If it would help stop the war I'd go on tour with Britney Spears-J Biafra

"I was waiting for someone to come along, some young singer 18 to 22 years old, to write these songs and stand up," Young told the Los Angeles Times. "I waited a long time. Then I decided that maybe the generation that has to do this is still the 1960s generation." The songs will be played live for the first time next month, by original longhairs Crosby, Stills Nash and Young.

The first names on the sheet for any American peace concert would be - with the possible exception of pop-punks Green Day - musicians whose worldview was shaped by the Vietnam war. Bruce Springsteen (who has commented on Bush and the war to the fiftysomething audiences coming to watch him play Pete Seeger songs on his current tour), Wayne Kramer of the MC5, country singer Steve Earle, Chuck D of Public Enemy and former Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra are all old enough to have been affected by the conflict, if mostly too young to have been drafted. When Michael Stipe headlined the Bring Them Home Now gig in New York in March, he told the crowd how his father served in Korea and Vietnam when he was a child, and spoke of registering for the draft while Jimmy Carter was president. But it's been a while since any of these artists spoke directly to young people, as opposed to long-term fans.

<snip>

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1803475,00.html

Some interesting points on the generational differences in anti-war art.
Is the absence of a draft the difference? Probably a lot of it.
I turned 18 in 1969 & lived in fear because college wasn't on my horizon at that point.
I come into contact with people now in their mid-30s and I'm appalled at their ignorance at even the most basic facts regarding government. Basic 8th grade civics stuff. Did Reagan ban the teaching of civics?
I LOVE the Jello Biafra quote I abridged for the subject line.

Thanks for posting this. I'll check it out. Did the artists comment on this in the piece? Isn't the lack of kids doing it caused by the music/media/megamergers?

...I remember the Dead Kennedys from the SF Bay area in the '70s & I remember JB's campaign for Mayor of SF. The only candidate who COULD stand by his record (California Uber Alles as I recall).

I lose track of pop culture around 1980 & MTV. Why anyone sat still for something as cool as Rock & Roll becoming a TV show, one of the uncoolest things there is, is beyond me.

Reagan & MTV seemed like the death knell for progressive youth rebellion in music. Authentic, pre-'80 punk seems like the last gasp & after that it's a 'fight for the right to party' & a big museum of styles.

Have you read Ammiel Alcalay's essay Republics of Poetry?:
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/olson/blog/republics_of_poetry.pdf
(pdf-requires adobe reader)
If you're interested in language art, spoken & written, you might find it interesting. Wayne Kramer (MC5) shows up in it talking about the Detroit scene in the late '60s.

:hi:

Dream bill at Mabuhay Gardens: Michael Parenti doing a Lenny Bruce/Mort Sahl kind of monologue thing & The Dead Kennedys...maybe that's what Jello has morphed into...

Checked out your link-- copied to read through later. Perfect for me tonight. :hi:

Thanks

"but I'd even put up with her music if it would help stop the war." :rofl:


"Much of this showbiz dissent has been of the cryptic, non-committal variety that Devendra Banhart derides, but Jello Biafra welcomes every new pop convert. He says: "There's been criticism that some of the people now taking stands against the war are just hopping on a bandwagon and I say 'why not?'. I'd rather have Sheryl Crow protesting the war than have to listen to her music, but I'd even put up with her music if it would help stop the war. If it would help stop the war and bring down the Bush dictatorship I'd go on tour with Britney Spears tomorrow.""