Music's great vaccine divide: the rockers who refuse to get the jab

Telegraph via MSN ^ | August 4, 2021 | James Hall

[DoodleBob]

The end, we are told, is in sight. Yet the issue of Covid-19 vaccines continues to tear the music world apart...there’s a growing schism emerging between musicians, fans and promoters who believe universal vaccinations are the best way to combat the deadly pandemic and those who don’t. And there’s no middle ground....

...

So why are vaccines so un-rock ’n’ roll to so many people? Largely, because people don’t like being told what to do. Artists are libertarians. They support personal rights and freedoms. Fans, too. As Parada suggests, there’s an inherent distrust of The Man and big corporations. Add to this the occasional dollop of ‘Big Pharma’ conspiracy theory and it’s easy to see why the anti-vax movement is popular in the music eco-system.

...

Then we have The Refusers. This Seattle group (has a) song called My Body My Choice, the chorus of which urges listeners to “reject injection”. Another, older track is called Vaccine Gestapo. The Refusers say that they perform songs of “musical defiance” and that they “blast through the establishment’s twisted goals”.

...Last weekend’s Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago was attended by 100,000 people a day and a vaccination passport was required to get in. An intern at the Chicago Tribune newspaper called Vashon Jordan Jr. found a thriving fake vaccination card market at the festival. Forged cards could be bought outside the site for $50 along with a single-day wristband. “I have confirmed that it does work,” Jordan wrote on Twitter.

[DoodleBob]

I still think the best one was when the John Joseph, frontman for the Cro-Mags and Bloodclots, called Dave Grohl's band "Flu Pfizers."

[Jamestown1630]

'Artists are libertarians.'

You could have fooled me, given how many of them seem to knee-jerk themselves onto every 'Liberal' bandwagon.

[Truthoverpower]

Screw vaccines. The vaccine industry is pure evil 👿

https://phoreveryoung.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/the-worst-cover-up-in-the-history-of-the-world-vaccinations-are-monkey-business/

[Willie Lumpit]

they go for the money... where ever it leads them... kinda like street walkers

[rarestia]

The article mentions a handful of musicians such as Prada, Grohl, Clapton, and Morrison. I’m thinking there’s a list of artists out there, but I get four.

[Steven Tyler]

.....and someone will figure out how to clone a digital vax passport and sell copies at $50 a pop

[cuban leaf]

Well, one could argue that the modern age of rock started in the ‘60s. And our mantra back then was “question authority.”

It has served me well over the decades.

[DoodleBob]

Alas, the mantra nowadays seems to be "worship authority."

The poles have switched. Top musicians previously mocked politicians, fueled college sit-ins, lamented "four dead in Ohio," and preached against "the man."

Nowadays, top musicians play at inaugurations, fuel students protesting conservative speech, cheer government overreach, and are willingly controlled by "the man."

[cuban leaf]

Alas, the mantra nowadays seems to be “worship authority.”

---

On this subject there is a fascinating series of videos on Youtube from the channel, More Music Shows. The series is called “behind the music” and deals with the world that created the songs of a particular time period, its effect on the music and the music’s effect, if any, on it. The early episodes deal more with the events at the time than the music itself. It’s very interesting.

However, I was there and I know they do leave some things out and over-emphasize others, but still, very interesting. The years covered are:

1968
1970
1970 (the year I graduated from HS)
1975
1977
1981
1984
1987
1991
1999

The first episode is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip4o_MIvZXQ

It’s fun to juxtapose those first few episodes with what’s happening today. In one case, there was looting, and 3,000 looters were arrested.

[newfreep]

As an entrepreneur with a business that interfaces with the music industry, 95% are leftwing socialists...at best.

[outofsalt]

Van Morrison and Eric Clapton are catching all sorts of grief in England.
A leftard article that will make you projectile hurl;
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2020/12/21/my-heart-is-broken-eric-clapton-and-van-morrison-release-an-anti-mask-and-anti-lockdown-song/

[DoodleBob]

I'm not in the business but I do go out to many live rock (chiefly classic rock to progressive hard rock to punk) shows, usually at the smaller end (100 max capacity). At that end, I'm finding a decent proportion of normals.

Yes, we are talking chiefly about youngsters AND the arts, so the central tendency won't be Deplorable. That said, maybe it's my choice of genre, wherein lyrics are often subordinate to the tunes, or maybe it's the unsigned/unknown talent base, but this lot isn't pushing Antifa etc or even an anti-Trump message. Maybe I get an occasional leftist barb, but for every two leftist barbs I get one solid normal barb....one band said they wrote a song effectively mocking "climate change" purveyors and the crowd didn't condemn them.

I also don't take my cues from the entertainment-governmental complex on what's good. I frequently search Bandcamp to find new, fresh, interesting music. I don't listen to terrestrial radio anymore and one of my favorite XM channels is Underground Garage, which I pick up new band intel.

I recognize not many people go to those lengths, and to be sure, the arts will frequently slant left so I'm braced. But there are ways of sidestepping that claptrap. All it takes is some effort. And, candidly, with half of this country being shunned by Big Tech, I'm seeing people responding by AVOIDING the "norms" like CNN and FB etc.

The $64,000 question for entertainment is....can the kids in rock monetize this big media dislike and, as it was decades ago, rock music again become the "subversive" (read: anti-hate, anti-leftist, pro-individual) energy it was in the 60s? There is a mint to be made, for those who can execute.

[DoodleBob]

Broken link....here is https://bandcamp.com

[newfreep]

As an aside, I’ve had meetings with execs at Capitol Records (at one time a 5-minute drive from my front door) that allowed my name to be included in the mastering credits.

The leftism is strong on the business side of the industry as well as the talentless “artists” who should get on their knees everyday and thank God for the invention of AutoTune.

[DoodleBob]

Well, yes, if that effective loan against future royalties (not a signing bonus as they think) is being dangled by a rabid Bidet follower, you're bound to get monkey see, monkey do.

But with GarageBand installed on most macs, and with Pro Tools within reach of people with moderate means, the potential to make a living (maybe not wealthy, but without waiting on tables) as an unsigned, DIY musician has never been greater.

The music industry has largely eaten itself...music streaming and sales have wrecked the revenue-generating capabilities of anyone not able to get 2.5MM streams. Merch sales and live shows can pay the bills and a curated following can win the day.

That's, in part, why so many businesses are turning to 360 deals since THEY want to get a cut of the door and shirts etc. Those deals are hemlock for the band.

I truly believe we could be on the cusp of a rebirth of rock, lead by bands and musicians that realize that the "counterculture" of yesterday are the suits of today who demand leftist fidelity. 80MM+ Americans don't like Springsteen, Flu Pfizers, Pop crapola, and Big Media...whoever taps into that market with good music that makes you happy and not hate America has a printing press, and they sure as shinola won't get there via Sony.

[SamAdams76]

Your post is spot on. It's amazing how the Left has flip-flopped from always questioning authority and raging against the "establishment" to being utterly compliant sheep and allowing themselves to be tools of the establishment.

Now they want to put anybody daring to question the establishment into cattle cars and send them off to "camps". Just like Nazi Germany did. They are even willing to turn in their neighbors, friends and family to the oppressive government as traitors in order to score brownie points.

A complete 180.

And it happened in my lifetime.

[Jamestown1630]

We watched a YouTube today - Rick Wakeman on Vivaldi. He posits that Vivaldi was the first real rock star-type phemom.

50 minutes, but very interesting and engaging:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMq9iEP9Zuk