The microphone explodes, shattering the moldsEither drop the hits like De La O or get the fuck off the commode
To the best of my knowledge no one in Rage Against the Machine is a conservative. So far, so good – even though you might’ve seen a boomer MAGA couple dancing to “Killing in the Name Of” while wrapped in a flag this might be chalked up to simple misunderstanding of lyrics/band’s image/beliefs.
Larger question still looms – just how conservative is rock and roll? My own answer to this is – its far more conservative than people think. Exhibit A would be a list compiled by Ranker which is certainly full of usual suspects (Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, Gene Simmons, Mike Love, Sully Erna, Dave Mustaine, Tom Araya), but also some names that definitely raised my eyebrow. Sammy Hagar? Joe Perry? Jeff Baxter? Billy Gibbons? Pat DiNizio? Really?
Yes, really, The list also misses a bunch of names – Max Cavalera (Sepultura) and John Dolmayan (System of a Down), to be specific. And now we can also add Carlos Santana to the list.
Yes, the sad truth of the matter is that Carlos Santana recently went on transphobic rant. During a live concert. While he apologized his colleague Alice Cooper did not, not yet anyway.Paul Stanley did and Dee Snider uninvited himself from SF Pride while saying he stands with LGBT community. Nick Cave is unapologetically and resolutely anti-woke. Even Neil Young was once a supporter of Ronnie Reagan, though anti-woke ranter he’s not.
And while he didn’t talk drag, Johnny Rotten/Lydon talked plenty of disdain for woke culture. More recent interview with him features this interesting bit
You’ve dubbed yourself the Donald Trump of rock ‘n’ roll.
I’ve made that comparison, yes. When you keep pillorying, victimizing and accusing someone for so long and so intensely, there has to be a subversive methodology to it. He’s a thoroughly unpleasant fellow, no doubt about it. But he’s not a politician and I hate politicians! Screw the lot of ‘em. I’d rather have a maniac…a real estate land shark. There will be no world carrying on as long as we keep enforcing dogmas. They’re not really our own to enforce.
Is Johnny saying here that Trump is…a working class hero, unpleasant as he might be? Why, yes, I think he very much does. And the list of punks directly or indirectly supporting Trump goes on – Exene Cervenka (X), Buzz Osbourne (Melvins), Johnny Ramone.
But I digress. What am I trying to saying here? My point is…again, we vastly overestimated how left-wing rock and roll really is. While its undoubtable that there are plenty of left-wing rockers who will stay that way (from Springsteen to RATM) or people who never shared their political views with public, there’s a ton of those that will move to the right and willho get very vocal about a-la Alice. Its inevitable, though not the kind of though I find pleasant or comforting in any way – for one, its an indicator that we’re all mortal, rock stars included.
Second and a more prominent issue is that we need more people to stand up for minorities/those oppressed, not less. And no, rich white people are not included on the list of those oppressed, nor should they be.
P.S.
While we’re on the subject – how about we talk underrated black rockers? This could well be another rant, so here’s a short list for you
Go through that list, give a listen to their records, check out their Bandcamp page (where applicable) and support them in any way you can. Or as Spike Lee once put it – do the right thing.
/rantover
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