@emrofsemanon 

“the greatest music is multi-level in its meaning. some diatribes are danceable”. 

You win.

@scott22 

😂

music and song can be powerful ....

Al Stewart is outstanding when it comes to writing about politics/history.

Personally, I prefer when the issue is approached more from an observational/narrative perspective than a didactic one.

It's so easy for these discussions to go off a cliff. Music should be from the heart. Politics is the furthest thing from it.

@bdp24 Thankyou for that rather unusual response.

Conservatives tend to oppose things like---in the case of Reagan---Stem Cell research (’cause fetuses have their rights too). That is, of course, until such research will benefit them personally (after Reagan’s illness was diagnosed, Mrs. Reagan got behind Stem Cell research in a big way). What a great irony it was that the "great communicator" lived his final years unable to speak.

We Californian’s were horrified when Governor Reagan cut funding for the State mental hospitals, "throwing" the mentally ill literally into the street. Reagan suggested the families of the ill should take responsibility for their relatives. Good luck, ya’all. One of those tossed out was Skip Spence (drummer on the debut Jefferson Airplane album, then rhythm guitarist/songwriter/singer in Moby Grape.). For the rest of his life Skip could be seen wandering the streets of San Jose, bumming cigarettes and spare change. Cruel indifference to the suffering of the least fortunate. Jesus weeps.

@bdp24 I like what Dylan years ago said: "It’s not left or right, it’s up or down."

I don’t agree entirely with this sentiment, but that’s irrelevant - I know very similar words were well known to be attributed to President Reagan.

Quite odd, in the circumstances.  Think.

edit - here it is (excuse formatting, a copy and paste)-

“You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order --or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path.”

The list is not complete without Woodie Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Steve Earle.

Elvis Costello’s song Shipbuilding is a fabulous anti war song. Always surprised at how many people miss that.

somebody said that someone got filled in

for saying that people get killed in

the result of their ship building.....

Goes to show that we don’t listen to the lyrics enough?

the greatest music is multi-level in its meaning. some diatribes are danceable. 

Trump the traitor singing    "Folsom Prison Blues". will be a favorite. 

It’s interesting, the percentage of progressive/left-leaning songwriters, singers, and musicians vs. those of the conservative/right-leaning persuasion. Make a list of your faves, and see where their allegiances lie.

Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, Bruce Springsteen, Ry Cooder, John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, John Hiatt (a lotta John’s around here ;-) , Iris Dement, Emmylou Harris, Joan Osborne, etc. on the left.

On the right? Ted Nugent and Mike Love. I don’t know much about Nugent’s music, other than that The Amboy Dukes’ version of "Baby Please Don’t Go" is unintentionally hilarious. As for MIke Love, we have to be embarrassed for him, as he’s too dumb to do it for himself.

I like what Dylan years ago said: "It’s not left or right, it’s up or down."

Shostakovitch delivers us straight into the horrors of WWII with his Second String Quartet. No glory. Just madness.

the author of the topic, are you a naive person or did you write it on purpose?
Anyone (mostly young inexperienced people) should know what an OVERTON WINDOW is.
... dehumanization technology ...
in a playful way, they offer you: let's try the devil a little ... forget God for a while ... a little bit ... as a joke

This is constantly done by (sponsors) oligarchs and arms corporations ... They spend millions on advertising such ideas - to get billions ...

this is a trick - deception of ordinary people

But the point is that  music is for entertainment, not education

It's OK to make a political statement through music but you may limit the number of people that want to listen to it. I give artists a break for expressing their viewpoint using music but there is a line that can be crossed and I wont buy music that offends my sensibilities. 

My thoughts are constantly expressed  here.

"Remember, our business doesn't draw the most stable minded of individuals", is what my bass player said while conversing about a good player who was quite flaky and undependable. Considering that music is generally an emotional exercise, I don't believe them to be a very good intellectual source for forming my worldview and  political choices.

The 60's  movement was all about peace, love and ending wars. Yet since we, the baby boomers have grown and taken the roles of power, we have endless wars, violent riots and now the cancel culture where only one viewpoint is even allowed.

We could discuss how such a great idea became so corrupted. But the point is that  music is for entertainment, not education

Everything is of its time.

There's simply no getting away from that.

We may no longer have protest singers but the music of today is still very much a product of our time.

Context matters, but it's not everything.

Just earlier today I heard Wham!'s Club Tropicana being played whilst out shopping.

As much as I dislike the calculated style of Wham! I found myself irresistibly singing along to it.

"Club Tropicana, the drinks are free..."

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....