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Music / Musik » alt.fan.frank-zappa » On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs
On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs [message #270882] Mi, 31 Mai 2006 02:14
bilh  
The June issue of National Review has it. The NR website has it
complete with links to buy. No Zappa, no Springsteen (a number of
bloggers have opined that the Cons were burned by the liberal attitude
of the singer of 'Born in the USA' when they judged the singer by the
song), but have a look for yourself:

Rockin' the Right
The 50 greatest conservative rock songs.

By John J. Miller

Neil Young has a new song called "Let's Impeach the President."
Last year, the Rolling Stones made news with "Sweet Neo Con,"
another anti-Bush ditty. For conservatives who enjoy rock, it isn't
hard to agree with the opinion Johnny Cash expressed in "The One on
the Right Is on the Left": "Don't go mixin' politics with the
folk songs of our land / Just work on harmony and diction / Play your
banjo well / And if you have political convictions, keep them to
yourself." In other words: Shut up and sing.

But some rock songs really are conservative - and there are more of
them than you might think. Last year, I asked readers of National
Review Online to nominate conservative rock songs. Hundreds of
suggestions poured in. I've sifted through them all, downloaded
scores of mp3s, and puzzled over a lot of lyrics. What follows is a
list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs of all time, as
determined by me and a few others. The result is of course arbitrary,
though we did apply a handful of criteria.

What makes a great conservative rock song? The lyrics must convey a
conservative idea or sentiment, such as skepticism of government or
support for traditional values. And, to be sure, it must be a great
rock song. We're biased in favor of songs that are already popular,
but have tossed in a few little-known gems. In several cases, the
musicians are outspoken liberals. Others are notorious libertines. For
the purposes of this list, however, we don't hold any of this against
them. Finally, it would have been easy to include half a dozen songs by
both the Kinks and Rush, but we've made an effort to cast a wide net.
Who ever said diversity isn't a conservative principle?

So here are NR's top 50 conservative rock songs of all time. Go ahead
and quibble with the rankings, complain about what we put on, and send
us outraged letters and e-mails about what we left off. In the end,
though, we hope you'll admit that it's a pretty cool playlist for
your iPod.

1=2E "Won't Get Fooled Again," by The Who.
The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries;
this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off na=EFve idealism
once and for all. "There's nothing in the streets / Looks any
different to me / And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye. . . . Meet
the new boss / Same as the old boss." The instantly recognizable
synthesizer intro, Pete Townshend's ringing guitar, Keith Moon's
pounding drums, and Roger Daltrey's wailing vocals make this one of
the most explosive rock anthems ever recorded - the best number by a
big band, and a classic for conservatives.

2=2E "Taxman," by The Beatles.
A George Harrison masterpiece with a famous guitar riff (which was
actually played by Paul McCartney): "If you drive a car, I'll tax
the street / If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat / If you get too
cold, I'll tax the heat / If you take a walk, I'll tax your
feet." The song closes with a humorous jab at death taxes: "Now my
advice for those who die / Declare the pennies on your eyes."

3=2E "Sympathy for the Devil," by The Rolling Stones.
Don't be misled by the title; this song is The Screwtape Letters of
rock. The devil is a tempter who leans hard on moral relativism - he
will try to make you think that "every cop is a criminal / And all
the sinners saints." What's more, he is the sinister inspiration
for the cruelties of Bolshevism: "I stuck around St. Petersburg /
When I saw it was a time for a change / Killed the czar and his
ministers / Anastasia screamed in vain."

4=2E "Sweet Home Alabama," by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
A tribute to the region of America that liberals love to loathe, taking
a shot at Neil Young's Canadian arrogance along the way: "A
Southern man don't need him around anyhow."

5=2E "Wouldn't It Be Nice," by The Beach Boys.
Pro-abstinence and pro-marriage: "Maybe if we think and wish and hope
and pray it might come true / Baby then there wouldn't be a single
thing we couldn't do / We could be married / And then we'd be
happy."

6=2E "Gloria," by U2.
Just because a rock song is about faith doesn't mean that it's
conservative. But what about a rock song that's about faith and whose
chorus is in Latin? That's beautifully reactionary: "Gloria / In te
domine / Gloria / Exultate."

7=2E "Revolution," by The Beatles.
"You say you want a revolution / Well you know / We all want to
change the world . . . Don't you know you can count me out?"
What's more, Communism isn't even cool: "If you go carrying
pictures of Chairman Mao / You ain't going to make it with anyone
anyhow." (Someone tell the Che Guevara crowd.)

8=2E "Bodies," by The Sex Pistols.
Violent and vulgar, but also a searing anti-abortion anthem by the
quintessential punk band: "It's not an animal / It's an
abortion."

9=2E "Don't Tread on Me," by Metallica.
A head-banging tribute to the doctrine of peace through strength,
written in response to the first Gulf War: "So be it / Threaten no
more / To secure peace is to prepare for war."

10. "20th Century Man," by The Kinks.
"You keep all your smart modern writers / Give me William Shakespeare
/ You keep all your smart modern painters / I'll take Rembrandt,
Titian, da Vinci, and Gainsborough. . . . I was born in a welfare state
/ Ruled by bureaucracy / Controlled by civil servants / And people
dressed in grey / Got no privacy got no liberty / 'Cause the
20th-century people / Took it all away from me."

11. "The Trees," by Rush. ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Before there was Rush Limbaugh, there was Rush, a Canadian band whose
lyrics are often libertarian. What happens in a forest when equal
rights become equal outcomes? "The trees are all kept equal / By
hatchet, axe, and saw."

12. "Neighborhood Bully," by Bob Dylan.
A pro-Israel song released in 1983, two years after the bombing of
Iraq's nuclear reactor, this ironic number could be a theme song for
the Bush Doctrine: "He destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad /
The bombs were meant for him / He was supposed to feel bad / He's the
neighborhood bully."

13. "My City Was Gone," by The Pretenders.
Virtually every conservative knows the bass line, which supplies the
theme music for Limbaugh's radio show. But the lyrics also display a
Jane Jacobs sensibility against central planning and a conservative's
dissatisfaction with rapid change: "I went back to Ohio / But my
pretty countryside / Had been paved down the middle / By a government
that had no pride."

14. "Right Here, Right Now," by Jesus Jones.
The words are vague, but they're also about the fall of Communism and
the end of the Cold War: "I was alive and I waited for this. . . .
Watching the world wake up from history."

15. "I Fought the Law," by The Crickets.
The original law-and-order classic, made famous in 1965 by The Bobby
Fuller Four and covered by just about everyone since then.

16. "Get Over It," by The Eagles.
Against the culture of grievance: "The big, bad world doesn't owe
you a thing." There's also this nice line: "I'd like to find
your inner child and kick its little ass."

17. "Stay Together for the Kids," by Blink 182.
A eulogy for family values by an alt-rock band whose members were
raised in a generation without enough of them: "So here's your
holiday / Hope you enjoy it this time / You gave it all away. . . .
It's not right."

18. "Cult of Personality," by Living Colour.
A hard-rocking critique of state power, whacking Mussolini, Stalin, and
even JFK: "I exploit you, still you love me / I tell you one and one
makes three / I'm the cult of personality."

19. "Kicks," by Paul Revere and the Raiders.
An anti-drug song that is also anti-utopian: "Well, you think
you're gonna find yourself a little piece of paradise / But it
ain't happened yet, so girl you better think twice."

20. "Rock the Casbah," by The Clash.
After 9/11, American radio stations were urged not to play this 1982
song, one of the biggest hits by a seminal punk band, because it was
seen as too provocative. Meanwhile, British Forces Broadcasting Service
(the radio station for British troops serving in Iraq) has said that
this is one of its most requested tunes.

21. "Heroes," by David Bowie.
A Cold War love song about a man and a woman divided by the Berlin
Wall. No moral equivalence here: "I can remember / Standing / By the
wall / And the guns / Shot above our heads / And we kissed / As though
nothing could fall / And the shame / Was on the other side / Oh we can
beat them / For ever and ever."

22. "Red Barchetta," by Rush.
In a time of "the Motor Law," presumably legislated by green
extremists, the singer describes family reunion and the thrill of
driving a fast car - an act that is his "weekly crime."

23. "Brick," by Ben Folds Five.
Written from the perspective of a man who takes his young girlfriend to
an abortion clinic, this song describes the emotional scars of
"reproductive freedom": "Now she's feeling more alone / Than
she ever has before. . . . As weeks went by / It showed that she was
not fine."

24. "Der Kommissar," by After the Fire.
On the misery of East German life: "Don't turn around, uh-oh / Der
Kommissar's in town, uh-oh / He's got the power / And you're so
weak / And your frustration / Will not let you speak." Also a hit
song for Falco, who wrote it.

25. "The Battle of Evermore," by Led Zeppelin.
The lyrics are straight out of Robert Plant's Middle Earth period -
there are lines about "ring wraiths" and "magic runes" - but
for a song released in 1971, it's hard to miss the Cold War metaphor:
"The tyrant's face is red."

26. "Capitalism," by Oingo Boingo.
"There's nothing wrong with Capitalism / There's nothing wrong
with free enterprise. . . . You're just a middle class, socialist
brat / From a suburban family and you never really had to work."

27. "Obvious Song," by Joe Jackson.
For property rights and economic development, and against liberal
hypocrisy: "There was a man in the jungle / Trying to make ends meet
/ Found himself one day with an axe in his hand / When a voice said
'Buddy can you spare that tree / We gotta save the world - starting
with your land' / It was a rock 'n' roll millionaire from the USA
/ Doing three to the gallon in a big white car / And he sang and he
sang 'til he polluted the air / And he blew a lot of smoke from a
Cuban cigar."

28. "Janie's Got a Gun," by Aerosmith.
How the right to bear arms can protect women from sexual predators:
"What did her daddy do? / It's Janie's last I.O.U. / She had to
take him down easy / And put a bullet in his brain / She said 'cause
nobody believes me / The man was such a sleaze / He ain't never gonna
be the same."

29. "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," by Iron Maiden.
A heavy-metal classic inspired by a literary classic. How many other
rock songs quote directly from Samuel Taylor Coleridge?

30. "You Can't Be Too Strong," by Graham Parker.
Although it's not explicitly pro-life, this tune describes the horror
of abortion with bracing honesty: "Did they tear it out with talons
of steel, and give you a shot so that you wouldn't feel?"

31. "Small Town," by John Mellencamp.
A Burkean rocker: "No, I cannot forget where it is that I come from /
I cannot forget the people who love me."

32. "Keep Your Hands to Yourself," by The Georgia Satellites.
An outstanding vocal performance, with lyrics that affirm old-time
sexual mores: "She said no huggy, no kissy until I get a wedding
vow."

33. "You Can't Always Get What You Want," by The Rolling Stones.
You can "[go] down to the demonstration" and vent your frustration,
but you must understand that there's no such thing as a perfect
society - there are merely decent and free ones.

34. "Godzilla," by Blue =F6yster Cult.
A 1977 classic about a big green monster - and more: "History shows
again and again / How nature points up the folly of men."

35. "Who'll Stop the Rain," by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Written as an anti-Vietnam War song, this tune nevertheless is
pessimistic about activism and takes a dim view of both Communism and
liberalism: "Five-year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains
.. . ."

36. "Government Cheese," by The Rainmakers.
A protest song against the welfare state by a Kansas City band that
deserved more success than it got. The first line: "Give a man a free
house and he'll bust out the windows."

37. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," by The Band.
Despite its sins, the American South always has been about more than
racism - this song captures its pride and tradition.

38. "I Can't Drive 55," by Sammy Hagar.
A rocker's objection to the nanny state. (See also Hagar's
pro-America song "VOA.")

39. "Property Line," by The Marshall Tucker Band.
The secret to happiness, according to these southern-rock heavyweights,
is life, liberty, and property: "Well my idea of a good time / Is
walkin' my property line / And knowin' the mud on my boots is
mine."

40. "Wake Up Little Susie," by The Everly Brothers.
A smash hit in 1957, back when high-school social pressures were rather
different from what they have become: "We fell asleep, our goose is
cooked, our reputation is shot."

41. "The Icicle Melts," by The Cranberries.
A pro-life tune sung by Irish warbler Dolores O'Riordan: "I don't
know what's happening to people today / When a child, he was taken
away . . . 'Cause nine months is too long."

42. "Everybody's a Victim," by The Proclaimers.
Best known for their smash hit "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)," this
Scottish band also recorded a catchy song about the problem of
suspending moral judgment: "It doesn't matter what I do / You have
to say it's all right . . . Everybody's a victim / We're becoming
like the USA."

43. "Wonderful," by Everclear.
A child's take on divorce: "I don't wanna hear you say / That I
will understand someday / No, no, no, no / I don't wanna hear you say
/ You both have grown in a different way / No, no, no, no / I don't
wanna meet your friends / And I don't wanna start over again / I just
want my life to be the same / Just like it used to be."

44. "Two Sisters," by The Kinks.
Why the "drudgery of being wed" is more rewarding than bohemian
life.

45. "Taxman, Mr. Thief," by Cheap Trick.
An anti-tax protest song: "You work hard, you went hungry / Now the
taxman is out to get you. . . . He hates you, he loves money."

46. "Wind of Change," by The Scorpions.
A German hard-rock group's optimistic power ballad about the end of
the Cold War and national reunification: "The world is closing in /
Did you ever think / That we could be so close, like brothers / The
future's in the air / I can feel it everywhere / Blowing with the
wind of change."

47. "One," by Creed. ;
Against racial preferences: "Society blind by color / Why hold down
one to raise another / Discrimination now on both sides / Seeds of hate
blossom further."

48. "Why Don't You Get a Job," by The Offspring.
The lyrics aren't exactly Shakespearean, but they're refreshingly
blunt and they capture a motive force behind welfare reform.

49. "Abortion," by Kid Rock.
A plaintive song sung by a man who confronts his unborn child's
abortion: "I know your brothers and your sister and your mother too /
Man I wish you could see them too."

50. "Stand By Your Man," by Tammy Wynette.
Hillary trashed it - isn't that enough? If you're worried that
Wynette's original is too country, then check out the cover version
by Mot=F6rhead.
Re: On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs [message #270927 ] Mi, 31 Mai 2006 14:43
Bill  
In article <1149034461.590922.236780 [at] y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
bilh [at] pd.jaring.my wrote:


> 1. "Won't Get Fooled Again," by The Who.

Gee, when I was growing up, advocating political revolution and fighting
in the streets was the antithesis of conservatism.
Re: On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs [message #270945 ] Mi, 31 Mai 2006 16:20
Dave Wilcher  
Bill wrote:
> In article <1149034461.590922.236780 [at] y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
> bilh [at] pd.jaring.my wrote:
>
>
>> 1. "Won't Get Fooled Again," by The Who.
>
> Gee, when I was growing up, advocating political revolution and
> fighting in the streets was the antithesis of conservatism.

I would venture to say that the majority of the artists who
wrote the songs who this guy listed would be a tad upset
at the willful misinterpretation.

dave
--
A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.
-Mark Twain
Re: On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs [message #270948 ] Mi, 31 Mai 2006 16:50
pbuzby2002  
bilh [at] pd.jaring.my wrote:
> No Zappa, no Springsteen (a number of
> bloggers have opined that the Cons were burned by the liberal attitude
> of the singer of 'Born in the USA' when they judged the singer by the
> song)

More precisely, they would have been burned if they judged him by the
chorus of the song without listening to the rest.

Pat Buzby
Chicago, IL
Re: On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs [message #270979 ] Mi, 31 Mai 2006 21:08
John Henley  
In article <spamblock-E0BD65.08423531052006 [at] news.verizon.net>, Bill
<spamblock [at] verizon.net> wrote:

> > 1. "Won't Get Fooled Again," by The Who.
>
> Gee, when I was growing up, advocating political revolution and fighting
> in the streets was the antithesis of conservatism.

And calling a piece of legislation the "Clear Skies Initiative"
meant it would have been about, you know, something like
what it's called, instead of being a repeal of all the regs governing
coal-smoke.

We should all be worshipping statues of George Orwell.

John Henley
Re: On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs [message #271004 ] Do, 01 Juni 2006 00:29
Dave Wilcher  
milhouse_authentico [at] yahoo.com wrote:
>
> No Child Left Behind. Except the poor ones.

Well, as Georgie told his college professor, "It's poor people's
own fault they're poor, because they are lazy".

So they don't count.

dave
--
A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.
-Mark Twain
Re: On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs [message #271014 ] Do, 01 Juni 2006 01:58
bilh  
pbuzby2002 [at] yahoo.com wrote:
> bilh [at] pd.jaring.my wrote:
> > No Zappa, no Springsteen (a number of
> > bloggers have opined that the Cons were burned by the liberal attitude
> > of the singer of 'Born in the USA' when they judged the singer by the
> > song)
>
> More precisely, they would have been burned if they judged him by the
> chorus of the song without listening to the rest.
>
> Pat Buzby

Correct! I think the Reagen Reps were burned in exactly that way.

Cheers

Bil
Re: On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs [message #271018 ] Do, 01 Juni 2006 02:25
Sam Rouse  
In article <ZMofg.44712$mh.43340 [at] tornado.ohiordc.rr.com>,
"Dave Wilcher" <davewilcher [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> milhouse_authentico [at] yahoo.com wrote:
> >
> > No Child Left Behind. Except the poor ones.
>
> Well, as Georgie told his college professor, "It's poor people's
> own fault they're poor, because they are lazy".
>
> So they don't count.

At the risk of adding to a thread which has actual content, as opposed to
threads which have none, just like the last little piggy which went "wee wee
wee" all the way home, which may or may not have been the origin of Dweezil's
name, and may have application to Toes of the Short Forest, which is in turn
related to non-depressed pedal elements that once trod the Inca Roads, and in a
less direct way is related to both short-cloth neck ornaments and men's
middle-of-the-road kind of cotton undergarments, Time isn't always Money, but
may be of affliction. At one of my first jobs, on the receiving manager's file
cabinet, there was a little cage with a nut-and-bolt assemblage inside - the
sign on the front said, "Don't feed the screw - he'll only want more." Buried
here is a request to stop feeding the slime which oozes out from your PC set.
Don't rise for the flag salute, and don't respond to this message. This
probably won't work. Word out.
--
Re: On the cover of National Review: 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs [message #278407 ] Sa, 03 Juni 2006 15:09
Steve Brooks  
Dave Wilcher wrote:
> Bill wrote:
>> In article <1149034461.590922.236780 [at] y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
>> bilh [at] pd.jaring.my wrote:
>>
>>
>>> 1. "Won't Get Fooled Again," by The Who.
>>
>> Gee, when I was growing up, advocating political revolution and
>> fighting in the streets was the antithesis of conservatism.
>
> I would venture to say that the majority of the artists who
> wrote the songs who this guy listed would be a tad upset
> at the willful misinterpretation.

I'm surprised the 'Dead Kennedys ' weren't in there. The name of the group
is a conservative wet dream.

Kill, kill, kill the poor.

--

SB
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