Sunday, January 25, 2009
Obama: Great for the country, bad for punk music?
With the beginning of the new year comes the beginning of a new era. With the inauguration of President Obama less than a week old, the entire country is filled with high hopes of what's to come. Most believe he will save us from the hole that Bush dug us into. The country has gone downhill in the past eight years, there's no denying that, but there was one upside to the error that was Bush. Punk music. That's right, Bush gave punk bands something to sing about and fans something to be angry about. Over the past eight years punk has gotten progressively more political. Entire albums, tours, speeches between songs, etc. have been dedicated to the wrongdoings of Bush. So that brings me to ask this: if Obama lives up to his expectations, what will happen to punk music? Sure, there was other subject matter before Bush took office, but do we go right back to that? I mean, the government still isn't perfect, world affairs are still in the shitter, but do we start writing about world issues now? Are punk fans the new politicians? Educated on world issues through music? You have to admit, a big reason people ages 18-24 became even slightly political recently is because of the music they listen to, the band members they look up to. Really, where would we be without Fat Mike? (haha...) So think about it. Some of your favorite bands may have dedicated their time, effort, lyrics, to changing the ways of Bush. So now that we have change, what do we do? The change won't effect every band. But for the ones it does, will it be good or bad?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree that Bush gave the punk scene something to get angry about and with a new era we may lose some of that. On the other hand though, when isn't the punk scene angry? We are still in a war and we are still overly patriotic, looked down upon, ignorant Americans. So in my opinion American punk bands will never run out of things to be angry about. There was punk before Bush there will be punk after Bush.
ReplyDeleteI agree, wholeheartedly, that punk listeners are being educated about politics through music. This may decline a bit with Bush out of office as you said. I mean really, who wants to listen to a punk band yelling about how Obama is doing a brilliant job? No one. But the scene will live on, maybe just a little less politically informed. At least about the president, here on the east-coast we've got crooked senators to spare.
Sorry I'm so late on this but I've only just read it and think its brilliant.
Please keep writing. I will diligently read it.