“Every successful movement has a soundtrack,” the songwriter Tom Morello told reporters after he had tried to fire up the crowd at the Occupy Wall Street Protest last week with a Woody Guthrie tune and one of his own labor songs.

Perhaps he is right, but the protesters in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan have yet to find an anthem. Nor is the rest of the country humming songs about hard times. So far, musicians living through the biggest economic disaster since the Great Depression have filled the airwaves with songs about dancing, not the worries of working people.

Where have all the protest songs gone?

To be sure, a handful of songwriters are tackling the issue. Ry Cooder, the blues and rock guitarist known for his exploration of roots music, lambastes bankers and conservatives in his latest album, “Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down” (Nonesuch). Similarly, Mr. Morello, who began his career as the guitarist and chief ideologue for the band Rage Against the Machine, makes an unapologetic call for leftist revolution in his new album, “World Wide Rebel Songs” (New West Records).

On Tuesday Everlast, a Los Angeles songwriter who mixes rap and country blues, released an album, “Songs of the Ungrateful Living” (Martyr/EMI), with the song “I Get By,” a brooding meditation on the problems of the working-class people facing unemployment and foreclosures in today’s economy. “I voted for change, and it’s kind of strange/now it’s all I got in my pocket,” he sings on the track.

These recent releases add to a trickle of politically charged songs since the banking crisis precipitated the economic downturn. In 2009 Justin Sane of the punk band Anti-Flag wrote “The Economy Is Suffering, Let it Die,” a scathing indictment of the bank bailout. The following year the soul singer Aloe Blacc captured the heartbreak of unemployment in his single “I Need a Dollar.”

Yet none of these songs have been big hits, and none are likely to have the impact that a song like Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” had in the early 1960s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/arts/music/occupy-wall-street-protest-lacks-an-anthem.html?pagewanted=print

Over the past year, political tracks have made a comeback of sorts. Lady Gaga's number one single "Born This Way" was a strident call for the acceptance of all sexualities: "No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I'm on the right track baby, I was born to survive." And PJ Harvey's Mercury Prize winning album Let England Shake offers up a brutal and unromantic take on the horrors of war. The fourth track on the album, "", contains these particularly brutal lyrics: "I've seen soldiers fall like lumps of meat/blown and shot out beyond belief/ Arms and legs were in the trees".

So will the popularity of PJ Harvey's latest album lead to a resurgence of protest songs? Or is it she a single (although loud) voice in the void?

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/cultural-capital/2011/09/protest-songs-album-music-gay

Fans were shocked when Batman writer Frank Miller furiously attacked the Occupy movement. They shouldn't have been, says Rick Moody – he was just voicing Hollywood's unspoken values

A sturdy corollary emerges in the wake of the graphic artist Frank Miller's recent diatribe against the Occupy Wall Streetfrankmillerink.com). That corollary, of which we should be reminded from time to time, is this: popular entertainment from Hollywood is – to greater or lesser extent – propaganda. And Miller has his part in that, thanks to films such as 300 and Sin City. movement ("A pack of louts, thieves, and rapists … Wake up, pond scum, America is at war against a ruthless enemy"), available for perusal at at frankmillerink.com).

Perhaps you have had this thought before. Perhaps you have had it often. I can remember politics dawning on me while watching a Steven Seagal vehicle, Under Siege, in 1992. I was in my early 30s. The film was without redeeming merit – there's no other way to put it – and it was about a "ruthless enemy" and the reimposition of the American social order through violence and rugged individualism. Why had I paid hard-earned money for it? Good question. Before Under Siege, I had a tendency to think action films were funny. I had a sort of Brechtian relationship to their awfulness. And I was amused when films themselves recognised the level to which they stooped, as Under Siege assuredly did.

The moment of revelation could have come at any time. It could have come earlier, and it did among my more astute friends.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/nov/24/frank-miller-hollywood-fascism

Few songs arrive accompanied by a statement of intent, but Ben Drew believes his latest single requires clarification. Its subject is the riots that erupted across England last summer. The news, says Drew, moved on so fast – from street fights in Tottenham to the battle for Tripoli – that they were never properly examined. And as the 28-year-old songwriter, singer, rapper, film-maker and actor better known as Plan B explains on his website: "The point being made in my song 'Ill Manors' is that society needs to take some responsibility for the cause of these riots. Why are there so many kids in this country that don't feel they have a future, or care about having a criminal record?"

Drew posits at least one theory himself: that underprivileged young people, living on urban estates, suspect society doesn't much care about them – and thus care little for society. They're casually branded "chavs: council housed and violent", a term no better in Drew's eyes than those used to discriminate along racial and gender lines. "If you're born into a family that has enough money to educate you properly," he goes on, "you are privileged. You're not better than anyone else. You're just lucky. Certain sectors of middle England, not all of them, but the ignorant ones, need to wake up and realise that... and stop ridiculing the poor and less fortunate. That is what this song is about."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/plan-b-voice-of-a-generation-7575736.html

The lyrics for the new James Bond theme song take the cake for stupidity, but that will be no impediment to sales success, because it is sung by Adele. The world's most bankable white soul singer (plus a 77-piece orchestra) can give gravitas to such nonsense as ''Skyfall is where we start, a thousand miles and poles apart, where worlds collide and days are dark, you may have my number, you can take my name, but you'll never have my heart.''

Skyfall will soar to the top of the chart and replace the current No. 1, Gangnam Style, which was described by a Sydney newspaper recently as ''a brilliant satire'' on ''credit card-touting cashed-up bogans''.
Listen closely and you'll have trouble detecting the satire. Don't panic. You're not suffering from aphasia. Apart from the words ''sexy lady'', Gangnam Style is in Korean. Its author, who calls himself Psy, is a Seoul singer.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/the-day-the-music-died-20121013-27j4r.html#ixzz29KxQMBJK
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As we grow older, it becomes easy to pick a period of music you like and declare that everything since that particular golden age has been rubbish.

For some people, it’s the freaky sixties of Jimi Hendrix. For many more, it’s the rocking seventies of Led Zeppelin. For some people, it’s the synth pop of the eighties, while the rise of grunge in the nineties gave birth to a million flannel shirts. I’m not sure anyone considers the naughties the best ever period in music yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/art/music/new-music-through-older-ears/

Musical genius Tommy Tycho has died

Australian conductor and composor Tommy Tycho has died at the age of 84 at the Prince of Wales hospital in Sydney. Tycho recorded the version of Advance Australia Fair that is played at all major events and football games and worked with perfomers like Olivia Newtown-John, Julie Anthony, and Hugh Jackman as well as Dave Brubeck, Shirley Bassey and Peter Allen. "I've lived a charmed life because I have nothing but wonderful and great experiences musically."

Tommy Tycho has been a well-know musical figure in this country, who had charm though rarely controversial or revolutionary... Tommy has supported the Australian entertainment industry with flair and panache... Vale young Tommy...

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/australian-identity/australian-history/christina-amphlett-rebel-with-a-cause/

Conway Savage, the long-term pianist for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, has died age 58. Savage was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2017 and died on 2 September, the band confirmed in a statement. 

The statement continued: “A member of Bad Seeds for nearly 30 years, Conway was the anarchic thread that ran through the band’s live performances. He was much loved by everyone, band members and fans like. Irascible, funny, terrifying, sentimental, warm-hearted, gentle, acerbic, honest, genuine – he was all of these things and quite literally ‘had the gift of a golden voice’, high and sweet and drenched in soul.

“On a drunken night, at four in the morning, in a hotel bar in Cologne, Conway sat at the piano and sang Streets of Laredo to us, in his sweet, melancholy style and stopped the world for a moment. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Goodbye Conway, there isn’t a dry eye in the house.”

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/03/conway-savage-nick-cave-an...

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By Charlie Stone, author and journalist who has worked for the BBC, several national newspapers in the UK and international media.

Rock ‘n’ roll baby! It’s just a little bit too safe these days. 

The 27 Club – all those rock gods who died at that age – must be spinning in their graves right now. That elite club includes Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and the original blues maestro, Robert Johnson. And let’s not forget the girls, Janis Joplin and Amy Winehouse.

Mostly it was the drink and the drugs that took them so young, except Kurt Cobain, who blew his brains out and Jim Morrison, who died of a heart attack in the bath. They’d both ingested way too many substances, of course. 

Robert Johnson is said to have been poisoned by the jealous husband of a woman with whom he enjoyed a roll. Anyway, he’d already sold his soul to the devil down at the crossroads, for the price of being able to master the guitar. It was time to pay up.

And yet Keith Richards is still alive and rocking at the age of 77. The Stones’ axeman has probably imbibed more substances than any other human being alive. Ever. It was even once claimed he had all the blood in his body pumped out and replaced, as a bit of a clean-up. Just so he could keep on rocking.

Even the term itself, ‘rock ‘n’ roll’… think about it. It’s not about a nice day out sailing or mountaineering, is it? It was a term used from way back in the 1920s in blues songs to mean, well, a man and woman having sex.

It has become a euphemism for bad behaviour. There’s a long and illustrious list of dirty and dangerous deeds done by the rock gods. Think Keith Moon, another rocker who died early; he didn't get into the 27 Club because he made it to the ripe old age of 32. No TV was safe in a hotel room when Moon was around – The Who drummer liked to lob them from his window. Blowing up the toilet was another favourite. And parking his Rolls-Royce in the pool, smashing up his drum kits on stage, an endless succession of blondes… You get the picture. 

Moon was a busy bad boy right up until his death in 1978, from an overdose in a flat in London’s posh Mayfair, in the same room in which Mama Cass Elliot of the Mamas and Papas had died of a heart attack four years earlier, also at the age of 32.

The Sex Pistols swearing on live TV, bassist Sid Vicious killing his girlfriend (allegedly) and later dying of an overdose at the age of 21. Ozzy Osbourne biting off the head of a bat live on stage.

And what about Jimmy Page? The Led Zeppelin guitar player got heavily into the black magic works of occult leader Aleister Crowley as a teenager, so much so that he even bought his house up beside Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. Home of the monster in more ways than one, so the legend goes.

Anyway, you get my drift. 

Then we come to March 2021… and Winston Marshall, the Mumford & Sons banjo player. Marshall announced the other day that he’s stepping back from the band after endorsing a book by the right-wing US commentator Andy Ngo on Twitter.

“Finally had the time to read your important book. You’re a brave man,” Marshall tweeted last Sunday about Ngo’s book Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy. The inevitable Twitter storm followed and the message was swiftly deleted. Too late. The mob was already on him. He survived for three whole days, before releasing a statement. “Over the past few days I have come to better understand the pain caused by the book I endorsed. I have offended not only a lot of people I don’t know, but also those closest to me, including my bandmates, and for that I am truly sorry.”

Marshall announced he would take time off from the band, “to examine my blindspots. For now, please know that I realise how my endorsements have the potential to be viewed as approvals of hateful, divisive behaviour. I apologise, as this was not at all my intention.”

Man, you what? How wet and weak was that? Can you imagine Noel or Liam Gallagher issuing such a dweeby statement? Those Oasis brothers split because they wanted to smash each other’s faces in, and they’re still not talking almost a dozen years later.

There's all kinds of wrong going on in this Mumford & Sons affair. First off, Winston Aubrey Aladar Marshall plays...banjo. That should immediately ring alarm bells. Mumford & Sons are a phenomenally successful, yet actually pretty tame, folk rock combo. 

And then he’s the son of the investor Sir Paul Marshall, a hedge fund founder worth around £630 million. His mother's side has links to the French aristocracy. His auntie is posh Penny Marshall, the ITN reporter. He also went to St Paul's, the public school that sits sedately on the River Thames. He even identifies as a ‘trustafarian’  – meaning he played music because, well, he had no real need to ever do a day’s work in his life. His old man is loaded. Say no more.

Plus, he didn’t even quit or storm out after a violent altercation with other band members. He’s just taking time out to have a bit of a ponder – probably hoping the mob will drift away from his door soon enough, en route to cancelling some other poor schmuck with a Twitter feed.

Rock ‘n’ roll baby! As Neil Young sang, “Hey hey, my my. Rock and roll can never die ... It’s better to burn out than to fade away... Hey hey, my my. Rock and roll can never die.”

Nah, rock ‘n’ roll will never die. It’ll just get sanitised and then cancelled. 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/517816-rockstar-woke-twitter-cancel/

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The Wiggles have made Hottest 100 history, becoming the first act to top Triple J’s annual countdown with a cover song.

Going into Saturday’s countdown, the children’s group were favourites to top the list with their playful rendition of Tame Impala’s Elephant. But even the most intense Fruit Salad obsessive would’ve been shocked by their ultimate victory.

“It’s pretty surreal, I’ve got to say,” said Purple Wiggle Lachy (Lachlan Gillespie).

“Thanks to the fans, and for Kevin Parker for crafting such a great song,” added Blue Wiggle Anthony Field.

Recorded for Triple J’s Like a Version last March, the song captured global attention online last year, thanks to the unlikely novelty of the kids’ music icons covering Kevin Parker’s hipster psychedelia.

According to online aggregator 100 Warm Tunas, the most reliable predictor of Hottest 100 success, the track had long been primed to finish first in the countdown, marking the first time ever a Like a Version cover would claim the Hottest 100’s top spot.

With its win, the song becomes the highest-ranking Like a Version cover in the Hottest 100 since Triple J launched the weekly segment in 2005. It also charted higher than Tame Impala’s original song, which finished seventh in 2012.

Triple J’s music director Nick Findlay suggested the track offered some comfort amid the challenges of the pandemic.

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/the-wiggles-make-history-with-hottest-100-win-20220122-p59qfe.html

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THE PICTURE (missing or not on the platform you are using to watch this site) is being researched in Gus's picture library...

 reiser noah...

 I can't find the original picture... Meanwhile in regard to elephants, I can give you this one from Reiser...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KILcFbLbnbY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOh4cHMTPUs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHjeXlYz_Uk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSA-SY5Hro

THE WORLD GOES UPSIDE DOWN WHEN THE DEMOCRATS IS THE PARTY OF THE ELITES....

AND THE PROTEST SONG GOES AGAINST THE ELITES OF THE DEMOCRATS....

WE' RE IN TROUBLE, MAN....

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