The People's Poet Is Needed Now More Than Ever

     There has been a lot of gum flapping of late about people not really liking when their favorite artists and musicians get “political.”  To paraphrase, the great American, Bill Hicks: maybe these people should take a look at the world around them and try shutting the fuck up.  They might actually learn something instead of thinking they know everything.

     Those arguments are so steeped in ignorance that it proves these folks have no idea what art is and what art has been used for through the course of human history.  If these people are looking for a security blanket to make themselves feel better maybe they should buy a Sugar Ray record or a Thomas Kinkade painting while watching Dancing With The Stars.

     Now, granted, there are two types of art.  There's art that stems from rebellion and provokes thoughts and reactions that could be either positive or negative.  Then there's the commerce disguised as art whose sole purpose is to fill a hole in a market.  That's where you get your hotel paintings of a lighthouse, pop-country CDs on the impulse buy rack at the Walmart check out and your garbage TV.

     Commerce art is designed to push mind numbing product that makes the brain docile and easily manipulated by pulling the heartstrings.  This makes the consumer feel as if they are participating in some sort of culture when they are only buying a product.

     This makes me wonder how people that complain about politics in Punk Rock and Metal even got into those types of music.  Both genres were borne out of a disdain for authority and the status quo.

     Punk and Metal were reactions to the music industry establishment that had gotten bloated and greedy on their own excess.  Once both forms of music found their footing they were quickly co-opted and capitalized on by the major labels to keep the booze and coke flowing for as long as they could.  This led to the music being watered down and made more palatable for the masses that don't like a mental challenge.  The consumers of the watered down product easily adapted to being spoon fed low calorie music that they end up turning their noses when presented with high octane, uncut and uncompromising music.

     There are numerous songs about police brutality and our culture of greed to go along with songs about wanting to be left alone to live outside of the norms of society.  Not to mention the abundance of anti-Reagan and Thatcher songs that came out of 80s Punk.  And there's also Stoner Metal that is anchored in smoking weed which happens to push the agenda of legalization.

     Again, this idea of “I don't want politics in my music” is ignoring over one hundred years of music history.  Leadbelly, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie sang about civil rights and unionizing.  The Blues has a very visible direct line back to slavery and the coded spirituals that were sung in the fields to pass along information.  The Beatles wrote songs about revolution and giving peace a chance. Practically every Public Enemy song has some sort of subversive lyrics.

     What these people want is to not think or have their tiny bubble of a worldview challenged.  They don't want a spoonful of sugar with their medicine.  Fuck the medicine, they want diabetes of the mind.  It's a real problem when people are offended by someone else speaking out about children in cages when there are actually children in cages.

     I have heard the arguments that Punk and Metal somehow lean to the right of the political spectrum which is completely ludicrous.  Check the lyrics of the last few Slayer records.  There were songs about war and they've always had songs about blindly following the made up authority of religion.  This recent claim that being a republican is the new Punk Rock leaves me wondering where I left my guillotine.  Joe Strummer would not invite these assholes to sit around his campfire.

     Of course there are skinhead bands and there's no shortage of misogyny and homophobia in both scenes.  As with every other area of life those elements were bound to creep in and it's up to us to police our own scenes to weed out that nonsense.  And if we're not paying attention to the greater world around us, it's harder to notice when the ugliness starts to develop.

     The world is a mess and one way to hold the line is through art of any form.  Whether it is overtly political or if it just kickstarts the brain.  There's no longer a time or place for escapism or looking the other way.  The barbarians are at the gate and we need to do anything that will stop them.