It is one of the sadnesses in my appreciation of music that I find it harder to separate some of my favorite artists from their politics. (I really like PIL - John lydon’s later stuff and studio work culminating in That What is Not.)
Some artists just made it impossible: I was a HUGE CSNY fan, but after 9/11 they just went off the deep end with way-left screeds at their concerts. It was disgusting, and just made going to those (extremely expensive) concerts unbearable.
NOFX is an example of an absolutely brilliant punk band musically whose politics just mar them unbearably. If you are unfamiliar with NOFX and enjoy this kind of music listen to a track like Linoleum:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=NOFX+linoleum
What a tragedy they can’t keep their lyrics off politics! But that’s what they’re about, sadly (for me and for the world.)
On the other hand there is an aspect of Lydon’s stuff that appealed to me as somewhat of an anarchocapitalist... In the end there is a ‘duality’ here. To some degree Lydon and the punk scene created Thatcher and the “modern” conservative legacy, and vice-versa. I am not an expert on the subject but I always see the “extreme bounce” or “turning and turning in the widening gyre” aspect of things, where things have to Carter a bit before they Reagan. Lydon was/is a genuine original in my book, and I think, looking at his later lyrics, you can see that to some degree they’re just sort of ‘here and there’ artsy freedom ‘screw you censorship’ stuff, not really serious.
His interviews and statements probably indicate otherwise, I don’t really know. But I like to think, whether or not I am totally right, that the music itself is basically just music, his voice his (awesome in the 80s and 90s) voice.
I don’t think I want to let it color me too much - I have lost too much already!
The Sex Pistols produced one of the greatest anti-abortion songs ever. “Bodies”, from the famous Never Mind the Bollocks album.
She was a no one who killed her baby
She sent her letters from the country
She was an animal
She was a bloody disgrace
Body! I’m not an animal
Body! I’m not an animal
Dragged on a table in factory
Illegitimate place to be
In a packet in a lavatory
Die little baby screaming
Body screaming ****ing bloody mess
Not an animal
It’s an abortion
Body! I’m not animal
Mummy! I’m not an abortion
[Spoken]
Throbbing squirm,
gurgling bloody mess
I’m not a discharge
I’m not a loss in protein
I’m not a throbbing squirm
**** this and **** that
**** it all and **** a ****ing brat
She don’t wanna baby that looks like that
I don’t wanna baby that looks like that
Body, I’m not an animal
Body, an abortion
Body! I’m not an animal
Body! I’m not an animal
An animal
I’m not an animal.....
I’m not an abortion.....
Mummy! UGH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfChDxrz4Ow
Even at 45, I love punk rock music. I just went to see Bad Religion a few weeks ago. NOFX is one of my favorites. I find it ironic these bands that laud everything socialistic have made a ton of money from capitalism.