Editorial

When it comes to playing an active role in political involvement, today’s music artists aren’t hitting the right notes.

The Vietnam War will always be remembered, partly because it was a period in history when society questioned the role the United States was playing. The Pentagon Papers were one example where we were informed many years later that the government wasn’t telling the whole truth. There were also the lives that were lost — and those lives still affect us today.

Then there was the grassroots political activism, in which millions of people would come together, with their homemade picket signs and heartfelt chants to, Capitol Hill and protest about the war that they felt was unjust.

And the one main element that motivated them was music.

Now, more than 30 years later, the people of the United States find themselves in a familiar setting.

We’re at war, and, like the Vietnam War, there are doubts.

Lives continue to be lost. The reason and position is not completely known, and there’s a void.
Music with a political message, where are you?

There are some musicians who are politically involved by opining their stance on war in their music.

But they are either established artists or independent artists who don’t have much to lose.

Then there are the musicians who refuse to say anything because they are merely figureheads or manufactured products who are simply scared.

Back in the Vietnam era, there were such prominent musicians as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez who used powerful words and messages in their songs to unite a generation of hippies who lived by the philosophy “make love, not war.”

Today’s music is a big corporate machine that controls its artists with a strong arm against political expression. There is not much room for artists to express a political opinion, even though today’s music can reach many more people with technology as a sidekick. They are afraid to be criticized by the public, or they’re afraid of risking their record deals. But they have to stand up.

Look at the Dixie Chicks. When they denounced President Bush and his administration in regards to the war in Iraq last year, the band was booed off the stage at an award show. It was a big risk, but the band took it.

Then there’s Bruce Springsteen, who’s a boss unafraid of backlashes. And there’s Dave Matthews, who is another established artist taking risk to express his viewpoint. Then there’s Green Day, whose latest album, “American Idiot,” simply told America to be more informed about what’s going on because ignorance cannot be tolerated.

But for artists who aren’t using their voice, there aren’t any excuses. Take a risk; it might be good for you.

Some of today’s artists like to sample old music and make it into their own version. It’s a sad surprise that no one has taken that idea and given the grassroots activism of the 1960s a twist.