(no subject)

[jfb]

A few things I ran across earlier on Google:

Damon Albarn makes the case for protest music in the Times of London.

Louise Kennedy writes in the Boston Globe about why musicians aren't writing anti-war songs. Among other things, she points out that the anti-war songs of the 60s didn't come along until, well, the war was underway.

Jeff Chang writes in Metro (last April) about protest music, media conglomeration, and self-censorship. Lots of good perspectives in this piece. Both Kennedy and Chang look to hip-hop as a probable source of protest music for the new millennium.

Brent Staples writes about protest music, but mostly about the consolidation of radio ownership in the New York Times, following a related article by William Safire.

Barry Stoller asks "Where are the new anti-war songs?"--not just "little indie groups" but "supernova chart power". But his ideas for chart-topping artists are Dylan, Baez, McCartney, Ono, Ozzy Osbourne, Neil Young, and Johnny Rotten. I think he's making some kind of point, but it just makes him look out of touch.

Comments

hiphop

[(Anonymous)]

One genre of music you can usually count on for commentary or motivation for social change is, of course, hip-hop.. There's a pretty interesting split in the hip-hop community.

Some artists (in my opinion, most of which comprise a group of talentless sell-outs) are speaking out in a very pro-war fashion.

From a recent Canibus song called "Draft Me":

“Lurkin’, to leave y’all with bloody red turbans/ Screamin ‘Jihad!’ while y’all pray to a false god/We ready for all out war, it’s time to settle the score.”

Scary.

Others have rallied around GWB and the war: Wu Tang, R Kelly, etc.

But, the bright spot is that a good portion of hiphop artists, both mainstream and underground are speaking out pretty loudly against the war, but, curiously very few have done so musically (yet) But thoughts, letters, and diatribes abound:

Russell Simmons has written an open letter to GWB. (http://www.sohh.com/thewire/read.php?contentID=4392) No doubt he's feeling a little listless since his pretty uncompelling boycott of Pepsi.

Paris wrote a big rant here (http://www.guerrillafunk.com/thoughts/doc1083.html).

And a bunch of hip-hop artists (Busta Rhymes, Capone & Noreaga, Missy Elliott, Fat Joe, Mobb Deep, Outkast, Pharoahe Monch, Bubba Sparxx, Jay-Z and Nas) got together to film an ad speaking out against the war. From the snippets of it I read it sounds good, although I found myself occassionally wishing an artist here or there would have have been more succinct with something like "This isn't a just war" instead of sharing his insight into "Bush's beef with Saddam".

But, no, very little actual music. Maybe it just doesn't sell?

--Chris

Re: hiphop

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

Scary. Makes me wonder how many pro-war songs there were during Vietnam.

Re: hiphop

[jfb.livejournal.com]

According to one non-exhaustive survey (http://www.slipcue.com/music/jazz/warsongs_01.html): "The patriotic war song pretty much died a lonely death during the Vietnam War with Sgt. Barry Sadler's 'Ballad Of The Green Berets' and Tony Orlando & Dawn's 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon' proving the last gasp of this once-great genre." Plenty of WWII songs though.

Also, I wouldn't want to take this class (http://www.arts.adelaide.edu.au/personal/DHart/ResponsesToWar/Lecture/20thCOther/VietnamUSA.html), whose syllabus lists "Born in the USA" under "Partriotic [sic] Rock And Pro-War Country And Western".