Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Aug 25, 2020
Jun 8, 2020
Feb 6, 2020
Jan 10, 2020
Americana Singer Dismayed to Find Out He Has a Conservative Fan
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| Smith Winston lead singer Chance Lipton |
The reedy 26-year-old tenor has his band on the upswing, with their second album, Drumbeat of Solidarity, due in April, but a recent revelation has him rethinking his career path. “I thought I’d blocked all the mentally deficient baby cagers, but I recently received a Twitter DM that troubled me to the core.” related Lipton. “I’m literally shaking right now.”
Lipton provided us with a screenshot of the upsetting direct message, which reads as follows:
Hey Chance! I’m a big fan of Smith Winston. I’ve kept up with you guys since that EP in 2014. Saw you twice in concert. Anyway, just wanted you to know that you do have some conservative fans out here, despite your bio. I mean, I’m not crazy about Trump, but I’m certainly to the right of you and that’s cool with me. Your music is great and I can separate my beliefs from my enjoyment of art and have an open mind to your message. Take care and keep up the good work!
“My foundations were shaken by this message,” said Lipton. “How could someone who doesn’t have the same level of compassion for the world like my music? I blocked him of course.”
Chance continued his stream of consciousness self-debate: “Have I written too many basic love songs that even one without the capacity for love could sympathize with? Am I using too little word salad? Do I need to convey more revulsion for the intolerant? Maybe I should just quit if someone with such low intellect and poor opinions has the opinion that my music is something he identifies with.”
Lipton has asked for a short leave of absence from Smith Winston while he works through his issues.
Sep 19, 2019
Famous Protest Songs Updated For Modern Times
Cracker From Muskogee
The Tide Pod and the Damage Done
Chick-fil-a Took My Baby Away
(Okay, not a protest song, but it had to be here)
Hurt Me SoulCycle
Evviva Il Papa John’s
Talkin’ Colin Kaepernick Blues
I Was a Teenage Incel
Give Hashtags a Chance
Your Punisher Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven
This Meme is Your Meme
Big Yellow Uber
Doxxing in the Name
Outrage of a Small Circle of Friends
De Keurig Man
Yasss Save the Queen!
White Claws for Peace
Would Jesus Wear a TAG Heuer?
Cancellation Song
Nike Punks F*** Off
Let’s Retweet the President
Hobby Lobby… the Punishment Due
Jul 2, 2019
Jun 20, 2019
Americana Artist’s Political Song Not Connecting With Audiences
Rising Americana singer Benjamyn Lackey has built quite a following in his short 3 years on the scene. He’s traversed the US to adoring crowds, opening for the likes of Sturgill Simpson and Cody Jinks. His debut album showed up on the top 10 of several year end lists in 2016. He’s even been acclaimed by stars like Vince Vaughn and (AEW wrestler) Cody Rhodes on social media, but Lackey’s teaser single for his forthcoming sophomore album Hens in the Roadpath is meeting with a deafening silence.
The tune, a stripped-down acoustic and drum folk tune entitled “If You’re Republican, Don’t Be My Fan,” has only been streamed 1024 times on Spotify in its 2 months of release. The song’s reception in concert has been similarly subdued.
“I know it’ll take time to catch on, but people at shows just kind of look back and forth at each other during the song.” Said Lackey. “Maybe they’re commiserating with one another non-verbally over the craziness of the world these days. I’m sure they all agree with me that Republicans are literally as bad as Pol Pot.”
“If You’re Republican..” Is Benjamyn’s first foray into protest music, and critics have been sharply divided. Rolling Stone Country called it “a brave line in the sand and a masterpiece of modern political music, if a questionable commercial approach.” Helping Country Music devoted 15 paragraphs to describing the song as overwrought. Farce the Music made a couple of non-commital but clever memes about it.
We asked fans about the song after a recent show, and they were a bit more forthcoming deep in the beers. “All his other songs are poetic and well-written; that one sounds like a first year political science major frat boy wrote it after a conservative chick turned him down.” said Jennifer Pulaski, a confirmed liberal. “F**k him!” yelled Phil Baker, a Republican. “His other songs kick ass so I’ll come to his damn shows if I want to; what’s he gonna do? Stand at the door with a voter roll?” The crowd, split about 50/50 across the political divide, was firmly in agreement on the ham-fistedness of the song and said that they looked back and forth at one another during its performance as a communal “wtf is this sh*t?”
At press time, Lackey’s label was considering replacing “If You’re Republican, Don’t Be My Fan” on the unreleased album’s track-listing with a more fan friendly “Whiskey Dick.”
A sampling of the lyrics of “IYRDBMF” follows.
The world’s so crazy these days
Everybody’s screaming, throwing hands
But only the left is right
So I’m saying with all my might
If you’re Republican, don’t be my fan
Jun 4, 2019
John Rich Singing “Shut Up About Politics” is Like:
John Rich, who's more famous for being politically provocative over the last few years than writing or performing songs, has a new song out called "Shut Up About Politics." Well, that's pretty much like....
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Florida-Georgia Line calling out people who use auto-tune
Justin Moore making fun of short people
Shooter Jennings making fun of short people
Kane Brown covering “Murder on Music Row”
Miranda Lambert coming out against violent lyrics
Dustin Lynch calling someone a sellout
Dustin Lynch having a clothing line called “Stay Country”
Chris Brown wearing a “Mean People Suck” t-shirt
Tracy Lawrence talking sh** about Chris Brown
Luke Bryan saying somebody should act their age
David Allan Coe complaining about a sub-par concert
The Bellamy Brothers being against mixing country and rap
A Beyonce fan calling someone obsessed
Jamey Johnson saying Chris Knight waits too long between album releases
Hank 3 telling someone to watch their mouth
Tim McGraw saying someone has a stupid looking hat
Mitchell Tenpenny calling Old Dominion creepy
Old Dominion calling Mitchell Tenpenny creepy
Zac Brown saying any song is embarrassing
Feb 21, 2019
Dec 3, 2018
Oct 1, 2018
Monday Morning Memes: Alan Jackson, Wynonna, Kevin Fowler
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| Yeah, I don't know why moths are a meme right now either. |
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(Some people actually believe this.) |
Sep 28, 2018
Jun 8, 2018
Jan 22, 2018
Jul 24, 2017
Put Down the Beer and Turn Up Your Ears: Roger Waters is a Political Act
by Robert Dean
[Disclaimer: we’re going political. If you get in a huff over opinion, keep on driving, Internet friend. - Robert ]
If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, there have been reports of people getting mad at Roger Waters for his political opinions. Seriously. Roger Waters. Recently, Roger Waters swung his Is This The Life We Really Want? tour through southern states and a sizable chunk of attendees got mad at his portrayal of The Trumpmeister.
This begs the question, “Have you ever heard Roger Waters open his mouth?” The guy’s entire catalog is based on politics, around government being shadowy and sketchy. The entire Animals record builds on Animal Farm-like tactics, specifically the song Pigs. But, it’s fascinating to me that a bunch of folks who’ve had forty plus years to pay attention to the persona of Pink Floyd, or even just the content of the lyrics chose to swig on Budweisers and smoke joints, instead actually turning up their favorite classic rock station and pay attention.
By assuming Roger Waters wouldn’t have anything to say about Trump is pure stupidity on the part of the uninformed attendee. The guy’s new album is about Trump and the current state of the world. The Wall album is about 1984 concepts and what it creates as a cultural milestone. And people walked out and booed when someone who’s as on the nose as Roger Waters lays out his opinions.This is the moment when you should realize popular culture has left you behind. If there’s anything as irksome to me as a creative person as the concept that musicians or artists or actors should “just shut up and do their jobs” I haven’t found it yet. The entire crux of the creative process depends on someone’s world inspiring them -good or bad to produce something for people to consume.
Cultural editorializing is what we do. It’s what Billie Holiday did when she sang Strange Fruit or Stanley Kubrick saw when filming Full Metal Jacket. You can’t be shocked at how someone portrays the world; it’s just your choice of consuming it or not. If you’re pro-Trump, then enjoy whatever artists have aligned their message to support his. If you’re anti-Cheeto, then you’ve got plenty of music to listen to. The reality of the situation is that you can’t tell someone just to shut up and “do their job” when their job is to talk about the world they’re apart of.
Art has always been subjective, and because of its nature, it’s consumed by shared idealism or just general enjoyment. Art bleeds into everyday life regularly, almost seamlessly because we value it so deeply. We praise our heroes for taking a stand, or just reward popular culture with celebrity. (See: the Kardashians, electing a reality show mogul to President, Justin Beiber having a career.)
But, still, comment sections are filled with vitriol spewing keyboard warriors exclaiming that artists need to keep their mouth shut. And sign about what exactly? Does every song need to be a caricature of "Click Click Boom" for it to hold water?
Woody Guthrie taught us to never bow down to our masters, and Joe Strummer taught us to throw a verbal Molotov cocktail. Rage Against The Machine built armies of free thinkers, while Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, and Big Momma Thornton taught us that a woman moves to her current.
Pay attention to the actual messages instead of assuming your agenda is the right one. Just because you vote one way or feel like something goes against moral fiber, it was your choice to stay blind in spite of the evidence.
Roger Waters isn’t the new guy. You just need to pay attention.
Mar 10, 2017
Feb 3, 2017
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