Music and Politics

Popular music has always been a popular medium for expressing one’s political views. I’m sure you’ve been subjected to the opinions of Bob Dylan, Bono, Paul Kelly or Peter Garrett (MP). For better or for worse, these people are using their celebrity to push a message.

As far back is the 1700s, a young firebrand called Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was writing controvesial canons in B-flat major, including “Leck mich im Arsch”. A literal translation of the song’s title and lyrics into English would be “Lick me in the arse”. A more idiomatic translation would be “Kiss my arse”, or even “Get f*cked”.

You couldn’t buy a gun in the 60s without a flower sticking out the end of it. In the 80s, the punk movement pushed the anti-establishment message, and to this day, punk is one of the more opinionated genres of music.

But does that mean we have to listen? As Fat Mike from NoFX says, “Would you rather be fed bullshit From some 20-something, makeup wearing, popstar?”

NoFX, for example, have been making music for 20 years. From “Don’t Call Me White” about reverse racism, to “Idiot Son of An Asshole” about George Bush Jnr, they write music that not only rocks out, but makes you think about the society in which we live.

The problem we have today is that people are too easily manipulated. We live amongst a population that does not think for themselves, that buys what they are told to buy, and believes everything they see on TV.

I’ve been more interested than ever about the upcoming U.S. elections. What is absolutely fascinating is how, not just musicians, but B-list “celebrities” and reality TV “stars” are all falling in behind one candidate or another.

My favourite celeb blog, The Superficial, has been following one story closely:

Heidi Montag gets political – At long last Heidi Montag has endorsed a candidate for president. “I’m a Republican and McCain has a lot of experience,” she explains. Now I know this isn’t a political site and I’m not here to make comments such as “Oh, wow, a rich white blonde with fake tits and the IQ of a Frosted Mini Wheat votes Republican. Who saw that coming?” That’s not my bag.

John McCain: Heidi Montag is a ‘talented actress’ – John McCain is seriously, I can’t fucking believe it, actually running with the Heidi Montag endorsement. Clearly he’s never seen The Hills despite exclusively telling Time’s Swampland Blog yesterday that he never misses an episode. To prove my point, McCain called Heidi a “very talented actress” on Morning Joe today.

Heidi Montag isn’t registered to vote (GASP!) – Heidi Montag squeezed her fake tits into the political arena last weekby endorsing Senator John McCain. Since then the folks over at Radar Online have made a startling discovery: Heidi isn’t registered to vote.

Democracy in the United States has become a farce. It is clearly a popularity contest, with the richest buying the air-time and celeb-backing to manipulate the population into forgetting the issues and voting with their heart, not their head. If celebs want to help, talk about the issues! Get people thinking for themselves, and not following like sheep.