The said text asked me “Eddie Vedder ... the most influential political figure in music over the last few decades?”
An interesting and somewhat controversial subject, I’m sure you will agree. But, there is meaning and a certain degree of substance here! Eddie Vedder - solo artist and lead singer of extremely superb 90’s grunge band Pearl Jam (sorry for using the word ‘grunge, as I fucking hate the word) is one of the very few musicians to walk the earth who actually has morals, integrity and, above all – respect for the industry and fans he represents
Now I’ve
actually been thinking/working on this blog for a while, but, you could say,
the afore mentioned text kind of got me thinking – where are the thinkers,
thought provocateurs, intelligent and
damn right awkward scoundrels in music now a days? But, above all – where are
the protest singers?
Now,
politics and music, I’m sure you are all thinking – here we go again with
another left wing political rant (see my Face book for more details). But, as
proud as I am of my left wing roots and keen interest in all things popular
culture, I have to say – they have both been missing a certain intimacy between
the sheets over the last decade or so
But,
back to Vedder – he is, without doubt, VERY political. I loved the fact that
Pearl Jam stood up to the likes of Ticketmaster for ripping fans off and
refused to participate in any promotions/gigs that involved them. Seriously
good on them for that
But,
ARE they political and WHAT does being a political artist, or indeed, making a
political statement undertake?
Well,
we certainly live in an age when everyone has a political opinion (ahem).
Strange days indeed!
But,
you get the feeling these days it is ‘trendy’ to be political – especially
within the music arena
An
example being Beyonce’s performance at last year’s Super bowl (or, Superbowel
as I like to cal it). In case you never seen it, she, rather superbly, made a
point about standing up for the Black Lives Matters movement. Good on her! But,
without sounding disrespectful here, was she really standing up for black
lives, or was she using her status, and stage, to promote her own persona?
Maybe
she was and I’m reading into it too much, but with such uber-mega stars (yup – I
hate using that reference as well), you have to question her integrity here! Black,
and standing up for fellow black people, yes she is, I have no problem with
that! But political, to the point of actually caring and giving a true shit
about her fellow black brethren, I have doubts about that.
Doubts
– the reason being as she really doesn’t have anything to lose! She could walk
on stage with a dildo shoved up here arse and still be seen as a champion of
women’s right! She could walk on stage holding a gun to a 3 year old kid’s head
and be seen a champion of the NRA. She could.... you get the picture
But, how,
and when, is being political truly being honest? The answer is – unless you are
a truly establishes, mega star, like Beyonce, you will never be given the
chance to be!
The reason
you will never be given the chance to be a political musician (apart from being
signed to a label that will let you express your true thoughts politically) is
that, quite simply, you make too much money to keep your fucking mouth shut!
Record labels
do not want some Billy Bragg-type ‘Leftie’ spouting off about cuts to the NHS, austerity,
bankers bonuses, paedophile politicians and a bent justice system, they want
nice songs about, love, clouds, children playing, girls, boys, holding hands,
laughing, drinking,
The
labels also don’t want to hear about people taking drugs! Why? Because they are
in cahoots with drinks manufacturers! For a singer/band to promote the use of
recreation drugs instead of a nice, ice cold can of Budweiser, would be sacrilege
(and will piss the promoter off no end!!)
But,
this is my point; singers/bands are paid too much to BE quiet! They are paid
far too much money as in the level of what certain (decent) footy players are
paid! They have it good! Why fuck it up just for standing up for the man in the
street? The over worked nurse in the A&E ward? The under paid factory
worker on a zero hours contact on a Sports Direct warehouse?
True political activist artists are sadly the established ones that no one listens to anymore! And that pisses me off!
As I’ve
mentioned above, everyone is too scared to open their mouths these days! There
are no more ‘thinkers’ anymore! There are no more ‘narks’ anymore! There are no
more people willing to ‘upset the applecart’. But, as someone once said – we
live in strange days!
So! To any ‘Protest Singers’ out there, we are
currently living in an age when your rights are being abused and taken away
from you! You are living in an age of a sexist, racist megalomaniac being in
control of the largest haul of nuclear weapons in history! You are living in an
age of crazy dictators pointing weapons at countries just because he didn’t get
a blow job from an A List celebrity this morning! You are living in an age of
your country leaving a union that has peacefully existed for more than 50 years
both socially and economically because of the words of the knuckle dragging
Murdoch reading Edge heads who believe the words of arseholes like Farage and
Johnson! You are living in an age of when it’s ok to slag off the poor and
under privileged, but turn a blind eye to banker’s bonuses and establishment figures
that shag kids and stick their cocks into the heads of dead animals! You are
living in an age of where you think you are winning ...... but the bad guy is
always one step ahead of you ... and you think: “fuck it! Can’t be arsed!”
But,
that’s the problem – “can’t be arsed”. “Cant be arsed” standing up to the
bankers! “Cant be arsed” standing up to the paedophile politicians! “Can't be
arsed” supporting an MP who has moral scruples because the right wing media
says he supports terrorists!
... That’s gotta be food for thought!
...
Go and get a pen and a guitar and I’ll give you a listen (and a thought)
Mol
