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[theinevitable]

I have been listening to this compilation of Iraqi folk music lately. And there is this one guy on there, Ja'afar Hassan, who does this crazy Iraqi-folk-rock stuff with really cool guitar that's a mix of crazy Iraqi folk music and more american-style folk-rock stuff (Byrds-ish). Looking up stuff about him on the internet... it ends up he was a propagandist for Saddam. his songs are all about how it's time for a change and Saddam will save us or whatever. except for, you know, this one which has a lot of lines about "Filistiniyaat" (Palestinians) which I worry about for a different reason. At the same time, I don't really know most of what he is saying (except the occasional word that pops out-- "he's... he's saying that something happened at night. wait, I think now he said something about a neighbor?"), so I am basically just appreciating the cool middle-eastern-inflected rock music. But it still makes me kind of uncomfortable. What is your opinion of this kind of thing? It occurs to me that a lot of the music I listen to is violent or misogynistic or just generally... nihilistic and negative... and that doesn't really bother me most of the time. But the idea that this guy's stuff is straight-up propaganda is a little too much for me.

Thoughts?

[theinevitable]

oh, yeah, his stuff came out in the late 60's and early 70's.

[Carlos del Vaca]

The song that immediately springs to mind for me is Guns 'n' Roses' "One in a Million."  Muscially speaking, it's a great song, a fantastic fuck*ng song.  And then he sings about "niggers, immigrants and faggots," and I feel uncomfortable.  I've always had a weird dual mindset about that one; I try to enjoy the song without thinking about it too much, but I know I shouldn't.

[robot_god]

When I was a kid, The Wall had me pretty confused.  Does he really want to shoot the queens and the coons and the reds and the jews???  I was like, 'man... that ain't cool.'  But I thought the album was pretty good, so whatever.


At the time, I never understood how people could miss the message of Huck Finn.

[robot_god]

But if there are lyrics that I find morally repugnant, it's definitely 'Spirit In The Sky.'  Not because they are Christian, but because they are so corny.  "I'm gonna go to the place that's the best."  Yeah, Jesus inspires some real poetry, don't he?

[Golfhaus]

But if there are lyrics that I find morally repugnant, it's definitely 'Spirit In The Sky.'  Not because they are Christian, but because they are so corny.  "I'm gonna go to the place that's the best."  Yeah, Jesus inspires some real poetry, don't he?

Norman Greenbaum was actually Jewish, and wrote the song because he saw a gospel performance on TV and said, "Yeah, I can do that. [1]" So his heart wasn't really in it.

[littlefallsmets]

Right-wing warhawk country music makes me want to fill the wells and reservoirs of the South with sterility drugs.

I cannot help it, this is just the feeling it gives me.

Call me nuts but I find supporting the idea of war to be more sickening than any kind of hate speech. Most hate speech, I can write off as ignorant and pity the speaker or... write off as sensationalization and think that the speaker is just cynically grabbing at cash.

But bloodlust, fuck, it is something we all have no matter how good or bad people we are and so it is most important that no one fuck*ng glorifies it.

[Arachno-capitalist]

Well at the time he was writing this crap, S.H. was a Socialist hero of the people.

[Arachno-capitalist]

Right-wing warhawk country music makes me want to fill the wells and reservoirs of the South with sterility drugs.

I cannot help it, this is just the feeling it gives me.

Call me nuts but I find supporting the idea of war to be more sickening than any kind of hate speech. Most hate speech, I can write off as ignorant and pity the speaker or... write off as sensationalization and think that the speaker is just cynically grabbing at cash.

But bloodlust, fuck, it is something we all have no matter how good or bad people we are and so it is most important that no one fuck*ng glorifies it.

So when the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem, plays and glorifies our war of independence... you're just sitting there scowling at lyrics and cursing the founding fathers?
Stuff about how ridiculous LFM sounds that would probably just start some flaming and make me look like a troll when really I just cant believe the stuff he says.

[littlefallsmets]

I don't like the bits about violence and bullshit, certainly.

"God Bless America" is a lot better, a lot more my style, I'll even take the vague religiousity if it means no glorification of bombs and guns and other such hossshit.

EDIT: "This Land Is Your Land, This Land is My Land" is probably the best of such songs.

Also, when the Sadaam songwriter was at his peak, he was the American right-wing's best buddy too. All this "the enemy of my enemy" bullshit turning everyone into enemies over bullshit like oil and Gods and other type monsters.

Back then, he was the good guy because he was fighting Iran and those were the bad guys at the time.

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, water is under us, water is over us.

[Doc]

I always did think the singing about rockets and stuff was a bit odd personally, there's a fair way between that and morally repugnant though.

[Lister]

I can be down with the Star Spangled Banner, 'cause it was written about being able to see our nascent country's flag still flying over our fortress that was being attacked.  I realize that the British didn't see it that way, but it was still an act of defense taking place on our soil.  At least, the lyrics for the verse that we sing.  Some of the later ones are kind of... well.

And I'm not getting into song lyrics that bug me, 'cause there are a lot of them, but I always feel uncomfortable listening to "Captain Jack."

[V-Adore]

I've always felt very uncomfortable about songs in the "woman as helpless appendage of man" pop sub-genre -- you know the ones. Songs about how the singer will be/is crushed without her man -- or, alternately, how she's screwing up the relationship and hates herself but won't just fix it. Thankfully, most of the songs of this sort are aso crap, but The Cardigans' "Lovefool" is the one that I really like and feel terrible about liking.

(The only good side of this is that my mother and I will listen to the Top 40 station and yell together at songs of this sort. "So, she's in love with him, but she's cheating on him and it's killing her inside? There's a solution, lady: DUMP THE OTHER GUY. OR DUMP HIM. Christ, this isn't rocket surgery!")

[Arachno-capitalist]

I've always felt very uncomfortable about songs in the "woman as helpless appendage of man" pop sub-genre -- you know the ones. Songs about how the singer will be/is crushed without her man -- or, alternately, how she's screwing up the relationship and hates herself but won't just fix it. Thankfully, most of the songs of this sort are aso crap, but The Cardigans' "Lovefool" is the one that I really like and feel terrible about liking.

(The only good side of this is that my mother and I will listen to the Top 40 station and yell together at songs of this sort. "So, she's in love with him, but she's cheating on him and it's killing her inside? There's a solution, lady: DUMP THE OTHER GUY. OR DUMP HIM. Christ, this isn't rocket surgery!")

Maybe you would think this genre has reached its catalyst with the recent modern country song "Stay" by Sugarland. As a Dude I cant admit to ever having listened to this song, but I've heard it is good from people that aren't me or other men I know.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Thought of another one:  "You Can Make Them Like You" by the Hold Steady.  I think it's supposed to be satirical, but it comes off as misogynistic.