Op-Ed by Marcia Christoff-Kurapovna
In September 1975, The Grateful Dead released what was to become its highest chart-topping album for the next twelve years, Blues for Allah. In an interview at the time, the group’s lyricist, Robert Hunter, described the album’s title song as “a requiem for King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, a progressive, democratically-inclined ruler (and incidentally a fan of the Grateful Dead) whose assassination in 1975 shocked us personally.” Hunter went on to note proudly that the lyrics of the album, inspired as it was as much by Bach as by Eastern influences, were printed in Arabic on the back of album.
This remarkable, trance-like title track referenced Biblical prophecy, Ozymanides, and A Thousand and One Nights. But most of all, it brought attention to the death of one of the Middle East’s then-universally acknowledged enlightened rulers who disdained excess displays of wealth and who opened the first schools for female students in the country. The construction of this vast, progressive-rock tone-poem is a straight line of discursive guitar themes later superimposed by poignant, haunting vocals. It includes two sections, ‘Sand Castles and Glass Camels’ and ‘Unusual Occurrences in the Desert’, in which powerful political statements were woven into the artistry. “What good is spilling blood?/It will not change a thing”, observes one line; another is a plea for a resolution of Muslim/Jewish conflict: “Let us meet as Friends/the Flower of Islam/the Fruit of Abraham”. Prophesizing the geopolitics of the region, the song grimly warns: ‘The ships of state sail on mirage/and drown in sand.”
Such compelling protest art could have been written today in view of the interminable geopolitical situation in the Mideast. Yet, it hasn’t been, and it won’t be. We are bereft of any near equivalent; the integrating instinct of music, politics and passion nowhere present, nowhere promoted. Certainly, there is no shortage of ‘unusual occurrences in the desert’— or anywhere else for that matter — to inspire truly creative works of radical brilliance. Yet none of that kind of meaningful protest that defined the eras of the late sixties and the entirety of the seventies is to be found in our current rock/popular music groups. Why? How have we missed this? Where were the songs to protest the 2003 invasion of Iraq? Where are the poignant ballads against the spread of terror or the failures of the so-called ‘War on Terror’? The sixteen-year occupation of Afghanistan? The high rates of American soldier-suicides? Consider the power-lyrics of Vietnam-era anti-war works by such groups as Buffalo Springfield or as found in Joan Baez’s “Where Are You Now, My Son?” (“Yours was the righteous gun/where are you now, my son?”). Why are we incapable of this? Where are the artists of impact and deep intelligence to make sense of a world in which the irrational is the new and newer normal? Must we only be satisfied with Pearl Jam performing a bland cover of Bob Dylan’s “Master of War”? Are we just to accept that these talented groups cannot come up with meaningful statements of their own?
In terms of civil and social issues, there is rather rich soil for influential expression to take root in the United States, yet we are seeing none—nothing riveting, complex, or thrillingly angry. One thinks of Blues master Archie Shepp’s hyper politically-conscious Attica Blues (1972) during the height of racial riots in the country. Shepps’ full-tilt, blues and funk anthem to that era immerses a pensive refrain — “I keep worrying about the human soul”— inside the fire of his out-for-blood female vocalists, whose sexy, enraged energy is so captivating it could recruit a Steve Bannon to their cause.
One thinks also of the Velvet Underground, who dealt with the tumultuous social and sexual issues of their day. Having struggled for years to attract attention given their ‘inaccessible’, experimental style, they nonetheless would eventually be named one of the top three most influential bands of the 1960s, after The Beatles and James Brown. Their music even influenced the anti-communist underground of poet-dissident turned national leader Vaclav Havel, who became president of the first Czech Republic in 1993 and who invited Velvet co-founder Lou Reed as amongst his earliest of state visitors.
Neither on the literary front does this level of impact exist. If there were ever a time for a Heller or a Huxley to take on the state of the world the time is now. Yet publishers, like the music producers, are strangely overly cautious; they will not take risks and appear to have a narrow view of what “the market” wants. Worst of all, misguided commercial considerations overwhelm the nurturing of original talent.
Commercial success was not the principal motivation of the great anti-war artists, yet substantial material success came to a great many of them — and very often for the most obscure of their masterpieces. In the notes for Tales of Topographic Oceans (1974), Yes band-leader Jon Anderson recalls being inspired by work of Buddhist mysticism exhorting man to ‘dazzle the world’. Dazzle he and his group certainly did, with an album comprising three twenty-minute anti-war ballads of highly complex, thematic layering; beautiful instrumentals, signature guitar riffs and solos, and lyrics drawing upon classics of Western and Eastern philosophy. “The band’s only concern was to make a statement”, said Anderson, citing the lines “Where does reason stop/and killing just take over?/Does a lamb cry out just before we shoot it dead?” from the track “The Ancient” as the key message of the entire work. Tales became the first no. 1 album of 1974 in the United Kingdom.
So the question is: why did markets and consumer tastes change so drastically? Thought the progressive-rock and anti-war rock groups were not primarily motivated by profit, their record labels were, thereby begging the question as to why artistic risks were taken by those companies, unlike today? To be sure, there are outstanding contemporary ‘indie’ rock groups to be found, but these have achieved nowhere near the combination of moral-political force and commercial impact that their forebears did. What has happened?
The reasons are complex and varied, but may be summarized by two major developments in recent decades that have come to define art as commerce and popular taste inclinations. First, on the producer side, there has been a seismic corporate-cultural shift from an entrepreneurial approach to the arts and risk-taking in creativity to a managerial outlook that emphasizes playing it safe and deep risk aversion. This latter has occurred largely in the wake of the rapid rise of multi-national record labels made up of formerly independent ones. On the public market side, modern tastes tend to be less educated, less historically-aware, and far more politically apathetic such that “depth” in art is not deemed essential. Both developments are deeply unfortunate.
All popular arts have felt the hit. For example, several noted actors and movie producers were interviewed a few years back by PBS on the nature of change in the film industry, their comments across the board underscoring the phenomenon of this shift. Peter Bart, the editor of Variety who was a long-time studio executive, said of the spirit of movie making forty years ago in an interview with PBS: “In those days if the passion of the filmmaker was intense, and the studio liked the script and the cast was interesting, it didn’t have to have superstars, and the budget was not outrageous, people by and large were willing to take a gamble on that, on the passion of the filmmaker”. Lucy Fisher, a former executive at MGM, stated: “[T]hey bet on talent, and thought if we respect you enough, we read the script, if we respect your work, go make a good movie and we’ll see you later. And from that point of view came Rocky, Annie Hall, Cuckoo’s Nest — it was one good movie after another.” Not to mention such politically-charged works as Apocalypse Now or The Deer Hunter.
In the same way, the record producers of the 1960s and ’70s were entrepreneurial visionaries who sought out risk. Jac Holzman, who founded Elektra Records in his dorm room, took risks on protest singers such as Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton. His next venture, Nonesuch Records, a budget classical music label, was so profitable, that it allowed Holzman to further concentrate on experimental artists on the Elektra label. Later, that profitable company was bought out by Atlantic Records. Virgin Records took risks by signing the Sex Pistols, whom all other labels deemed too controversial, as its very first artist; so many years later, that label sold for $1 billion to EMI.
We have come a long way since the days when classical rock music, drawing upon the influences of Bach, Lord Byron, classics of philosophy and historic figures, could inspire songs of political protest that would influence generations. In the Middle East, as well as few places else, one does not easily find visionaries of the quality of a King Faisal to dare to lead their countries to a civilized future. Back home, despite so many channels of self-expression and communication, we have not produced the artistic visionaries to protest their absence and the devastating consequences of that loss. The loss, a great one, is ours.
Marcia Christoff-Kurapovna contributed feature pieces and op-eds on Swiss and Liechtenstein banking issues for The Wall Street Journal Europe while based in Vienna, Austria; she also authored a column, ‘Swiss Watch.’ She currently lives in Washington, DC where she is a speech and op-ed writer to foreign dignitaries.
This article was sourced from Mises Institute.
Country Joe & the Fish at Woodstock
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Y0ekr-3So
We now see it in the form of libtard “RESIST” stickers and license plates.
If I had a dime for every time someone confused a commie for a liberal in the US I’d be telling Bill Gates to get on my level.
That’s right, nowhere seen in the merely crass, carnal repugnant conservatard cash-grab “He who has the most toys, wins” of rumpTdump & company, no artistic protest or appreciation at all, which just goes to show the elite have no skills, but to steal credit and parasitize the rest of US.
They’re “edgy”.
Don’t forget the music video from Metallica which incorporated clips from “Johnny Got His Gun.”
As an artist I can tell you that all protest art (all art really) in the west is censored. Guerrilla protest art is an option, using stickers, graffiti, stencil and so forth but basically all art of any relevance that speaks to our times is brutally silenced, forcefully and violently by the gatekeepers because it doesn’t follow the accepted narrative. Often those who do such art are usually quickly assassinated personally and professionally for daring to express themselves in such a way. They are ruthlessly put down by the gatekeepers and their minions to such a degree very few if any recover.
it is legal to paint graffiti in several venues, BUT…
only if it is art suits the politics / major corporate that is either being endorsed or “advertised”
if approved, the police do not only turn a blind eye, but are fully supportive
I have been writing protest songs about geoengineering, the shadow government ops, and GMO’s . You can hear them all at this link: https://www.reverbnation.com/katemagdalena/song/28390658-backstory
Follow the (((counterfeit currency))) trail. Once 1964 hit, cutting the silver out of American coins, we were done. What began in the mid 50s came to a clamoring end with advent of “Disco” and the early 80s, bringing us the “material girl” whore. But alas, who knows what the “kids” are hearing on their smart phones and “buds”? Decentralized art does have its advantages, no? Thank God I don’t have to worry about people who I am grateful they are dead, to provide social commentary and being considered “leaders” by drug addled zombies
Don’t know what you’re talking about. Plenty of anti war protest songs related to Gulf War, War on terror, etc.
“11th Hour” – Lamb of God (2002)
“20 Dollar Nose Bleed” – Fall Out Boy (2008)
“The Threat Is Real” – Megadeth (2016)
“21 Guns” – Green Day (2009)
“911 For Peace” – Anti-Flag (2002)
“911” – Gorillaz (2002)
“A Song to Stifle Imperial Progress” – The Used (2014)
“A Farewell to Arms” – Machine Head (2007)
“Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)” – Saul Williams (2004)
“Afraid to Shoot Strangers” – Iron Maiden (1992)
“All the Young Fascists” – Shihad (2005)
“America (Just Say No)” – Alien Stash Tin (2003) – Also covered by Betty Swallaux (2011)
“America First” – Merle Haggard (2005)
“American Blood” – Reckless Kelly (2008)
“American Life” – Madonna (2003)
“American Idiot” – Green Day (2004)
“American Jesus” – Bad Religion (1993)
“Amerikhastan” – Megadeth (2007)
“Another Bag of Bones” – Kevin Devine (2009)
“Apocalypse Please” – Muse (2004)
“Audience Of One” – Rise Against (2008)
“Atomic Garden” – Bad Religion (1992)
“Autopista de Basora” – Siniestro Total (1993)
“Baghdad” – The Offspring (1991)
“Believe” – Stryper (1991)
“Beneath The Remains” – Sepultura (1989)
“Bin Laden” – Immortal Technique (2005)
“Black Rain” – Ozzy Osbourne (2007)
“Blessed are the Landmines” – Brave Saint Saturn (2008)
“Bloodsports” – New Model Army (2007)
“B.O.B” – Outkast (2000)
“Boom!” – System of a Down (2002)
“The Bravery of Being Out of Range” – Roger Waters (1992)
“Brother’s Song” – Brand New (2006)
“Bush” – David Banner (2003)
“The Bushes and The President” – Dawn Called Malice (2003)
“B.Y.O.B.” – System of a Down (2005)
“Camilo” – State Radio (2005)
“Can’t Happen Here” – Atreyu (2008)
“Caped Crusader” – Jello Biafra with the Melvins (2004)
“Capital G” – Nine Inch Nails (2007)
“Captain Sterling’s Little Problem” – The Coup (2007)
“Cheney’s Toy” – James McMurtry (2008)
“Cinnamon Girl” – Prince (2004)
“Civilian Ways” – Rancid (2009)
“Clenching the Fists of Dissent” – Machine Head (2007)
“Condi, Condi” – Steve Earle (2004)
“Confrontation” – OTEP (2008)
“Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums – A Perfect Circle (2004)
“Crash This Train” – Joshua James (2013)
“Dad’s Gonna Kill Me” – Richard Thompson (2007)
Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta – Geto Boys (1999)
“Dangerous Game” – Bill Madden (2006)
“Dark Side of the Sun” – Tori Amos (2007)
“Day After Tomorrow” – Tom Waits (2004)
“Dead Man Walking” – Bloodsimple (2007)
“Dear Mr. President” – Pink (2007)
“Deja Vu (All Over Again)” – John Fogerty (2004)
“Desert Angel” – Stevie Nicks (1991)
“Devils & Dust” – Bruce Springsteen (2005)
“Die for Oil Sucker” – Jello Biafra (1991)
“Dirty Bombs” – Body Count (2006)
“Dirty Harry” – Gorillaz (2005)
“Don’t Make Me a Target” – Spoon (2007)
“Dress Blues” – Jason Isbell (2007)
“The Drums of War” – Jackson Browne (2008)
“Everybody’s Gone to War” – Nerina Pallot (2006)
“The Empire Strikes First” – Bad Religion (2004)
“Empty Walls” – Serj Tankian (2007)
“Exit Strategy” – Valient Thorr (2006)
“Façade Of Reality” – Epica (2003)
“For the Greater Good of God” – Iron Maiden (2006)
The Rising – Bruce Springsteen (2002)
“Fall Dog Bombs the Moon” – David Bowie (2003)
“Fallujah” – Terry Sutton Conspiracy (2011)
“Far from Home” – Five Finger Death Punch (2009)
“Fertile Crescent” – Bad Religion (1991)
“Final Straw” – R.E.M. (2004)
“Final Transmission” – Street Dogs (2006)
“Follow The Leader” – Pete Kronowitt (1993)
“Franco Un-American” – NOFX (2003)
“Friends in the Armed Forces” – Thursday (2008)
“Frontlines” – Soulfly (2005)
“Fuck a War” – Geto Boys (1991)
“The General” – Dispatch (1998)
“George W. Told The Nation” – Tom Paxton (2007)
“The Getaway” – Voivod (2006)
“God is not with You !” – Ira dei (2008) Belgium
“Gulf War Song” – Moxy Früvous (1994)
“Gunslinger” – Avenged Sevenfold (2007)
“Hammerhead” – The Offspring (2008)
“The Hand That Feeds” – Nine Inch Nails (2005)
“Hard-On for War” – Mudhoney (2006)
“Harrowdown Hill” – Thom Yorke (2006)
“Hands Held High” – Linkin Park (2007)
“Heaven is Falling” – Bad Religion (1992)
“Hero of War” – Rise Against (2008)
“Hey Ma” – James (2008)
“Highwire” – Rolling Stones (1991)
“Holiday” – Green Day (2004)
“Holy War” – Matthew Sweet (1991)
“Home Front” – Drive-By Truckers (2008)
“Home to Houston” – Steve Earle (2004)
“The Holidays Are Here (And We’re Still at War)” – Brett Dennen (2006)
“How Much Do You Suck?” – The Jeevas (2003)
“How Much Longer” – Paul Leary (1991)
“I Can’t Take It No More” – John Fogerty (2007)
“I Saw Him Laying There” – Dawn Called Malice (2003)
“If Wishes Were Horses” – David Baerwald (2004)
“Illegal Attacks” – Ian Brown (2007)
“In a World Gone Mad” – Beastie Boys (2003)
“Jacob’s Ladder” – Chumbawamba (2002)
“Jerusalem” – Steve Earle (2002)
“Jesus Walks” – Kanye West (2004)
“John Walker’s Blues” – Steve Earle (2002)
“Job Well Done” – Rob Lincoln (1991)
“Kimdir O” – Barış Akarsu
“Leaving Beirut” – Roger Waters (2004)
“Left Right” – The Chemical Brothers
“Let Them Eat War” – Bad Religion (2004)
“Let’s Get Free” – Sheryl Crow (2003)
“Let’s Impeach the President” – Neil Young (2006)
“Letter from a Soldier” – Andy T. (2012)
“Letter from Iraq” – Bouncing Souls (2006)
“Letters from Home” – John Michael Montgomery (2004)
“Lift the Veil, Kiss the Tank” – The Blood Brothers (2006)
“Light Up Ya Lighter” – Michael Franti (2006)
“Love Me, I’m a Liberal” – Kevin Devine (2008)
“Mama” – Godsmack (2006)
“The Man Who Would Be King” – Dio (2004)
“Medals of Gold” – Robert Lawrence (2009)
“Midnight Oil” – Dawn Called Malice (2003)
“The Mob Goes Wild” – Clutch (2004)
“Mosh” – Eminem (2004)
“My Girlfriend is a Lefty” – Dawn Called Malice (2003)
“No End In Sight” – Toto (1999)
“No Human No Fly” – April Hole (2002)
“No More” – Bob Seger (2006)
“No Time Flat” – Kevin Devine (2005)
“No War” – Esham (2003)
“Not a Bad Man” – Patty Griffin (2013)
“Not In My Name” – Saul Williams (2003)
“Now You’ve Got Something to Die For” – Lamb of God (2004)
“On The Backs of Angels” – Dream Theater (2011)
“On With the Song” – Mary Chapin Carpenter (2007)
“Open Invitation (I Hate You bin Laden)” – Jackyl (2001)
“Osama Yo’ Mama” – Ray Stevens (2002)
“Out Of Time” – Blur (2003)
“Overburdened” – Disturbed (2005)
“People Of The Lie” – KMFDM (2009)
“Planet of the Rice” – Dawn Called Malice (2003)
“Please Freeze Me” – Dawn Called Malice (2003)
“Politik” – Coldplay (2003)
“The Price of Oil” – Billy Bragg (2002/3)
“Prophets of War” – Dream Theater (2007)
“Redemption Day” – Sheryl Crow (1996)
“Refuge” – Steven Wilson (2017)
“Rhinoceros” – Sky Destroyers (2015)
“Rich Man’s War” – Steve Earle (2004)
“Rumors of War” – High on Fire (2007)
“Sacrificed Sons” – Dream Theater (2005)
“Sacred Lie” – Disturbed (2005)
“Saraba” – The Gazette (2004)
“Shock and Awe” – Neil Young (2006)
“Skylines and Turnstiles” – My Chemical Romance (2002)
“Slap Leather” – James Taylor (1991)
“Square Dance” – Eminem (2002)
“Stand Up” – Flobots (2007)
“Still Waiting” – Sum 41 (2002)
“Succexy” – Metric (2005)
“A Taste of Money” – Dawn Called Malice (2003)* “The Evil Has Landed” – Testament (2005)
“Tehran” – The Offspring (1989)
“Take a Bow” – Muse (2006)
“That Man I Shot” – Drive-By Truckers (2008)
“This Is War” – Smile Empty Soul (2003)
“This Is War” – Thirty Seconds to Mars (2009)
“Trot Out the Dead” – Hammers of Misfortune (2006)
“To Kill the Child” – Roger Waters (2004)
“Too Many Puppies” – Primus (1991)
“Too Much Rope” – Roger Waters (1992)
“Turkey Shoot” – Killdozer (1994)
“Twenty” – Robert Cray (2005)
“Two Weeks From Twenty” – Yellowcard (2006)
“Victory Stinks” – Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine (2011)
“Violent & Young” – Iglu & Hartly (2008)
“Walk On” – Hilltop Hoods (2003)
“War on War” – Wilco (2002)
“Wargasm” – L7 (1992)
“Warzone” – Pagoda (2012)
“War Is a Wonderful Thing” – Real West (2005)
“We Don’t Want Your War” – Jynkz {Jeff Neugebauer} (2005)
“What Are We Fighting For” – Live (2003)
“What More Can I Give” – Michael Jackson & Various Artists (2001)
“When the President Talks to God” – Bright Eyes (2005)
“Where Is the Love?” – The Black Eyed Peas (Featuring Justin Timberlake) (2004)
“Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” – Alan Jackson (2001)
“Where’d You Go” – Fort Minor (2006)
“White People For Peace” – Against Me! (2007)
“White Flag Warrior” – Flobots ft. Tim McIlrath (2010)
“Wipe That Smile Off Your Face” – Our Lady Peace (2005)
“Words I Never Said” – Lupe Fiasco (2011)
“World Wide Suicide” – Pearl Jam (2006)
“Waiting on the World to Change” – John Mayer (2006)
“Worker Bees” – Billy Talent (2006)
“WWIII” – KMFDM (2003)
“Yellowcake” – Ministry (2006)
“Yellow Ledbetter” – Pearl Jam (1992)
“Yo George” – Tori Amos (2007)
“You Shoulda Killed Me Last Year” – Ice-T (1991)
“Your Silence” – Suicide Machines (2003)
if the corporate doesn’t allow, it is taken down before WE, THE PEOPLE even knew it existed
and if they find independent funding – they are all taxed, until they remove
and once out of the PUBLIC eye / ear, it is gone, when we (racial memory) forget, that’s it, gone forever
how quickly do we forget?
now, forty years later, Joan Baez would be discounted as a conspiracy theorist, meaning that she would only be heard by “fans” and in most cases none of them would even understand (Lady Gaga – I want your disease; Pink – I hate you; Natasha Beddingfield – I want to have your baby) is it just me, or don’t we actually listen to / understand lyrics / poems anymore?
on the visual front, that has been hijacked by unHolywood and anything else is irrelevant
“This remarkable, trance-like title track referenced Biblical prophecy, Ozymanides, and A Thousand and One Nights. ”
Ozymandias is not Biblical prophecy. See:
That noted, I could not completely read the article. I did recently watch an older documentary flick what explained the Grateful Dead worked for the F.B.I for a time in helping the C.I.A promote use of LSD in the sixties. It kind of does seem credible as that was about when MKUltra was going on.
Sorry I was jarred away from reading the article.
Where’s Banksy???