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Music and politics

A post yesterday about U2 prompted me to listen to them today. And one comment from yesterday got me to thinking. The author wrote dismissively that they should "keep their politics to themselves." (Those may or may not have been the exact words, but that gets to the point.) As I've been listening this afternoon, I've thought: I'm neither a born-again Christian nor a political leftie, but I do love this band. And then I thought further: If I listened only to bands or singer-songwriters whose politics were like mine, I surely wouldn't spin a whole lot of recordings. (For the record, I consider myself a radically pragmatic centrist with occasional libertarian leanings. Got any bands who'd fill that bill?) I care about the music, and not about what the people making that music happen to believe. Am I alone in this? Do others dismiss certain artists because of their politics -- or religion or the kind of car they drive or whatever else?
hodu
joeylawn36111
574 posts
 
I personally hate it when foriegn bands critisize the US politically - they just need to "Shut Up and Sing" just like Audiofeil said.
bongofury
1,160 posts
 
I LOVE POLITICALLY SLANTED MUSIC. The world would be poorer without the varied songs like Big Bill Broonzy's "This Train", Bruce Springsteen's "Youngstown", The Clash's "Washington Bullets", The Beatles "Revolution", Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man", Green Day's "American Idiot", and U2's "Pride" in our daily lifes. You would have to live in a cave not to give these artists their fare shaking in reshaping popular culture. Why sit back in silence? I see no reason that they not share their views openly in public as an extention of their celebrity.
entrope
482 posts
 
Bongo-

Did you drop $100 on the concert ticket to hear an artist perform or speak to their politics?
fmpnd
481 posts
 
Tvad, I respect your opinion and usually agree with most of what you have posted here on Agon. I STAUNCHLY defend our First Amendment rights, no problem with that. But the issue I see here is difference between artists playing their ususal repertoire - political lyrics and all - versus taking advantage of a paying audience and, in essence, doing the old "bait & switch" and digressing off into using the stage as a political soapbox to further their own personal agenda.

I am sure most of the audience already knows the artist's political views - so why do they need to hijack the concert? If you hire me to fix your plumbing or represent you in court, you don't want to hear (nor have you paid to hear) me go off on my own political agenda. Yes, you may listen to me and decide to engage me, but that is YOUR option and decision. I would venture to guess that the majority of the paying public, and that would include many of the fans that are politically aligned with any group or musician, would prefer to hear the songs and music they paid to hear rather than a sermon they didn't. Just my $.02
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
we'd all be listening to pat boone and watching daniel boone on tv today had censorship won out(live..and on record) in the 1960's......thats right, even pat boone speaks out.
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