A Republican Party party wouldn’t be much
fun. At the convention in Tampa, Florida, the GOP wheeled in a couple of
brass
bands, which doubled as a means of providing music whilst getting some
American minorities inside a blindingly white convention hall. Up in
Charlotte, North Carolina, the Democrats have lost the voice of hip-hop
superstar, Jay-Z, since 2008, but still retain the services of Dave
Grohl, who closed out
the convention with his Foofighters. Grohl is a little less famous
than
Jay-Z, but with hip-hop drowning in consumerism and misogyny, you might
say the music of the
former Nirvana drummer is better suited anyway.
At about the same time, Michael Stipe prohibited the Fox
network using REM’s ‘Losing my Religion’ in its convention coverage. In a
statement through Warner-Tamerlane Music the singer said, “We have little or
no respect for their puff adder brand of reportage. Our music does not belong
there.”
The Republican candidate for vice president, Paul Ryan, is
an anti-women’s rights Christian fundamentalist, a rabid free market dogmatist,
and has lied about everything from factory closures to his personal best time
for a marathon. Confusingly, he has also said that Rage Against the Machine are his favourite
band, despite admitting apparently not listening to the lyrics (worrying in a
politician). Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine’s guitarist, and a vocal
backer of the Occupy movement, wrote a Rolling Stone editorial on the subject.
“Charles Manson loved The Beatles but didn’t understand them. Governor Chris
Christie loves Bruce Springsteen and doesn’t understand him. And Paul Ryan is
clueless about his favourite band, Rage Against the Machine.”
Bruce Springsteen refuses to acknowledge
communications from
Chris Christie, the arch conservative, union-busting and budget slashing
governor in his home state of New Jersey. The Boss won’t be any stranger
to
being misunderstood, ever since Ronald Reagan used Born in the USA as a
campaign song, Springsteen has unwittingly provided US nationalists with
a
keynote anthem. Ryan’s disinterest in lyrics is obviously not unique
amongst
conservatives; Born in the USA was an anti-war song about Vietnam,
complete with a refrain of, “Sent me off to a foreign land/ To go and
kill the yellow man.”
Watching the GOP convention it’s hard not to feel that
fanatics have hijacked the Republican Party. Their politics is an embarrassment
to Eisenhower, to Roosevelt, to Lincoln, and to the
Republicans who battled for worker’s rights and unions in what was a better day
for politics. Fanatics need anthems, only in their stubborn single-mindedness
they lack the respect for the world’s uncertainty, and the questioning,
critical spirit that underpins all good art and music. As a result, their music is made by those who oppose their ideologies. The party conventions in
America demonstrated the depth of the rift between the parties in US
politics... if they’re ever to be brought back together it will require
people to be delicate with their criticisms. I have some sympathy for the Tea
Party Republican base, people who feel let down by their country, and who will
not be won-round by liberals who wish only to cast them aside as white, racist
bumpkins. It’s hard to afford their leaders the same compassion, and it seems that musicians are not about to.
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