Keep on Rockin’ In the Free World
It’s a bizarre exercise to be sure, seemingly dismissible as the same lame co-opting of rock that’s been around forever, but maybe it’s more complicated than that. Certain lefties have no problem assuming rock is often our side, because artists in general are traditionally liberal progressives. Notable conservative rockers like Ted Nugget and Gene Simmons (neither of which made this list?) disavow being serious artistic songwriters. Also they pretty much suck. Eric Clapton, known for his occasional racist anti-emigrant rants, isn’t on here. Quasi-conservative working dudes like Skynard, Metallica and Kid Rock probably don’t mind. Rush (they love Ayn Rand) and Sammy Hagar might be indifferent. There is actual skinhead rock and Christian rock, but that’s not what this list about; it’s about what conservatives think of themselves.
But the list goes out of its way to claim artists who it knows are public liberals, who spent their time and money fighting conservative causes. They seem too obvious to point out.
It’s wrong to take a piece of art and try to bend it to your political cause, right? Even if the art in question was recorded by Blink-182? I take for granted that my music lines up with my value system, the former having helped shaped the latter, but this reminded me of two things:
1. - I went to the Springsteen Vote For Change show in 2004 and most of his fans seemed barely tolerant of the suggestion the evening was about anything other than the Boss. I just heard friends of friends recently complaining about attending the DMB VFC show and having to sit through the preaching, implying that rockers shouldn’t push their views on their fans and should shut up and rock (even at a political fund raiser?).
2. -I knew one kid in college who was supposed both a serious indie fan and a serious conservative. He loved all the same bands I did, but he wrote for the right wing student paper that literally attacked my friends. Conversations with him hurt my head. I couldn’t figure out how he could put it together in his head. How did he sleep?
People hear what they want to hear, the same way they read whatever they want into books and paintings (see the Bible and the collected works of your famous author who is often misread by jerks who just don’t get him/her). Liberals do this more anybody, so maybe we shouldn’t when the other side does it back at us. Rock and roll is old and the Stay-Off-My-Lawn/Everything-Was-Better-In-The-Past attitude of so many young rockers would warm the cockles of Goldwater’s black crusty heart.
Plus if they want the Eagles, they can fucking have them.