Conservative Politics & Rock Music


The National Review has published a list of the 50 all time top conservative rock 'n' roll songs. #1 is The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". Other artist on the list include Beatles, Stones, U2, Rush, Aerosmith, Creed, Metallica, Beach Boys, Dylan and the Kinks.

Here's a link to the list.

I'm not familiar with every song on the list, but I do have a few observations. I find it incredible that only a single non-white artist made the list. A number of the songs have a very cynical bent ("Revolution", "Sympathy For the Devil", "Won't Get Fooled Again", etc.). Is cynicism a purely conservative trait? "Wouldn't It Be Nice" - I always thought it was a spoof of the Ossie & Harriet lifestyle. "I Fought the Law" - the fact that the law won doesn't make this song politically conservative. It's the verbal equivalent of a Born To Lose tattoo. It's giving the system the finger. Also, there are a number of songs that are about abortion, but only one is by a woman. Maybe the slogan should be changed to "Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll & Birth Control".

Rock music encompasses a vast number of musical styles and it only stands to reason that it would also include a wide spectrum of political beliefs. Rather than actually debating politics per se, I'm interested in responses to particularly songs being on the list and whether you see them a political or apolitical.
128x128onhwy61
Boa, it's funny you mention "You Can't Be Too Strong". It was the first thought I had, too.

Also, Billy Joel's "Angry Young Man".
Now that I've been defined as a racist, thank you Maril555 (and please, stay nauseated), let me also try to qualify as a sexist for pointing out the paucity of women on the list. I'm writing an angry letter to the Affirmative Action Office at the National Review.
James Brown might be in the R&R Hall of Fame, but his nickname is "The Godfather of Soul".

Talk about politics...... James Brown is one of the greatest music artists ever; but was the primary motivation to put him in the R&R Hall of Fame because he was great at rock music; or was it primarily for public relations and political purposes??

We can all name a white soul singer now ... Taylor Hicks.
He also sings R&R songs...

Not many non-latino latin singers either.
I vote for The Butthole Surfers' "My Beach, My Waves". I don't think you can get more right-winged than that.
its obvious the national revue don't 'get it'......they are obviously 'short people' who 'got no reason to live'.
I'll wait for The Nation's all-time Top 50 listing of liberal country anthems...wonder if Toby Keith or Tom T. Hall will be included...
Tvad,
You stole that one from me. My sentiments exactly.
It seems very racist to me to even try applying racial criteria to music.
Onhwy61,
"Only single non-white artist"???
Is there "supposed to be" a certain propotion of artists with different skin colour?
I'm wondering, why is there not a single Mongolian or Peruvian artist on that list as well?
Same goes for The Hall of Fame, Oscars and everything else.
Nauseating (reverse racism that is).
At one time I would have found it amazing that The National Review would publish a list like this one but rock music became corporatised a long time ago.

Still, these are the types that thought Elvis was a danger to the nation in 1956. These are also the folks that called the Beatles and others "long haired communist hippie drug anarchists" or something like that.

The National Review can go to hell!
Bowbow, of the 158 performers inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame slightly more than one third are non-white. Where's James Brown's "It's A Man's Man's World" or "I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing" as conservative anthems?
The most conservative pop/rock song I can think of is Graham Parker's "You Can't Be Too Strong".

Or how about XTC's "Respectable Street"?

A Google search produced a number of these lists. Most of these songs, when evaluated as a whole, do not reflect conservative thinking, IMO.
Rock'nRoll by its very nature and foundation is apolitical. It was funded on rebellion, and giving the system the finger. If you look at the words to old songs from the 50's and 60's when sensorship was in full bloom, there were many references to banned things, Dylan's Tamborine Man for example. I think the concervatives just love to put their tag on anything they can...(Blast away ditto heads) the bottom line is... Rock N'Roll is about rebellion, and finding one's own voice. M2cents
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How many "non-white" rock & roll groups can you name? Not very many I'd think. This explains why there are not many on the list. It has nothing to do with politics..