#1,001 : Music & Politics

slackbastard top ten in no particular order and chosen at seeming random from among the many that would otherwise qualify for inclusion in such a list

1) Pennywise — “Fuck Authority” (2001). Pop punk. Southern California. Epitaph. Bring on the Bro Hymn Choir dude. “A new album, Reason To Believe, will be released on March 25, 2008 free through Myspace, and in stores through Epitaph.”

2) Nicolette — “No Government” (1995). Yeah man. Great song, low-quality video. No government is a way of life / No government means to trust your friends / I know who I am, and you know who you are / If everybody knew what they wanted / There’d be nothing, nothing left / People would do what they wanted / And there’d be no government / There’d be no government / There’d be no government / People would do what they wanted / And there’d be no government…

3) Boltthrower — “Cenotaph” (1991). See, this is what happens when you have governments: you have wars. And when you have wars, you have cenotaphs. And when you have cenotaphs, you have bands like Boltthrower, who writes songs called “Cenotaph”. Oh… wait…

4) Boris Vian — “Le Deserteur” (1954). Ooh la la! So Frenchy! So chic! Mr. President / I’m writing you a letter / that perhaps you will read / If you have the time. // I’ve just received / my call-up papers / to leave for the front / Before Wednesday night. // Mr. President / I do not want to go / I am not on this earth / to kill wretched people. // It’s not to make you mad / I must tell you / my decision is made / I am going to desert…

5) Los Fastidios — “We Wanna Be” (2007). I wanna be watching bands like this in Australia… *sigh*

6) I’d like to have included The Isley Brothers — “Fight The Power” (and there’s another cover version of this on YouTube) but “Embedding disabled by request” (and while those crazy Japanese cats are pretty damn funky anyways) I decided to go with Doberman — “Bella Ciao”. Then I changed my mind. And thought I’d include Chumawamba‘s version instead. Then I realised the video was shit… *sigh* So instead of a song, here’s the first part of a documentary: Well Done, Now Sod Off.

7) Gil Scott-Heron — “Message to the Messengers” (1994). I saw Gil play live @ The Lounge in 1995. I had to borrow a mate’s shoes to get through the door. Gil was brilliant. “…But if you’re goin’ be teachin’ folks things, make sure you know what you’re sayin’ / Older folks in our neighborhood got plenty of know-how / Remember if it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t be out here now / And I ain’t comin’ at you with no disrespect / All I’m sayin’ is that you damn well got to be correct…”

EIGHT) Phil Ochs — “Love Me I’m A Liberal” (1966). Liberal as in liberal, not Tory. Gotta love ’em.

9) Leadbelly — “Bourgeois Blues” (1938). Every town is a bourgeois town. Except for Barcelona in July 1936 maybe.

10) Hüsker Dü — “Don’t Want to Know if You are Lonely” (1986). 80s music. Flannel. Bob played Melbourne solo in ’91. He was really, really good.