What album(s) helped shape you politically?

[SuNomi]

Getting to know some of you on this board I've found some strong opinions from all across the political spectrum. 80's music has long been characterized & derided for being rather shallow, but it was also the decade which gave birth to Live Aid, Sun City, Red Wedge, a wealth of politically committed artists & charity albums. Was there a particular artist or album which spoke to your own convictions or helped motivate you to become more politically active?

<img src="http://i31.tinypic.com/14ms2o5.jpg"

[glokstadt]

The Clash
The Jam
Gang of Four

There are others... thinking... [:)]


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[rotator]

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Nz ... RjYTk4YjE=

[Frau_Blucher]

I don't think any of it had a specific political effect on me. If there was an effect, I'd say it was more at the ethos level to question the mainstream or the majority or authority in general. "Politics" is very specific. I never listened to Gang of Four or the DKs and thought "yeah, so and so [i]are[/i] fucking bastards and I'm gonna rail against [i]you[/i]." I always got more of an amorphous sense of relating to the underdog or the everyman's struggle, probably typified by the Jam more-so than anything else too specific like some Clash stuff. And it seems that the Clash I like are less the specific stuff like "Career Opportunities" or "Rock the Casbah" but instead "Charlie Don't Surf" or "Straight to Hell". Overt politicizing in fact made me shrink away.

I'm not trying to be all "Shot By Both Sides" here. [8D]

Edit: Ah right, "albums"...then it's more things like "Sound Effects" than "Combat Rock".

[gpow]

[quote][i]Originally posted by rotator[/i]
<br>http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzZkNDU5MmViNzVjNzkzMDE3NzNlN2MyZjRjYTk4YjE=
[/quote]

Some of those selections make no absolute sense at all. I like how he twists the lyrics around in the song Cult of Personality to make it seem like its bashing JFK when he neglects to mention the song also reference Ghandi and Malcolm X. The article also makes no mention that alot of the artists are leftists

[phillyidol]

The clash yes but Midnight Oil got me going on politics more. And the lead singer is even a politician now. Good stuff.




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[scramjet]

It's the old fallacy that being good at one thing makes you good at something unrelated. Just because you're a skilled musician and can craft a catchy tune, does that make it more likely that your political opinions are more correct that someone else's? Hey, I like a little politics in music - it brings in some interesting viewpoints and some passionate energy that can make for a good song. But I've never let musicians influence how I think about politics or vote.

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[KYYX4ever]

oh [b]hell yeah[/b] !
I credit some of the music I listened to back then for directly influencing my political leanings. Overwhelmingly, it was punk rock that shaped me and motivated me the most. Blir brought up a good point, but ultimately for me, I DID listen to the Dead Kennedys ( or Black Flag, or the Dickies, or Fear, or the Clash) and think "holy cow! Reagan is evil !" No really, I did. I was very curious what "Holiday in Cambodia" was about, so I looked into it. Asked my parents, asked some of my teachers, and looked in the library for books on the subject. I distinctly remember wondering what Naked Raygun meant, what they were making fun of. When the Sex Pistols sang "God save the Queen" and "Anarchy in the UK", it made me very curious about what they were singing about and what was so bad about British politics (in the sense of what these musicians were singing about). When I heard lyrics about inequality, it made me look into what was so unequal. Midnight Oil singing politically charged lyrics on [i]10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1[/i] brought my attention to more global issues. And who could forget all those lyrcis about the commies ! All these references made me SOOO curious.
However. at the same time (being 16 or so in the early 80s), I was also learning about politics, US Gov't, Civics, etc. in high school classes, so all this was getting reinforced by facts and knowledge.
Makes me sound like a sycophant, but I have always directly acknowledged musical lyrics/ groups with awakening my political knowledge back then. All those anti-Reagan rocked my medulla oblongotta !

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by KYYX4ever[/i]
<br>All those anti-Reagan rocked my medulla oblongotta !
[/quote]
My momma always said to keep an open medulla oblongata but not so much that the wind blows freely through it. [;)]

[KYYX4ever]

[i]medulla oblongotta[/i] is such a cool word. I just like saying it.[:o)]

[club80]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br>I don't think any of it had a specific political effect on me. If there was an effect, I'd say it was more at the ethos level to question the mainstream or the majority or authority in general. "Politics" is very specific. I never listened to Gang of Four or the DKs and thought "yeah, so and so [i]are[/i] fucking bastards and I'm gonna rail against [i]you[/i]." I always got more of an amorphous sense of relating to the underdog or the everyman's struggle, probably typified by the Jam more-so than anything else too specific like some Clash stuff. And it seems that the Clash I like are less the specific stuff like "Career Opportunities" or "Rock the Casbah" but instead "Charlie Don't Surf" or "Straight to Hell". Overt politicizing in fact made me shrink away.

I'm not trying to be all "Shot By Both Sides" here. [8D]

Edit: Ah right, "albums"...then it's more things like "Sound Effects" than "Combat Rock".
[/quote]

Well said, Blir! I couldn't agree more. Music didn't shape me politically. It stirred me, at times, to react to the circumstance and, at times, it provided some of the fuel to light the kindling I was already carrying



We didn't sell a lot of records, but somehow we left an impression.
-Johnny Ramone-

[Max Murdoc]

None...I don't mix music and politics. If a song has a message it goes right by me. I don't listen to the words as having a meaning, I treat the human voice as another instrument. Just like a guitar line. Maybe that's why I would fail big time on one of those finish the lyric shows.

Songs I wrote back in the day were more like a collection of phrases that sounded good or rhymed with another word in the line like:

"Elroy's got a fracture
his shirt is undone
now he's not sure
Judy's all fun"

Some could interpret that as Elroy being beat up by Judy for making some kind of sexual advance but it was not intended that way at all. It just flowed together well. The next line is:

"Looking for Exotic Yo Yo's
searched the planet for half my life
how could it be that things are so so
when everything's all right"

Which again has nothing to do with the last line. So, messages political or otherwise escape me.

[Frank_Chickens]

[quote][i]Originally posted by phillyidol[/i]
<br>The clash yes but Midnight Oil got me going on politics more. And the lead singer is even a politician now. Good stuff.
[/quote]

Who's since gone back on everything he sung about to try and get elected. And failed.

The Chaser's parody of his turnabout is very funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfM1C168hjY


--

"As chairman of the Cradle of Filth fanclub I'm the most insensitive man in Britain, but even I can see there's tension there"

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Frank_Chickens[/i]
<br>The Chaser's parody of his turnabout is very funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfM1C168hjY
[/quote]
Heheh. Always hated this guy. Way too in-your-face. Classic example of the exact kinda shit I'd shrink from.

[bigwavedave]

More often than not, I didn't agree with overtly political bands (The Clash, Billy Bragg, etc.). It's just too easy to generalize a complicated issue with jingoistic lyrics. That said, I loved the songs where they combined that political passion with great melody. They were singing about something, and they wnated you to know they meant it!

My favorite example was The Alarm...I never knew what they were really singing about, or who exactly was repressing them, but they sounded good doing their "acoustic Clash" thing!