Politics and Music

Great music can certainly be transformative in how we view the world. For me, that happened with Zappa's "We're Only In It For The Money", which I first heard back in 1969; came a bit late to that party! 

Bob Dylan likely changed a few folks' viewpoints.... 

@bdp24 - you forgot Kid Rock Old Man Pebble.... 

@bondmanp - why should an entertainer's opinions on politics or anything else be worth less than the opinion of a computer programmer, a banker, a fireman, you, or anybody else? 

@scott22 + 1

@crustycoot + 100 - excellent description of what happened.

At 70 years of age and from MD, I certainly remember the Dixiecrats; Spiro Agnew got to be governor of Maryland because he ran as the liberal Republican, believe it or not; the Democrat running against him was a Dixiecrat....  

@onhwy61 - Good choices! But the main point of The Clash, Bob Dylan, and Gang of Four was political, as were many of these songs listed by other artists.

These songs didn't need to be 'politicized' - they pretty blatantly were to begin with. 

@moonwatcher -

It’s like Frank Zappa said of these political types of music artists, "Shut up and play yer guitar".

WOW, you sure don't get FZ at all, do you???? 

@tylermunns - from what I understand, Merle actually wrote that song as satire, but it was taken at face value, as too often happens with satire....  Cause like most musicians, Merle was smoking plenty of marijuana, whether in Muskogee or anyplace else...

To me, an entertainer's opinion is worth every bit as much as anybody else's, even 'some guy on the internet', which is really what people on forums ultimately are.

I'd ask people who think entertainers/athletes' opinions are worthless, what it is that THEY do for a living, and why that makes them better or smarter human beings than musicians or athletes? 

@moonwatcher - I was born in 1951 - how about you?

And no, you understand nothing about FZ. 'Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar' is what people like you would yell at him when he was trying to talk to the audience. This is called 'irony' or 'sarcasm' - look those words up. FZ was all about both.

I will take anybody's opinion over your's. The rest of your foolish post speaks for itself.