the politics of oooh feelin' good
ann althouse directed me to a national review list of the "50 greatest conservative rock songs." this i had to read. some were predictable (e.g., the beatles' taxman and revolution; rush's the trees, which out-functionalists davis and moore). that said, i was impressed with many of the more obscure nuggets that john miller uncovered (does anybody else remember the rainmakers?).
at first blush, i thought that the songs would either be actual rock music but not recognizably conservative (e.g., blue oyster cult's godzilla) or actually conservative in tone, but not recognizably music (e.g., get over it, by the eagles). nevertheless, i like a lot of the music on the list and indeed the lyrics are either arguably or explicitly championing conservative causes. here are a few big government-hatin', israeli-sympathizin', mr. gorbachev tear down this wall-in', anti-choicin', welfare-trashin', confederate-lovin' rawk classics. i've excerpted a few lyrics and annotated to provide some evidentiary support for their appearance on the list.
at first blush, i thought that the songs would either be actual rock music but not recognizably conservative (e.g., blue oyster cult's godzilla) or actually conservative in tone, but not recognizably music (e.g., get over it, by the eagles). nevertheless, i like a lot of the music on the list and indeed the lyrics are either arguably or explicitly championing conservative causes. here are a few big government-hatin', israeli-sympathizin', mr. gorbachev tear down this wall-in', anti-choicin', welfare-trashin', confederate-lovin' rawk classics. i've excerpted a few lyrics and annotated to provide some evidentiary support for their appearance on the list.
10. 20th Century Man, The Kinks. Amazon.com [a real rave-up live]
I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy got no liberty
'Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.
12. Neighborhood Bully, Bob Dylan. Amazon.com [this one rocks too]
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.
21. Heroes by David Bowie. Amazon.com [love the production. this one might slip into my all-time top 10. still not convinced there's much politics here, though.]
I can remember
Standing
By the wall
And the guns
Shot above our heads
And we kissed
As though nothing could fall
And the shame
Was on the other side
Oh we can beat them
For ever and ever
Then we can be Heroes
Just for one day
30. You Can’t Be Too Strong, Graham Parker. Amazon.com [tough, tough, ballad on squeezing out sparks, a killer pub rock collection]
Did they tear it out with talons of steel,
And give you a shot so that you wouldn't feel?
And washed it away as if it wasn't real?
It's just a mistake I won't have to face,
Don't give it a name, don't give it a place
Don't give it a chance, it's lucky in a way...
The doctor gets nervous completing the service,
He's all rubber gloves and no head,
Yes, he fumbles the light switch, it's just another minor hitch,
Wishes to God he was dead.
36. Government Cheese, The Rainmakers. Amazon.com [name-checked chuck berry, harry truman, and mark twain on their only hit (Downstream), but these plain-spoken missourians produced several fine songs]
Give a man a free lunch and he'll figure out a way
To steal more than he can eat 'cause he doesn't have to pay ...
I don't believe in anything, nothing is free
They're feeding our people the Government Cheese
37. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, The Band. Amazon.com [only a canadian could have written this one. i'm not sure it qualifies as conservative, but it represents an unconventional sentimentality and the impressive songcraft characteristic of the band at their peak.]
Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell, it's a time I remember oh so well
surely the nation could put together a wider and deeper list of lefty music, but the national review proves the point that conservative rock runs a little deeper than george senior air guitaring with lee atwater.
everybody is trying to earn cool points with their iPod playlists these days, but color me impressed with that of cnn's anderson cooper:
The Clash "This Is Radio Clash"
Scissor Sisters "Comfortably Numb"
Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues"
Radiohead "Karma Police"
Sugar "Neele Hits E"
Ike & Tina Turner "Proud Mary"
Nouvelle Vague "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Interpol "Slow Hands"
Arcade Fire "Wake Up"
Arctic Monkeys "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor"
Mary J. Blige "No More Drama"
Devo "Freedom Of Choice"
Elvis Costello "Pump It Up"
The Hives "Hate To Say I Told You So"
Abbey Lincoln "Nature Boy"
dang. sugar, a joy division cover, and hate to say i told you so. it almost makes me want to order cable tv. oh yeah, and an iPod. do you think the hives are conservatives?
posted by christopher uggen @ 12:31 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
You know, I was going to post a humorous little bit about the nat'l review list ('till other life events occured), but you beat me to the punch.
Though I would like to point out that the list includes the Sex Pistols, the Beatles (twice if memory serves me), the Clash, and CCR. My favorite is that "Who'll Stop the Rain", a passionately anti-Vietnam war song, is dubbed conservative because it's "pessimistic about activism." Of course, we can only asume he means progressive activism.
Anyway, not to imply that our friends at the National Review may not be the brightest bulbs, but they seem to have confused distrust of the government with conservatism. For example, if you were to ask any of the above if they were conservative, or if their songs were conservative, I imagine they might not necissarily agree.
But probably the most telling is that when I told my folks (true baby boomer generation) about this list, my mother shook her head in disgust, spit on the ground (she's old-skool like that) and then said something along the lines of "Well, I don't know who these National Review people are, but they're obviously idiots." Sums it up pretty well to me.
There was a bit that a comedian did (his name escapes me, but it'll come by the end of my post) lampooning conservative radio bump music (Rush Limbaugh's use of The Pretenders, Michael Savage's persistent use of Metallica, etc.) compared to NPR's sad, sad saxophone.
Patton Oswalt. That's who done it.
I think the list is fascinating for several reasons - one being that, outside of the "boot up yer ass" country singer, I often have a hard time imagining what 'conservative' rock would sound like. I don't agree with the list (and had to wipe hot coffee off my monitor during the spittake I did when Dead Kennedy's "Holiday in Cambodia" made the list, yet "California Uber Alles" did not).
The shameful thing about the list is that a great deal of the songs are snipped down to one to four lines of lyrics, which are used to evidence how conservative they are. While 'taken out of context' is used as an excuse so often that it has lost any authority it once had, this certainly seems to be the case here.
In addition, the Byrds' "Turn, Turn, Turn" made the list, despite its obvious...erm, 'bipartisanship.' The author of the piece (Miller?) acknowledged that as well, and it just shows how little wiggle room they had in assembling a list of 100 songs.
Of course, The Daily Show does it better than anyone else: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs-sluELbC0
"So, if you're a Bush man, aren't you raging for the machine?"
woz, sincerely sorry to hear about the life events. i agree with you and mike that any artists worth their salt would run from the characterization of their work as conservative or liberal or ...
the list brought to mind the difficulties in defining conservatism in 2006 (distrust of government institutions? moderation? opposition to change? traditional values?). the surprise for me was that self-identified conservatives are consuming graham parker, the pistols, and the clash -- as well as skynyrd, hagar, mellencamp, and wynette. so, once again, i've got to check myself on my cultural elitism. or maybe i'm just more conservative than i think.
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