Political Bands

If my blog has had any kind of theme in the past, it is the convergence of pop culture and politics. Those are the things that interest me in real life and I am constantly fascinated by the intersection of the two. With this post, I'm beginning an informal series on bands that I like that have made a political statement in their work (and sometimes with their actions). A lot of people are offended by artists that make political stands. I am not. I believe we would be robbed of some of the best culture of our past if we kept political statements out of art, music, literature. With art, people are trying to make sense of the world around them. That world certainly includes the personal, the natural, and the collective ... all of which can be political. If we forbid Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diego Rivera, etc. from incorporating the political into their music, would we be better off? Or would we have a world full of Britney Spears and Thomas Kinkade? Are we critical of bands because they have a message or because they have one that we may not agree with? Why is it that jingoistic flag-wavers like Lee Greenwood and Toby Keith are applauded while the Dixie Chicks and System of a Down are villified?



The first band that I am going to profile is R.E.M. They grew out of the ashes of the post-punk movement and really marked the start of the alternative movement. Cryptic, yet catchy, they marked the return of guitar-driven pop music with a message. When I was in college in the late 80's, R.E.M, U2, the Cure, the Smiths, etc. were the defining bands of the new alternative movement. While that "alternative" tag seems to get slapped on to any piece of commercial guitar-driven drivel now days, it meant something then. These were bands that released albums constantly and built a following through touring and deeply literate and personal lyrics.

With the body of work that R.E.M. has, I could write forever, but I'm just going to discuss those songs that I feel are the most political. :

Fall on Me (Life's Rich Pageant, 1986) - This is probably my favorite R.E.M. song. Even without the outstanding lyrics, it would still be because of the beauty of the music. This song is about air pollution.

"... There's a problem feathers iron
Bargain buildings weights and pulleys
Feathers hit the ground
Before the weight can leave the air ..."


Cuyahoga (Life's Rich Pageant, 1986) - "Let's put our heads together/And start a new country up ..." - another environmental song that chronicles the polluting of the Cuyahoga River in Ohio. But it goes beyond that to really be a metaphor for what we are doing to the environment in general and what we are giving up by doing so:

"This is where we walked, this is where we swam
Take a picture here, take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone"


Exhuming McCarthy (Document, 1987) By using the era of McCarthyism, R.E.M was actually criticizing the Reagan era. The red scare of the 50's had found a parallel in the "patriotic" witch hunts of Reagan's time. This song is looking more and more relevant now with our current drive towards fascism.

" ... Enemy sighted, enemy met, I’m addressing the realpolitik
Look who bought the myth, by jingo, buy America ..."


Orange Crush (Green, 1988) Orange Crush is Agent Orange:

" ... We are agents of the free
I’ve had my fun and now its time to
Serve your conscience overseas ..."

Again, it's easy to attach relevance to this song even in our current time.


R.E.M's politics have not only been represented in their music but in their actions. They participated in the Vote for Change tour with Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam.

Political Songs of the Day

Today, you get a two-fer today of political (in this case environmental) songs. The first one from REM and my college days and the second one from an artist recommended to me when I was on my Sierra Club trip, John Prine:

John Prine photographed by © Marc Marnie of STAGEFRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
January 20, 2000 by Marc Marnie
taken at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow Scotland

REM -- Fall on Me
There’s a problem, feathers iron
Bargain buildings, weights and pullies
Feathers hit the ground before the weight can leave the air
Buy the sky and sell the sky and tell the sky and tell the sky

(chorus)
Fall on me (what is it up in the air for) (it’s gonna fall)
Fall on me (if it’s there for long) (it’s gonna fall)
Fall on me (it’s over it’s over me) (it’s gonna fall)

There’s the progress we have found (when the rain)
A way to talk around the problem (when the children reign)
Building towered foresight (keep your conscience in the dark)
Isn’t anything at all (melt the statues in the park)
Buy the sky and sell the sky and bleed the sky and tell the sky

(repeat chorus)

Fall on me

Well I could keep it above
But then it wouldn’t be sky anymore
So if I send it to you you’ve got to promise to keep it whole

Buy the sky and sell the sky and lift your arms up to the sky
And ask the sky and ask the sky

(repeat chorus 2x)

Fall on me

(repeat chorus)

Fall on me

(repeat chorus)

John Prine -- Paradise
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.

Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

Repeat Chorus:

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

Repeat Chorus:

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.

Repeat Chorus:

We are shitting on this earth and our government rolls blissfully and ignorantly on:

The Big Thaw: Global Disaster Will Follow If the Ice Cap on Greenland Melts

Bush Administration Shuns Conference On Strategies to Build on Kyoto Pact