Who Does Bob Geldof Think He Is?

The Toronto Sun ^ | June 24, 2005 | John Derringer

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

 

 

Who does Bob Geldof think he is?

 

John Derringer   Fri, June 24, 2005

 

It's official. Sir Robert Geldof has lost the plot.

In the days running up to the July 2 Live 8 concerts, which as a whole appear to be hurried and ill-conceived, Geldof has dropped any subtlety from his act, and is now appearing as heavy-handed and self-righteous as the tin-pot dictators against whom he's fighting.

His latest salvo was fired against our prime minister. In a taped message played at Tuesday's media conference to promote the Barrie portion of the show, Geldof stated "There's no use in your prime minister coming to Scotland unless he's prepared to do this deal. If he's not prepared, stay at home, just stay at home, don't come."

So, just who does Bob Geldof think he is?

Quite obviously, he believes he's the conscience that we don't collectively possess, and that he and his musician friends are the only people capable of displaying the compassion necessary to change the medical, social and political landscape in the Third World. I, for one, wholeheartedly disagree.

If musicians and music can change the world, then why is Africa in much worse shape than it was before the Live Aid concerts of 1985? Because these types of events keep people's attention for a couple of weeks, and then, like with any other news story or event, we move on.

Sure, a few die-hards may find their calling in foreign service through shows like this, but the majority won't. Take a look at the anti-war movement that swept American youth during Vietnam. The musicians who were at the forefront of the "protest music" movement (Dylan, John Lennon) were far less effective in turning the tide against the war than the mainstream media were. What turned Americans against Vietnam was the barrage of nightly images of carnage and death, bodybags and genocide, that were presented to America by Walter Cronkite, not by Country Joe and the Fish. Musicians reflect public opinion, they don't shape it.

The only exception to that rule, ironically, may have been the original Live Aid shows. Most of the western world was unaware of the plight of the Ethiopian people before Band-Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? and the ensuing concerts in July 1985. The world was introduced, in many ways, to Ethiopian suffering, but the finances of the show were subjected to cynicism over the role of the local war lords and their use of the money.

Not surprisingly, that same cynicism has pervaded any

African relief since then. Anyone with the slightest grip on world affairs would be hesitant to send money to the corrupt Robert Mugabe-led Zimbabwe or to Olusegun Obasanjo's Nigerian regime. I am certainly not convinced that aid and debt-relief to the Third World will be used to feed, clothe and treat those who really need it, and nothing Bob Geldof or any G8 leader has said in the last while has changed my mind.

Actually, my cynicism is kicking in on many fronts here. Whereas the 1985 concerts in Philadelphia and London showcased members of the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, a very hot Phil Collins, Dire Straits, The Who, Eric Clapton and many others, Live 8's line-up is a hodge-podge of second-rate acts and warmed-over headliners, with the glaring exception of Pink Floyd's reunion. The Canadian line-up for July 2 is weak at best, filled with acts that you could catch at the Kee to Bala on a summer weekend. The only international acts announced this week were Deep Purple and Motley Crue. I can only imagine the insightful conversations in the Motley Crue dressing room about the plight of Third World nations, no doubt led by that intellectual ambassador of goodwill, Tommy Lee. What a joke.

What galls me most about shows like Live 8 is the idea that if you don't support them, or the causes they represent, you're somehow made out to be hard-hearted and lacking compassion. What a load of bunk.

I've always been a believer in charity beginning at home, and of supporting causes that you feel most strongly about. I continue to think that way. We have too many problems in Toronto, in Ontario, and across Canada to be putting all our eggs in the baskets of countries a world away, especially when their political landscapes dictate that we'll never know where the aid, or money will go. I'll leave the politics to the politicians, as suspect as that act may often seem.

The back-patting of musicians like Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle ("The music community's leading the charge, as it always has," he said this week) only turn me off more.

I think this effort is misguided and genuinely faulty. And since I won't be in Barrie on July 2, I won't have to listen to Steven Page or Raine Maida tell me differently.

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

Here's a pic of "Geldof The Lesser".....

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

"He's an old hippie and he don't know what to do;
Should he hold on to the past, should he latch onto the new?"....

[RockinRight]

"I Don't Like Mondays"
by
The Boomtown Rats

The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload,
And nobody's gonna go to school today,
She's going to make them stay at home,
And daddy doesn't understand it,
He always said she was as good as gold,
And he can see no reason
Cos there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be shown

Tell me why
I Don't like Mondays
I want to shoot
The whole day down

The Telex machine is kept so clean
As it types to a waiting world,
And Mother feels so shocked,
Father's world is rocked,
And their thoughts turn to
Their own little girl
Sweet 16 ain't that peachy clean,
No, it ain't so neat to admit defeat,
They can see no reasons
Cos there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be shown

Tell me why
I Don't like Mondays
I want to shoot
The whole day down

All the playing's stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with her toys a while
And school's out early and soon we'll be learning
And the lesson today is how to die,
And then the bullhorn crackles,
And the captain tackles,
With the problems and the how's and why's
And he can see no reasons
Cos there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die, die, die

The silicon chip inside her head...

Tell me why
I Don't like Mondays
I want to shoot
The whole day down

Tell me why
I Don't like Mondays
I want to shoot
The whole day down

[scott says]

The writer of this article incorrectly tries to portray Dylan as an anti-war protester, this is untrue. Bob referred to the war protesters as " a bunch of dirtbag scum" or words to that effect. His early music, the folk stuff is only protesting for equality and social issues. Bob performed at the March on Washington and performed before MLK. A lot of his early songs strive for racial equality. The left-wing artists community told Bob that he spoke for them, called them the spokesman for their movement...Bob told them--I don't speak for anyone, if you can't speak for yourself then don't pin it on me-drop dead.
Alot of people think that Bob was some left-wing radical, no he is not.

[mountaineer]

Bob Geldof, Sting, Bono - the whole lot are self-important, self-righteous airbags.

[sharktrager]

When I saw the headline I was hoping for a story about how he's had a mental breakdown and thinks he's Jesus or something.

Damned If I Know

[frankenMonkey]

You are correct, sir. And the times, they are a changin.

[weegee]

"There's no use in your prime minister coming to Scotland unless he's prepared to do this deal. If he's not prepared, stay at home, just stay at home, don't come."

Sounds fair to me. It's Bob's event. Don't let politicians get their "feel good" face time in front of the cameras and then "do nothing" when the cameras are turned off, dragging out the inevitable "no" for weeks/months.

This holds whether or not you agree with the notion of cancelling debt.

And at least this writer understood that it was the biased media that provided aid and comfort to the enemy in Vietnam. Wonder if he sees the same thing happening today?

[scott says]

It really bothers me that people try to paint Bob as some left wing savior/spokesman. If you read or see any of his interviews he really disliked people calling him their spokesman. He said something like...if you are to stupid to speak for yourself than don't ask me to do it.Another music event is Farm Aid, at Live Aid Bob was the final act to play and he said from the stage...there are a lot of farmers who are having a hard time staying in business, maybe we should help them out...and Willie Nelson ran with it.
Bob is a very talented writer and voice in american literature and music, any attempt to call or portray him as a 60's left wing protester aren't even remotely true. The writer of this article needs to do his homework.

[concrete is my business]

RE: "The musicians who were at the forefront of the "protest music" movement (Dylan, John Lennon) were far less effective in turning the tide against the war than the mainstream media were. What turned Americans against Vietnam was the barrage of nightly images of carnage and death, body bags and genocide, that were presented to America by Walter Cronkite, not by Country Joe and the Fish. Musicians reflect public opinion, they don't shape it."

I thought this would be a good article but the premise is wrong. I think musicians can and do shape opinions and behavior, especially in young people.

To me the author sounds like another Canadian trying to premise his thesis on "what Americans think" and getting it only half right which is another way of saying he gets it wrong.

[concrete is my business]

RE: "Sounds fair to me. It's Bob's event."

Sir Bob was not talking about his own face time concert. He told the Prime Minister he was not welcome at the G8 summit.

The G8 Summit is most certainly NOT Sir Bob's event.

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

The writer of this article incorrectly tries to portray Dylan as an anti-war protester, this is untrue. Bob referred to the war protesters as " a bunch of dirtbag scum" or words to that effect. His early music, the folk stuff is only protesting for equality and social issues. Bob performed at the March on Washington and performed before MLK. A lot of his early songs strive for racial equality.

I hadn't heard that angle....to be honest -- when I was a kid -- Dad and Mom let us listen to Peter, Paul & Mary records (with all their anti-war, anti-establishment stuff), but that didn't influence ME to become like them.

In the same way I kind of agree with the author that "Musicians reflect public opinion, they don't shape it", although there will always be "musicians" who have their own (leftist) point of view of things no matter if public opinion says (they will always take the side against what is public policy -- either to sell their records by catering to the youth...who largely tend to despise authority or because they are just out-in-left-field-leftists-who-haven't gotten a clue).

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

Bob Geldof, Sting, Bono - the whole lot are self-important, self-righteous airbags.

On the whole, yes, most artists are like the ones you mentioned -- thank GOD for groups like Alabama!

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

When I saw the headline I was hoping for a story about how he's had a mental breakdown and thinks he's Jesus or something.

It could happen! Stranger things have happened! It usually takes an "epiphany" of sorts for that to happen, though...

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

And at least this writer understood that it was the biased media that provided aid and comfort to the enemy in Vietnam. Wonder if he sees the same thing happening today?

I'm sure the writer does....he writes for the Toronto Sun, one of -- if not the ONLY -- Conservative publications here in Toronot LIEberal La-La Land....

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

To me the author sounds like another Canadian trying to premise his thesis on "what Americans think" and getting it only half right which is another way of saying he gets it wrong.

Take a gander at the articles/editorials found in the Toronto Sun....they are -- largely -- on the RIGHT SIDE of the political spectrum....

[My Favorite Headache]

Neil Peart of Rush on Live Aid, From Metal Hammer, April 25, 1988

"I get so impatient with the pop side of causes, the whole sensibility of, "Let's get together and change things" because these people just do not know what they're talking about and don't take the trouble to find out how they can really change something.

It's a Sixties mentality -- it had no action then, and has no action now. It's just sound and fury. And, let's be honest, how many of these people are only lending their names as a career move?!

Geddy was involved with the 'Northern Lights' charity record here in Canada, although Rush weren't invited to participate in the 'Live Aid' event -- mainly because if you look at the guest list, it was very much and 'in-crowd' situation. We didn't refuse to take part because of any principles.

Mind you, I wouldn't have been happy being part of this scenario. Those stars should have shut up and just given over their money if they were genuine. I recall that 'Tears For Fears,' who made a musical and artistic decision to pull out of the concert, were subsequently accused of killing children in Africa -- what a shockingly irresponsible and stupid attitude to take towards the band. But I have nothing bad whatsoever to say about Bob Geldof; he sacrificed his health, his career, everything for something he believed in.

But others around him got involved for their own reasons. Some of those involved in 'Northern Lights' were actually quoted as saying that their managers told them to get down to the recording sessions because it would be a good career move! What a farce!

I don't believe that all this ballyhoo changed anything. Even now, trucks full of food are blasting through Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, trying to get to the Sudan and Ethiopia and they're being robbed and shot at and turned back.

I was in East Africa last Autumn, so I got a first-hand insight into what's going on and whilst I was there no less than 55 trucks laden with food were stuck in Uganda, with no was through because of the political situation.

It's not a lack of food, nor a drought that's causing the problems, but civil war! People are starving others deliberately and how do you change that via a rock concert?! I don't decry charity causes, but if someone were to ask me to do a concert in aid of Ethiopia I'd say NO! I would quite happily donate some money or do anything else that might help, but I believe you have to get involved far more then just giving money to salve your conscience... even that type of charity is so negative because it's self-serving and shallow."

[ozzymandus]

If Geldof is pissing off the smug, self-rightious Canadian media, he's OK by me.

[concrete is my business]

I realize that.

But in reference to this article, I know musicians can influence opinion and behavior.

I think Sir Bob is a goof who had one(?) hit record and cannot get his face on TV any other way than these aid concerts.

But music by John Lennon and Bob Dylan (even though his music was often misinterpreted and used by others) was absolutely part of the Vietnam antiwar scene in the USA in the sixties and seventies and had a very big influence on young people there joining the antiwar movement.

[Xenalyte]

Who Does Bob Geldof Think He Is?

My money's on Bono.