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1960s, anyone?
May. 15th, 2006 05:59 amThe depoliticization of politics, a process begun by Reagan and extended by Blair, had a knock-on in the music world. Although we had Sir Bob and his "war on poverty" (see also "make poverty history", which, if successful, would put an awful lot of charity workers on the dole) this is a bit like saying "nasty things are bad". But we didn't see much genuine politics in music. Even Billy Bragg was little more than a continuation of folk tradition. "Red Wedge" was about as influential as a wedge of cheese under a six-ton door. Tom Robinson's "Power In The Darkness" is the last genuinely uplifting piece of musical political polemic that I could recall.
So, it's with some relief that, this week, we get not one, but two albums that throw out of the window everything but the kitchen sink when it comes to "I don't want to upset anyone, because it damages my sales demographic".
Neil Young's "Living With War" dispels any doubt about the "Which Side Are You On, Boy" (to steal a Tom Robinson lyric) view that could be taken of Young's beautiful but doubly interpretable "When God Made Me". No such doubt lingers over the song title "Let's Impeach The President". This is a stonker of an album and, for the first time I can remember, actually had me laugh out loud at one part of it". The Youngster, doubtless, would be spitting feathers, but that would be because of the content rather than the quality of the album. Polemic is good. Liberalist "but on the other hand"... is shite.
As is also evidenced by an album "from the other side", so to speak. "Youth" from Matisyahu doesn't mess around. This Hassidic Jew hip-hop/reggae artist formerly known as Matthew Miller has issued an anthemic call to arms for the religious right of the Jewish movement. When you get lines like "Rebuild The Temple" ... code for "Demolish The Dome" it's fairly clear that reasonable debate with the Palestinians is not on this guy's agenda.
For this reason, Paul Morley hated it. OK, he said that the music was "cod Bob Marley", but, for most middle-of-the-road listeners, to go any further down the reggae road would be to condemn your sales to the level of Burning Spear, that icon of Rastafarianism. I quite like the album. It's polemic. Matisyahu is not out for a fast buck. His religion pervades every line. I might disagree with what he says, but I would defend to the death his right to say it and I would rather he made good music out of it than become a political windbag.
This, of course, is what the likes of Paul Morley fear -- the fact that the music is so listenable might make people think that the cause espoused can't be that bad. He needn't worry. The "Marsellaise", an anthem for the left, was hi-jacked by the right in 1968 without any sense of irony. If it's a decent tune, any political side can nick it.
+++++++
I see that a number of villagers are refusing to leave the land near Mount Merapi, Central Java, mainly because their entire wealth is tied up in land and animals that could soon be covered in volcanic lava. For some strange reason this reminded me of the Jews in Germany in the early 1930s. You could stand there and rationally see what might happen, but that didn't stop you staying put, because you had so much emotionally invested in the status quo that your mind could not cope with that status quo completely vanishing.
Perhaps by this time tomorrow we will be saying that it wasn't the San Franciso earthquake that repeated itself, but Krakatoa.
So, it's with some relief that, this week, we get not one, but two albums that throw out of the window everything but the kitchen sink when it comes to "I don't want to upset anyone, because it damages my sales demographic".
Neil Young's "Living With War" dispels any doubt about the "Which Side Are You On, Boy" (to steal a Tom Robinson lyric) view that could be taken of Young's beautiful but doubly interpretable "When God Made Me". No such doubt lingers over the song title "Let's Impeach The President". This is a stonker of an album and, for the first time I can remember, actually had me laugh out loud at one part of it". The Youngster, doubtless, would be spitting feathers, but that would be because of the content rather than the quality of the album. Polemic is good. Liberalist "but on the other hand"... is shite.
As is also evidenced by an album "from the other side", so to speak. "Youth" from Matisyahu doesn't mess around. This Hassidic Jew hip-hop/reggae artist formerly known as Matthew Miller has issued an anthemic call to arms for the religious right of the Jewish movement. When you get lines like "Rebuild The Temple" ... code for "Demolish The Dome" it's fairly clear that reasonable debate with the Palestinians is not on this guy's agenda.
For this reason, Paul Morley hated it. OK, he said that the music was "cod Bob Marley", but, for most middle-of-the-road listeners, to go any further down the reggae road would be to condemn your sales to the level of Burning Spear, that icon of Rastafarianism. I quite like the album. It's polemic. Matisyahu is not out for a fast buck. His religion pervades every line. I might disagree with what he says, but I would defend to the death his right to say it and I would rather he made good music out of it than become a political windbag.
This, of course, is what the likes of Paul Morley fear -- the fact that the music is so listenable might make people think that the cause espoused can't be that bad. He needn't worry. The "Marsellaise", an anthem for the left, was hi-jacked by the right in 1968 without any sense of irony. If it's a decent tune, any political side can nick it.
+++++++
I see that a number of villagers are refusing to leave the land near Mount Merapi, Central Java, mainly because their entire wealth is tied up in land and animals that could soon be covered in volcanic lava. For some strange reason this reminded me of the Jews in Germany in the early 1930s. You could stand there and rationally see what might happen, but that didn't stop you staying put, because you had so much emotionally invested in the status quo that your mind could not cope with that status quo completely vanishing.
Perhaps by this time tomorrow we will be saying that it wasn't the San Franciso earthquake that repeated itself, but Krakatoa.
