Meh, how much can you really say in a song anyway? You can say that war sucks, capitalism sucks, that dying needlessly for your country sucks, but if you try to put a manifesto in the form of a song you end up with something hopelessly preachy where the lyrics detract from the music.
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Political activism in music - are we doing our duty
- Thread starter Goober
- Start date
Cheshire Kitteh
New member
The thing is. Most music has a message and politics have played a part in that for a long time. So in response to "stick to what you're good at", well. For some musicians their work is very closely tied with politics. Woodie Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, John Fogerty, Public Enemy, MXPX and Rage Against The Machine are prime examples of this.
So in a way, its not just about music, theres a political agenda, and so its natural for people with beliefs to want to get their message accross, and if they have a platform to speak out on, its their god given right to use it. Isn't America great?
So no, fat idiots like Rush Lirabaugh shouldn't be the only people to get paid for having an opinion. Politically outspoken musicians who write very political lyrics are pundits too, in a way.
I think politics in music is essentially a great idea. What better way to inspire people than through music, right? However there is a problem with how some musicians chose to deal with politics.
Take The Dixie Chicks for example, these are really durab broaRAB if you ask me. For one their music wasn't really political at all, then the fat one dissed bush and now they are liberal icons, fronting for all sorts of liberal causes. But dispite their praise from the left, their record sales and popularity have declined. Because as a result of expressing their views they have alienated a great deal of their audience, after all, they are a Country group, and it dosen't take a rocket scientist to see that the Country music fanbase is predominately Conservative.
Sometimes it pays to keep your mouth shut.
So in a way, its not just about music, theres a political agenda, and so its natural for people with beliefs to want to get their message accross, and if they have a platform to speak out on, its their god given right to use it. Isn't America great?
So no, fat idiots like Rush Lirabaugh shouldn't be the only people to get paid for having an opinion. Politically outspoken musicians who write very political lyrics are pundits too, in a way.
I think politics in music is essentially a great idea. What better way to inspire people than through music, right? However there is a problem with how some musicians chose to deal with politics.
Take The Dixie Chicks for example, these are really durab broaRAB if you ask me. For one their music wasn't really political at all, then the fat one dissed bush and now they are liberal icons, fronting for all sorts of liberal causes. But dispite their praise from the left, their record sales and popularity have declined. Because as a result of expressing their views they have alienated a great deal of their audience, after all, they are a Country group, and it dosen't take a rocket scientist to see that the Country music fanbase is predominately Conservative.
Sometimes it pays to keep your mouth shut.
*~*Iris C*~*
New member
I very recently finished reading a book called Arguments for Socialism. It was written by the British left wing politician Tony Benn in 1979 and focuses on issues such as Trade Unionism, the European Union and the lack of accountability in government. In all of these examples he lays out how socialism could be implemented to get the United kingdom out of the rut it was in going into the 1980s.
The point Im making is that Tony Benn, a highly articulate politician and in my opinion one of the great champions of socialism, decided that to properly lay out a precise theory and to properly explain his take on socialism in a comprehensive way he needed to write a book, in this case a book that just under 200 pages long. A 4 minute pop song cannot even begin to present such a refined and in depth study of any political issue because of its sheer brevity. Because of this pop musicians attempts at presenting a political message have never amounted to more than sloganeering and rhetoric and thats goes for Woody Guthrie and John Lennon too. Writing "This Machine Kills Faschists" on your guitar doesnt mean you actually understand the machinations of a facism or communist government. Similarly RATM can say smash the state in 4 minutes. What they cant explain in 4 minutes is how you go about smashing the state, what you replace it with and how you go about doing that.
The pop musicians approach to politics amounts to nothing because there isnt the political theory behind it and political theory cant be explained in 4 minutes or by wearing a Che Guevarra T shirt.
The point Im making is that Tony Benn, a highly articulate politician and in my opinion one of the great champions of socialism, decided that to properly lay out a precise theory and to properly explain his take on socialism in a comprehensive way he needed to write a book, in this case a book that just under 200 pages long. A 4 minute pop song cannot even begin to present such a refined and in depth study of any political issue because of its sheer brevity. Because of this pop musicians attempts at presenting a political message have never amounted to more than sloganeering and rhetoric and thats goes for Woody Guthrie and John Lennon too. Writing "This Machine Kills Faschists" on your guitar doesnt mean you actually understand the machinations of a facism or communist government. Similarly RATM can say smash the state in 4 minutes. What they cant explain in 4 minutes is how you go about smashing the state, what you replace it with and how you go about doing that.
The pop musicians approach to politics amounts to nothing because there isnt the political theory behind it and political theory cant be explained in 4 minutes or by wearing a Che Guevarra T shirt.
Good lyrics should be like good poetry in that they say more than just what's on the surface. Of course you probably won't find such lyrics in pop music. Pop music isn't the only music out there, and its obviously the worst choice if you're looking for genuinely politically aware lyrics.
One political song doesn't have to fully elaborate on every aspect of a musician's political ideology. Musicians who are truly passionate about politics write more than one political song anyways. For example, Propagandhi is a great political band. None of their songs could be considered a catch-all manifesto for their political views, but I own all of their CRAB and listening to their songs you get a good idea of their beliefs. They certainly know what they are talking about. Each song tackles a different topic, and they are fairly in depth, especially the newer stuff.
Plus I believe that the purpose of political music is to inspire in the listener the desire to become more politically aware and active, not to be the only source of political information for a person. Obviously you shouldn't just take all of your political beliefs from music, but it can lead you to look into politics and find out for yourself. In this way it serves as a sort of primer or catalyst, and therefore it can have an impact and aid in bringing about change.... hopefully. I'm still skeptical.
One political song doesn't have to fully elaborate on every aspect of a musician's political ideology. Musicians who are truly passionate about politics write more than one political song anyways. For example, Propagandhi is a great political band. None of their songs could be considered a catch-all manifesto for their political views, but I own all of their CRAB and listening to their songs you get a good idea of their beliefs. They certainly know what they are talking about. Each song tackles a different topic, and they are fairly in depth, especially the newer stuff.
Plus I believe that the purpose of political music is to inspire in the listener the desire to become more politically aware and active, not to be the only source of political information for a person. Obviously you shouldn't just take all of your political beliefs from music, but it can lead you to look into politics and find out for yourself. In this way it serves as a sort of primer or catalyst, and therefore it can have an impact and aid in bringing about change.... hopefully. I'm still skeptical.
DaringDave
New member
seeing as how the trend to write really long post for this thread im gonna break out of the ordinary cycle and just say i disagree. hows that for originality?