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Music & Politics

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KharBevNor:
Ah, we have a different conception of intertextuality. I see intertextuality as the influence upon and refrencing of texts by the author.

As I said, feel free to interpret any text however you want, but as far as I am concerned, you will be wrong. I am a writer, an artist and a musician, and I know quite well what I want my texts to mean, what I am trying to imply etc, and whilst peoples personal responses and what they see in something are interesting, I find it disconcerting when people try and see something in my work that is totally off the mark, and I have been known to correct them. There is a difference anyway between conjuring up sub-meanings or whatever and total intepretation of the text. There's nothing wrong with conjuring up subtexts and whatever, as long as you grasp in your mind what the author was actually trying to do. Hell, I've even done it with my own work on occasion.

There is no way you can divorce a work from the person who created it. That is my view.

a pack of wolves:
Ah, interesting. I take the opposite view, I have little interest in the author at all. It's the text that interests me. Trying to deep-mine what they wanted to say I find pointless, I'm only interested in what the text itself is saying.

Praeserpium Machinarum:
I think I only really catch political undertones when it's blatantly put forth (such as System of a Down or Dead Kennedys), but what I often encounter is criticism of society, which I suppose in turn could be a criticism of politics or ideologies. Take Radiohead, they are very political in my mind, with songs like Electioneering and Fitter Happier, but Hail to the Thief is also political (even if the title weren't). In short I like opinions expressed in a song, but I agree that subtlety is sometimes more powerful than attacking, say, Bush. Another thing is that I think what people really mean when they say for example I hate Bush, is A: I am saying it because I have no opinion really or B: they are essentially going for the man instead of the ball, meaning it's the system they should be criticizing, not the tip of the iceberg.

sp2:
There has always been politics in music to a certain extent (even classical music was often commissioned by politicians, not to mention patriotic marches like Sousa's).  Personally, I think the political counterculture really started becoming important in music in the 60s, and frankly, it should have stayed that way.  Punk really boiled down ideas to their most simplistic (with the exception, perhaps, of Dead Kennedys, but Jello Biafra is a very political person in general, and has been nominated for several political positions, though he turned them down).  Most bands have made at least one or two political songs, but whether they're decent is another story entirely.  A good example would be U2; they've made tons, but no one takes Bono seriously (mainly because he's a self-righteous prick).  Currently, the most strongly activist music I can think of is, as a rule, industrial...recent albums such as Skinny Puppy's "Greater Wrong of the Right" just furthers my point, but unfortunately industrial is not particularly accessible to the general public, not like, say, John Lennon or Bob Dylan, and thus has only limited effect on a group of people whose political beliefs are already pretty much similar anyways.  Radiohead is perhaps the only current pop rock that is strongly political but still accessible to the general public (U2 notwithstanding, U2 are a bunch of pricks).

I really don't forsee another "All Around the Watchtower" or "How Many Roads Must a Man Walk Down" or "Imagine" or something similar in the near future.  Which is sad, because our political situation is incredibly unpleasant at the moment.  I think people are really just too selfish and cynical to buy into something like that, probably.

La Creme:
What in the butt-ass is "All Around The Watchtower"? Anyways, I think that there is some good political music out there but a good portion of it is just bad screamy punk bands yelling about "the system" and "the man". Seems all you have to do these days in a punk band is play power chords and put the word fuck before above statements "Fuck the system! Fuck the man! I hate America! I am so punk!".

Goddam. On the other side though, there are some great political bands. I totally agree about Radiohead. Plus there's the Dead Kennedies, who (though I don't like them all that much) really can rock rebellion. The new Tom Waits album "Real Gone" has some great political stuff on it. And who could forget Patti Smith? Also, Michael Franti is argueably the best political rapper in ever.

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