Posted on 09/26/2005 4:23:05 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
Tens of thousands marched on Washington last Saturday to protest George Bush's war in Iraq. The crowd included college-age activists, veterans of Vietnam War protests, entire families united against the war, and parents whose children have been killed in Iraq.
It was the largest protest yet against this war. Larger ones will almost surely follow.
If there had been a soundtrack to Saturday's march past the White House, you couldn't pick a much more appropriate song to kick it off than Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers."
Released in 1969 by one of the most politically acute bands of the era, "Volunteers" was a scorching anthem for America's activist youth:
Look what's happening out in the streets
Got a revolution
Got a revolution. . . .
One generation got old
One generation got soul
This generation got no destination to hold, pick up the cry!
Come on now we're marching to the sea
Got a revolution
Got a revolution
Who will take it from you
We will and who are we?
We're volunteers of America
Volunteers of America
Volunteers of America. . . .
I was just a kid when "Volunteers" was playing on alternative radio, but years later, I remember the passion in a college teacher's voice as he projected the lyrics on a giant screen and talked about the power of rock music to galvanize a movement and to reflect the times.
More than 35 years later, it's a different war and a different time, but the American voice of dissent is still strong -- and sure enough, I did hear "Volunteers" last Saturday as that protest was under way.
However, it wasn't blaring from a loudspeaker in Washington. It was on my television, during a break from a college football game, and it was the anthem for a Tommy Hilfiger commercial, with lots of beautiful people undulating around in the name of . . . fashion.
Of course, this sort of thing is nothing new. For years, I've talked about rock songs of protest and anger that have been turned into ads for luxury cars or themes for conservative politicians.
But this has to be one of the worst. "Volunteers" for Tommy Hilfiger? How do the writers for "Saturday Night Live" come up with parody commercials these days, when the real things are so often so ridiculous?
mailto:rroeper@suntimes.com
I think that album was really about Donovan doing glam.....Bowie style sounds....very crisp production.
I came around about 80....Carter sure helped.
what a wanker he was
Jefferson Starship... wasn't there a white rabbit disease or bacteria found on the mall... one pill makes Cindy Tall... didn't the glue sniffing make Cindy stuck on stupid...
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