JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Should We Keep Politics in Music?

Why should politics be kept out of songs. People seem to take issue with political tub-thumping but let religious tub-thumping pass.
Songs can be written about anything. The more passionate the writer is about the subject, the better the song. That's why so many of the greatest songs are either political or religious.............

Why thank you Alan.
I remember a few years back I went to see Bette Midler ... I LOVE Bette Midler .. and still DO love Bette ... anyway .... in an into to one of her songs she went off on a political tangent ... I was so ticked off ... I think a "boooooooooo" may have slipped through my lips!
I was so annoyed.... please ... not on my many dimes.

Joanne

sorry todd, i did not reply very well that time, the way i wrote it was totally unclear, i was agreeing with you about what you had said (david leavingthe thread), and then when i was talking about someone leaving the thread i did not use his name, i was talking about David, not you...the way i wrote it sounded like i was saying you had left the thread, but i was talking about David....sorry about the confusion.

Would you wish the following songs were never written because you feel politics and song are incompatible?:

Strange Fruit
Where have all the flowers gone
Blowing in the wind
Masters of War
Give Peace A chance
This Land is our land
Streets of London
etc

I like songs that rouse. It doesn't fit the easy listening category and I probably wouldn't make them first choice to chill out to. But there's plenty of bland to choose from - and the rest - for those of you who prefer not to be shaken from your apolitical comfort zone...

Btw, I do not believe there is such a position as apolitical. Apolitical simply means you don't want to change things as they are. And by definition that is making a political choice.

I don't mind if I go to a show and the artist does ONE song like Blowin in the Wind...performs it...lets the audience do what they will with it...and moves on...I don't want my entertainers to LECTURE or PREACH to me their beliefs.

We all feel that way mostly, but it is strange how the 'preachiest' songs are frequently the most enduring...
Look how many century + hymns have survived.

It depends upon how you do it. I like it like this:

Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, theyre red, white and blue.
And when the band plays hail to the chief,
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, lord,

It aint me, it aint me, I aint no senators son, son.
It aint me, it aint me; I aint no fortunate one, no,

Wow....I'm almost surprised that this post comes back to life every now and then. But then, I'm really not, because music mirrors society and we've all got a lot of differing opinions and feelings and they need to get out.

Steve V

Ya know, I think of what opinion on a topic I would give in lyrics or a written form I would say out of my mouth.
I hear entertainers saying things in both political spectrums saying things I did'nt want to know and are increasingly bold about it.
It's one thing to rebel and say what pisses one off in a song.
The rock scene has had that from practically the beginning.
Agenda stomping is another.
Notice also how many that do blogs don't leave their real name?

I'm probably a lot more subdued and humble on the net than I would be in person.
I don't like the divisiveness.
I know I am not going to change people's philophosies or what they may call a moral center to themselves.
I just can't help thinking through the net at some of the posts if people could say what they do to them in a dining establishment to their face.

If someone says something out of line or gossip too much, all I have to do is look at them.

I'm sure there are others here like that.

Matt

I do believe that today, and the absolute, utter chaos that this date represents, should be one, if not THE defining factor in answering the original question.

Nothing like a little CNN to remind us of where we are....

Should we keep love out of songs? I mean, how cliched can you get.

Okay. I've read through the thread and held my tounge until I go to the end before offering up my position as the next to be shot full of holes.

Sure John Lennon used drugs. That was never a question. The question I guess is whether that drug use makes him any less of an artist or any less provocative in his thinking than...oh...let's say...Elvis Preseley? Dean Martin? Janice Joplin? Hank Williams Sr.? The list goes on.

Whether legal or illegal, the problem is that you are focusing on the artist's personal demons, not the quality or validity of his music.

I don't approve of a lot of the language used in contemporary music, and some of the messages conveyed are, indeed less than wholesome, but I don't want to have the bad behavior of others be the reason that limitiations are put on me and what I am allowed to convey to my listeners.

As a matter of self respect, there are certain lines that I will not cross in my music (at least so far) I do not use profanity, nor do I use derrogatory terms to address or identify any ethnicity, religous group, gender or sexual identity. I think it's in bad taste. When I hear those things in a song, I have no problem letting the people around me know my opinion.

Now to the subject at hand. It's been said further up in this thread and I reiterate it now for emphasis. Music is a form of art. Art is an expression of the interpretation of the artist of the human condtion.

It is our duty as neighbors, brothers and sisters to learn to live together in harmony. The only way to bring about harmony is by teacing acceptance (not just tolerance - one can tolerate pain, but one should accept his fellow man) and understanding. that means giving the fringe the right to speak as freely as the center. If the center is not happy with what it is hearing from the fringe then the center needs to raise its voice in song sweet and alluring that will soothe the fringe and welcome its members, with open arms, to the warm embrace of harmony and balance that is the center.

Finally, I am generally not aware of an artist's policital position before listening to the music. It doesn't take too long for me to figure out whether that person's views are similar or in opposition to my own. The messages (politics) in a well written song can tell me more about the artist than reading a bio or listening to an interview. I consider myself to be an intelligent and intuitive person, and no one needs to slap me in the face with a political opinion for me to know where they stand.

Music is political.

Should we keep politics out of music ?

The answer - We will attempt in a non-binding way to relegate politics to the domain in which they belong, being ever mindfull of the aspirational goals of music in general.

Indirect enough ?

cheers, niteshift