war tunes.
"I tend to look at things as cyclical," says Abrams of XM satellite radio.
"The late '60s were pretty powerful as far as lyrics, then the '70s got back to this boyfriend-girlfriend, Linda Ronstadt sound. In the '80s, (political awareness) kind of came back, then in the late '80s, you had the 'hair bands.' Then it got more political with grunge. The current crop of artists, generally speaking, are hit machines.
"I do think we're about to get into a period of time where we'll see the messages getting stronger," Abrams adds. "The political conditions are certainly right."
©2007 The Olympian
42 Comments so far
Show All"As for IRON MAIDEN, I saw them on tour during the ‘first’ Gulf War and their vocalist went on about how “We kicked Saddam’s assâ€. It was pretty gross…"
Bruce Dickinson when introducing the song "Afraid To Shoot Strangers" on the live album A Real Live One says something to the effect of "war is bulls--t. the people that start them are rich people and the people that fight them are ordinary people." He's caught flak in recent years for being outspoken about the war also. So it's not as if he's a war-monger.
I'm a music lover. I guess it was 2 years ago I saw one of my favorites: Kenny Wayne Shepherd. The lead singer wore a "kill 'em all" t-shirt. The old music would have the crowd rocking and swaying, while their newer stuff sounded ploddingly dead. I was right up front and it was so noticeable how the crowd would deaden just as the music would. One year ago I saw Tab Benoit, not a favorite, but it was so great to hear him speak out passionately about the nothing-response in New Orleans from the federal government even after a year's time. Then Jimmy Thackery showed up and joined his buddy Tab with some wonderful music. I very recently saw Robert Cray perform an anti-war song to 20,000 or so fans in Sioux Falls. Bravo, Mr Cray.
Record companies have either been bought out by non-musical corporations, or are competing with these entities and are all targeting the lowest common denominator because that's where the greatest lowest risk profit is. There also, to make things worse, wasn't 200 cable channels, xbox, myspace and hundreds of other major time killers in the 60s-70s competing for people's free time. I think Abrams overestimates any optimism. Hope he proves me wrong though.
We were just at the Lake Champlain folk music festival and heard some really good peace songs, for instance: check out Peggy Seeger's album, "Enough is Enough". Especially the song "Home Sweet Home", it's wonderful!! And to think she's been around for many years writing and performing these songs, love it.
I'm surprised to see so much Corporate Rock mentioned!! The hardcore punk scene has produced dozens and dozens of protest songs since this particular war started. One of the greatest so far has to be BEHIND ENEMY LINES "One Nation Under The Iron Fist of God". The entire album is about the decay of our nation under the bush regime. It comes with a HUGE book of lyrics and John Yates style graphics that copy nicely.
As for IRON MAIDEN, I saw them on tour during the 'first' Gulf War and their vocalist went on about how "We kicked Saddam's ass". It was pretty gross...
Corporate Rock Still Sucks.
To me, the point of Chris Macias's article was to illustrate how political protest is seeping into music by today's commercially successful artists. By contrast, posters have mostly championed the political merits of their largely uncommercial favorites.
Macias tries to demonstrate that pop artists--artists who understand how to reach a broad audience, usually by creating songs of great appeal but shallow substance--are generally reactive and reflective. By that I mean that they mirror the social climate in their work, but they don't try to create a new climate.
So, for these artists to now be introducing topical protest into their songs--albeit subtly, as Macias points out--is more their acknowledgement and reflection of the general social mood than it is of their picking up the banner and leading the charge. Well, we could say that these pop artists have picked up the banner--but only after it was carried up to them by the myriad of uncommercial artists, some of whom have been named by those posting here now.
As far as meaningful social comment filtering up to commercially successful songs goes, 'twas ever thus. For example, a couple of posters have given a shout-out to Edwin Starr's "War," which illustrates my point. "War" is certainly a powerful, strident song, but although it was released at the height of the Vietnam war, it doesn't refer at all to that specific conflict. Moreover, it was released in 1969, well after public opinion had turned against the war. (For instance, CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite had famously pronounced that the war was lost in early 1968, following the Tet Offensive.) Motown, Starr's label, was a commercially successful pop label and wouldn't have released "War" had not the social climate been favorable to do so.
Instead, it is up to the uncommercial artists to state the unpopular. Those are the ones listed in the comments section here, although of course there are many more who can be listed. For instance, for a lefty news-gathering site, I'm surprised no one mentioned the Clash yet. The Clash's "Washington Bullets," along with Bruce Cockburn's "Call It Democracy" and Jackson Browne's "Lives in the Balance," neatly encapsulates the U.S.'s neocolonialist foreign policy tendencies. And I always have to give a plug to my late, lamented main man Frank Zappa, who always had "no commercial potential" but who always had an insightful read on the socio-political climate, from civil unrest ("Trouble Every Day") and government repression (_We're Only in It for the Money_) in the 1960s through censorship (_Joe's Garage_) and the rise of televangelism in the late 1970s ("Dumb All Over," "Heavenly Bank Account") and even the suggestion that AIDS might be biological warfare against "undesirables" in the 1980s (_Thing-Fish_).
Kudos to leobixby and iwarrior for pointing out, respectively, hip-hop and heavy metal, two leading-edge musical styles all-but-ignored over the past 30 years. And karenyoung beat me to the Rolling Stones' recent political song, "Sweet Neo Con," a nice statement, although I find that I like their 1983 political offering, "Undercover of the Night," better.
iwarrior: I thought posting the entire album would have been just a touch of overkill *grins* And yeah, I have Mindcrime 2, but I found it to be rather disappointing. It's a step in the right direction, to be sure, and vastly better than anything they've done in many years. Still, it's a far cry both from a true return to form. Especially when bands like Iron Maiden and Megadeth are out there proving it can still be done.
"History tells in grim detail
of man's inhumanity to man
In search of worldly treasures and to rule
Savage wars raged on and on
as though there were a plan
But battle is the religion of the fool"
Omen, from "Destiny"
"And our time is flyin'
see the candle burnin' low
Is the new world risin'
from the shambles of the old?
If we could just join hands..."
Led Zeppelin, from "The Rover"
"As we kill them all so god will know his own
the innocents died for the pope on his throne
catholic greed and it's paranoid zeal
curse on the grail and the blood on the cross
templar believers with blood on their hands
joined in the chorus to kill on command
burned at the stake for their soul's liberty
to stand with the cathars to die and be free
"As we kill them all so god will know his own
the innocents died for the pope on his throne
the eye of the triangle smiling with sin
no passover feast for the curse of within
facing the sun as they went to their graves
burn like a dog or you'll live like a slave
burned at the stake for their soul's liberty
still burning heretics under our skies"
Iron Maiden, from "Montsegur"
"Here come the Christian knights
Dressed in red and white
To bring the Holy Word and set the world alight
Here comes a plague of idiots blinded by their faith
Here comes the Inquisition to burn you at the stake
Here comes the Church of Madness
Bearing gifts of death and torture
Here comes the Church of Madness
Of Jesus Christ their Lord
The fire and the fury
To be our judge to be our jury
Here comes the Church of Madness
Of Jesus Christ their Lord
A new dark age descending, it’s Torquemada’s dream
Liberty lies raped, crushed, broken
Neath the Christian war machine
Nation after nation falling
In the shadow of the Christian sword
With death they bring the lore of love
What do they tell the people of their old crusades?
Of the women and the children
Impaled on Christian blades
Rejoice they say for we are saved
And we must sing the fight
Sing it till your lungs burst or they’ll set you alight..."
Inkubus Sukkubus, "Church of Madness"
to Ron: Yes, the Stones made a political song recently, for the first time in 40-some years as far as I know, God bless em. It's called "Sweet Neo Con" and it is pretty good. From the album "A Bigger Bang." Sample lyrics: "It's liberty for all/Cause democracy's our style/Unless you are aginst us/Then it's prison without trial/But one thing that is certain/Life is good at Halliburton."
Civil War Guns and Roses
"What we've got here is failure to communicate.
Some men you just can't reach...
So, you get what we had here last week,
which is the way he wants it!
Well, he gets it!
N' I don't like it any more than you men." *
Look at your young men fighting
Look at your women crying
Look at your young men dying
The way they've always done before
Look at the hate we're breeding
Look at the fear we're feeding
Look at the lives we're leading
The way we've always done before
My hands are tied
The billions shift from side to side
And the wars go on with brainwashed pride
For the love of God and our human rights
And all these things are swept aside
By bloody hands time can't deny
And are washed away by your genocide
And history hides the lies of our civil wars
D'you wear a black armband
When they shot the man
Who said "Peace could last forever"
And in my first memories
They shot Kennedy
I went numb when I learned to see
So I never fell for Vietnam
We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all
That you can't trust freedom
When it's not in your hands
When everybody's fightin'
For their promised land
And
I don't need your civil war
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor
Your power hungry sellin' soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain't that fresh
I don't need your civil war
Look at the shoes your filling
Look at the blood we're spilling
Look at the world we're killing
The way we've always done before
Look in the doubt we've wallowed
Look at the leaders we've followed
Look at the lies we've swallowed
And I don't want to hear no more
My hands are tied
For all I've seen has changed my mind
But still the wars go on as the years go by
With no love of God or human rights
'Cause all these dreams are swept aside
By bloody hands of the hypnotized
Who carry the cross of homicide
And history bears the scars of our civil wars
"We practice selective annihilation of mayors
And government officials
For example to create a vacuum
Then we fill that vacuum
As popular war advances
Peace is closer" **
I don't need your civil war
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor
Your power hungry sellin' soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain't that fresh
And I don't need your civil war
I don't need your civil war
I don't need your civil war
Your power hungry sellin' soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain't that fresh
I don't need your civil war
I don't need one more war
I don't need one more war
Whaz so civil 'bout war anyway
heres one of my originals "war on brains." ill probably never have a major record deal, but how can i avoid singing about the collapse of democracy and political awareness? i write about what i see. and youll find all sorts of artistic nuggets about whats going on right now in anyone who is actually concerned with creating art, and not just selling records. you can find me on myspace if anyone is interested. my album is almost done and ill have tracks available for download soon. but if anyone is really interested in hearing my "anthem" for the war on brains, just drop me a line and i might just send you a copy for free. myspace/scienceforchildren.
theres another choice to make
and your brain takes shape
among all the satellite feeds
but the information's bland
as the money changes hands
there's a shotgun pointed
at your head
by the man
so
off with your head
off with your head
theres a two-bit con
on your television set
he's gonna
take
off
your
head
it used to be about discovery
it used to be about beauty
but then the cars came
and the television
we had our brains drained
by
focus groupin politicians
dollar bill makes all decisions
in the war on brains.
there's a war on brains.
microwave streams
ride energy
and rewrite tomes
of history
so
off with our heads.
off with our heads.
they're sucking out the logos
its the best way to control us
with the cars and the television
oil fields and politicians
dollar bill makes all decisions.
in the war on brains.
I repeat: "We Can't Make it Here" by James McMurtry. Blows all the others out of the water.
waiguoren - Take a listen. It will restore your faith in the power of music.
http://www.myspace.com/jamesmcmurtry
I saw a program on TV last night. You should watch it when it comes on again on VH1. There is also a DVD about this. I'm just giving this link so you know what it is about. Really interresting and is what goes on today.
http://www.bestprices.com/cgi-bin/vlink/031398209119?source=YSS&OVRAW=ni...
I say we need a John Lennon today...
U.S. vs. John Lennon: Filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld offer a compelling look at the efforts of the United States government to silence one of ock & roll's most outspoken war critics in this documentary detailing the Vietnam-era struggle between the Richard Nixon administration and iconic peace activist John Lennon. The Vietnam War was raging and the nightly news was filled with stories of failed offensives and massacred U.S. troops. As anti-war protests back home gained momentum, it was the hopeful voice of former Beatle Lennon that served to perfectly encapsulate the frustrations felt by many citizens that the U.S. had gotten caught up in an quagmire from which there was seemingly no end in sight. There's a high price to be paid for standing strong in your beliefs and openly criticizing the ruling elite, though, and now, through interviews with those who knew him best and revealing glimpses into an era where all hope seemed lost, filmmakers finally uncover the truth behind the Nixon administration's highly classified efforts to isolate and eventually deport the man whose powerful words threatened to actually make sense in a world slowly suffocated by the grip of insanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
If the snippets cited in this article are examples of what passes for "protest" writing these days, why bother?
A great new one is Rufus Wainwright's "I'm Going to a Town," with lines like
"I'm so tired of America...
"Tell me, do you really think you go to hell for having loved?
"Tell me, enough of thinking everything that you've done is good...
"You took advantage of a world that loved you well...."
Great discussion. Music IS the key, imo. And the milquetoast, watered-down protest music of today just doesn't cut it.
Here's another great 'blast from the recent past':
Bob Marley - War Lyrics (from Rastaman Vibration)
What life has taught me
I would like to share with
Those who want to learn...
Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war
That until there are no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war
That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war
That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be persued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war
And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war, me say war
War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumours of war
And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory
Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
kitty_tc-You could post lyrics from that entire album. They ended up doing a sequel to Mindcrime, for those who don't know. It was funny how Queensryche went for a mainstream sound after Mindcrime, which actually went gold. They weren't the same after that, but regained their teeth with Mindcrime 2.
"When the Dixie Chicks came out with their Bush statement, a lot of country radio stations stopped playing them. A lot of record companies don’t want anything over the top. It’s symbolic of the era we’re in.â€"
Yeah, symbolic of an era where money rules and the Mass Media is controlled by the "few" who are hungry for profits and power.
“Particularly in the ’60s, artists tended to just come out with much stronger messages with less fear of upsetting anybody,†says Lee Abrams, the chief creative officer for XM satellite radio. “Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan didn’t give a damn."
They didn't give a damn because they didn't live in fear; they were emancipated from what the ruling establishment considered "unacceptable" behavior. These musicians had a tremendous appreciation of truth and facts and obviously had no fear in their effort to consciously destroy the myths of the "intellectual savages" of that era.
Here are some very unsubtle songs of protest. Read the lyrics, hear some mp3's.
www.suspectedterrorists.com
REAL BLAME FOR BUSH POLICIES
Blame the Bush team all you wish for the disastrous consequences of their environmental and social policies, and this ill conceived war. But those who must shoulder the blame for are: the thoughtless voters who helped Bush steal the elections, the five Supreme Court justices who violated their oath by placing politics and favoritism over principle when planting Bush in office, and our legislators who have succumbed to intimidation and tolerated these unprecedented abuses.
As the late Molly Ivins, who always seemed to be right with incredible insight, stated in her last column "We run this country and we are the deciders. Every one of us needs to take action and make the ridiculous look ridiculous".
KMFDM's WWIII has a pretty blunt message:
I declare war on the world
War in outer space
I declare war in a nutshell
War all over the place
I declare war on every government
War against all odds
I declare war on your inner sanctum
On your bloodthirsty gods
World war three - be all that you can be
World war three
I declare war on the axis of morons
All out war on complacent consent
I declare war on the war against drugs
Rape and slaughter of the innocent
War on big brother
Warmongers and profiteers
War on your dogma dubya
Armageddon’s engineers
World war three
World war three - be all that you can be
World war three
War in a heartbeat
I declare war on so-called civilization
World trade globalization
Organized disinformation
War on ambassadors of pretense
War on MTV and CNN
McDonald's, Walt Disney, and Bethlehem
On Christina, Britney, and Eminem
I declare war on the world of anti-choice
On violent unilaterality
On the amassment of murderous high-tech toys
And all crimes against humanity
War on the moral majority
On corporate dot com imperialism
On mindlessly bumbling stupidity
And police-state terrorism
World war three
World war three - be all that you can be
Check out the title song of the album "War Prayer" by Jon Anastasio on itunes or at cdbaby.com/jonanastasio for a look at fundamentalism.
Excerpts from Queensryche's masterpiece, "Operation: Mindcrime"
"Seven years of power
the corporation claw
the rich control the government
the media
the law
to make some kind of difference, then everyone must know
eradicate the fascists, revolution will grow
the system we learn says we're equal under law
but the streets are reality, the weak and poor will fall
let's tip the power balance, and tear down their crown
educate the masses, we'll burn the white house down
speak to me, the pain you feel
speak the word (revolution)
the word is all of us"
"Religion and sex are powerplays
manipulate the people for the money they pay
selling sex, or selling god
the numbers look the same on the credit cards
politicians say no to drugs, while we pay for wars in south america
fighting fire
with empty words
while the banks get fat
the poor stay poor
the rich get rich
and the cops get paid
to look away
as the one percent rules america"
"I used to trust the media to tell me the truth, tell us the truth
but now I've seen the payoffs everywhere I look
who do you trust when everyone's a crook?
I used to think that only america's way, our way was right
but now the holy dollar ules everybody's lives
gotta make a million doesn't matter who dies"
Written in 1986, could have been written yesterday. Nothing's changed. Except that the major record labels won't release anything like it again.
Annihilator-"Epic of War"
"Epic Of War
war, welcome to
war, the garden of
war, can you smell
war, can you taste
hate, no release from
hate, psychological
hate, can you tolerate
hate
look at the devastation,
fear of annihilation happening right before my eyes
now that the end is near,
tell me what I'm doing here,
looking for answers from the divine
flesh, welcome to
flesh, the garden of
flesh, can you smell
flesh, can you taste
blood, welcome to
blood, the garden of
blood, can you taste
blood
I don't want to kill anymore, I won't kill
the sky above is raining red from a hundred thousand dead
but the general wants a hundred thousand more
move out and take that hill, the order is to maim and kill
it's time for us to even up the score
as I race into the fire, I have only one desire
let me see the light, another day
bombs bursting all around, shell-shocked as I hit the ground
I struggle to my knees and start to pray
can't tell if my brothers breathing,
and I just can't stop the bleeding
I am my mothers' only son
torture, welcome to the torture
torture, the garden of
torture, can you smell
torture, can you taste
pain, no release from
pain, psychological
pain, can you tolerate
pain"
Metallica-"Disposable Heroes"
Bodies fill the fields I see, hungry heroes end
No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend
running blind through killing fields, bred to kill them all
Victim of what said should be
a servant `til I fall
[Chorus:]
Soldier boy, made of clay
now an empty shell
twenty one, only son
but he served us well
Bred to kill, not to care
just do as we say
finished here, Greeting Death
he's yours to take away
Back to the front
you will do what I say, when I say
Back to the front
you will die when I say, you must die
Back to the front
you coward
you servant
you blindman
[End Chorus]
Barking of machinegun fire, does nothing to me now
sounding of the clock that ticks, get used to it somehow
More a man, more stripes you bare, glory seeker trends
bodies fill the fields I see
the slaughter never ends
[Chorus]
Why, Am I dying?
Kill, have no fear
Lie, live off lying
Hell, Hell is here
I was born for dying
Life planned out before my birth, nothing could I say
had no chance to see myself, moulded day by day
Looking back I realize, nothing have I done
left to die with only friend
Alone I clench my gun
[Chorus]
Back to the front
Iron Maiden-"Two Minutes To Midnight"
Kill for gain or shoot to maim
But we don’t need a reason
The Golden Goose is on the loose
And never out of season.
Blackened pride still burns inside
This shell of bloody treason
Here’s my gun for a barrel of fun
For the love of living death
The killer’s breed or the demon’s seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom’s stain
Don’t you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight
The hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight
To kill the unborn in the womb
The blind men shout let the creatures out
We’ll show the unbelievers,
The Napalm screams of human flames
Of a prime time Belsen feast, yeah
As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat
and lick the gravy
We oil the jaws of the war machine
and feed it with our babies.
The killer’s breed or the demon’s seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom’s stain
Don’t you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight
The hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight
To kill the unborn in the womb
The body bags and little rags of children
torn in two,
And the jellied brains of those who remain
to put the finger right on you
As the madmen play on words and make us all
dance to their song,
To the tune of starving millions
to make a better kind of gun.
The killer’s breed or the demon’s seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom’s stain
Don’t you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight
The hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight
To kill the unborn in the womb
Midnight... midnight... midnight... It's all night
Midnight... midnight... midnight... It's all night
Iron Maiden-"Brighter Than A Thousand Suns"
We are not the sons of God
We are not His chosen people now
We have crossed the path He trod
We will feel the pain of His beginning
Shadow fingers rise above
Iron fingers stab the desert sky
Oh, behold the power of man
On its tower ready for the fall
Knocking heads together well
Rise a city - build a living hell
Join the race to suicide
Listen for the tolling of the bell
Out of the universe a strange love is born
Unholy union - Trinity reformed
Yellow sun, it's evil twin
In the black the winds delivered him
We will split our souls within
Atom seed to nuclear dust is riven
Out of the universe a strange love is born
Unholy union - Trinity reformed
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Bury Your morals and bury Your dead
Bury Your head in the sand
E=Mc squared - you can relate
How we make God with our hands?
Whatever would Robert have said to his God
About how he made war with the sun
E=Mc squared - you can relate
How we make God with our hand's?
All the nations are rising
Through acid veils of love and hate
Chain letters of Satan
Uncertainty leads us all to this
All the nations are rising
Through acid veils of love and hate
Cold fusion and fury
Divide and conquer while ye may
Others preach and others fall and pray
In the bunkers where we'll die
There the executioners they lie
Bombers launch whit no recall
Minutes warning of the missile fall
Take a look at your last sky
Guessing you won't have the time to cry
Out of the universe a strange love is born
Unholy union - Trinity reformed
Out of the darkness
Out of the darkness
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Out of the darkness brighter than a thousand suns
Holy Father we have sinned...
Lamb of God-"Now You've Got Something to Die For"
Now youve got something to die for
Infidel, Imperial
Lust for blood, a blind crusade
Apocalyptic, we count the days
Bombs to set the people free
blood to feed the dollar tree
Flags for coffins on the screen
oil for the machine
Army of liberation, gunpoint,indoctrination
The fires of sedition
Fulfill the prophecy
Now youve got something to die for
Send the children to the fire, sons and
daughters stack the pyre
Stoke the flame of the empire
live to lie another day
Face of hypocrisy, raping democracy
Apocalyptic, we count the days
We'll never get out of this hole until we've
dug our own grave
And drug the rest down with us
the burning home of the brave
Burn
Now you've got something to die for
Megadeth-"Gears of War"
Ethnic cleansing with no defending
These acts of genocide
A fatal ending with no surrendering
To cover up the crimes and lie
Smart bombs, precision guided armament
A more sophisticated way to end up dead
Still we search and invent such intelligent weapons
That kill each other like the Gears of War
Hoo-rah!!!
If you ride with thieves, then you die with thieves
Cross my heart and hope that you die, that you die!
When the smoke has cleared, the devil's in the mirror
And you see his warheads paint the sky, now you die!
Smart bombs, precision guided armament
A more sophisticated way to end up dead
Still we search and invent such intelligent weapons
That kill each other like the Gears of War
Hoo-rah!!!
Jorn-"Out To Every Nation"
I was born to be a storytelling man
I spread the word across the land
A voice of hope a chant for peace
That's my way that's my release
Rainbow shaker on a unicorn ride
I spread my dreams across the sky
No more howling winds of war
Give me power hear my roar... Yeyeahhh
I'm calling all stations
Earth is ringing the bell
Out to every nation
There's a warning to tell
Feel the mountains tremble
See the floods of despair
Stormy sea only you and me
Can make the world see
Been digging deep into my soul
Before I found what I was loocking for
So hard to heal the damage done
Keeping memories as the song goes on
I play my music till I die
Around the world you hear my cry
And I thank you all for joining the sound
Restless hearts unite as one... Oh yeahhh
I'm calling all stations
Earth is ringing the bell
Out to every nation
There's a warning to tell
Feel the mountains tremble
See the floods eveywhere
Stormy sea you and me
Will make the world see
Who is your ally
In this world of terrorism
Who is your ally
In this world of terror
I was born to be a storytelling man
I spread the word across the land
Across the land
I'm calling all stations
Earth is ringing the bell
Out to every nation
There's a warning to tell
Feel the mountains tremble
See the floods eveywhere
Stormy sea you and me
Will make the world see
I'm calling all stations
I'm calling you
Can you hear me... yes
I'm calling all stations
Out to every nation
I'm calling you
Feel the mountains tremble... Oh Lord
Stormy sea you and me
Can make the world see
The following is an unedited post I made on another website exactly one week ago. Here's hoping that my previous pessimism was overstated...
I would like to think that people would take to the streets as well today, however, I'm not so sure that this would happen.
The MSM hadn't yet been incorporated into the Executive Branch (if in doubt, recall that the network news brought footage of the Vietnam War into our living rooms every night), at least some members of Congress placed statesmanship above pure partisanship (Eugene McCarthy, Wayne Morse, many others), the Supreme Court hadn't yet locked arms with the Executive Branch, the considerable influences of the Christian Reich and multi-national corporations today were far less in evidence, unions were much larger and stronger (this was when one blue collar worker could provide a relatively comfortable living for an entire family), and, again with regard to the MSM, large demonstrations actually received coverage in the newspapers and evening news, and protest music was actually part of the popular culture (remember, or if you are younger, ask your parents about Jimi Hendrix' version of the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock, the quintessential 1965 song "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" by Country Joe & the Fish, "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield (1966), audio track of protests from the 1968 Democratic National Convention on the first Chicago Transit Authority album (1969), the followup album (the band shortened its name to Chicago) which included the song "It Had Better End Soon" and the dedication for the album which read, "With this album we dedicate ourselves, our futures and our energies to the people of the revolution...And the revolution in all its forms.", "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath (great clip on YouTube, choose the one that is set to Political Footage), Edmund Star's "War" (1970), "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970) and "What's Going On" by the incomparable Marvin Gaye (1971). And these are but a few, counterbalanced only by two C&W songs, Sgt. Barry Sadler's "Ballad of the Green Berets" (1964) and Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee" (1969).
The corporate-dominated recording industry and radio stations of today would never allow such music to enter the mainstream. If you were around back then, revisiting this period of time on a web search provides a stark reminder of how much has changed since then, and if you weren't, it provides an incredible history lesson.
Even though this music began in 1965, and huge demonstrations began shortly thereafter, the Vietnam debacle did not finally end until 1975.
So, could this happen again today? I seriously doubt it, however, I would very much like to be pleasantly surprised.
If a strong and biting message is what you want
go back to some of Joe Hill's songs written for the I.W.W. Song Book during the Spanish American War and W.W.I. Many were written to melodies of famous hymns. To Arthur Sullivan's Onward Christian Soldiers he wrote:
Onward Christian Soldiers
Jesus' way is plain:
Kill your Christian brothers
Or by them be slain.
Pulpiteers are spouting effervescent
swill.
God above is calling you to rob
And rape and kill.
Earlier there were abolitionist songs during
and before the Civil War...songs by Stephen Foster and Henry Work. And wonderful songs they were and are.
The newest albums by Tori Amos, Nine Inch Nails, and Smashing Pumpkins all have interesting political songs on them. I like this one by Mr. Reznor. It reminds me of my father-in-law.
"Capital G" by Nine Inch Nails
I pushed the button and elected elected him to office and a
He pushed the button and he dropped the bomb
You pushed the button and could watch it on the television
Those motherfuckers didn't last too long
I'm sick of hearing about the "have's" and "have not's"
Have some personal accountability
The biggest problem with the way that we've been doing things is
The more we let you have the less that I'll be keeping for me
Well I used to stand for something
Now I'm on my hands and knees
Trading in my god for this one
And he signs his name with a capital G
Don't give a shit about the temperature in Guatemala
Don't really see what all the fuss is about
Ain't gonna worry about no future generations and a
And I'm sure somebody's gonna figure it out
Don't try to tell me that some power can corrupt a person
You haven't had enough to know what its like
You're only angry 'cause you wish you were in my position
Now nod your head because you know that I'm right... alright!
Well I used to stand for something
But forgot what that could be
There's a lot of me inside you
Maybe you're afraid to see
Well I used to stand for something
Now I'm on my hands and knees
Trading in my god for this one
And he signs his name with a capital G
Check out, "Lady Liberty", by Food:
www.newfoodgroup.com
Don't miss their lyrics page.
"We Can't Make it Here" by James McMurtry stands alone as the most powerful protest song since "Masters of War". This is the real deal, folks. You can listen to it and/or download it for free at http://www.myspace.com/jamesmcmurtry
One listen and you'll be a believer.
And Michael Franti and Spearhead (for those that like a little regae)...He has a film "I know I'm Not Alone" where he went to Iraq, Palestine, and Israel -- the CD "Yell Fire" was inspired from his travels. (he also narrates in Fourth World War - a great film).
Light up ya lighter (from the CD "Yell Fire")
Fire, fire, fire, light up ya lighter, fire fire fire
Armageddon is a deadly day, Armageddon is a deadly way
They commin for you everyday, While Senators on holiday
The Army recruiters in the parking lot, Hustling kids there jugglin pot
Listen young man, Listen to my plan , Gonna make you money, gonna make you a man
Bom Bom
Here’s what you get, An M-16 and a Kevlar vest
You might come home with one less leg, But this thing will surely keep a bullet out of your chest
So Come on Come on, Sign up, Come on
This one’s nothing like Vietnam
Except for the bullets, Except for the bombs,
Except for the youth that’s gone
Chorus
So we keep it on, til ya coming home, Higher and Higher
Fire, fire, fire, light up ya lighter, fire fire fire, so we keep it on
Til ya commin home, higher and higher
Fire, fire, fire, light up ya lighter, fire fire fire
Tell me President tell if you will,
How many people does a smart bomb kill
How many of em do you think we got,
The General says we never miss a shot
And we never ever ever keep a body count,
we killin so efficiently we can’t keep count
In the Afghan hills the rebels still fightin,
Opium fields keep providin
The best heroin that money can buy
and nobody knows where Osama bin hidin
The press conferences keep on lyin like we don’t know
Some say engine engine number nine,
Machine guns on a New York transit line
The war for oil is a war for the beast,
the war on terror is a war on peace
Tellin you they’re gonna protect you,
Tellin you that they support the troops
Don’t let them fool you with their milk and honey,
No they only want your money
One step forward and two steps back,
Why do veterans get no respect
PTSD and a broken back,
Take a look at where your moneys gone seen
Take a look at what they spend it on
No excuses, No illusions
Light up ya lighter
Since we're all contributing lyrics here's my update for an old favorite. I penned it and even got a copyright for it in 2004. I felt it was more suitable for the New American Century.
AMERICA THE BALEFUL
oh darkening, foreboding skies,
for mutant waves of grain.
for strip mined mountains agonies
above the poisoned plain!
america! america!
god cast it's ire on thee,
and curse thy graft with endless wrath
from sea to filthy sea!
oh treacherous for workers feet
whose desperate struggles press,
a dead end road with no retreat,
of endless killing stress!
america! america!
despair thy fatal flaw.
a tyrant soul without control,
thy crimes disguised as law!
oh hideous for villians proved
in never ending strife.
who more than peace thier power love
and money more than life!
america! america!
your god is oil refined.
all your success is bought with death
and every gain a crime!
oh maddening for human dream
that sees beyond the years.
thine fetid, filthy cities scream
awash in blood and tears!
america! america!
god turns it's face from thee.
you stifle good and brotherhood
from sea to viscous sea!
oh poisonous for burning skies,
for fruitless, poisoned grain.
for ravaged mountains pillaged bare
above the wasted plain!
america! america!
god weeps for loss of thee
for souls despair, for earth and air,
and roiling, poisoned sea!
oh dreadful path for pilgrims feet,
who tread with fear and doubt,
a one way street where war drums beat
and slaves of empire shout!
america! america!
god wrest it's grace from thee.
till paths be turned
from greed and ruin
by those who will be free!
oh agony, for gory tale
of endless, bloody strife.
when on and on, to no avail,
men squander precious life!
america! america!
god shed it's wrath on thee.
till selfish gain no longer stain
a free humanity!
oh sorrowful for human kind
that see beyond the greed.
beyond the lies that kill the mind,
beyond the pain and tears.
america! america!
god shed no grace on thee,
till human kind awake and see
the truth to make them free.
Nice that someone's finally writing about the great protest music that's been on the net for years- too bad they didn't post more examples and links to actual mp3s.
Mr. Macias could have mentioned Greenday, Billy Bragg, Public Enemy, Paris, Eddie Vedder, Clan Dyken, Jynkz, Ani DiFranco and Emcee Lynx...
Folk, Rock, Hip Hop - whatever your preference- it's all out there- for free!
try this one
http://www.jynkz.com/yourwar.mp3
LOTS more here
http://www.benfrank.net/music
Subtle Songs of Protest Hit a High Note
Ha!
Nothing "subtle" about my songs.
I try like hell to say what I mean and mean what I say.
GIVE ME LIBERTY, THE HOMELAND SECURITY BLUES and THERE AIN'T NO COWBOYS ANYMORE are all FREE DOWNLOADS at www.spartacusjones.com
If you like them, spread them around.
Liberty & Justice,
SJ
Spartacus Jones
www.spartacusjones.com
oops, double post... sorry
The National Anathema
Our county is not free
There is no liberty
But still we sing
Land where we’re full of pride
Because our parents died
On this and not the other side
Let freedom sting.
Our country is depraved
Its workers are enslaved
But now we sing.
Land where all hope has died
When justice is denied
Except for those inside
Let freedom sting
Our county once was free
With opportunity
But now we sing
Land where we few divide
The wealth that you provide
We Daughters are satisfied
To let freedom sting
and how about the most outspoken ones: KMFDM
their songs: WWIII, Stars & Stripes, Free Your Hate, New American Century, Blackball
are some of the finest example of musical/lyrical protest against your fascist regime in the USSA
check them out at http://www.kmfdm.net
NEW AMERICAN CENTURY
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
WALK THE LINE
DON’T MOVE TOO FAST
OR FALL BEHIND
THERE ARE RULES YOU MUST OBEY
THEY GET RE-WRITTEN BY THE DAY
DON’T DO THIS - DON’T SAY THAT
YOUR EVERY MOVE IS LOGGED AND TRACKED
BY THE ALL OPPRESSIVE EYE
SPY SATELITES IN FRIENDLY SKIES
THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY
HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN
NO ONE EXEMPT FROM THE TRAGEDY
COUNTER ATTACK START PUSHING BACK
FIGHT THE POWER
THAT CHOKES YOUR SPEECH
FIGHT THE POWER
THAT MAKES YOU BLEED
FIGHT THE POWER
THAT PROPOGATES LIES
TO KEEP YOU WEAK
KEEP YOU IN LINE
FIGHT THE POWER THAT REIGNS YOU IN
DIVIDES AND CONQUERS
DEFINES YOUR SIN
FIGHT THE POWER
FOR ONE AND ALL
BEFORE THE POWER SWALLOWS US WHOLE
NO ONE DARES TO SAY A WORD
OUR PANIC DRIVES ALL HUMAN HERDS
IN THE LAND WHERE CASH IS KING
OUR SILENCE BOUGHT AND SOLD FOR FREE
THE FUTURE’S BANGING ON OUR DOOR
WHEN REAL I.D. WILL BE THE LAW
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR TURN HIM IN
IT’S CALLED PATRIOTISM
THE WORLD IS WATCHING IN DISBELIEF
CHANTING SHAME ON YOU
HOW CAN YOU STAND BY SO QUIETLY
LETTING THEM RAPE YOUR LIBERTIES
YOU CAN’T BE BOTHERED OR CONCERNED
YOU SEE NO REASON FOR ALARM
PREJUDICE, RELIGION HATE
USHER IN THE NEW MANDATE
ABSOLUTE AND RESOLVED
ONE NATION UNDER ONE GOD
LACK OF INTEREST HAS ITS PRICE
AS WE’RE STRIPPED OF ALL OUR RIGHTS
THOSE WHO CANNOT LEARN FROM HISTORY
ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT !
"I find it very ironic that this article, like all others on this subject, fail to look at the political rhetoric that is involved in the underground hip hop scene."
And they NEVER talk about heavy metal either, the only form of music that people on the left and right seem to either fear or loathe. Ellen Goodman and Brent Bozell will stand side-by-side throwing metal CD's into a furnace. Talk about the child nobody seems to want, nevermind the fact that metal emerged from struggle and despair as did blues and hip-hop. As Rob Halford said about Birmingham, the Shaolin of heavy metal, nicknamed "the Bullring", "The bullring was a lonely place of concrete towers and steel
The coal mines and then industries were all I had to feel"
I have said this before, I hear Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" almost daily anymore. The song was released over 35 years ago, and gets more airplay now than ever.
"Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of death's construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds, oh lord yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait 'till their Judgement Day comes, yeah!
Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where their bodies burning
No more war pigs of the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of Judgement, God is calling
Underneath the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings
Oh, Lord yeah!"
System of a Down had a hit on Modern Rock radio with a song called "BYOB" which is scathingly anti-war.
I could post a bunch of lyrics from other bands, but the last time I did that, they got deleted for some reason.
I hate commercial radio though. Even the stations that play music I like play the same songs, over and over again, and they leave much of the really good stuff on the shelf.
I think that part of the problem is that people judge certain styles of music based on their underbellies, like people do with religion. People associate hip-hop with criminality, misogyny, materialism and then alternately the glorification of poverty. People, when they actually acknowledge that metal still exists in vibrant, robust, abundance, associate it with sexism, Satanism, violence, church-burning, etc. Hip-hop has gangstas. Metal has guys like Varg Vikernes, Jon Nodvedt, Glen Benton, Gaahl (pretty scary dude), and more.
Or they judge the music by it's nadir. They'll point to silly rappers and metal bands. As if GWAR are taken seriously by most metal fans, and all the "hair bands" were just terrible. They hold up bands like Poison and Cinderella as examples, yet ignore Saigon Kick and Badlands. They don't think the music has any substance, intelligence, art, or craft to it.
People need to realize that we can reach people through music. Everyone seems to associate protest music with folk, punk (which I dabble in. I like some Bad Religion, especially '21st Century Digital Boy' which a great song and bands like The Damned, the Sex Pistols and some others), so-called "adult alternative" (heh), and the like.
Not everyone gets excited about the same kinds of music. I can't get energized by somebody strumming "We Shall Overcome". It's not that I don't like the message...but, well...and maybe this is because I'm male...
...it just doesn't slam to me. :) I like loud, visceral, guitar riffs, guys screaming their lungs out, singing for their very souls. I like precision, virtuosity. Nothing else gives me the goosebumps quite like metal, although punk does sometimes, in fact, it's often just messy metal to me.
But I don't expect everyone else to like it either. Some people like everything. I've never been that way. Nonetheless, lots of people act as if there's something wrong with you for liking one form of music or not or only preferring one.
Hip-hop for example, gets it from the moral majority types, who back in the 80's got the vapors about metal, thinking all us young mopheads wanted to kill ourselves. And then after Columbine the MSM made us all out to be killers wearing trenchcoats since one of the kids liked Marilyn Manson.
But on the other hand there are those who act as if hip-hop is the only music that matters anymore, and if it doesn't do anything for you, well...you suck.
We don't give young people enough avenues to express themselves through music either. It's not only in terms of the mainstream where their choices are hip-hop, pop, country, and mopey alternative. They're given these little slots, and if they don't fit they're considered lame. They're not made aware of any other forms of music. Luckily some of them find their sonic salvation somehow, somewhere instead of going MOR.
"I find it very ironic that this article, like all others on this subject, fail to look at the political rhetoric that is involved in the underground hip hop scene."
Chris Macias, the dear reader has a good point here. Kudos to you for at least giving this issue a try, but why not go all the way, next time, and tell the whole story? Because you are not covering these times with "the pack," your editors will run your articles. Keep working at it; news coverage like pop music lyrics are about to get, as the man said, “. . . into a period of time where we’ll see the messages getting stronger,†Abrams adds. “The political conditions are certainly right.â€
But history will have to acknowledge that there were truth tellers in this time like Amy Goodman and the rappers who have nothing to lose. Remember that.
There are a ton of 80's bands like Bad Religion and some more or less one Hit wonders that have songs that sound like they were written yesterday.
I am thinking of
Ship of Fools by World Party
10,000 more fools By Bad Religion
1,000 More Fools"
I heard them say that the meek shall reign on earth,
Phantasmal myriads of sane bucolic birth.
I've seen the rapture in a starving baby's eyes,
Inchoate beatitude, the Lord of the Flies.
So what does it mean when your mind starts to stray?
Kaleidoscoping images of love on the way.
Brother you'd better get down on your knees and pay.
1,000 more fools are being born every fucking day.
They try to tell me that the lamb is on the way,
With microwave transmissions they bombard us every day.
The masses are obsequious, contented in their sleep.
The vortex of their minds ensconsed within the murky deep.
So what does it mean when your mind starts to stray?
Kaleidoscoping images of love on the way.
Brother you'd better get down on your knees and pay.
1,000 more fools are being born every fucking day.
Unacceptable by Bad Religion
"Unacceptable"
irreducible is the word for today, plastic compounds and nuclear
waste, what the hell is the matter with the pople on this planet? have
we all gone insane? the stigma of industrial progress killing us over
and over agin, one part per trillion... unacceptable, on part per
billion... unacceptable, one part per million... unacceptable, this
mammoth program set upon us courtesy of the U.S.A., inexcusable are
the men before our time, i'd like to kick their ass for what they left
behind, cancer-causing chemicals, ozone-depleting aerosols, we're all
going to fry, so put your head between your legs and kiss your ass
goodbye
You are the Govt "" ""
Hey sit down and listen and they'll tell you when you're wrong.
Eradicate but vindicate as "progress" creeps along.
Puritan work ethic maintains its subconscious edge
As Old Glory maintains your consciousness.
There's a loser in the house, and a puppet on the stool,
And a crowded way of life, and a black reflecting pool,
And as the people bend, the moral fabric dies,
The country can't pretend to ignore its people's cries.
You are the government.
You are jurisprudence.
You are the volition.
You are juridiction.
And I make a difference too.
I find it very ironic that this article, like all others on this subject, fail to look at the political rhetoric that is involved in the underground hip hop scene. Of course, when I say "underground", I just mean all the GOOD hop hop, the stuff that almost never makes any kind of radio play. Artists like Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Common, P.O.S. (an artist who's first lyric on the first song of his first album is "first of all, fuck Bush), Brother Ali, Toki Wright, and the list goes on and on and on. Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, the Twin Cities, is particularly rich with the political hip hop movement. Toki Write, Brother Ali, P.O.S., Hirespects, Junkyard Empire, Desdemona, and a few others are on the vanguard of this scene.
One thing this article hits on very well is that NONE of this music is going to hit the airwaves, unless it dumbed down - musically and otherwise - to fit what the big musical corporate monopolies are looking for, which is nothing but a quick buck. The days of major labels signing controversial artists seem long gone. But, in the face of all of that millions of fans are aware of the artists I have mentioned above, and most of those artists would never be stupid enough to sign a contract with a major.
We live in very sad times indeed. In the late 60's and 70's, popular music played an integral role in propagating the message of general political and social unrest. That's because back then DJ's on the radio actually had the freedom to play whatever they wanted, as long as they thought people would dig it. Would Bob Dylan be played on the radio today if he was not already the legend Bob Dylan? Would Gil Scott Heron's "the Revolution Will not be Televised" be played on the air today? Hell no.
The press reported that the Stones had recorded an anti-Bush song at least a year ago. Has anyone ever heard it?
Great topic! thanks!
RobertBaldwin writes:
"If a strong and biting message is what you want
go back to some of Joe Hill’s songs ... Many were written to melodies of famous hymns."
- as did many others such as Woody Guthrie et al, and Steeleye Span, who, in "Fighting For Strangers", -using an old Christian tune and other bits, sang:
"What makes you go abroad fighting for strangers?
When you could be safe at home free from all dangers.
A recruiting sergeant came our way
To an inn nearby at the close of day,
He said, “Young Johnny you're a fine young man.
Would you like to march along behind a military band,
With a scarlet coat, a big cocked hat,
And a musket at your shoulder?â€
A shilling he took and he kissed the book;
Oh poor Johnny what'll happen to you.
"A recruiting sergeant marched away
From the inn nearby at the break of day.
Johnny went too with half a ring;
He was off to be a soldier, he'd be fighting for the King
In a far off war, in a far off land,
To face a foreign soldier.
But how will you fare when there's lead in the air;
Oh poor Johnny what'll happen to you?
"Oh the sun shone high on a barren land
As a thin red line took a military stand.
There was sling shot, chain shot, grape shot too,
Swords and bayonets thrusting through.
Poor Johnny fell but the day was won
And the King is grateful to you;
But your soldiering's done and we're sending you home;
Oh poor Johnny what have they done to you.
"Oh they said he was a hero and not to grieve
Over two wooden pegs and empty sleeves.
They carried him home and they set him down
With a military pension and a medal from the crown.
You haven't an arm, you haven't a leg,
The enemy nearly slew you.
You'll have to go out on the streets to beg;
Oh poor Johnny what have they done to you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then too of course, John Prine and *Phil Ochs* made wonderful songs that confronted the lousy governments and wars of their day.
~~ Long live the power of songs and art to help raise consciousness, and challenge the fools in power! :)
"War Pigs" - Black Sabbath and "War" by Edwin Starr, also covered by DOA back in the 80's. The 2 greatest anti-war songs ever. Maybe those rock stars can sugar coat the message to appeal to middle America and still sell records. But that's still part of the dumbing down of America. If you have the soapbox just say it. Or are they scared of being Dixie Chicks? Then we lose to Bushco anyway so who cares.