I remember from the lecture when the Sex Pistols played their version of ‘God Save the Queen’, and how much of a controversy this then created. So much so that, even though they were number one at the charts, the number one slot was left empty so that they couldn’t gain media exposure. Now enter their present day descendents, the Punk Rock/Pop Punk group ‘Green Day’. We have a similar song, in regards to the denouncement of the national government, called ‘American Idiot’, which was widely acclaimed and became increasingly popular, with no media backlash. I’m trust intrigued as to how we can now get away with the denouncement of the governmental systems these days, when it was such a terrible occurrence before. Have we as a society really become used to this idea that we don’t care that we criticize our power-figures at all? Or do we even celebrate it? I’m interested in what other people thing about this.
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I think that it is important to remember that the decade in which 'God Save the Queen' eventuated majority of musical styling were largely conservative. The 1970s saw the rise of manufactured pop songs (disco) and safe progressive rock. Only years earlier had controversial artists (i.e. The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, etc.) sung songs with themes of freedom, equality, rebellion, drugs and sex which the 'flower children' counterculture was built on. With the beginning of the 1970s this culture had witnessed the joys and disillusion that political and social liberation could bring and much of this counterculture dispersed back into everyday society. The music of the mid to late 1970s reflected this. 'God Save the Queen' was a song that challenged political establishment and to many this could give rise to another anti-governmental counter-culture. The lyrics on the song do not personally mentioning Queen Elizabeth II, however the music video provides a montage of clips of her and the sex pistols. The songs intention was that the working class of England were not cared upon by the monarch and this is beautifully shown towards the end of the clip where a person is receiving CPR by two medics on a field and the Queen walks past as if nothing is happening. This song was one of the first overtly political and directional songs to make it on the top 10 in England. This does demonstrate that although the song was highly censored to the point that on the charts the number it came in at was left blank, that their was indeed a market for the new genre of music that was to be called 'Punk Rock'.
Today's popular culture has advanced greatly in areas of social acceptance. We hope to live in a society where one can speak their mind and not be persecuted for it. This maybe the ideal model of ones individual freedom and rights, yet society today is a lot more accepting of a variety of beliefs and practices that 30 years prior would have literally wiped off the charts. Reading Darren's question "Have we as a society really become used to this idea that we don’t care that we criticize our power-figures at all?" I feel that it could be a possibility that there is such a larger proportion of politically charged music today than in the 1970s that many do not even notice it. People could like an artist for their look or sound and have no real interest in the lyrics and if their lyrics are politically charged, social conditioning could make the words not have an emotional impact.
The artist 'Peaches' is a sexually overt performer who's last album "Impeach My Bush" is most definitely political. With lyrics such as "Id rather f**k who I want then kill who I am told to/lets
face it we all want toosh/if im wrong impeach my bush" 'Peaches' is quite controversially implying heavily sexual connotations towards the American president. Her songs however are still played to air on stations such as ALT TV, C4, bfm, George fm and are heard frequently in nightclubs.
In comparison to 'Peaches' however are the country singers 'The Dixie Chicks'. With lyrical content that has none of the explicit wordings like that of 'Peaches', they are clean-cut popular country group from America. In 2003 however, the group member Natalie Maines openly spoke out against President Bush’s political regime in regards to the War in Iraq. This resulted in a massive backlash from a large percentage of their fans that even went to the extent of organising mass destruction demonstrations of the bands CDs in public. Their music was banded from being played on many radio stations within the USA also.
The different treatment of these musicians is indeed odd. How it is that 'Peaches' sexually derogatory attack on President Bush is not back lashed against to the extent of ‘The Dixie Chicks'? It could just be that within music people are indeed conditioned to or more accepting of controversial stances rather than comments that are made without the distraction of a tune.
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