Rock N' Roll Politics
Topic: Politics.
(Article Courtesy of Drew - written by another)As the election approaches, some of rock & roll's biggest artists are
embarking on a tour with an unprecedented message: Vote for change.
While
musicians have played benefits for candidates in the past, nothing on
this
scale has ever been attempted: a nine-day tour of Ohio, Florida and
seven
other swing states, culminating on October 11th in a historic concert
in
Washington, D.C. Spearheaded by Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews Band,
Dixie
Chicks and R.E.M., the tour is expected to raise $10 million to
mobilize
voters. On the eve of this ambitious undertaking, ROLLING STONE asked
twenty-six artists to discuss why they're voting - and why this
election is
so important.
Dave Matthews
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND
I'm an immigrant and America has been great to me. This country
represents a
dream of what people of widely varying backgrounds can create together.
This
election is not only about what this country is now. It's also about
what it
can be. I'm an American, and it's my responsibility to say what I
think.
With what I see in the world today, I cannot justify not standing up
and
saying, "I feel with every bone in my body that this country is going
in the
wrong direction."
We've got to get somebody new in the White House. Being from South
Africa, I
know how much the rest of the world fears the United States right now.
It's
like if the world is a room, and everybody is in there, and suddenly
somebody walks in who is seething and has headphones on, and the music
is
playing really loud, and he's armed. That's the way the world sees us.
Everyone is on tiptoes, afraid of what this country might do. It's
bound to
scare everybody.
Natalie Maines
DIXIE CHICKS
Do I fault Bush for skipping out during Vietnam and using his wealth to
get
him out of the war? Not at all. I would do the same thing to protect my
child. Is it cowardice? Probably, but I'm a big coward myself. What
sickens
me is how Bush is trying to base his entire election on September 11th,
as
if he owns that day. I hope people don't fall for that. Bush took us
into
war for his own personal vendetta and for the personal gain of his
cronies
in the oil business. Yes, there was an evil man in power in Iraq, but
now
we're killing innocent people. If the media showed us the deaths of
women
and children being hit by our bombs, people would be outraged. I want
the
killing to stop. I want our soldiers to come home.
Fat Mike
NOFX
Once you know the facts, there's no question whether you should vote
for
Bush or Kerry. One of them represents the most elite people in America;
the
other is funded by labor unions and environmental groups. One wants
prayer
in school; the other doesn't. One thinks guns don't need safety
devices; the
other does. The stakes are too high - I'll take my chances with the guy
that's backed by the Sierra Club rather than Halliburton.
People tell me, "You are a drunk and you play in a punk band. Why the
fuck
should we listen to you?" Musicians travel the world, and we see the
hatred
against America. We put out Rock Against Bush to get information out,
because the media aren't doing their job. The response has been
incredible.
We've found that kids mostly care about the economy. I talked to this
one
kid in North Carolina who works at Kentucky Fried Chicken. He heard
Michael
Moore mentioned in one of our songs, so he went out and saw Fahrenheit
9/11
and got the entire work crew at KFC to register to vote. That is the
grass
roots - you touch a few people, and then they touch a few people. It
keeps
me going.
It pisses me off when people call us unpatriotic. True patriotism is
loving
your country enough to try to make it better. We are fucking traveling
the
country to spread the word. That is what patriotism is.
Ryan Key
YELLOWCARD
I voted for Bush in 2000. I was fresh out of high school. That's the
way my
parents were voting, so I just voted that way. If I could take it back,
I
would. Our president has pulled a blanket of fear over the country. He
told
us he had reasons to go to war, but where are the good-old weapons of
mass
destruction?
I've met so many people whose loved ones have died in Iraq. A woman
named
Cindy, whose husband was shot down in his F-18, came backstage at one
of our
concerts and collapsed in tears - she was hysterical with grief. She
gave me
her husband's picture. We talked about the election and how upset we
were
that her husband had to be where he was in the first place. That
finalized
it for me. If people who look to the commander in chief for support and
wisdom don't trust him, it's time for a new one. That's all there is to
it.
Chuck D
PUBLIC ENEMY
Today is the first day of school for my kids. I got one in eleventh
grade
and another in fifth grade. The older one looks upon this election
almost
like it's pop culture. One day she asked me about Fahrenheit 9/11, and
she
was talking about it like it was the latest Usher concert. You know,
it's
gonna be her world. And when a bunch of fifty- and sixty-year-olds fuck
it
up for them, that's not a cool thing. Sending these twenty- and
thirty-year-olds overseas to fight and die, what the hell is that all
about?
The real axis of evil is Bush and Cheney. They have detached America
from
the rest of the planet by invading Iraq. Whenever people start saying
God
anointed them to do something, it's a turnoff, because I don't think
anyone
has God's beeper number.
Boyd Tinsley
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND
I've gone to Walter Reed Hospital and spent some time with kids who
have
lost their arms and legs fighting in Iraq. They're eighteen, nineteen,
twenty years old, and they're the kind of kids who go to Dave Matthews
Band
concerts. They're brave and strong and willing to fight. But maybe
they're
fighting a war they didn't have to fight. We respect our Republican
fans.
But as a band, we all feel that the country is not going in the right
direction.
Adam Levine
MAROON 5
I don't trust George Bush. I think he's a pawn. The people who are
running
this country are extremely intelligent; I think George Bush is just as
much
in the dark as I am, and it scares the shit out of me. He's about as
far
from a regular guy as possible. When your father is head of the CIA,
then
president of this country, and you breezed your way through college and
dodged the draft, that doesn't make you a regular guy. Bush comes from
privilege, and he has led an extraordinarily easy life.
I don't know when Republicans decided that being stubborn was a sign of
integrity. Part of being a good president is being able to change
directions
when necessary, but Bush is inflexible. I'm worried about how dire
things
are in this country, but I have faith that Americans will get together
and
realize that we can live together securely if John Kerry is elected. I
have
been apathetic as a voter. But now I realize that the most important
thing
eighteen-year-olds can do is vote.
Adam Horovitz
BEASTIE BOYS
I don't understand the George Bush argument. If you wanna argue
Republican
or Democrat, that's one thing, but Bush - I haven't seen the argument
as to
why this guy should get four more years. I don't see why he should be
running a baseball team, let alone be president. At one of the
Democratic
debates, Al Sharpton said, "I can guarantee that any one of us on the
stage
right now in his sleep would make a better president than George Bush."
What's at stake in this election? War. People's freedoms around the
world
and here at home. Women's right to choose, prayer in school, my
grandmother
getting medicine - the list could keep on going. This election really
does
seem crucial. If Bush gets re-elected, he will feel like the
possibilities
are limitless, that he can really do whatever he wants.
Jeff Tweedy
WILCO
When people ask why this election is so close, I can't explain it. It's
like
trying to figure out how Billy Ray Cyrus sold 10 million records. The
Republicans have done an extremely good job of appropriating populist
themes. They somehow make it seem as though they're a party of the
people,
even though their policies hurt some of their most ardent supporters.
Bush's hypocrisy is simply staggering. He argues that stem-cell
research is
not justified because of the sanctity of unborn life - yet he insists
that
dropping bombs on innocent people will lead to a better world. I'm also
worried that if he is re-elected, he may have the chance to appoint
more
conservative judges to the Supreme Court. He could undo three
generations of
progress in this country toward civil equality and women's rights.
I will vote for John Kerry, and I'll do it with a good conscience. I
believe
that he's our only shot at steering this ship back to some calmer
waters. I
agree that Kerry has flip-flopped on some ideas, but I take that as a
sign
of intelligence. I trust someone more if he re-examines his positions
and
has the ability to be introspective. There's no end to the horrific
things
you can do when you believe you're always right.
Alicia Keys
It's important for all of us to be aware of what's going on. I know it
hurts
to pay attention. Sometimes you're like, "I don't want to think about
this
crap." For young people, especially, it seems like politicians aren't
speaking about our lives. But Kerry is passionate, and he's trying to
get
young people to pay attention, so that's pretty cool. He understands
that we
need to do more to improve education. So many dollars have been taken
out of
the schools under Bush, and they just get worse and worse.
To me, Bush comes off like a person reading a script. I thought his
response
to September 11th was very insincere. The entire time, he seemed
disconnected, like he didn't experience the same thing the rest of us
experienced. He rushed into the war in Iraq abruptly, like a boy
playing
with a truck: "This is my truck! You stepped on it, so I'm throwing
your
truck out the window!" It wasn't handled the way a real adult would
handle a
situation.
John Mellencamp
The polarization caused by this election is not good for anyone. I
played
"Pink Houses" at an Indianapolis Colts game recently, and people booed.
This
is in Indiana! I've never been booed there in my life. Kerry-Edwards
offers
us a fresh start. It is a ticket of hope.
During the Vietnam War, you couldn't turn on the TV without seeing an
image
that made you sick. Guys with legs blown off, guys just lying there
dead. It
made our nation say, "Fuck this! Even if we win, we lose." If the media
showed that stuff now, people would have a whole different take on
Iraq.
I'm afraid they're going to reinstitute the draft. I have daughters who
are
nineteen, twenty-two and thirty. If Bush gets re-elected, those
Mellencamps
are all going to be in the Army. So might you.
Melissa Etheridge
For women, our road will always be more difficult - yet all the Bush
administration does is put huge potholes in our way. John Kerry has
consistently been on the side of equal opportunity, and he supports a
woman's right to choose. He is a smart man. He knows that the subject
of
same-sex marriage will be resolved within the next decade in the
courts, and
all he has to do is stay out of the way. He was one of only nineteen
senators who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act - he knew it
wasn't
right, and he knew what the future holds. I just want a president who
will
not stand in the way of change, and John Kerry will not.
Tom DeLonge
BLINK-182
My brother is a member of the Special Forces stationed in the Middle
East,
so I have a direct connection to the war in Iraq. When Blink-182 played
there six months into the conflict, the troops were not happy about
their
friends getting shot at and dying. They want to believe that what
they're
doing is worth their lives. But every reason Bush gave for invading has
been
found to be wrong.
Before he was elected president, he bankrupted three companies, was an
alcoholic for a while and had six years of government experience. His
decision-making process and communication skills are so bad that
there's
nothing he can do without pissing off the world. Kerry would restore
respect
for America. He understands that there are great cultures and great
thinkers
across the globe. He won the military's second-highest honor in
Vietnam, and
he spent twenty years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The
guy has
so much experience it's unreal. He deserves a shot.
Bush is like someone's old dad who just doesn't get it, a person who's
not
able to grow or change. Among musicians, no one is backing Bush. Except
for
Ted Nugent, the guy who wears loincloths.
Serj Tankian
SYSTEM OF A DOWN
Bush and Cheney and their whole team have been a disaster for the U.S.
and
the rest of the world. The U.N. has been neutralized as a peaceful
solution
to conflict. The war in Iraq has become a brutal occupation; our
soldiers
die not knowing why they were sent there in the first place. We went
from a
surplus economy to a high deficit. Unemployment is up, the dollar is
down,
and the environment is weeping. We need someone with a high degree of
both
intelligence and compassion in the White House, someone deserving of
the
good will of the American people. Bush and Co. do not deserve us as
their
public.
Steve Earle
We are engaged in a war with fundamentalist Islam that we can't win.
But we
have a president who has become a fundamentalist himself, and he thinks
he
can win it. The administration is fond of saying that the terrorists
hate us
because we're free. That's not true - they hate us because we support
the
House of Saud and Israel. Until we're willing to talk about those two
things, we're going to be in big trouble.
You can't cut taxes and conquer the world at the same time. Nobody's
ever
tried to do that, and the reason is because it's stupid. What part of
world
history did Bush miss? The way you build an empire is you tax the fuck
out
of your citizens and draft the fuck outta them, 'cause you have to have
an
army and you have to feed them. The thing that scares me more than
anything
else is that if Bush is re-elected, he's gonna have to institute a
draft
next year. They're gonna need some fresh bodies out there, and they
can't do
that without a draft. I've got a son who's twenty-two and a son who's
seventeen, so I've got a dog in this fight. That's why I support John
Kerry.
Mike D
BEASTIE BOYS
I have no sense of Bush as a man. It's impossible to distinguish his
personal interests from the interests of those closest to him. What is
his
own agenda, vs. the agenda of guys like Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz?
I
don't think I've ever heard him speak on an issue where it seemed to be
coming directly from himself.
John Kerry offers the promise of returning to the democratic system I
was
brought up believing in. He wants to provide the opportunity and
education
and health care we deserve. He wants to safeguard the welfare of all
citizens, especially the poor - not just those who have the most. He
wants
to get us back to being a responsible and respected world citizen, as
opposed to a careless, misdirected, hated bully. It's really one of
history's great lost opportunities that we squandered all the good will
we
enjoyed from the rest of the world after September 11th.
Mickey Hart
THE DEAD
The front page is filled with Iraq, terrorism, the deficit, all these
giant
threats. It's like we've got a bad CEO. Nothing personal, Mr. Bush, but
I
don't think you're running this country well. I think you're running it
into
the ground, and it's my personal opinion that we need a regime change.
You're fired. That's all. Nothing personal, man. Maybe we'll go out and
have
a glass of wine sometime and talk about it after the election. He might
be a
charming guy. But, boy, is he a fucked CEO.
Will.i.am
BLACK EYED PEAS
This election is not about the war in Iraq - it's about the war we're
neglecting in our own country. We should be more concerned about people
who
are on drugs, who can't get a meal, who aren't being educated. Our
education
system is fucked up. Teachers are getting paid nickels, and I'm getting
lots
of money to rhyme cat with bat. This election should be about how we
are
doing as a whole. From that standpoint, I think Bush has been a
horrible
president. There are people all over the world who depend on us, but
they
think we don't care about them - we'd rather watch American Idol. Bush
doesn't understand that there is so much we can learn from the rest of
the
world. We're not in the world by ourselves, but we act like we are.
Moby
It's important to get swing voters to support Kerry. But it's also
important
to communicate with conservative Republicans and say, "Listen, by
traditional conservative criteria, George Bush is a bad president. His
foreign policy is in shambles, his economic policy is in shambles." You
can
be conservative and still not like George Bush. People like him because
they
think he seems like a strong guy who would be good to have a BBQ with.
But
shouldn't you hold the president to higher standards than who would you
like
to have a BBQ with?
Jadakiss
It's about goddamn time people started waking up. I got two kids, and I
don't want no war going on while I'm raising them. Everything that is
happening right now is gonna be their social-studies lesson. We need to
get
things on the right track for them. We got to get some more jobs for
people,
because that's gonna be the main problem for years to come. A lot of
felons
can't get jobs, and that creates more crime.
There's definitely a lot of hatred for Bush right now. He lost my trust
a
long time ago, when I woke up in my bed and found out the election had
been
rigged. I think Kerry's aiight. Everyone always ignores the hood, but I
think he's a little bit more for the people than Bush. I'm for whatever
is
gonna make a little bit of a change. It gotta start from a pebble to
get to
a boulder.
Art Alexakis
EVERCLEAR
I was an elected delegate from Oregon to the Democratic National
Convention.
The more I've gotten to know Kerry, the more I think he's the man for
the
job. I'm inspired by his humanity and his strength to be able to say
unpopular things. He came back from Vietnam and said, "We're making a
mistake there." This was a decorated guy, and these horrible Swift-boat
people are trying to make him into a bad guy by picking four words out
of a
sentence and repeating them over and over. It's sad. The Republicans
refuse
to talk about issues - they just try and make people who are Christians
believe that Bush is the only choice. As a Christian, I am offended and
ashamed by that - but then again, I am offended and ashamed by most
people
who call themselves Christian.
Ben Gibbard
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
I voted for Nader in the last two elections, but I'm going to vote for
Kerry
this time. If Bush had won an election based on 100 percent of the
eligible
people voting, I'd be pissed, but I couldn't complain because I'd at
least
know I'm in the minority. But only forty-five percent of the eligible
population voted last time, and less than half of them voted for Bush.
He is like the distant friend who somehow ends up going to the party
with
you, and you worry he's going to get drunk and say the wrong thing and
just
start talking craziness. He opens his mouth and I can't trust what's
gonna
come out of it. By making a fool out of himself, he makes a fool out of
all
of us.
Bob Weir
THE DEAD
Ralph Nader is the most arrogant and narcissistic guy I've ever met. I
had a
meeting with him in the early Nineties. I was jazzed going into the
meeting,
and I was disgusted leaving. I don't think I've ever met a bigger
asshole.
If he hadn't run in the last election, we wouldn't be in Iraq and
thousands
of people wouldn't have died needlessly. And still he's well pleased to
go
in and be the spoiler again!
Harry Truman said that the one crime more heinous than treason is war
profiteering, and yet we have the company that our vice president is
still
on retainer to - which is illegal - making a huge fortune. Every time
the
terrorists blow up another pipeline over there, Halliburton makes
millions
of dollars pasting it back together. They don't even have to be pumping
oil
to be making money. This is who owns our government now.
Though I've never really endorsed a political candidate before, I'm
going to
have to this time. I liked the look in Kerry's eye when I met him. He
looks
like an aware human being and a guy with a sense of humor. So we're
just
going to have to hope and pray that the debates go well.
Jackson Browne
The people who are in charge now are old hands who were involved in the
governments of Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr. They're radicals and
zealots
whose attitude is "Bring it on." Some of them want a presence in the
Middle
East for oil, and some just want a front-row seat for the apocalypse.
Here at home, it's hard to imagine the number of environmental gains
that
have already been rolled back by the Bush administration. It's like a
football game: They have given the ball to corporate interests and sent
them
down the field while they block for them. It's not conservatism - it's
just
the opposite. They are using up our natural resources and selling them
to
the highest bidder. This administration has no respect for the rule of
law
itself. Whenever anyone tries to protect the environment, they just get
their gnarliest and meanest lawyers to out-ugly everyone.
Eddie Vedder
PEARL JAM
I supported ralph nader in 2000, but it's a time of crisis. We have to
get a
new administration in. All of us who supported Ralph last time should
get
down on our knees and say, "Can you bow out on October 3rd? We'll get
back
to the ideals you're fighting for on November 3rd."
A year ago it seemed impossible to criticize Bush, because of September
11th. The Dixie Chicks and Michael Moore were attacked for speaking
out. Now
you've got books full of facts that show how Bush has failed. Those
people
dissenting a year ago were right.
We have to stop treating the rest of the world like our subjects. What
is
the only institution more powerful than the United States government -
one
that can move things in a different direction? It's the American
people.
It's the voters. That's what I feel most strongly about: encouraging
people
who don't normally vote to understand their responsibility.
Mike Mills
R.E.M.
The vote for change tour is a wake-up call. We may alienate some fans
over
this. I don't like that - I prefer to have music stand apart from
political
feelings. But this is so important, it's worth it. If I piss a few
people
off, good. Because, frankly, I'm scared. Unlike a lot of political
issues,
this is literally life or death. Kerry understands how the world works,
in a
way that Bush does not. When Bush ran the first time, I realized
something:
I want my president to be smarter than I am. I don't ask much, but I
want
him to be smarter than me.
Posted by patd2000
at 10:10 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 23 September 2004 10:30 PM EDT
