Singing for Your Party

After reading the Protest Issue article in Under the Radar magazine, I have a new found respect for bands. I mean, it must be really hard to intergrate politics into your music. Think about it: music is the place where you don't have to think about the real world-only the world that exists in your own mind. These guys have done something pretty powerful and kind of brave in a sense. They've taken a deep breath and started getting fired up about reality that isn't in their own heads. Modest Mouse, OK Go, My Brightest Diamond-you guys rock!
But think how difficult it is...especially for these bands. OK Go, Modest Mouse, R.E.M.-these are all bands favored by a younger generation, who, save for the select few, do not want to hear about why Obama would make a good president in the middle of a rock concert. There is definetly a fine line between speaking your mind subtly and preaching. Justin Townes Earle, whose dad is super active in politics musically, says some people will tell him, "We love your dad's stuff, but we wish he'd just shut the f*** up."
Ouch.
But they're right. No one really wants to go to a rock concert dressed up in fan attire and hear them suddenly start going on and on about why you need to vote. Makes you feel like your back in school....or sitting with your parents or something. Don't we go to concerts to relax and let go? Sure, but these places, full of possible voters who could change the country, are great places to bring elections up....if only for a short amount of time, and subtly. So, piece of advice to those wanting to do such things: if you write your oppinion in a song, make it real-sounding. If you say something, say it quick and to the point. And....well, you get the picture.