Top Liberal Songs by Conservative artists!

[HuskerDU]

Since these fools are pretending that OUR artists wrote 'conservative' songs, I thought that we could compile a list of liberal songs by conservative artists. Here are two:

'Uneasy Rider' by the Charlie Daniels Band- The quintessential tale of a long hair's difficulties driving through the South during the Vietnam era.

'Great White Buffalo' by Ted Nugent- The lyrics tell the tale: 'And then came the WHITE DOG with his thick and empty head, he couldn't see past the billfold, he wanted all the buffalo dead, it was sad, it was sad.'

Can anyone help me compile some more?!?

[Droopy]

1. Nope. I think you've nailed all of them.

Unless you consider Rush a conservative band. The you can go with "Closer to the Heart."

[Ava]

2. a LOT of Kid Rock's songs

[Droopy]

6. I think Kid Rock doesn't do politics

He strikes me as a non-political type guy who likes to party a lot. What makes you say that he is conservative? I might be handicapped in my assessment because I've just heard what they play on the radio by him.

[Ava]

7. here you go

first thing i could find on google:

"Kid Rock, aka Robert James Ritchie, has been known to attend Republican events. "
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42260

[HuskerDU]

9. Ava, could you post the names of the Kid Rock songs you

feel have a liberal message? I'd just like to know what liberal opinions come through in his songs since I am completely ignorant of the guys music.

[Ava]

14. sure

Song: "Pimp Of The Nation" - "I've been a pimp so long I knew gahndi when he had an afro" ok, i kid! i kid!
Song: "Fred"

I was mainly talking about the fact that he is completely disgusting and vulgar and is an enemy of the FCC. doesn't exactly have a republican following.

[HuskerDU]

16. Ahhh!

Gotcha, thanks Ava!

[chaska]

3. Some country guy did a cover of Joni Mitchell's 'Paved Paradise'...

I swear, I heard it in the grocery store.

[Ava]

5. sure you're not talking about the Counting Crows remake?

[chaska]

19. I don't think so. I know Counting Crows, that said...

it has been awhile, so maybe the memory ain't what it should be.

[Left Is Write]

29. It's called Big Yellow Taxi...

I can't find any other remakes than the Counting Crows' version, but certainly there could be another remake out there.

[HuskerDU]

4. What about Merle Haggard?

He just had a song about 'Lets get back on track and get out of Iraq.'

I don't view ol Merle as a conservative anymore, but I'm sure plenty of good ol boys do!

[jmowreader]

8. The Trees by Rush

The dumbass at National Review put this down as a conservative rock song. How could it possibly be? It's an allegory about the necessity of civil rights legislation: "Now there's no more Oak oppression, for they passed a noble law; and the trees are all kept equal, by hatchet, axe and saw."

Free Will is a conservative rock song. The Trees is not.

[Droopy]

13. I've thought of "The Trees" as a conservative song

In my view it is not an allegory about civil rights, but about income and socialism. The line you quote is sarcastic especially in the context of the rest of the song. In a mixed economy or a socialist society no one can grow to their true potential because of heavy taxes limiting them according to conservatives. Thus the hatchet, ax, and saw. I see "The Trees" as a statement about the political situation in Canada at the time it was written.

[RandomKoolzip]

10. When Nugent was in the Amboy Dukes, they did "Journey to the Center of the

Mind," which, of course, was a call to pick up your drug of choice and shoot it directly into your eyeball and, like, get messed up, man. In the name of mental liberation.

Years later, Nugent claimed he had no idea what it "really" meant, he just thought it was a neat hook and way of describing "expanding your mind," since he was anti-drugs. I guess he wasn't the one who chose the cover art for the Amboy Dukes' album of the same name, the photograph on which features about 100 different types of dope-smoking implements, from hookahs to opium pipes.

John Barlow, lyricist for the Grateful Dead, is a noted Libertarian, but has written eloquent paeans to the liberal mindset, such as "Throwing Stones."

THere have been conservatives behind the scenes, promoting liberal musicians, too. Joe Carducci, author of "Rock and the Pop Narcotic," the finest book of Rock criticism ever wrought, is what one might call an extreme free-market conservative. He's never really pinned down what his actual political philosophy is, but he spends much of his book (correctly) criticizing liberal sociology and its effects in weakening the aesthetic substance in Rock music since the 60's. Yet Carducci was employed at SST records in the 80's, and was a tireless promoter of committed working-class leftists The Minutemen, Husker DU, and many other bands at that label, none of whom could really be called anything but hard-line liberal; Texan punkers and SST recording artists The Dicks were openly Communist! Since he was into Rock for its aesthetic value, he saw no conflict of interest in putting his energy behind bands who were politically dissonant to him, but could kick out the fucking jams. It's that last part that should be the bottom line, after all.

[HuskerDU]

11. Thanks a bunch Random! I really dig Uncle Ted's music and

can't believe I forgot 'Journey'. Damn, whenever he opens his mouth, a new hypocracy emerges.

I'll have to read the Carducci book. Thanks for reminding me about that one.

Besides yourself, I've gotta be one of the biggest SST fans on DU. The most rightous bands in RnR history were on SST in the early '80's. (and my screen name has nothing to do with Nebraska ya know!)

I hope you know Random, that you really should be making the big bucks as a rock critic yourself. Lester Bangs wishes he was as good as you!

[RandomKoolzip]

15. Nah, I'm just a half a swig a Romilar at the bottom of the bottle

compared to Bangs. And that's not FALSE modesty.


Re: SST. I really identified with SST back in my teenage years. That's the thing that's lost today: there's no rubric for smart working-class kids into art and mischief to fall under these days like there was back in the 80's, with that label around, and all the other cool labels (A. Tentacles, Touch n' Go, etc.) In a way, it was a kind of brand marketing the likes of which a good liberal like myself should decry, but it was definitely a useful signifier to use when feeling out who amongst your peer group you should be friends with.

Now kids have their church and Fat Wreckords and techno and hip hop, and it's a completely different aesthetic. I'd hate to be a teenager today.

By the way, youtube.com has a whole plethora of Husker Du (and SST-related) vids ripe for the downloadin'. you should check it out. Here's but one:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NeqyCwAeT3I&search=husker%20du

Enjoy! :hi: thanks for the kind words, BTW....

[HuskerDU]

20. My friend, I may have been living in middle-of-nowheresville,

but I was with you as a teenager in the 80's digging SST records. Corporate Rock Sucks!

When SST and the other labels were at their peak, bands and fans were able to really 'stick it to the man' which is what RnR is supposed to be about. It was in your face RnR with no suits pulling the strings! Hell, I probably wouldn't have survived my teenaged years with the crap they have today.

You were lucky to have friends who knew about the underground music scene back then. Black Flag played a park in our town in 1986, about 3 weeks before they broke up. There were all of 3 kids from my Junior High School at that show- me and two of my friends.

It was great when I got to college and found so many like minded individuals. But all of my fav bands had broken up by then!

PS, I've read Bangs' outstanding work and there is no doubt in my mind that you are at least equally as talented. Thanks for the youtube link too Random!

[HuskerDU]

12. Yes kicking out the fucking jams is the bottom line for RnR!

That is why I still listen to Uncle Ted even though I think he is a big time ass.

[RandomKoolzip]

17. Yeah, but his first few solo albums? Good stuff.

Underrated band, the Ted Nugent band. Great drummer, and Ted had his own individual voice on the Gibson Byrdland. Gradually his media persona began to piss all his aesthetic value away, but that doesn't invalidate the greatness of a song like "Stranglehold."

[johnnie]

18. I agree, he had a great band

Ted was a guitar god when I was a teen. Derrick St. Holmes was no slouch either and he is the one who wrote and sang Stranglehold. I don't know how much of the guitar work is his though. A friend of mine saw St. Holmes play a gig many years ago and asked him to play Stranglehold and St. Holmes said he wasn't allowed to play it due to legalities. I guess that would have kind of raised flags as to what kind of guy Nugent was.

[HuskerDU]

21. Wow At least 3 fans of the Nuge's music here on DU!

We really are the open-minded ones!

I caught Uncle Ted live in 1986 and he blew me away. His 'Double Live Gonzo' has been a mainstay in my music collection ever since. Still, the guy is a major league ass.

[TheMightyFavog]

32. Nugent...

Good guitar player, bigoted, homophobic, chickenhawk asshat.

I kinda I kinda chiuckle to myself whenever he backs the war publically, considering that he literally shit and pissed his pants to avoid going to Vietnam.

[RandomKoolzip]

23. I think it's telling also that a lot of people assume Ted was the singer

for that band. He was really just the catalytic force behind their power, I think. The others brought A LOT to the table, and you can tell that it was THEIR talents that made it special, because the albums after "Intensities in Ten Cities" have some really weak-ass songs and anemic playing. After that, Ted banked on his wildman persona to carry his career, and it just wasn't enough. St. Holmes, it's true, seemed to be the real focal point of that band, at least until Ted started soloing.

[CanuckAmok]

22. LL Cool J: :

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=100702A

And just to prove this, I'm going to give you a stanza by stanza breakdown of the insidious liberal messages hidden in Mr. J's apparent right wing anthem, "Ain't No Stoppin' This"

Ain't No Stoppin' This
(LL Cool J)


Party people are you with me? (Cool J)
Party people are you with me? (Cool J)
Party people are you with me? (Cool J)
Party people are you with me? (Cool J, uh)
Party people are you with me? (Cool J)
Party people are you with me? (Cool J)
Party people are you with me? (Cool J)
Party people are you with me? (Hit it)


Okay, what we have here is an obvious reference to the Communist Party. And just like the Stalinesque "Big Brother" of Orwell's "1984", repetition is used to subliminally insert an order for the youth to "get with" the Party.




Newcomers, step on back and if you hid last summer
catch a heart-attack, cause I'm back
I'm bad, you write rhymes made are blad
I'm mad cause they said I wasn't bad
No recognition cause they said I'm from the ghetto
Carryin' nine millimeters and stiletto's
I guess I need a TV show to get mine
But I don't feel like kissin' no director's behind
That's too soft for L
I'ma write a rhyme-fighter inside of the rebel "Yell"
Hour jack loops and dancer troops
Watch out for the gangsta-machine-gun-loose


What appears to be a message supporting the Second Ammendment is actually a condemnation of the access to firearms. By illustrating how easy it is to obtain a handgun, Cool J tacitly endorses the confistication of armaments, and curiously, high-heeled shoes.

Also note references to what Cool J believes is an elitist, biased entertainment industry, where the only way to gain celebrity is to
adopt the mantra of what he believes to be the typical Right Wing talking head. Also present is an endorsement of homosexual acts with television directors, who, as we all know, are exclusively men.


Ain't no stoppin' this
Nah, nah, ain't no stoppin' this
Nah, nah, ain't no stoppin' this
No way, huh, ain't no stoppin' this
Nah, nah, ain't no stoppin' this
Never, ever, no, ain't no stoppin' this
Nah, nah, ain't no stoppin' this
Nah, nah, ain't no stoppin' this


Again, we see the technique of repetition used to seduce the youth into siding with Cool J and his Leftist minions.



Last year pop rappers got awards
And don't know a damn thing about a block party mic-cord
They see LL, they know the brothers' real
But the flies can tell you exactly how they feel
When I come in the door it's like I'm made of dynamite
I gotta blow up more and more
Shakin' the rafters from here on after
Puttin' an end to all the laughter
There ain't no way they can win
with the band all in, plus the turntable spin
Strip-searchin' competition, you can call 'em competition
but there ain't no competition cause I'm on a mission
I'ma rip this game, I want the soul train families and anybody with a name
Superstars step aside this year
And all you other little crumbs that wanna try and come near
I'm sick and tired of political setbacks
Too much red tape-the-box, so forget that


Clearly Cool J sends a coded message to the Liberal Conspirators who were the real minds behind da Oklahoma City Bombing. What this message is, we don't exactly know, but hopefully the surveillance of Cool J's residence and peeps will unearth some truth, yo.

Also Cool J refers to political setbacks, which is an obvious reference to the GOP control of the House, Senate and Courts. Is he endorsing the vilent overthrow of these institutions? You be the judge.

Note also the reference to "red tape". Red, as in Communist. And when he says "too much" of this tape, he actually means "not enough".




I started in the basement of my grandmother's house
My rap got gashed, your whole body's' gettin' doubts
Burnt to a crisp, lead from the mist
Third degree and Gods' my only witness
When I shocked the world, hold the prince hostage
for the diamonds and pearls
Maker-Mike will remember the time
tellin' Madonna black love ain't a crime
I'm like a shogun, I ain't scared of no-one
Born and raised in New York, that's where I come from


Anti-monarchist, pro Blue State New York which is filled with gays, Jews, minorities and Hilary Clintons.




I rip downtown, uptown
I love the way the bass sound, when I'm underground
Boulevard to boulevard, avenue to avenue, I'll be havin' you
Playin' a scene to a song so mean that'll get
your whole car rockin' like a war machine
Neighbors downstairs call current-affairs
Cause the party got ripped and yours truly was there

Typical of liberal contradictions, Mr. J suggests the listener arm his vehicle, while earlier in the composition endorsing the seizure of guns. Not also that Cool J identifies the "neighbors downstairs" as anti-revolutionary busybodies, attempting to undermine the Party. Or he could mean Mexico, we're still working on decrypting that one.



Ain't no stoppin' this
1984, ain't no stoppin' this
1985, ain't no stoppin' this
1986, ain't no stoppin' this
1987, ain't no stoppin' this
1988, ain't no stoppin' this
1989, ain't no stoppin' this
1990, ain't no stoppin' this
91, ain't no stoppin' this
92, what to do?

Can he be more obvious? He clearly identifies "1984" as the year which the secret liberal revolution began. 1984, Brother Smith. And in '92, he solicits advice from the proletariat masses, suggesting the secret revolution is in place, and the power has been turned over to the masses. Yeah, that'll work.



1993 and all that, infinity, power of God rules


Well, this sounds like a very nice, Christian sentiment with which to end the song, overtly supporting the conjoining of church and state. And it is, unless of course your God is "Allah" or "Boris Yeltsin".




Well, thanks for your time. Next week, Pat Boone.

[RandomKoolzip]

25. You idiot.

It's obvious from THESE lines:

"I started in the basement of my grandmother's house
My rap got gashed, your whole body's' gettin' doubts
Burnt to a crisp, lead from the mist"

That LL is talking about the myth of Prometheus. Jesus, where'd you get your fucking degree, University of Dumbshit? :eyes:

[CanuckAmok]

26. ORU, you dum liberal.

http://www.oru.edu/

And you can't say I'm biased. My degree is in Libeal Arts.

[RandomKoolzip]

30. Not labial arts?

[Bombtrack]

24. the only non-shitty musicians I know of who I believe are conservative

are Johnny Ramone and just barely Alice Cooper (he had a few great songs).

Ted Nugent is 100 percent crap. As is Toby Keith, 50 Cent, and anything Scott Stapp touches.

[CanuckAmok]

27. Do I need to expose the secret liberal message in Wango Tango?

Because I can if you want.

[HuskerDU]

28. Do you guys think 'Bonzo Goes to Bitburg' would fit in this

category since Johnny was a conservative. I don't think the Ramones wrote that song however.

Still, it is a liberal song by a group with at least one conservative.

[ghostsofgiants]

33. But Joey was the songwriter, wasn't he?

Joey was a definite liberal.

Though you said that The Ramones didn't actually write that song. But I still kinda think that Joey's liberal tendencies would cancel out Johnny's conservative tendencies.

[vi5]

35. Joey wrote that song...

..and he was a definite liberal.

[Arugula Latte]

31. Few know this, but Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life" is

actually a call for leftists to storm the cities, set everything on fire, wage anarchy, overthrow The Man, and smoke numerous doobie cigarettes in the process ...

[ghostsofgiants]

34. What about "Let's Have A War" by Fear?

Always struck me as a an anti-war song, though according to the band, Ving was annoyingly right-wing. Not sure if Ving did the songwriting though, and I know Philo Cramer is pretty far left, so he balanced out Ving's politics.

[HuskerDU]

36. Gosh, I always thought of Lee Ving as a satirist, sort of like what

Colbert is doing these days. Kinda scary if he really meant that stuff!

The Mentors- sure those guys were scumbag freaks who probably lived every one of their songs. But I always pegged Fear and bands like SOD as characitures of wingnuts.

[ghostsofgiants]

37. Yeah, I still kind of consider it satirical...

But read this interview with Spit Stix: http://markprindle.com/stix-i.htm

I'd want to organize a reunion with Philo, because Philo's sense of humor onstage balances Lee's extreme right point-of-view. Philo's so left, it's just like yin and yang, Abbott and Costello. It was funny. But the thought of doing it without the humor with Lee - it's just... it's hard work. It's really hard work, so it's gotta be fun."

...

To go completely off the subject here just because I was thinking about this before - why is he so right-wing? Is it a macho thing for him?

I don't know. Maybe it's like his parents I guess were pretty conservative. And I think it was a character that he liked. He liked the Robert Deniro kind of scary character as a persona, just as an entertainer - a form of entertainment. Here was a platform for him to use that character. As opposed to his previous band. Right before Fear, he had long hair and he was playing drums and singing in a - there was a girl in the band, I think it was a five or six-piece band called Easy Love.