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Alucard View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Prog and Politics
    Posted: February 15 2005 at 08:26
In the beginning I was just astonished that the Italian group Area didn't showed so often in the threads about italian Prog. Area were well known in the 70's for their music but mainly for their political (leftwing) engagement. They used to play the international during their concerts and used their concerts as their music as a political tool. Robert Wyatt was openly engaged for the communist party, as Billy Brag. Zappa was very engaged in Politics. Prog is often connected with Fairy Tales or, so I thought it could be interesting having a discussion about the "political" aspects of Prog and/ or engagements. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 08:34

The musicians you mentioned were all afilliated with the left.

It seems there were very few with right wing tendancies.

I know Phil Collins was a Tory, and once said he would leave the UK if Labour got into power, as he believed he would have to pay more tax.

Prog is not that political, and its probably better that way. I think one of the aims of prog was to avoid politics and to provide some escapism from all that sh!t.



Edited by Blacksword
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 08:46

Originally posted by Alucard Alucard wrote:

In the beginning I was just astonished that the Italian group Area didn't showed so often in the threads about italian Prog. Area were well known in the 70's for their music but mainly for their political (leftwing) engagement. They used to play the international during their concerts and used their concerts as their music as a political tool. Robert Wyatt was openly engaged for the communist party, as Billy Brag. Zappa was very engaged in Politics. Prog is often connected with Fairy Tales or, so I thought it could be interesting having a discussion about the "political" aspects of Prog and/ or engagements. 

 

Frankly speaking, it doesen't matter to me what political system adore musicians in case they play music good  John Lennon, Manfred Mann, Frank Zappa, Peter Gabriel had their moments of political influence, though it all was fragmentary and not for a long time for them...

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 09:03

Pink Floyds Animals and The Wall had polical themes
if I'm not mistaken.As did Banco Muteo Soccorso's
albums.

Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 09:07
aye, floyd were very much a bunch of lefties
We Lost the Skyline............


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 09:25

Actually a good part of Kraurock groups in the late 60's and early 70's were so socially conscious in their text that the press started to talk about Polit Rock. Among which were consider as such Amon Duul and Amon Duul I as well as Kluster/Cluster but also Can . All were closely related to left-wing political ideas sometimes even at the extreme left. Of course Amon Duul evolved out of a hippy commune (much like GonG and Grateful Dead did - or at least were the focal points of a commune), so there was of course not much a chance they would be right wing capitalists.

As for right wing politics, they appear not too present in  rock lyrics - except for extreme right/fascist in some hard core groups and also except for christian rock - no link between the two intended. But the fact that some people will do anything to succed (boys band , Girlies teen stars, a lot of New Wave - Human League -  and Hair Metal - Bon Jovi - groups) cashing in on their looks, this was capitalism/opportunism and therefore hidden political ideas. This might also translate into thefact that most musicians are afraid to appear right-wing , but is rock stardom as such with all its excesses not right wing?

Just a few thoughts and no political intentions meant.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 09:48
You may wonder why I feel compelled to comment 

But the truth is I've always tried to keep my love for music and left-wing politics separate (well aside from a couple of embarassing sloganeering songs I wrote in my mid-teens) ... It's fair to say that a vast majority of my favourite songwriters/artistes are apolitical.

Prog has always been among the most intellectual forms of "popular" music and it was inevitable that the likes of Henry Cow and Robert Wyatt would emerge. But while I admit to looking a little bit more kindly on their music because of the leftist leanings, I can't imagine anyone falling in love with Leg End or Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard because of the politics involved ...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 09:55
As a conservative (well, more closely to libertarian these days) myself, I put very little importance on political lyrics in songs.  If I did that, I wouldn't listen to very much anything... 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 10:02

If you listen to any RiO (Rock in Opposition)bands that include a vocalist the lyrics are mostly political.The origin for these bands was circa 1968 when,after the 'Summer of Love' there came the 'Summer of (student) Riots,' ie Paris and London for example.RiO bands are predominantly French or British eg Art Zoyd,Henry Cow,Univers Zero etc.their musical styles resemble a Canterbury/Avant Garde/Jazz Fusion.


Edited by Man Erg

Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 10:17

Due to Peter's political inclination they had acouple of lyrics that talked about revolutions and social issues like The Knife and Get 'em Out by Friday, later without Gebriel they released One for the Vine (Even when I read on another forum that this last song is about Moses, something I don't believe).

But they had the good taste to tell fiction stories and not actual themes like other do, using music as a political instrument.

Iván



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 11:54

Originally posted by John Gargo John Gargo wrote:

As a conservative (well, more closely to libertarian these days) myself, I put very little importance on political lyrics in songs.  If I did that, I wouldn't listen to very much anything... 

 

 Alright so I'm not the only libertarian here!

I think Rush is a good example of a more conservative rock group. Peart's interest in Ayn Rand and Objectivism in the 70s definitely steered the band in that direction, and many political and philosophically related themes show up in songs like "Something for Nothing", "Freewill", "Cinderella Man", and of course "2112". Not that anything Peart has written for the band has been as outwardly political as what Waters was writing for Pink Floyd, but it's there in a subtle way.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 12:15
Originally posted by Sweetnighter Sweetnighter wrote:

Originally posted by John Gargo John Gargo wrote:

As a conservative (well, more closely to libertarian these days) myself, I put very little importance on political lyrics in songs.  If I did that, I wouldn't listen to very much anything... 

 

 Alright so I'm not the only libertarian here!

Three of a Perfect Pair, aren't we?  

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 12:32

Gotta love those Neil Peart lyrics!!!

Live for yourself -- there's no one else
More worth living for
Begging hands and bleeding hearts will only cry out for more

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 12:49
IQ - darck matter: isn't harvest of souls political?
[HEADPINS - LINE OF FIRE: THE RECORD HAVING THE MOST POWERFUL GUITAR SOUND IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF MUSIC!>
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 12:52

"If your not leftish in your twenties, you have no hart;

if you still leftish in your fourties, yo have no brain"

Something like that was wrote by Churchill, what do you thing about that statement?

(OK, Churchill ain't prog, I know, I know...)

Please forgive me for my crappy english!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 13:31
Originally posted by mirco mirco wrote:

"If your not leftish in your twenties, you have no hart;

if you still leftish in your fourties, yo have no brain"

Something like that was wrote by Churchill, what do you thing about that statement?

(OK, Churchill ain't prog, I know, I know...)



What do I think ... see that quote below by that real Trotsky?

Personally though, the leftism of my mid-teens has mellowed a lot since I became a father of three, but I still believe the basic values of sharing vs. selfish to be sound ... to me conservatism is a sign of low standards ... that someone actually thinks what we've got going on (ie, the way the world is run) is good enough to preserve  still shocks me ...

But I've become old enough and tired enough that I will smile and shut up if the next person gets angry
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 13:33

There's actually quite a strong thread of left wing/anarchist thinking in a lot of the original prog acts, although very few were explicit about it. Certainly prog's tory boys kept their odious views very much to themselves in the 70s, although they started to come out in the 80s during the cultural devastation of the Thatcher/Reagan years.

This is slightly odd, given that the majority of prog fans are small 'c' conservatives at heart, as can be seen from many of the posts on this forum. 

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I've got my doubts about how much to contribute
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 13:38
Originally posted by Syzygy Syzygy wrote:

There's actually quite a strong thread of left wing/anarchist thinking in a lot of the original prog acts, although very few were explicit about it. Certainly prog's tory boys kept their odious views very much to themselves in the 70s, although they started to come out in the 80s during the cultural devastation of the Thatcher/Reagan years.

This is slightly odd, given that the majority of prog fans are small 'c' conservatives at heart, as can be seen from many of the posts on this forum. 

 

I guess you would have to understand the world at the time the prog bands were writing songs or leading up to it.  The counterculture very much influenced prog especially the anti war outcry in both Europe and The United States.

 



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 13:48
The Enid were (wrongly) accussed of fascist tendencies because of their playing of "Land of Hope and Glory" at gigs, but the truth is they are big Elgar fans, and the anthemnic nature of this piece of Pomp and Circumstance makes it a perfect  encore.

Edited by emdiar
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2005 at 14:03
Originally posted by John Gargo John Gargo wrote:

Gotta love those Neil Peart lyrics!!!

Live for yourself -- there's no one else
More worth living for
Begging hands and bleeding hearts will only cry out for more

Well done John,21 yr old and already a cynical bastard.

What about Peart's lyrics in Territories:

The whole wide world
An endless universe
Yet we keep looking through
The eyeglass in reverse
Don't feed the people
But we feed the machines
Can't really feel
What international means

Better the pride that resides
In a citizen of the world
Than the pride that divides
When a colourful rag is unfurled

libertine or selfish?




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