For politically aware songs, the '00s were all for naught|LAT [View all]

[BootinUp]

By Reed Johnson and Deborah Vankin, Los Angeles Times

December 25, 2011
The '60s gave us "Blowin' in the Wind," folk-poet Bob Dylan's challenge to the brutal status quo. The '70s served up Neil Young's "Ohio," an anthem of generational rage against the military-industrial machine. The '80s laid down "The Message," Grandmaster Flash's hip-hop jeremiad about the vicious cycle of race-based poverty. The '90s broke loose with Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade," a rap-rock rant targeting corporate greed and cultural imperialism.

And the '00s? It's produced some memorably sardonic screeds (Green Day's "American Idiot&quot , patriotic hell-yeah's out of Nashville like Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)," and dirges of quiet desperation emanating from "The Suburbs," courtesy of Arcade Fire.

But much of the music that has topped the Billboard charts in the new millennium — Britney, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga — might suggest that America has been one big party since 2001, despite the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, two major wars, a wobbly economy and a bitterly divided government. Likewise, the recent popular manifestations of that unrest, the tea party and Occupy Wall Street movements, so far seem to have been largely lost on popular music.

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Crosby says there are talented young musicians articulating today's political issues in an entertaining way, and ticks off the names of Tom Morello, Zack de la Rocha and Death Cab for Cutie. "You know the one who shocked me was Pink," he added, referring to the pop singer's 2006 reproach to George W. Bush, "Dear Mr. President." "This is a politically astute and absolutely fearless song," Crosby said. "I wish I had written it."

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full article
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-1225-music-politics-20111225,0,4472445.story