Christoph Reuss wrote:
> These 'artists'(&'lyrics') get selected and built up by the music industry.
> Whether the diversion industry is 'alone' or whether it is being 'told'
> by other 'agencies', may be an academic question. Considering the CIA's
> role in the "Cultural War" during the cold war decades (see article below),
> everything is possible...
Indeed - hard to argue against everything being possible; however, while one is
entitled to one's opinions a categorical statement such as "What this article
ignores is the **political function** of rappers like Eminem" presents speculation
as fact when it is an allegation requiring , as you implied above, objective
investigation. It is, however, an interesting idea.
> > It seems to me that one could argue that the "role" of rappers is to condition
> > susceptible youth to challenge corporatist dogma, to view "generally accepted"
> > values as outmoded and exploitive, and thus to welcome the opportunity to
> > commit mayhem against the purveyors of those goods and services produced by
> > the back-breaking toil of the poor and powerless masses.
>
> Could you cite some rap lyrics that do this ?
No, but came across these pieces which reflect
my impression of the protest genre of popular music:
Of all the highly political punk bands born during the Thatcherite '80s,
Chumbawamba is perhaps the only one left standing. It owes much of its politics
and pranksterism to the seminal band Crass, which helped popularize the notion
of punk rock as a viable platform for anarchist politics. Crass was nothing if not
committed. Its core members -- who took absurd names such as Steve Ignorant
and Joy de Vivre -- formed their own record label, lived communally, adhered to
strict veganism, and managed to live almost completely untouched by any vestige
of capitalist society. Other bands of the period -- such as the Poison Girls,
Conflict, and Disorder -- typically released albums in sleeves that unfolded into
broadsheets covered with the addresses of various political coalitions and detailed
information about nuclear disarmament, the Falklands War, death squads in El
Salvador, and the ecological impact of cattle farming.
Source: <http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/1998-03-26/music2.html>
It's a bit dated, of course,
When Universal Music and Polygram merged last
December to form the largest record company in the world--Universal Music
Group--the final nail was driven into the coffin of corporate-sponsored punk
rock; some 250 bands were dropped to clear the roster for the latest trend,
"teen pop," embodied by bands like the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.
At the same time, however, the underground remains a wellspring for a wide
variety of countercultural currents, with bands ranging from the explicitly
political to the nihilistic but aesthetically adventurous. While independent
labels can rarely provide the resources musicians need to survive
financially,
the most influential--Dischord (DC), Touch & Go (Chicago) and Jade Tree
(Delaware), to name just a few--offer their bands full creative freedom and
access to a vibrant musical community: a true alternative to the bottom-line
assault on music. Sometimes musicians and their independent labels forge
direct links with organizing efforts--with or without encouragement from the
progressive establishment. But perhaps the greatest contribution of today's
punks lies in changing minds: spreading an anticorporate message in a
culture
whose dominant voices are MTV veejays and athletes adorned with the Nike
swoosh.
The politically minded underground movement is propelled by bands like
Fugazi, which became the crown jewel of the devoutly independent
Washington, DC, music scene soon after its first live performance in 1987.
Its
albums are released by Dischord Records, which has been a cornerstone of
the DC music scene since its inception in 1980, and is co-owned by Ian
MacKaye, one of Fugazi's two lead singers. The band is revered not only for
its distinctive sound but for being one of the few groups to resist the lure
of
corporate funding when the majors plundered the ranks of independent artists
after the Seattle-based underground group Nirvana was signed by Geffen
Records in 1991, to huge commercial success. Instead, Fugazi has stayed on
course as a pioneer of abrasively poetic, politically charged music. In the
process, it has sold nearly 2 million records, primarily through independent
distribution channels. This is a tremendous accomplishment--Fugazi has
outsold all but a few of its corporate-aligned colleagues, simultaneously
eschewing the mainstream media, refusing interviews with MTV and music
publications like Spin and Rolling Stone. "Spin is to music what
Cosmopolitan is to women's issues--it's really just a catalogue with an
occasional feature," says MacKaye. "The bands themselves then become
products, too. We are not interested in participating in that particular
part of
rock and roll."
Merchandise keeps us in line
Common sense says it's by design
What could a businessman ever want more
Than to have us sucking in his store?
We owe you nothing, you have no control.
--Fugazi, "Merchandise"
Fugazi continues to call its own shots, musically and commercially. The song
"Merchandise" reflects on the ideals driving the band's decision to
repudiate
the commodity line that accompanies most rock bands (T-shirts, baseball
caps, etc.).
Source:
<http://past.thenation.com/cgi-bin/framizer.cgi?url=http://past.thenation.com/issue/991018/1018temple.shtmlB
Bob
> --
http://publish.uwo.ca/~mcdaniel/
