They're Just Trying to Do This Jigsaw Puzzle
The World's Greatest Senior Citizen Rock n Roll Band has a new song out trashing the American president:
The track, "Sweet Neo Con," boasts the line, "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/You call yourself a patriot, well I think you're full of s[hit]," according to [Newsweek].
"It is direct," singer Mick Jagger was quoted as saying, adding that his collaborator, Keith Richards, was "a bit worried" about a backlash because the guitarist lives in the United States and Jagger does not.
"Sweet Neo Con" is one of 16 tracks featured on the Stones' new album, "A Bigger Bang," which comes out in the United States on Sept. 6
Here's hoping this rare Glimmer Twin foray into politics fares a bit better than the Gulf War stinker "Highwire," or the recent Steve Earle embarrassment "Condi, Condi." Though it's instructive to note that the Stones' best songs about politics -- "Street Fightin' Man," "Sympathy for the Devil," and "Salt of the Earth" (all of which come off the 1968 stunner Beggar's Banquet) are a bit suspicious about the whole political-commentary thing in the first place.
Whole Newsweek profile here.
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Is Mick Jagger really a Hayek fan, or was that just a joke on Saturday Night Live?
Often times these attempts are lame. viz: Henry Rollins's "Shock and Awe My Ass" was a bit much. Bad Religion's "Empire Strikes First" also is a bit much. Their song "Fertile Crescent" and "The Answer" (i think from the album, "Generator") are okay, however.
Of course, lotsa people in college liked the sex pistols' "bodies" even though they self described as "pro choice". (my guess is the line "fuck this and fuck that...")
Finally, what about "Gimme Shelter". I always think of the big troop helicopters landing in vietnam whenever i hear that song.
cheers,
drf
drf -- I always think about rape and murder, myself. (You ever hear the bootleg w/ Keith singing lead? Ouch....)
Matt - no i haven't. Keith singing?????? mein Gott.
amicalment,
drf
Finally, what about "Gimme Shelter". I always think of the big troop helicopters landing in vietnam whenever i hear that song.
This is because every vietnam movie ever made has a scene with troop helicopters landing or taking off set to a song from the Stones, Zeppelin, or Hendrix. Seriously, all of them.
Fear's Let's Have A War! is still pretty relevent.
At least their capitalists. At $300.00 a ticket, few loonie leftists, except celebrities, will be attending their shows. I hope to hear of boos when the Bush-bashing starts.
see, i only hear all along the watchtower (hendrix version) during my montages of a decade i didn't live through. i blame pbs.
That's not true! Some of them have the Doors.
drf, Lotsa sucky WOT songs, no question. But Green Day's "American Idiot" album rules.
It's a Fact by The Vandals feels most appropriate for this political climate.
Also, NOFX's The Decline is comparable to (and I think better than) American Idiot. Cuz as soon as Green Day came out with "The Time of my Life," they wend down that long lonely road to suckdom.
There's always Fortunate Son.
Randolph, I agree about "The Time of Your Life." American Idiot seems to set them back on the fresh, righteous, angry path.
If we're listing anti-war punk songs from yesteryear, I'd like to see GBH's Generals get an honorable mention. ...Oh, and Subhumans' Human Error too.
...As for recent anti-war tunes, I thought Faithless' Mass Destruction was excellent.
Just say NO Keith.
Green Day will be first against the wall when the revolution comes. They earned themselves a place in the gulag but good with "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," which pretty much sums up in one song everything that's wrong with the angst-rock that seems to only get larger on our cultural landscape.
I don't wanna go in the fecking army
I think the generals are all barmy.
- The Bruisers
What's great about their live album is the way every song gets interrupted by the band shouting, "Come on, break it up! Break it up!"
Jeff- Fear is good, but after more than a decade, I still can't make out what they're chanting at the beginning. I do love livin' in the city, though.
The Circle Jerk's "Making the Bombs" is pretty approriate, too, if you substitute precision munitions for nukes.
The Dead Kennedy's "Rambozo the Clown" can also work, if you just think of Dubya.
Jeff,
"There's too many of us there's to many of us there's to many there's too many of us there's too many of us there's too many..."
Also, +1 for American Idiot.
Keith's backup vocals MAKE the Stones. His "Talk is Cheap" is a pretty good album and features a raspy "You Don't Move Me Anymore" that shows true singing talent. God, let him be a Tory, that'd be awesome.
Mick, Keith, and the boys were the consummate rowdies in their youth and caught hell for it from the fundies and most of American middle class parents. So I spose there is some long smoldering resentment to help fuel those lyrics.
Of course, they also once sang a song with an explicitly anti-drug message in it too, which, as we all know, didn't rub off on anyone in the band.
Now that their done with the Jesus Freaks, maybe they can pen a tune about the execution of that Brazilian by London police (I wanted desperately to call them polezei, but refrained). Mick may want to be careful though, cuz he still lives there (I think)
Eight times in the head
That's what they said
yeah, yeah, yeah
For all the excellent angriness in old punk, there's a whole lotta pacifist sentiment. Of course, if that wasn't the case, it'd probably just be a bunch of White Music or something.Dead Kennedys, although sophomoric (in the good way) sometimes, had some really good, biting self-critique (e.g. Chickenshit Conformist).
Also, the Subhumans did my favorite song involving a dead Disney character.
What, no praise for Prince's seminal "Ronnie Talk to Russia"?
Ummm.. never mind.
nmg
I wonder how many libertarian/individualist types of a certain age are former punks.
Steve Earle It's the same problem that many libertarian writers have with novels that are barely readable. These songs are so far over the top that they just suck. You can get the message in, but you gotta do it right. Nobody is buying message songs for the lyrics. That was true in the '60's and it's true now.
Best political oriented album/cover combo ever:
Dead Kennedys, Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death, with a retouched pic of the Iwo Jima flag raising, only it's a Coca Cola flag.
Clever and provocative, but that it can be interpreted multiple ways by folks with differing views elevates it to brilliant.
nmg
Select libertoid part of The Decline (particularly appropriate for the people who ask to be searched on the subway):
The human, existence
Is failing, resistance
Essential, the future
Written off, the odds are
Astronomically against us
Only moron and genius
Would fight a losing battle
Against the super ego
When giving in is so damn comforting
And so we go, on with our lives
We know the truth, but prefer lies
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
Why go against tradition when we can
Admit defeat, live in decline
Be the victim of our own design
The status quo, built on suspect
Why would anyone stick out their neck?
Fellow members
Club "We've Got Ours"
I'd like to introduce you to our host
He's got his, and I've got mine
Meet the decline.
What, no nod to Sabbath's "War Pigs"?
good call, Joe. do you know the groups "The Feelies" or "Big Dipper"? BD is from Boston area, i believe. they were influenced by Alex Chilton/ Big Star and the Modern Lovers.....
Who was that hard rocker/goth type who was a conservative that they interviewed on "Daily Show".
Did anybody see Bill Maher on HBO last night? He had some very funny parts.
cheers,
drf
TWC, Are you refering to Sister Morphine? I think that was actually glorification, of a sort.
OK, guys, if you guys are going to bring up old stuff, let's get creepy old. Mid-60's. Virgin Fugs, "Who can kill a general in his bed?
Fucking-a CIA."
Because it was heavy with bongos, I think it was Captain Beefheart.
Fingerprint File is a great underrated Stones tune from 70's that could be stretched to anti-patriot act status
call 'em commies, but Washington Bullets by the Clash went a ways toward cynically demystifying third world revolutionaries...at the same time celebrating them, I know...but ask the afghan rebels who the moscow bullets missed, ask them what they think of voting communist
My favorite is "Your Government is Ineffective" by The Reasons.
I thought Fear was chanting "Just too many of us," not "There's too many of us."
The single most overused '60s soundtrack song has to be "For What It's Worth."
The Stones update their stage presence to reflect the new political reality
Only mildly amusing
I can't believe that noone has mentioned the Circle Jerk's Paid Vacation yet. Eerily appropriate lyrics after all these years. Ditto for MDC's Church and State. Of course, writing doom ang gloom lyrics about the ME was bound to have a certain long-term relevance.
Number 6,
I too have noticed that there seems to be a over-representation of old punk/goth types around here.
I can't believe I forgot "Paid Vacation."
For some reason, the new System of a Down song, the one with the chorus, "Everybody's going to the party/going to have a real good time" seems to fit this particular war pretty well. It's certainly popular on the base.
American Idiot is some of Greenday's finest work, imo. And if we're talking about semi-recent politcal punk rock, I would bring up Good Riddance's "Twelve Year Circus" as well as anything by Propaghandi that wasn't written by John Samson.
Is it just me, or has political song writing gotten lazy lately?
I dig the punk. However, Zappa's Trouble Every Day is probably my all time favorite political song.
Number 6, I'll 'fess up. After all, libertarianism is just a step away from anarchy.
I can't believe I forgot "Paid Vacation."
For some reason, the new System of a Down song, the one with the chorus, "Everybody's going to the party/going to have a real good time" seems to fit this particular war pretty well. It's certainly popular on the base.
I fucking hate that song.
The problem is that music does not lend itself very well political statements. Most overtly political songs don't work because they sacrifice every inch of artistic subtlety in the name of the message. This is why an otherwise good song writer like Steve Earl can write such crap when inflicting his views on the world. This is also why some of the most effective political statements made in songs have come from songs which by analogy fit a particular circumstance but don't explicitly discuss it, which I suppose is the definition of good art. A good example of this is "You Don't Know Me." In addition to being Ray Charles' best love song, it was at the time a very political song about white America's treatment of blacks. By far the best anti-Vietnam War song was "Fortunate Son", which never uses the word Vietnam and only has one overt reference to war at all. Merle Haggard's "Turn Me Loose, Set Me Free" is a devastating attack on the tax and spend welfare state.
Unfortunately, these are the exceptions rather than the rule. Most musicians who make political songs are looking to pose more than make decent art.
Ditto on what Stretch said about Propaghandi - that song "War is Peace, Slavery is Freedom, May All Your Interventions Be Humanitarian" is freakin awesome
Saying American Idiot is Green Day's best work is like saying Encino Man is Pauly Shore's best movie.
My musical hero, Hugh Masekala, who is even older than these guys, has some pretty good lyrics about kleptocracy in African countries.
Raplphus,
I am not sure if you are insulting Green Day or American Idiot or both. Encino Man may be Pauli Shore's best movie, not because its any good, but because the rest of his movies are that bad. American Idiot is a good example of a bad record that can get great reviews by telling reviewers what they want to hear.
Finally, what about "Gimme Shelter". I always think of the big troop helicopters landing in vietnam whenever i hear that song.
This is because every vietnam movie ever made has a scene with troop helicopters landing or taking off set to a song from the Stones, Zeppelin, or Hendrix. Seriously, all of them.
That's not true! Some of them have the Doors.
After I finally saw Apocalypse Now, I used to play the old helicopter flight/combat sim "Gunship 2000" with the Doors' "The End" playing in the background.
Hey, if we ever made a war movie about the invasion of Grenada, what songs would be on the soundtrack?
"Flight of the Bumblebee"? "Minute Waltz"?
Stevo,
"A Quick One While He's Away"
TWC, Are you refering to Sister Morphine? I think that was actually glorification, of a sort.
Not sure how Sister Morphine can be seen as any sort of glorification - but it is one of my favorite song titles.
As for anti-drug messages there was also Mother's Little Helper with a line I'm sure the band can relate to a bit better today than when they wrote it in the 60's. "What a drag it is getting old."
Stevo Darkly,
There was a script in production, it was called "Holding up a Taco Stand With an Aircraft Carrier." Seriously, the Clint Eastwood flick, Heartbreak Ridge was about Grenada.
If y'all haven't seen this particular sign of the apocalypse: Ramones Teddy bears.
http://aftimes.com/areview/review.shtml#1123569879
I agree with John. The best political songs aren't overt. Marvin Gaye's "Ecology" being an exception. A preachy song with heavy-handed lyrics, but the arrangement is incredible and it's fucking Marvin Gaye so it gets a pass.
The best political songs are the ones that get you singing along before you even realize you don't agree with the message. Those are the ones that get you to think. I remember a guy I used to know in high school who was a huge redneck racist. I had known him since we were kids and despite this one glaring character defect, we were friendly. He was giving me a ride home from a party one night when U2 "Pride - In the Name of Love" came on. He turned it up and started singing along. When I told him it was about MLK I thought he would change the station. That's how bad he was. But he didn't. He said what the fuck, its good song. I saw him at our ten year and he was married to a lovely young lady from Ethiopia that he met in the Army. I'm not saying that one song changed his view, but I bet it played a role. A much bigger role than any, fuck you racist, song would have.
And while I'm not one to plug punk remakes, there's a great metallic version of Let's Have a War! by Texas band Course of Empire that tends to stay on my playlist.
HEY! I happened to LIKE "Good Riddance" (aka "Time Of Your Life"). It was nice to hear someone from that particular rock genre write something that wasn't all angsty and angry.
I'd ask for it to be played at my funeral, but I wouldn't be there to enjoy it.
And yes John. I am saying Green Day and American Idiot suck. Hard. Like a fat Catholic school girl.
And I actually like Bio Dome better than Encino Man.
I'm thinking that any music thread regulars planning on attending Jennifer's NYC get-together partake in a big old-fashioned disc-swap to plug their fave bands.
Why is it that songls like "Good Riddance" are always both
a) In a very special episode of some TV show after a teenage suicide/car crash/break up
and
b) Played at High School graduations?
Ralphus:
which character flaw would that be? being a redneck racist or liking U2? both are terminal.
Akira: you're kidding, right? a good one instead could be "don't fence me in"
Akira,
Greatest funeral song ever: Hank Williams, I Will Never Get Out Of This World Alive.
drf,
LOL!
The world would be a better place with fewer redneck racists and U2 fans. But when you consider that his usual choice of music was a singer/songwriter known as "Johnny Reb," in just this one case, U2 was a step up.
If Bono really wanted to help Africa he could just charge $100 per gut-punch him. I'd drop a couple of grand in a heartbeat.
I thought that was hilarious, Iguana. I love it when somebody exploits the medium the way they do by making you scroll down. I was just thinking how clever Welch's rollover "captions" are on the photos on Sploid.
I also like "Time of Your Life", although I tend to keep it a secret. The guy had just had a kid-I forgive him for getting a bit schmaltzy.
As for the sneers at Green Day in general-no, they're not real punk, and yes, their fan base tends towards 12-year-olds. They still put out some damn good music.
Number 6,
Yes, Kerplunk and Dookie were great. But then... they were on the Godzilla soundtrack, and did a remix of one of their songs with Godzilla noises in the background. That may have been the point where Green Day jumped the shark.
oh shit, Ralphus - sign me up, too!
damn that was funny.
Number 6: fair enough. Pop punk does have its place too. (think of the Presidents of the USA or Die Aerzte (aus Berlin aus Berlin).
cheers,
drf
sorry, guys, but i think fear yells "there's too many opposites, too many opposites, too many." it's not a song about the dangers of population growth - it's about having wars for shits and giggles.
I'd like to nominate for least obnoxious political song Free Nelson Mandela by the Special AKA.
At a minimum, it's the most danceable.
let's say you got a number
that number's 50,000
that's 10 percent
of 500,000
was this our policy?
ten long years
not one domino shall fall
If you want to call it political, I think the catchiest of the lot is Bullet by The Misfits. It is about Kennedy...
I actually like "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." Maybe that's because I can almost sing them, unlike a lot of other songs I like.
Merle Haggard's "Turn Me Loose, Set Me Free" is a devastating attack on the tax and spend welfare state.
Hmm. Speaking of schmucky music, that made me think of "Turn Me Loose" by Loverboy. I guess you could choose to interpret that as a libertarian song.
r0ver,
"Let's have a war
Like rats in a cage
There's too many of us there's too many..."
All of Gang of Four's songs are political, they're all at least somewhat punk, and they all rule.
Saw-Whet, not Sister, Mother's Little Helpers.
Really old, probably on one of the first LP's, maybe Outta Our Heads .
The lyrics were actually a commentary on life in suburbia and were a serious slap at lazy houswives with nowhere lives. It was a great tune as well.
"Life's just much too hard today,"
I hear ev'ry mother say
The pursuit of happiness just seems a bore.
And if you take more of those
You will get an overdose
No more running for the shelter
of a mother's little helper
They just helped you on your way,
through your busy dying day.
As high school kids we used the term to describe any illicit drug in pill form, but particularly uppers like crosshead whites or Black Beauties (meth-a-dryne) (dating myself here) ie Mother's Little Helpers. That may have just been us and not a widespread slang term.
Which reminds me of another obscure phrase we use to describe dumping a chick: throw her the fish . It could also be used by chicks who dumped guys or if you were the dumpee.
I'm here all week, because this is more fun than doing my freaking work
Joe, There is some really funny stuff on that site like the Fox News spoof of the news coverage of the Aruba murder.
joe,
where'd ya get your lyrics?
# 6, I like some of Green Day's stuff. I never thought they were cutting edge punk because on many tunes (not all) there is a distinctive sound/style underlying the hard edge that puts me in the mind of decent '60's music. Go ahead and LOL, I've been laughed at for saying that before. Nonetheless, I think it's there.
A google search of "Fear Let's Have A War Lyrics" brought up lyric sites that back up all three of the variants listed so far.
Anyone got the vinyl version handy? I think the lyrics were printed. My CD edition has no lyrics.
Also, apparently Perfect Circle did a cover as well.
Calling Green Day a punk band is like calling Asia a prog band.
I just want to go on record (pun intentional) with me praise for "Beggar's Banquet". Very few albums have grabbed me by the nads with the opening notes and held on to the end. This is one of them. If you've never heard the entire album, or last listened many years ago, find this disk NOW and give it a listen.
Does this mean, Jeff, that they call GD punk on "the heat of the moment"?
ha ha.
themusicmademe.com
good lyrics sites.
(actually the one that gets my dander up is from those types that actually think U2 and REM are some sort of "alternative" band, and not mainstream pop stuff.)
Has anyone noticed the serious lack of anti-Bin Laden or anti-Islamic nutbag songs?
In what sense is Green Day "not punk," except for selling lots of records? They write super-catchy, short, fast, loud, adolescent songs. Their first album was full of poop and masturbation jokes.
It's a little odd that "Dookie" was the first huge-selling punk album. I mean, that's like 15 or 20 years post-Ramones.
"Has anyone noticed the serious lack of anti-Bin Laden or anti-Islamic nutbag songs?"
Fuck the Middle East by SOD (of course, it's from the mid-80s.
"Killing an Arab"?
(with apologies to Jean Bart for deliberately misinterpreting the theme)
steve,
punk isn't about fast drums and poop jokes. it's about refusing labels and fighting the march of fascism.
i guess i should be using the past tense, though, since those qualities meant it died shortly after it was born.
The second installment of The Meatmen's Suck Trilogy, "Arab People Suck?"
r0ver, I just heard 'em.
I was just thinking how clever Welch's rollover "captions" are on the photos on Sploid.
Um......
Divine Wind by Blue Oyster Cult always struck me as anti-Muslim. With the chorus "If he really thinks we?re the devil, Then let?s send him to hell"
They made the song a free mp3 download shortly after 9/11.
rover,
I always thought it was about fun, fast, loud, catchy songs. Huh.
You don't write for Sploid, Matt? I thought you did.
steve:
"I always thought it was about fun, fast, loud, catchy songs. Huh."
then i guess you missed the point. oopsie!
(actually the one that gets my dander up is from those types that actually think U2 and REM are some sort of "alternative" band, and not mainstream pop stuff.)
True dat, which is probably why I'm in the decided minority that thinks Monster was REM's best album EVER (Life's Rich Pageant second)
Has anyone noticed the serious lack of anti-Bin Laden or anti-Islamic nutbag songs?
Only in rock and R&B/rap. Join the military and get deployed to Iraq and you'll hear all the anti-Bin Laden or anti-nutbag Country Western songs on Armed Forces radio that you can stomach for months on end!!
My vote for all-time favorite anti-war rag (and video) is Fishbone's "Party At Ground Zero", but that's just my "Rude Boy" past showing ...
Looking forward to seeing if the Stone's A Bigger Bang lives up to it's CD cover (which reminds me a lot of Wing's Back to the Egg) and Mr. Jagger's newfound embrace of Gen-Y protestation ....
joe -- Sploid is written by my pal Ken Layne, and some illiterate goon of a Red Sox fan (redundant, I know).
steve:
ok, that wasn't entirely fair of me. what i should have said was that the ramones et al were writing fun, fast, loud, catchy songs in response to the jocked out arena rock shit that was all-pervasive in the 70s. punk was about saying fuck off to the idea that popularity=good, not about selling things, which is probably why you feel like dookie was the first bestselling punk album. but the truly individualist subculture part soon becamse labeled, plastic-wrapped, and sold as green spiky hair, and that's why you can find blink 182 filed under 'punk.'
No one's mentioned R.A.T.M yet?? What's up with that?
"Bulls On Parade" comes to mind.
Rover, the original punk rock music scene died when the musicians actually learned how to play their instruments. And it's reborn every year in a garage somewhere...
Well, under that definition, I think Dookie counts as a pretty punk album. Popular music adopted a lot of punk-ish sounds throughout the '80s, and of course, real, actual punk was kicking ass outside of the mainstream, but until the early '90s, the biggest selling pop was still as lame and bloated as '70s arena rock. Now, Green Day and Blink 182 knockoffs are the thing to rebell against.
Anyway, I don't think you can generalize that punk is anti-selling records. Some punk bands (Sex Pistols, for example) showed no problem with selling stuff. And the Ramones inspirations -- '50s rock & roll and '60s motown and girl groups -- were hugely popular, even to the point of song-writing factories and heavily managed stage presence.
Didn't we have this discussion a few weeks ago, about what's really punk? At this point, I should probably shut up and leave it to people who know more about it than I do.
what's really punk?
MC5 and the Stooges, but I doubt you're old enough to have seen them.
The song is called "Camel Jockeys Suck," joe.
Be right once.
Spaeking of punk, did anyone see the story of the band that put Hannity's home phone in the title of their CD?
http://www.ablogistan.com/archives/2005/08/not_as_catchy_a.html
passingthru,
Many of our great country artist have made some bold statments about the political situation in the Arab World.
"Boot in Your Ass" by Toby Keith is an insightful take on how the west should respond to the growing tide of islamofacisim.
I'm just fucking with you.
Toby Keith? What the fuck was Willie thinking with that Beer for My Horses crap? Did the IRS ass fuck him that bad? He gets a pass because he's Willie, but come on. Toby fucking Keith! Waylon and Johnny had to be spinning.
The The's "Armageddon Days Are Here" is pretty good; a sampling of the lyrics:
It?s war, she cried, it?s war, she cried, this is war
Drop your possessions, all you simple folk
You will fight them on the beaches in your underclothes
You will thank the good lord for raising the union jack
You?ll watch the ships out of harbour
And the bodies come floating back
If the real jesus christ were to stand up today
He?d be gunned down by the c.i.a.
Oh, the lights that now burn brightest behind stained glass
Will cast the darkest shadows upon the human heart
But God didn?t build himself that throne
God doesn?t live in israel or rome
God belong to the yankee dollar
God doesn?t plant the bombs for hezbollah
God doesn?t even go to church
And God won?t send us down to allah to burn
No, God will remind us what we already know
That the human race is about to reap what it?s sown
True dat, which is probably why I'm in the decided minority that thinks Monster was REM's best album EVER (Life's Rich Pageant second)
Ugh . . . as a major fan of the extremely underrated "Life's Rich Pageant" (it has at least five of my favorite REM songs on it*), let me disagree vociferously. "Monster" was the first REM record I didn't buy. In fact, "Automatic for the People" was the last REM record I bought.
what i should have said was that the ramones et al were writing fun, fast, loud, catchy songs in response to the jocked out arena rock shit that was all-pervasive in the 70s.
Everything about this sentence is almost completely incorrect.
*"Begin the Begin," "These Days," "I Believe," "Fall On Me," "What If We Give It Away?" and "Superman"
What, no one's mentioned "Baghdad", by the Offspring? They actually penned it before the first Gulf War, but somehow it's definitely more pertinent to the second. Talk about being avant-garde:
In your plane in the blue sky
You roam again
Words that echo in your mind
Make your heart beat faster
This is no Vietnam
We will win in Iraq
The President said let it ride
Islam be damned
Make your last stand
In Baghdad
Warrior, the time bomb's
About to go
What will you feel
Will you even wonder
If the man that's in your sights
Ever kissed his girl goodbye
The Captain said kill or die
Islam be damned
Make your last stand
In Baghdad
Great Satan
Our flags are burning
Soon America may find
Its young men in the sand
Where their casualty
Is just a number
In Iraq
The President said let it ride
You will be damned
Make your last stand
In Baghdad
This is because every vietnam movie ever made has a scene with troop helicopters landing or taking off set to a song from the Stones, Zeppelin, or Hendrix. Seriously, all of them.
In my head, stock footage of Huey helicopters flying over a jungle canopy and a door gunner cocking an M-60 are the music video for "Purple Haze."
I'm also surprised RATM (and I hate them) didn't get mentioned until 5:14PM.
Despite the paucity of naval action since 9/11, I tend to think of "Powderfinger."
"Lifes Rich Pageant" kicks "Monster" square in the nuts. And I trace the beginning of the end for R.E.M. directly to the lyric:
If Bushes were trees
trees would be fallen
listen to reason
season is callin'!
"Out of Time" was the last real gasp. "Automatic for the People," well, it starts with a snoozer of a song that begins:
Snap-crack
Bush-whack
tie another to the rack
baby.
The Sidewinder fell asleep for good soon after.
Phil, don't you like Swan Swan H and Underneath the Bunker? And have you noticed the track listing is wrong on the insert (not on the disc)? Grrr.
Speaking of Mother's Little Helper, any amateur pharmaceutical historians here know to which calming little yellow pill Mick was specifically referring? Was it a barbiturate?
Hak,
imo The The's first album compared with the following ones are all anyone needs to show what a bad idea it is for some artists to start "going political".
Matt, even for a last gasp, Out of Time had Mike Mills' little Beach Boys pastiche "Near Wild Heaven" and "Me In Honey," the two together of which were nearly worth the price of admission. And I usually just skip right over "Drive" on Automatic; the best songs there are "Try Not To Breathe," "Ignoreland" and "Sweetness Follows." In that order.
poco, I like those songs, they're just not among my top faves, you know? I have to get past "Green Grow the Rushes" and "Feeling Gravity's Pull" and "Pretty Persuasion" and stuff like that first.
This is because every vietnam movie ever made has a scene with troop helicopters landing or taking off set to a song from the Stones, Zeppelin, or Hendrix. Seriously, all of them.
**cough**WhiteRabbit**cough**
Well I'm glad we settled that.
Another old anti-war song that comes to mind is Unknown Soldier by the Doors. It got lost in all the hype over The End. A short song with good music and striking imagery. Give it a listen sometime, it even works with the hokey rimshot simulating a gunshot.
Ralphus, that's what I don't get. It's okay to enjoy the work of musicians whose wet dream is the exact opposite of every tenent of libertarian philosophy but, boy howdy, if it's a guy who thinks we ought to put a boot up somebody's ass for blowing the shit out of a NY skyscraper, well, fuck him in the ass by golly (good and hard).
Besides, anybody who could write a song like
Weed With Willie
is okay with me. Which might just be why Willy & Toby get along, the smokin' weed I mean.
Poco, pretty sure Mothers Little Helpers were Valium.
Herman, you don't like RATM? WTF's wrong with you?
You must not be cranking enough db's. 😉
Matt, the first line of "Automatic For the People" sounds like "Where There's A Whip, There's a Way" from the Rankin-Bass Return of the King movie. That song rocks (of course it does, it's sung by orcs) so how could Automatic for the People have sucked so much?
And I trace the beginning of the end for R.E.M. directly to the lyric: If Bushes were trees
You're totally pulling the collective chain of REM fans, right? 🙂
"Lifes Rich Pageant" kicks "Monster" square in the nuts.
Yes, every time I hear "Underneath the Bunker", and "Gladiolas of Venezuela" (or whatever that song's called) lord knows, I rush for the mosh pit ...
Thanks, TWC. I didn't realize Valium was introduced as early as it was (1963, apparently) -- I thought it was in the '70s. Mmm, Valium...
What about "Where have all the flowers gone?".
I like to sing it at the top of my lungs when I'm driving my 1025. Guess I'm just trying to express the duality of man's nature.
Poco, yep Valium was Happy Pills during the late '60's, that and Lithium (I know sound slike grease or batteries).
Just for shits and giggles I thought I'd post the lyrics to Toby Keith's Weed With Willie . Yeah, I know this thread is burnt out but so what.
I always heard that his herb was top shelf
Lord I just could not wait to find out for myself.
Well don't knock it till you've tried it.
And I've tried it my friend.
I'll never smoke weed with Willie again!
Now we learned a hard lesson in a small Texas town
He fired up a fat boy and he passed it around
The last words I spoke before they tucked me in
I may discount bungee jump but,
I'll never smoke weed with Willie again.
[Chorus:]
I'll never smoke weed with Willie again
My party's all over before it begins
You CAN pour me some old whiskey River my friend.
But I'll never smoke weed with Willie again
We hopped on his old bus the Honeysuckle Rose
The party was Huntsville, but it was after the show
Alone in the front lounge, just me and him
I took one friendly puff and the grim creeper set in
[Chorus]
Let's go down to Texas Scott
Now we're passin' the guitar, we're tellin' good jokes
I can tell one's a comin' 'cause I'm smellin' smoke
No I do not partake I just let it pass by
With a grin on my face and a great contact high
[Chorus]
In the fetal position with drool on our chin
We broke down and smoked weed with Willie again
All this talk and no mention of The Pogues.
I always thought ?Rock the Casaba? by the Clash summed up the Middle East the best.
Musicians in general seem to have about an inch-deep understanding of political issues - why is it big news when they come out for or against anything in politics in the first place? Could Jagger even give a rudimentary description of what a "Neo-Con" is, one that didn't use People magazine a source, for pete's sake?
However, the world will always have his performance in "Freejack" to remember him by. He was quite menacing chasing
Emilio Estevez around.
...As for recent anti-war tunes, I thought Faithless' Mass Destruction was excellent.
Missed this last time, but firmly seconded. It's an actual, sincere, intelligent, good anti-war song.