cliches often heard in 'political' music

"The system"

"Fighting the power"

great thread.

fuck the police/government/president/system/"the man"/etc.

Full endorsement of even half-assed liberal sentiments by Rolling Stone editors.

promo photos of band members in che guevara t-shirts

Full endorsement of even half-assed liberal sentiments by Rolling Stone editors Robert Christgau.

Full endorsement of even half-assed liberal sentiments by Rolling Stone editors.

I missed what songs are about this. maybe something by Montgomery Gentry?

freedom isn't free

every single line in this song

"Food production in Gansu province has increased three-fold in the last year"

Constructions along the line of "I may just be a _____ but I know that _____" i.e. affected simple-folkishness

"Imperialist running dogs cower before the might of the People's Army"

conspiracy theories

the word "we" -- i love when meaningfulcore songs say "we _________" (and it really means either "you ________" or "i _______ but i'm not willing to change it, i just like recognized it and shit")

"I consider it an infringement of my civil liberties that the government demands I restrict my driving speed to 55 mph or less"

"These colours don't run"

"Food production in Gansu province has increased three-fold in the last year"

all-time summer jam imho

"we _________" being some horrible/hypocritical thing that "we" as a society do. (xxxpost)

"Babylon is due for a comeuppance of some unspecified form"

cops/gov't = gangs/mafia

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=v&chs=300x200&chd=t:100,100,0,50&chdl=ThoseInArmedForces|ThoseWhoBurnCrosses

referencing John Lennon

"This country is definitely the best country in the world and you're an idiot if you disagree. Also we have some cool mountains/lakes/fertilizer factories."

I like the conservative/liberal ping-pong of this thread.

Also like that Noodle's line actually rhymes

ha unintentionally sadly

america will kick yer ass if ya mess w/ us!! boy howdy

america is supposed to be the land of the free but really we are all SLAVES TO THE GOVERNMENT

u don't really have a democratic "choice" in elections if u are forced to choose between two rich privileged white ppl in suits with million dollar smiles

you can kill us, but you can never take away our pride/dignity/sense of total self-righteousness

everything in this wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_views_and_activism_of_Rage_Against_the_Machine

don't support nuclear war

free this person unjustly accused of murdering a cop

Taxes on hard-working musicians are unconscionably high

nothing civil about war

if we try to play a show and the cops shut us down because we "don't have a sound/venue permit for the show," it actually means they are DEEPLY SCARED OF OUR PROFOUND AND REVOLUTIONARY POLITICAL MESSAGE

"positivity" (esp. in political rap)

Victims of injustice are not just innocent of a particular crime, they are virtue personified.

xp

victims of injustice are worth crying out for more so than victims of the crimes they allegedly "committed"

This little ditty came up on my ipod yesterday. Is this the right place to post it?

What would you do
If you were asked to give up your dreams for freedom
What would you do
If asked to make the ultimate sacrifice

Would you think about all them people
Who gave up everything they had.
Would you think about all them War Vets
And would you start to feel bad

Freedom isn't free
It costs folks like you and me
And if we don't all chip in
We'll never pay that bill
Freedom isn't free
No, there's a hefty fuckin' fee.
And if you don't throw in your buck 'o five
Who will?

What would you do
If someone told you to fight for freedom.
Would you answer the call
Or run away like a little pussy
'Cause the only reason that you're here.
Is 'cause folks died for you in the past
So maybe now it's your turn
To die kicking some ass

2008: "obama will save us!!! my president!! elect obama! obama will unite us all! yes we can!! CHANGE!!! yeah!!!!!!"

2010-11: *crickets*

(not really a knock, i say this having voted for the man myself)

Would you answer the call
Or run away like a little pussy

classic

2010-11: *crickets*

don't think this is entirely true there are plenty of rappers referencing Obama in the past two years

really...?

even if so, can't be on the nearly omnipresent basis of 2008

probably not but I can think of several off the top of my head (Kanye, Ghostface, E-40) and I don't even listen to that much rap

back to cliches:

"we support causes because we 100% genuinely back and believe in them. it has nothing to do with our image as a band depending on us being rebellious and revolutionary to sell records, book stadium tours and find new fans. nope, not us. never."

my 2012 summer jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPIMkDjzAlc

corporations and the suited anonymous men who run them are raping mother earth causing her to weep

besides make fun of Eminem

made good music?

like i understand that's political music has always been "corny" to an extent, and honestly just the ILX worldview in general has always been pretty dismissive or outright hostile to political music...but...

and i certainly can't say that, to give two examples in my life, that fugazi or public enemy "changed the world" in any real measurable way (and i wouldn't argue that both groups couldn't be didactic or preachy or w/e) but in my life i think they at least, for me, did change the way that i looked at the world

i grew up in a small town, 99% white, to parents that weren't really conservative or racist, pretty apolitical in general...still there was a way that i just took my view of the world and the way that i was brought up and educated for granted, as if you just naturally were plopped into a comfortable middle class white family and graduated high school and went to college, etc

both those bands at least made me understand that the things i took for granted weren't something that everyone had the opportunity to have (in the case of PE) AND that the things that i took for granted and the lifestyle that i had DID have consequences for other people and that perhaps i should examine the way that i live (in the case of fugazi)...the whole world of hip hop made me understand things about how race works in america and made me at least connect on some level with the ppl that were left out of my world by design.....

that they did this in the context of music that i still feel as visceral and fun and exciting is something...

ALL music is political.

without being Political Music.

i guess i was pretty naive and shit, also i am kind of corny i think a lot of corny songs are true

Alfred and m@tt both otm!

that they did this in the context of music that i still feel as visceral and fun and exciting is something...

this helps a LOT w/ political music ^^

but i mean, i don't think about politics too much listening to PE, i'd like the music if the lyrics were about something else sooo

i am kind of corny i think a lot of corny songs are true

All night long
We would sing that stupid song
And every word we sang
I knew was true

(which means I agree with you)

Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me

xpost
yeah but i think that's a disservice to PE's political content, sure i guess they could have been rapping about anything and the bomb squad production would have been dope but the whole thing, the image, the logo, chuck d's delivery, the S1Ws, the lyrics, and especially -- in my mind -- the sound was all designed to be political, i mean it was agitpop, to me their message of anger was reflected in the music and it's no coincidence they sounded like how they sounded

i feel stance and positioning outside of a song matter much more than the lyrics inside, c.f.
smashmouth's indictment of consumerism being used to sell everything

yeah but i think that's a disservice to PE's political content, sure i guess they could have been rapping about anything and the bomb squad production would have been dope but the whole thing, the image, the logo, chuck d's delivery, the S1Ws, the lyrics, and especially -- in my mind -- the sound was all designed to be political, i mean it was agitpop, to me their message of anger was reflected in the music and it's no coincidence they sounded like how they sounded

sure, i agree that it enhances PE's music (on the other hand it also dates it more so), but the music would be dope either way. also, i'd say for every 1 great/listenable political artist there are 50 that suck... lucky PE ended up on the good side of that ratio! so easy for political lyrics to derail an otherwise interesting artist/career

i'd say for every 1 great/listenable political artist there are 50 that suck.

some weird math going on here

Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me

― NYCNative, Wednesday, February 9, 2011 4:57 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

real talk: rage had a lot of jamz

i'd say for every 1 great/listenable political artist there are 50 that suck.

you could erase "political" from this sentence and it would still be true though

Yeah totally OTM in re fugazi (and probably PE too but I didn't listen to a lot of PE growing up). I remember 14 year old me first learning that fugazi didn't make t-shirts and stickers and actually being affected by the thought process I went through in trying to understand why. I mean that's not the music itself. But there were lines that really did affect me -- "Nevermind what they're selling, it's what you're buying." I mean that's a whole philosophy in a nutshell if I've ever heard one.

you could erase "political" from this sentence and it would still be true though

^^^my thoughts exactly

in general this thread is way lazier and more vacuous than any of the tropes it posits

x-post

Neil Tennant: Like, you get Big Country who go to Moscow and say to people, "Do you get the message?" Well, WHAT is the message?

Speaking of Xgau, one of my favorite lines, re: Big Country: "Regaled with martial rhythms, I always feel safer knowing exactly what the war's about. "

Anyway, has anyone mentioned samples of famous speeches by politicians? I once joked with Al Jourgensen that whatever Ministry album we were talking about should pay George Bush royalties.

in general this thread is way lazier and more vacuous than any of the tropes it posits

making vacuous assertions about how politics and music are terrible bedfellows is a hallowed ILM tradition going back at least to 2002 (judging by a little thread searching)

you could erase "political" from this sentence and it would still be true though

damn okay yr right

http://im.shoppingbank.com/p/1196/i/whiteflag.jpg

politics in music
Music and Politics: Keep 'em seperate?
Bands/Artists Respected For Politics More Than Music
Rock + Politics = Crap
Conservative Music / Conservative Politics
Music and Politics Sub-Question: Content-Cramming

in general this thread every ilx thread is way lazier and more vacuous than any of the tropes it posits

not so. and while i'm here, must u do the strikethru thing like every third post? yrs, zvookster.

sorry zvookster. yrs, ilxor

Stupidest Political Lyric?
Political Songs That Are Rubbish
Political Songs You Like
Political mainstream pop songs
Musicians whose political sympathies are to the right
Best Political Record of 2000 and later
Seemingly political lyrics that actually aren't.
Are Afro-American political issues in music gone?
Artists Who Haven't Been Political Enough Lately
when does political awareness become preachiness?
Is anyone making political music these days and if not why not?
Artists who "get political" and are not preaching to the converted
Artists who have gotten a little too political lately....
S/D: Political Song(s) of the Last Four Years
Do you think Radiohead go far enough in their political activism?
worst protest song/political song to place in the Pazz & Jop singles poll
When was the last time you didn't feel embarrassed for a musician making a public political statement?
Can an artist make an explicitely political song now-adays, or will it automatically be crippled by 60s nostalgia?
Has the Bush presidency made political punk and rap seem less silly to you?
laughable attempts to make political statements on album covers/posters/signs/billboards/etc.
I just saw the worst political hip hop act ever and tons of drunk girls in sweatshop made clothing thought they were good
A professor asked me to compile a list of songs that would be good for a political science class. *summons the ILM Bank of Pop Music Knowledge*
"Rock critics love it when music gets political because they consider themselves quasi-journalists, and it’s a nice change of pace for them to shift from an ironic deconstruction of Khia's "My Neck,

^^^rich bounty of bullshit, poorly formed opinions about music and politics

^^^ Christgau Honorable Mentioni

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=p3&chs=400x100&chd=s:Hellob&chl=Leonid+Brezhnev|Lenny+Bruce|Lester+Bangs|Birthday+Party+Cheesecake|Jellybean|Boom&chtt=Things+That+Constitute+the+End+of+the+World

this thread makes me sad in a way i can't quite articulate.

― pajamagram sam (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, February 9, 2011 2:39 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

it's because the people posting in it are being cynical assholes, we already went through this on that Bright Eyes thread and no surprise some of the same people are itt.

"I remember 14 year old me first learning that fugazi didn't make t-shirts and stickers and actually being affected by the thought process I went through in trying to understand why."

I'm still not sure I understand why. I can understand not selling them and the not engaging in crass marketeering aspect, but if you wrote them for some, the poor lady who probably handled every piece of mail they got very politely wrote back they didn't have any to give out.

i think she was beaten if she didn't respond to every letter

this couldn't possibly be just a fun thread to poke fun at political cliches, could it? for the record, I don't have any strong opinion for or against, I just felt like having a little fun, especially given how much time I invested in 'political' music between ages 21-24.

H3lg3son -- I'm very sympathetic to what you said, and you like Public Enemy for many of the same reasons I do.

zvookster, sleeve and Shakey:

http://www.unionchristianchurch.org/Easter2005/Taking_Jesus_off_the_cross_2.jpg

this couldn't possibly be just a fun thread to poke fun at political cliches, could it?

you were doing pretty good, but then ilxor started posting.

zvookster, sleeve and Shakey:

izzat Marilyn Manson

I'm still not sure I understand why. I can understand not selling them and the not engaging in crass marketeering aspect, but if you wrote them for some, the poor lady who probably handled every piece of mail they got very politely wrote back they didn't have any to give out.

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, February 9, 2011 7:05 PM Bookmark

Yeah but that sounds like Fugazi-style coyness. Yeah, I think the point is "don't treat us as some kind of brand that you wear on your chest so your friends will think you're cool. If that's what you're interested in, don't come to us. Engage with what we're saying instead." (As one of my friends pointed out, it was actually one of the most successful branding ideas in pop music history, intentional or not.) By extension I think it was also against a larger culture of branding and marketing, yes.

I think one thing that was politically effective about Fugazi, to whatever extent a band can be politically effective, was that somehow the energy, the music, the aura, the words and the actions of the band members all combined to create this feeling of focused political drive that could be channeled, like maybe you wouldn't take any specific action based on a song, but you might feel motivated enough to sign up with someone tabling at their shows. I think something about the no-moshing policy had that effect too -- at their shows I remember always feeling this sense of potential energy building up.

and sticking to the $5 cover was about a great gesture of goodwill towards fans as any band ever did...

...The main point that I was trying to make was that instead of having a kneejerk reaction against "wtf is this bright eyes dude doing having political opinions" its worth bearing in mind that those kinds of reactions seem to highlight a pretty pervasive attitude we have about when and how we allow overt political rhetoric to be used. Because that's what I think is really what's happening here, not that people are responding to the specific position that the guy is taking, or the credibility of his engagement/investment, I think its more about a line in the sand that makes it difficult and problematic for pop to OVERTLY interface with politics. I mean, even writing that I cringe a little, so I think its pretty pervasive.

4 me its important to bear in mind that somebody IS always benefitting from lines we draw around different cultural spheres. I mean, that's not to say there's some puppetmaster dude orchestrating some elaborate mind control plan over people. That doesn't mean that its not worth questioning what we are gaining and losing by helping to maintain these boundaries. I mean, for me its seems that the immediate response is over Bright Eyes being political in the first place and its interesting how easy it is to be so dismissive, and I don't think that this expurgation of the overtly political from the realm of pop is a good thing, especially in the context of how depoliticised we are as a generation both of which are inevitably interdependent.

Which is to say that arguing over what kinds of positions are valid for a pop star to take or express are beside the point for me, because i feel like the thing that is at stake is the right to be political at all (Its interesting that the only artist around atm whose image is really bound up w/ their politics is MIA, and its obvious that her backstory is constantly used to lend that legitimacy) And I feel like its worthwhile defending egs. of artists at least trying to engage w/ politics at least as a counter to the easy dismissal that such attempts are usually faced w/.

― plax (ico), Wednesday, July 7, 2010 7:31 AM (7 months ago) Bookmark

great post

oh man you had to bring MIA into this...

xp

xpost Tis a good post, but in this thread it's a

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/uncyclopedia/images/d/d3/Strawman.jpg

I mean just look at that thread that exploded after her last album/the NY times hit piece - perfect example of how it's taken for granted that explicit politics is basically NOT ALLOWED for a lot of people and their pop stars

xp

i mean one of my favorite rap albums is The Coup's Steal This Album ffs

yo is it true shakey mo collier got sonned by jesus the pimp in a '79 granada last nite?

xp

dude I would happily sit around with you and drink beers and laugh at stupid UK peace punk song titles, but I was responding to the overtly negative and cynical stuff ilxor was posting that was straight out of that Wavves thread, not this thread in general. I do think there is a lot of comedy potential in ridiculous band posturing, and RATM is a good example.

ok roll on then

frequent political music cliche: the word "pig" as applied to law enforcement officers.

honest-to-god true RATM story:

I was in the epicenter of the Seattle WTO protests on November 30 1999, mostly hiding out at the Independent Media Center on 3rd and Pike. Early on in the day, as the activists slowly took over the city center, I was standing outside watching an older woman determinedly drag trash cans into the street to block it off. One of the trash cans she grabbed belonged to a record store just north on 3rd, and the owner came out and tried to stop her from using it. This dude's shop was plastered top to bottom with posters advertising the latest RATM release, entitled "The Battle Of Los Angeles".

I hope the irony is obvious.

lol