Music and politics

I am no politcially correct person, but I agree with both sides a bit. I took a relative to a Barbara Streisand concert in 1994 (before she was way over the top politically - or so I thought) at a price of $300 a ticket. Then, in the middle of the show, she does a 30 minute video tribute to Bill Clinton. I paid to hear her SING - and yes, if she had political lyrics in her songs I should have been aware of that - but this was riduculous - espeically at the price of admission. Many of the artists I listen to have lyrics and songs that contain views I don't agree with - but I have that choice we are talking about to listen or not or to buy ot not.

That said, I'll tell you what REALLY makes me mad on a related topic. Back in 1988, I actually waited in line to get front row tickets for a then favorite atrist of mine. He was black - I am white and that has never entered the picture for me. Back then, I lived in Arizona and the then governor, Evan Mecham, had vetoed a bill to make Martin Luther King Day a paid holiday for state employees. Then, the day before this concert, this artist cancelled because he was protesting Evan Mecham's decision.

Needless to say, I never went to hear this artist again or even listened to his music again I was so pissed! WE, his fans, are the people who made him famous, who stood in line for his tickets, who respected his craft and bought his music. Why were WE the ones punished and to made pay the price for a governor's veto? BULLSHIT! He can go vote, he can use the money he got from our concert to stage his own protest or rally - fine. But this one had me seething that we, his loyal fans, paid for a politican's act.

I think there is a significant difference between putting politics into your music, and taking time out during a concert to preach politics. The former doesn't bother me at all. The latter I find annoying.

With respect to putting politics into the music, it's no different than the artist putting any other sort of message into his/her music. It's what they want to say. I once read that Neil Young regards "Ohio", which is certainly political, as the best song he ever wrote while with CSN&Y.

I also once read an interview with U2 members. Even though their music can be political, the other members of the group find it annoying when Bono goes on one of his speeches during their concerts. They tolerate it but they don't really like it. If he goes on too long, they have some signals for him to put a lid on it and get back to the concert.

This was my response to a similar post back in '06, but even this needs to be modified as the political influence at live shows has gotten even worse.

"Musicians that have this need to stop during portions of their shows and shove their own political or ethical views down thier audiences throats is a huge turnoff to me and probably the vast majority of folks that paid their money to hear a show, not an infomercial- with Springsteen and U2 being the largest big ticket offenders.
Maybe these worldly problem solvers should tear a page out of the Grateful Dead playbook, for 30 years, just shutup and let the music deliver their message, then let the people do with it what they want, or don't want".

Since then, I've put CSNY on a lifelong ban, the last show I saw of theirs a few summers back was worse than a Michael Moore movie(and incidentaly, the music couldn't shine the shoes of the 2000 and 2001 tours). Never a huge Springsteen fan, I would still go to see him occasionally as I respect his longevity and raw output- I've also shelved him as his wrath of politics is to much to tolerate, and lastly, The Dead have turned the corner towards politics after 40 years also.

What gives here?
It's really dissapointing. I could care less what anybodies political views are. There are times and places to express them, but I have a fundamental issue with having them forced upon anybody after they have paid big bucks to see and hear the music.

i wish i had time to comment on this thread, but i volunteered to go paint drapes over some michelangelo nudes before the big beatle record burning.

Agree or disagree with their messages - the one thing you can say about pop stars is that they're egos are so big that they all think because they happen to be holding a mic, for some reason you should care about what they think of politics.