The Politics of Performers (music and lyrics, punk, album, Beatles)
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Take Mrs California. She spoke truth in public and ruined her career because of it.
If that is true then to be fair to Carrie Prejean a number of other famous people like Conan O'Brien, Seth Rogen, Alecia Keys, rapper Pitbull, Tom Arnold and the rock band Metallica should all have had their careers ruined as well because since they all had spoken out against same sex marriages within the last 5 years even though some of them could've since changed their minds over the years like O'Brien & Keys I believe. However the difference beteen Carrie Prejean and the others is that Prejean indirectly or directly ( debatable ) made herself into a role model for young people and the religious right where as Seth Rogen, Pitbull and Metallica had said more/less "hey please don't call us that..we are NOT role models". Prejean should had taken that advice.
This is the reason why I myself could care less what the stars believe in as far as politics are concerned. They have their right to express an opinion and I will leave it at that.
Norman Podhoretz once wrote (in the introduction to his book The Bloody Crossroads, a collection of his literary criticism) that it was possible to adore a work of literature while deploring its message or its creator's message, even as it was possible to deplore a work of literature while admiring its message or its creator's message. This works for music and, really, any work of art.
Whistler-Very interesting post! It's enough to make me want to read more by this man. What did you think of the book? Saucy
Concerning what's in bold...I believe this is absolutely true!!! Right off the bat, a number of examples came to mind(music, literature). And I know this will probably p*ss off a lot of people...(preparing for volley of stones-is there a smiley with hand shielding head?)...I think, a majority of people are totally incapable of doing this. Sorry, but that's my truthful opinion. And, we all know what they say about opinions.
The OP opines that if I like the music, I enrich my life by listening to it and if I don't, I don't. The personality or the character of the artists has nothing to do with me sitting back with my eyes closed and letting the beauty of the work flow over me.
Art is art, and good art by a nutty artist is still good art.
Ditto here - a lot of musicians who express say their 'political' views I really like their music. We take all of those out of the mix, might as well get rid of most of the musicians from the '60s/early '70's. I love RATM and even a lot of their messages which, at least IMO, are dead on in a lot of ways. U2 also has had politically inspired songs and I love U2. On Carol King, well I've been listening to her since vinyl and could care less which side of the political fence she's on. Love her music. Also :: waiting for bricks to be thrown at me :: I like some of Sinead O'Connor's songs. I know, slammed the pope, didn't stand for the national anthem, kooky as all get out, but at least for me, it's about the music and some of her songs were darn good at least IMO.
Have you ever stopped "liking" the music of an artist because you found out that they disagree with your own politics, sexual identiy, personal comportment, etc? Why would that make any difference to whether you enjoy listening to their work or not? The classic example would be the Dixie Chicks, but there are many others whose careers have been affected by a public that refused to listen to music that they really liked, or in the opposite case, started to endure music that they didn't like, making the shift for political reasons.
Follow up post.
If I like the music, I enrich my life by listening to it and if I don't, I don't. The personality or the character of the artists has nothing to do with me sitting back with my eyes closed and letting the beauty of the work flow over me.
Art is art, and good art by a nutty artist is still good art.
To answer the question. No! I can't think of any instance where I've done this. Not for any reason.
On the other foot, you may possibly enrich your life by listening to music "you don't like."
I can only think of this working in very certain instances; such as, listening to classical music(like Mozart, Scott Joplin), most instrumentals and blues tunes, all of Pink Floyd, most of Led Zeppelin(Whole Lotta Love springs to mind), etc.
I just want my money's worth when I go to a concert. There are artists that I have written off because they wouldn't leave well enough alone. Concerts are expensive enough without me being preached at. I've seen superstar front line bands going back to the mid 60's for ticket prices that today aren't even half as much as the PARKING fee to what the prices are today!
If I am going to a political fund raiser and I like the artists music but don't necessarily buy into their politics then I should expect the sales pitch. If I'm going to a fundraiser concert, say a cause for the homeless, or a related worthy cause, and the sales pitch gets a tad carried away, I don't really care for it, but I might cut a little slack on it so long that it doesn't stretch into 30 second mini-speeches.
But when it gets to mini-speeches after every other song where I'm paying good money for a ticket for a show that has no political or fundraising ties to it, that's where I turn my mind off to all of it. If I want political discourse for free, I can turn the radio and listen to Rush Limbaugh, Ed Schultz, Sean Hannity, or Randy Rhoades. Or I can just listen to music. When I am paying top dollar, however, I WILL listen to just music. If I feel I'm not getting my moneys worth, I'm out of there.
Part of my satisfaction of going to a concert is the music, the lyrics, the performance itself. Chances are always good that I have most of the artists catalog in my collection, and I want to see how that artist perform their music. And only their music.
I completely agree that when I go to a concert I don't want to be interrupted "all the time" with political commentary, etc., though I personally don't mind a comment or two explaining the "meaning behind a song". I just don't want an entire concert to be 'political commentary'. I'll go to a political event for that. Though like Double H, it doesn't mean I won't listen to the band/singers music - just don't want to pay $75 for a concert ticket to listen entirely to political, etc. views/commentary.
Also, like Saucy commented where she can't think of one instance where she stopped listening to a musicians music simply because of their political views, etc. (didn't multi-quote for space reasons so I'm paraphrasing here) I'm the same way, even if I don't personally 'agree' with their position. Just wanted to post a couple of videos where maybe the musician is say kooky, expressing political views/singing about an event of significance or whatever but IMHO have beautiful voices and talent. Nowadays with so many who cannot sing without instruments drowning out their voices or suck in concert (only sound good in a studio), well - something to be said for a singer or band with 'talent'. Now don't throw any bricks at me okay LOL
HH & c21-I agree! I don't like to be blindsided and bombarded with political views at a musical venue. If it's contained within the music, fine! Also, if I were attending Woodstock, the Concert For Bangladesh or the Musicians For Haiti Benefit; or, if the musicians were known for being passionate about politics, I would have expected the politics and been a willing participant. If I buy a ticket for the circus; I want to see the circus. If I wanted to see a witch burning, I would have bought a ticket for the witch burning!
Last edited by saucywench; 01-18-2010 at 08:09 PM..
I like my musicians to have some sort of political feeling actually. I think politics and art have always coexisted and politics has always been an artistic muse. Like I do with anyone else, I'm free to either ignore or embrace that artist's political views. Obviously, there's some bands that have politics that I vehemently disagree with (Skrewdriver for example) and I won't listen to them because of their politics. But yeah, 99% of the time, I'll listen to the message in the music, even if I don't agree with it. I saw Charlie Daniels one time and he led the crowd in a prayer and then in the Pledge of Allegience. That really turned me off personally, but I respect the fact that he's taking a stand, even if I don't agree with it necessarily. People complain about entertainers and entertainment being vapid, but then they complain when they're "too political". You can't have your cake and eat it too.
And as far as the Sinead O'Connor thing goes, in my eyes, she's not even American, so it's not an issue. How many of you would stand for the national anthem of a country that you feel strongly against politically? Anyone standing up for the Chinese or Venezuelan anthem?
Last edited by milwaukeeproud; 01-19-2010 at 05:53 AM..
Reason: added my last rant about O'Connor
Being Catholic she really angered me with the Pope thing. However since then there's been the revelations about the Church in Ireland. I still think her rant was offensive and overly general, but I guess I understand her feelings a bit better now. (The Irish scandal was more upsetting to me than the US one, but I'm not sure how to explain that without being offensive)
Whistler-Very interesting post! It's enough to make me want to read more by this man. What did you think of the book? Saucy
I read The Bloody Crossroads when it was published in the mid-1980s. It was a collection of Podhoretz's literary criticism, and I thought it was well assembled. I'd read several of the pieces earlier, in their original publications. His commentary on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn especially was trenchant and pretty much on the mark---he thought Solzhenitsyn had his weaknesses as a pure novelist but probably produced his greatest work by using the techniques of the novel to deliver it: The Gulag Archipelago, which achieved what the like of Truman Capote and Norman Mailer said they sought to achieve with the approach of the nonfiction novel. What In Cold Blood and The Armies of the Night suggested, The Gulag Archipelago delivered . . . and with a subject somewhat more harrowing.
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