Music People (Performers, Composers, etc.) with IDEAS

I don't mean ideas about music, but ideas about everything else under the sun. For a while it seemed that the bands I latched onto in a big way had lots of ideas and that somehow seemed to matter. Prime example for me would be Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV (etc.) Also about 15 years back my two favorite local rock bands both were somewhat idea-oriented: (hard-core punk/speed-metal) RUIN were into Nichiren Buddhism (along with a hodgepodge of ill-digested New Age/Occult sort of things) and (ska/punk/Carribean?) Scram! were leftists of some sort. A continuing favorite, Sun Ra, would be another example. I would say that now, however, I am less enthusiastic overall about bands with ideas (even if they are better than the ideas some of the above bands professed). It's a relief to listen to music for what's in the music. It's a relief to listen to Oum Kalthoum, Asmahan, and Farid el Atrache because they made some great music and not because they point out the need for more research into the function of the mitochondria*.

Is it a plus when a band (artist--whatever) comes with some sort of ideological agenda? How about performers that create a quasi-religious feel? Isn't this partly what attracted me to RUIN and PTV shows, and part of what attracts me to Arkestra peformances? As irreligious as I am, the aesthetic trappings of religion are pretty fascinating to me.

*--Actual example taken from a Genesis P-Orridge interview.