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August 10, 2004
To the fan who's mad R.E.M. joined the Vote for Change tour.
Boston Globe is running a story about fans being upset about musicians getting political. The article talks specifically about the Vote for Change tour, and features a photo of an R.E.M. fan who's not happy about R.E.M. getting involved in the tour.
I don't know all the artists on the tour, and certainly don't know details about their personal views, but have been following R.E.M. since Murmur was released back in 1983. I don't get too deep into musicians personal lives, but after 20 years of listening I picked up a thing or two, and certainly am aware of R.E.M's general ideas on political issues.
What I'm suggesting to this R.E.M. fan is it shouldn't be a suprise that they are involved in the swing state tour, given the lyrics in their songs and previous political involvement. A good chunk of their music is about historical, political, social, economical and environmental issues, and in general has a liberal slant. Someone has taken the time to put together a listing of all R.E.M. tunes with possible lyrical meanings.
Off the top of my head I can think of some more specific examples of R.E.M.'s involvement in polical issues:
- 1988 - Green is released on election day, ads run (I saw it in Rolling Stone) encouraging people to buy the album and vote for Dukakis
- 1988 - Stipe runs ads in college newspapers which say "Don't Get Bushwhacked. Get out and vote. Vote Dukakis."
- 1992 - Automatic for the People is released 2 months before election day
- Drive, from AftP, includes line "Smack, crack, bushwhacked," which some argued was pointed at then president George Bush Sr.
Perhaps it is possible to listen to R.E.M. tunes and not hear the often subtle messages, but it seems clear to me they've been on the liberal side since R.E.M. time began.
Posted by mike at August 10, 2004 10:46 AM
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Comments
Mike,
I agree. How could you be an R.E.M fan and not know? They have been wearing their politics on their sleeve for quite some time now. Good for them I guess. I am always amazed why some people get so upset about artists they like voicing their political views. Just chill I say.
BTW, this is actually Brian (you know, Mark's brother). Yours and Pete's blogs inspired me to start a Typepad site a couple of days ago. See it at http://tonic.blogs.com/
Later man!
Posted by: Brian Johnson at August 11, 2004 10:45 AM
In the 1980's Stipe was a big supporter of liberation theology and opposed U.S. interference in Central American politics. In fact, he wrote three successive songs about that ("Green Grow The Rushes", "The Flowers Of Guatemala", "Welcome To The Occupation"), each more upfront about the issue than the last. That this "hardcore fan" thought their political involvement was something new probably means he's either an idiot, or listens mostly to their non-threatening music from the 1990's.
Posted by: Christopher Culver at August 13, 2004 3:19 PM