Loud political discontent via music

[kin hell]

I find myself suddenly ambushed busy here irl and will not be doing this thread justice for a while   I beg your pardon

[Quesi]

Loving this thread. 

Last weekend I went to a music festival, and discovered Balkan Beat Box.  They were GREAT. 

Here is a really brief peak at the festival, with 93 year old organizer Pete Seeger dancing to their music.  Not my footage, and I wish I had recorded them.  But I was too busy dancing, like everyone else. 



And here is one of their videos. 

[Gracie]

What a great thread - can't believe I'm just discovering this one.  Many of the older songs bring back a lot of memories.  Love the Billie Holiday, Fine Young Cannibals, CSN&Y tunes, etc.. and others I'm hearing for the first time.  I especially like Pearl Jam's cover of Dylan's Masters of War.  Still have a few more to hear.  Thanks for this thread.

Here is a really brief peak at the festival, with 93 year old organizer Pete Seeger dancing to their music.  Not my footage, and I wish I had recorded them.  But I was too busy dancing, like everyone else.

Quesi, it sounds like a wonderful festival.  You might enjoy a special Amy Goodman did in celebration of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday on Democracy Now.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/4/legendary_folk_singer_activist_pete_seeger

Here's one of my faves,

Imagine - John Lennon



 

[Quesi]

Quesi, it sounds like a wonderful festival.  You might enjoy a special Amy Goodman did in celebration of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday on Democracy Now.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/4/legendary_folk_singer_activist_pete_seeger

It was amazing!  We are going to make it an annual tradition.

Thanks for the link.  I do love this old man. 

[Seppuku]

I find myself suddenly ambushed busy here irl and will not be doing this thread justice for a while   I beg your pardon

You're beginning to sound like some of our theist members here.

Ah well, you're overwhelmed with the number of replies, best solution? Bombard you with some more.

I was gonna post some Marilyn Manson up, because his music was important to me as a teenager and kinda helped me question religion and during the period where his music was good, he had some really cool messages to give out. I don't know so much anymore, but then his music went into a direction I didn't like and hence I stopped listening to anything new of his. But everybody knows about him as it's hard not to (especially after all the controversy) and I don't think I could really 'add' anything.

Instead, I am going to post Serj Tankian. This man gives plenty of choices of songs for me (or heck, even some poetry), particularly with his band 'System of a Down'. So I am only going to pick 2 songs. I want to post some Serart (a project of his), but I'll leave that for the other thread.

The first song is: 'Yes, it's Genocide'. It's sung in Armenian as Serj's background is Armenian and some of his music relates to the Armenian genocide of the early 20th Century, which is not really spoken about when we think of attrocities during that century, but he does raise awareness of it and he did a great piece with someone on it with his Axis of Justice concert. To be honest, Axis of Justice was where I first heard about it, it was never taught in school and I've never heard anybody even mention it.

This song is just a tribute to the Armenians. The translation of the lyrics is in the description. I think it's a great song.



Song choice number 2 is from System of a Down, they were great fun, though very political in nature and you don't hear much about them these days. The Hypnotize/Mesmerize double album was a bit different from their normal stuff, so I figure I'll post on from there (probably the most well known one):

[magicmiles]

I find myself suddenly ambushed busy here irl and will not be doing this thread justice for a while   I beg your pardon

You're beginning to sound like some of our theist members here.

Hey, I might be busy but I still have time to pop in for 2 minutes here and there to keep an eye on who's making smart comments....

[Seppuku]

lol, there's some truth in it at least, the atheist:theist ratio is pretty big so it's easy to get overwhelmed. Many do. There can be a lot of replies to get through because a lot of people have an opinion. Or in this case, a lot have their music.

[HalusN8er]

The Dead Kennedy's also do a lot of political songs...I couldn't decide which one to post.

[Samothec]

I was gonna post some Marilyn Manson up, because his music was important to me as a teenager and kinda helped me question religion and during the period where his music was good, he had some really cool messages to give out. I don't know so much anymore, but then his music went into a direction I didn't like and hence I stopped listening to anything new of his. But everybody knows about him as it's hard not to (especially after all the controversy) and I don't think I could really 'add' anything.

I haven't listened to a lot of Marilyn Manson but I do like a few of his songs. His dark cover of Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams was great. What always struck me was all the stupid complaints about him - how he is bad to listen to and he's a poor role model. But unless every song by him I haven't heard yet is detrimental, he's better than most of the people complaining about him. He was blamed in part for Columbine IIRC yet he was the one who said that we need to be concerned for the students. That shows far more compassion than those trying to lay blame.

Most of what I listen to doesn't involve political discontent but Linkin Park can be very topical. For me the
most eloquent but chilling lines in the following song are: "All you've ever wanted was someone to truly look up to you. And six feet under water I do." This one was about Hurricane Katrina:



"The Little Things Give You Away"

Water grey
 Through the windows, up the stairs

Chilling rain
 Like an ocean everywhere
 
 Don't want to reach for me do you
 I mean nothing to you
 The little things give you away
 
And now there will be no mistaking
 The levees are breaking
 
All you've ever wanted
 Was someone to truly look up to you
 
And six feet under water
 I
 Do

Hope decays
 Generations disappear
 
Washed away
 As a nation simply stares

 Don't want to reach for me do you
 I mean nothing to you
 The little things give you away
 
But there will be no mistaking
 The levees are breaking
 
All you've ever wanted
 Was someone to truly look up to you
 
And six feet under water
 I
 Do
 
All you've ever wanted
 Was someone to truly look up to you
 
And six feet under ground now
 I
 Now I do
 
Little things give you away
 Little things give you away
 Little things give you away
 Little things give you away
 Little things give you away
 
(Little things give you away)
 
All you've ever wanted
 Was someone to truly look up to you
 
<repeat:>
(Little things give you away)
 
All you've ever wanted
 Was someone to truly look up to you

[Seppuku]

Marilyn Manson is actually a great role model, but at the time he was pretty scary to most folks and probably still is to some. I remember seeing all the news about him as a kid/teenager, particularly how he's been blamed for murder and suicides. He's an easy scape goat because some of his songs contain hate and anger, but the problem is, these are the darker sides of man and something Marilyn Manson himself said is in everyone and I think that's what helped teenagers relate to his music, because generally it's those darker sides that they feel, particularly if you're looking at teenagers who are bullied at school or are dealing with problems at home or various other things that can have them elicit negative emotions and I think the main thing he did with it was to drive the hate and anger into having people look out for themselves and feel better about who they are (in a strange sort of way). And his views on Satanism were in there, but it's Laveyan Satanism (which is different to Diabolism or Satan worship), this idea of looking out for yourself and being your own god (how he describes it anyway). I think for a lot of teenagers with those kinds of emotions and problems, what his music meant can kind of be powerful, if anything it's anti-suicide.

Plus, the rage is in the music and it kind of stays there because it has acted as a method of catharsis. Of course, that wasn't the entirety of his music, as much of it was rebelling against much of the world, the greed of capitalism, the lies of religion and how shallow society is (and in a way, the people who listened to his music fit into none of the above), where the most famous and celebrated people are glamorous celebrities and murderers (the purpose of his stage name) and you can see these mirrored in his lyrics. Like with Fight Song (and sod it, I'll post it up).



I'll isolate a few lyrics:

Nothing suffocates you more than
The passing of everyday human events
Isolation is the oxygen mask you make
Your children breathe in to survive

But I'm not a slave to a god
That doesn't exist
But I'm not a slave to a world
That doesn't give a shit
...

You'll never grow up to be a big-
Rock-star-celebrated-victim-of-your-fame
They'll just cut our wrists like
Cheap coupons and say that death
Was on sale today

...

The death of one is a tragedy
But death of a million is just a statistic

For me, this was probably why I liked his music so much.

In fact, here's a great interview with the guy, I don't like Michael Moore that much, but I thought it was a good interview.

Most of what I listen to doesn't involve political discontent but Linkin Park can be very topical. For me the
most eloquent but chilling lines in the following song are: "All you've ever wanted was someone to truly look up to you. And six feet under water I do." This one was about Hurricane Katrina:

I did listen to some early Linkin Park and didn't think they were too bad, but nothing I really got into, but I have heard some of their topical stuff and it's kind of cool, but never quite my thing. However, the Katrina song is pretty sweet, I like it when bands offer a tribute to the victims of something horrific, like Serj Tankian and the Armenian Genocide.

But as we're on the topic of tributes to disasters, Ted Maul's 'For the Innocent' is a reaction to the London Bombing, but unlike Serj & Linkin Park, there's a lot of rage, but the emotion kind of carries off at the end of the song. Given the genre, it'll probably be hard for most people to understand.

Lyrics for those who don't understand screeching.

[Samothec]

Seppuku,
It was that Michael Moore interview that I was remembering (well, Marilyn Manson's portion of it) and commenting upon. (I couldn't remember where I had seen it though.)

[lectricpharaoh]

One song I like that's kinda political is 'Wheat Kings' by The Tragically Hip.  It's in reference to David Milgaard, who a lot of fellow Canadians may be familiar with.

'Sex is Not the Enemy' by Garbage (I'm a big Garbage fan) is another good one.  Basically, it's condemning the judgmental attitudes of society towards sex, and we all know where those attitudes come from, don't we?

'Politician' by Cream is another great song, and as relevant today as it was four decades ago.

[shnozzola]

This brings me to tears everytime I hear it.  Ronnie Gilbert and the Weavers, singing Holly Near's tribute to women missing in South American countries.




Even better, Holly and Ronnie together, with the faces of the women:

[on:bread:alone]

so i have a fairly broad musical taste. as a studio musician, it's sort of a requirement. on a side note, my eclecticism is largely due to my friendship with RKH. he helped me tap a well that i didn't realize i had within myself. anyways, here's just a few politically charged songs that i'd like to throw in there:






NSFW (but i've always considered this to have more of a subtle political message than the outright sexual one it portrays)

and pretty much anything rage against the machine ever did.

i could do this for hours.

[shnozzola]

The song at 7:38 is from a movie I’ve mentioned before – Where the Spirit Lives – the story of the Canadian government’s attempt to “westernize” Native Canadians into what someone feels is the “right” culture – this is at the very core of what I find wrong with religion.  In the scene at 7:38 the girl is mourning her parents, after being told a lie to keep her from continually trying to escape to go home .  Unbelievably, the last school was closed in the 1980s.   

[eye over you]

     One of my favorite punk bands ever is Rudimentary Peni. Very angry, very atheist, very artistic. Lyrics were very good and a bit more intelligent than most bands of their day. Their songs were short and simple and very abrasive.. well, like punk rock was intended to be. Anyway here are the lyrics and music for "Bile-ball" and "Love is not". I realize alot of people don't have an ear for this type of music, but it fits the topic of the OP so well.

        Bile-ball:

A stagnant pool of bile contains as much interest...
...As the bible
And is much less harmful
And is much more helpful
And is much more Reverend
And is much more irreverent




      Love is not:

love is not your parents lies,
it's a myth that they create,
true expression you're denied,
in their "love" it has no place,
love is not your parents lies,
do they really care for you?
why then must they hide behind,
duty + guilt that smothers you.
love is not your parents lies,
strung up by hostility,
never doubt that they're so kind,
it's a sordid parody,
love is not your parents lies,
blackmail keeps you in your place,
you can struggle you can try,
but they won't see your real face.
love is not your parents lies,
but you dare not face this fact,
their pretence at paradise,
keeps you down + holds you back,
love is not your parents lies,
smash the myth of unquestioned love,
it's a role they hide behind,
dumb pretence is not enough.

[Quesi]

Shnozzola - sorry I missed your post a couple of weeks ago.  I love the Weavers.  And I saw Holly Near at the Clearwater Festival last month too!

Really enjoying this thread.  Ok.  Can I post some obscure stuff that I'm sure nobody here has ever heard of? 

I lived in Mexico City in the late 80's, and became enamored with the genre of music known as "rock urbana."  I became a huge fan of a musician named Cecilia Toussaint, who was the hottest thing to hit the Mexico City music scene in years. 

The past couple of weeks I've been following the chaos in the aftermath of the fraudulent Mexican elections, and remembering the aftermath of the fraudulent Mexican elections of 1988.  (On an unrelated note, an article that I wrote about the election in 1988 is on the internet and searchable!!!!  There wasn't even an internet back then!)

So I've been feeling nostalgia for my youth and rock urbana and the chaos of Mexico City in the weeks following election fraud, and sure enough, Cecilia is on youtube. 



It is so 80's.  And I LOVE the Mexico DF footage.

Here are the lyrics in Spanish.  http://100mejoresrockmexicano.blogspot.com/2010/05/28-1-calle-de-la-soledad.html  Sorry I don't have a translation.  Maybe you can run them through HAL's translator and see what you come up with.

Now for those of you who don't have a life, here is a Cecilia concert I attended a hundred years ago.  The music sounds great, but the video is very amateurish.

 


Edited to add - Seppuku - LOVE the Marilyn Manson interview.