“KEEP POLITICS OUT OF MUSIC” | Hot Take Cafe

[Music]

hey neighbor welcome back to beyond er

TV my name is John and thanks for

joining me in the hot take cafe this is

episode number two of this series and

it's where I'll dish out some potential

hot takes unpopular opinions that you

might not agree with but hopefully I can

show you my perspective and we can have

a discussion even though we might

disagree so today I'm here to talk about

politics big moans from the audience

I know politics are everywhere left

right in between where do you land which

side are you on it seems like it's all

just a screaming match all the time and

that's been made worse of course by the

likes of social media having an online

platform it's important but also it

seems more and more that people don't

like when celebrities or musicians use

their voice it dates back to the whole

shutup and dribble Fiasco with LeBron

James and that idiot

reporter people are not just their

political opinions they're also not just

their talent therefore if you play the

guitar you don't not have a voice just

because you're good at Ben you can also

speak out on something that you believe

in on today's hot take cafe I'm hoping

to talk to you a little bit more on why

I feel that music and politics are

intrinsically connected it's a very

natural thing for this to occur because

if there's a problem in the world

I think the poetry other forms of art

including music can be a great vehicle

for getting those thoughts out to the

world and if you don't think that music

and politics have always been connected

I mean in our modern age dating back to

the 1960s think of the Vietnam War and

think of all of the music that came out

of those eras so really quickly let's go

through a couple of the decades and just

see some of the music that was

politically charged or motivated that

came out during those eras taking it

back to the 1960s just to prove that

this has been going on for so long

we had protest songs from everyone from

Steppenwolf to Bob Dylan's classic

blowin in the wind Creedence Clearwater

Revival fortunate son that is a protest

song if I've ever heard one anti-war

John Lennon

imagine there's so many traumatic not

only just from him and other solo

artists I just feel that so many bands

were starting to open that door to

realize that it wasn't always this

cookie cutter black and white situation

that there were always these in justices

and that this was a great way to speak

out on them the 1970s especially the

late seventies introduced more of the

punk rock movement we saw like god save

the queen from The Sex Pistols which

really kind of gaslighted things in a

major way and actually did pave the way

for future bands to really just blast

open the doors and have political

discussion whether that be something as

bold as the government or something is

mild as saying that every human deserves

rights punk rock started that and it's

always confusing to me when I hear

people saying I love punk rock but why

did he have to talk about the politics

man it dates back to the 70s even before

that there were punk elements in music

long before and it's always going to

continue into the future as well also in

the 70s we had Marvin Gaye what's going

on a big one there John Lennon had more

tracks in the 70s I actually think that

imagine might have been 1970 around that

time several other protest songs from

ham like working-class hero

we had Crosby Stills Nash and young with

Ohio which talked about a political

protest shooting that happened four

people died I believe and this was a

song that was outraged against that and

it calmly lifted that flag of protest

saying that this is not okay Joni

Mitchell big yellow taxi I could

continue rolling on but the 70s were a

big political time the 80s were another

massive movement Pink Floyd come on

another brick in the wall Roger Waters

whether you agree with him or not has

always talked about politics it's not

new because of the Donald Trump era he

is protesting against that and you might

not agree with everything that he says

but why does it have to be this issue

where it's like well I'll never listen

to you again it's like the idiots that

burn their Nike shoes because Nike takes

up for Colin Kaepernick it makes no

sense you're still allowed to listen to

it you can still be a

fan even if you don't directly agree on

every single issue the 80s continued on

with other bands like anti flag popping

up obviously in the punk rock scene the

DIY underground movement was growing in

popularity and it was great to see the

messages that we're getting out during

that time it's interesting to reflect on

it's a historical movement really and

even in the mainstream you had artists

like Tracy Chapman with behind the wall

talking about not only government abuse

but also domestic abuse and these are

issues that can be considered political

it's hard not to politicize things when

there are in justices and again I

reiterate the music is a great way to

bring that out you also had born in the

USA by proof Springsteen which your

racist uncle is probably playing on the

4th of July saying hell yeah merica not

realizing that it's actually a major

protest song also this shouldn't be

considered a political statement but

even dating back to the 80s Paul

McCartney has been an activist he had a

song that was literally for support of

the Amazon rainforest not deforestation

so many trees being cut down animals and

wildlife these natural habitats are

being stripped away still to this day

thanks to the fires that we saw last

year and also just over the past century

things are going away quickly and we got

how many people from him I don't think

that should be considered a political

issue it is our planet and it's

something that we should protect but

apparently we have to make a song in

support of it because other greedy

people don't agree the 90s gave us way

too many to even sit down and named Rage

Against the Machine Public Enemy Nirvana

The White Stripes even got political at

the end of the decade the big three

killed my baby talking about the

automotive industry and all of the

repercussions there it's not just so cut

and dry as we hate the president all the

time and it might seem that way now and

yes I am anti Donald Trump myself look

at the sign that I've got sitting but

you also don't necessarily have to say

well you know what that guy this girl

because they don't agree with my point

of view and I've been guilty of that too

it's just hard to have civil discourse

sometimes

when we see these in Justices but again

it goes beyond just the president it

goes to the other issues in the world

and I think a lot of these bands were

addressing that we also had that song

from the White Stripes later on in the

2000s they changed the lyrics and the

big three killed my baby to talk about

george w bush

so yes the 90s were extremely political

once again 2000 to 2009 old that decade

right there was definitely politically

tinged the iraq war was going on there

was a lot going on in Afghanistan Green

Day's American Idiot anyone in the

audience out there that was an extremely

political statement the title track and

so much of the album at large packed

into a rock opera concept album and yes

that is my second favorite album of all

time but that doesn't change the fact

that from an objective point of view

they really got the point driven home so

many people I think opened their eyes

because this is still technically the

pre-internet age not everybody had a

smartphone in their hands and it was

hard to kind of get a movement going but

I just feel the Green Day rallied people

up and they saw that George W Bush was

full of [ __ ] more often than not and

they were willing to call him out on

that there were other groups doing it of

course we got other hits from Tom

Morello from Rage Against the Machine of

course The Flaming Lips Radiohead IDEO

Tech anyone there's a lot of tracks that

I can name from the 2000s and while it

might not have been as aggressive as the

90s it was still out there in a major

way because we had plenty of things to

talk about politically the 2010 stepped

it up once again and racial injustice is

a big thing that supercharged that

decade and kind of defined things a lot

of black artists spoke out on this

Kendrick Lamar had his hit song all

right which was definitely in many ways

yes catchy but also protesting these and

justices we also had Nipsey Hussle

Beyonce and even a lot of other bands

that had continued to do it in the past

did it again I think the killer's his

song land of the free was another one at

the end of the decade where we kind of

talked about immigration issues and it's

fine for them to do that I think what

I'm trying to get across to you here

today and what I'm trying to show you

all these examples for

is to show you yes that music and

politics are connected but also that

it's nothing new and that we don't need

to be on this campaign to end

politically charged music there is so

much music out there there is more music

than you could listen to in three

lifetimes that has nothing to do with

politics that you could just turn off

your little head and say everything's

okay in my bubble but sometimes it's

okay to challenge yourselves to look

outside of the box and define something

that maybe you don't agree with but you

can also watch it listen to it respect

it and not just shut it down and say

this is necessarily incorrect because

they don't agree with it why are all

musicians and bands suddenly all leftist

where is this coming from

if you look to Facebook or Instagram or

Twitter replies that's really all you

see when bands do something as little as

oh no they encourage somebody to go out

and vote today oh no what a terrible

thing to do what a terrible thing to

actually say to go out and to use your

right if you're an American citizen to

be able to vote what a terrible thing to

tell people to do and then there's

people climbing a drunk 2020 Trump 2024

which can't happen fortunately thanks to

our system that we have been placed at

limit only two terms I just I really

hope that from an objective point of

view you can see why the musician has

the right to do so and of course you can

say well I'm gonna exercise my right to

not listen to them and that's fine but

also I hope you can see how

narrow-minded you're being these are

just my opinions on politics and music

and I know that it's not the most

popular thing to bring up but I would

love to know your thoughts in the

comment section down below what are some

of your favorite protest songs of all

time maybe something that just has a

political edge to it let me know in the

comments section drop a like on this

video and remember that it's all just my

opinion and really if it goes beyond

that I just I don't want to see people

attacking each other in the comments and

I'm gonna try and moderate them the best

that I can I'll see you soon for more

right here on beyond ar TV