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War and the Music Business
The Revolution WILL be televised, now that we have a sponsor.
By Moses Avalon, Musicdish.com

"But I thought Oceania was our ally and we were at war with Euraisa," said Smith. "No, Smith," said the comrade, "We are at war with Oceania. We've always been at war with Oceania. Don't you read the papers?"
--George Orwell's, 1984 (paraphrased)

It is a forgone conclusion that a "news" organization as laterally integrated into big business as CNN, will minimize the coverage of efforts against US aggression in the Middle East. This past Thursday night 5000 people blocked LA's streets in protest, and two weeks back anti-war demonstrations around the world amassed numbers of people that toppled attendance from the 1960s. Yet nary a word was heard on CNN. Against the 24/7 battle coverage, they allocate only several minutes an hour for blurbs about protestors. One commentator apologized for offending viewers while covering a demonstration story. But, who would have thought that Rock and Rap stars, the icons of rebellion, would be joining CNNs anti-war black out.

Several months back, when the war with Iraq was only in the campaign stages, I was speaking at a Nashville music conference. Since Nashville purports to be the songwriting capital of the country, I asked how many songwriters there were in the room. More than three-quarters, of about 250 people, raised their hands. I then asked how many had written a song expressing their feelings about the war with Iraq. Only four hands remained.

I was more than a little saddened.

There was a time in the country's history, not so long ago, when people in our industry used their collective and creative power to make a strong statement about our involvement in a war. It was, not coincidentally, the same time that the music industry flourished and expanded to the point where it could support the bloat that it's now, after 30 long years, contracting from. Music was not just a product then. It defined our culture, our fashion and our consciousness. We were in our glory.

We have an opportunity now to recapture that glory. And yet, are the mega Rock or Rap artists stepping up to the plate? Who in the top 40 has released one single about this war? None. And do you know why? It's not because artists have no opinions. We know that they do. It's because the powers that stand as Lord over the music business have completely lost their back bone. They have intimidated their stock of talent (i.e. The Dixie Chicks and their apology for the comment they made about Bush) and reduced themselves to ad-whores, more concerned with offending sponsors than preserving our national honor and the thousands of lives at stake.

With the exception of Bono, the artist formally known as "Cat Stevens" (and let's be real, he ain't exactly in the main stream anymore) Charlie Daniels and John Cougar, I haven't heard of any major Rock or Rap artists getting loud on the war in Iraq. Cougar? Daniels? Hey, I dig their beat, but I can think of a few others who inspire deeper feelings on both sides of the issues: Bob Dylan and Ted Nugent to pick two extremes. System of a Down and Beastie Boys both have anti-war videos on their websites, but the fact that stars of this caliber can't get their record companies to do a proper release, tells you something disturbing.

What's the matter label people? Do we need to have a charity event before anyone has the time to deal with this? "Hands Across Iraq?" "We Are The War." Or how about, "Iraqi AID?" Is there no room next to the rainbow of ribbons on your lapel for just one more bow? Has the pile of money you have made off the ideology of the American youth grown so high that you can't see over it?

And as for the artists, I love you guys, but I have this to say: has success made you too damn lazy to insist, and insist hard, that your label put out something besides their annual report? There was a time when you did it without a second thought. Where are this generation's rebels? Selling Pepsi in bare midriffs? They have been suffocated in a fantasy blueprinted from the cinema-satire, Bob Roberts, where a congressman is saving us from the pathological left by singing pro Republican folk-songs. I'm laughing, but I'm not. (Kudos to Tim Robbins for accurately predicting the future.)

I find myself having to thank, of all people, the Material Girl, Madonna, for having the guts to take a stand. She releases a single today called "American Life." I'm told that it's less about war than it is about the effects of capitalism. The video, however, will be anti-war, enough so that there's chatter MTV may not air it. (see: "MTV Bans Peace," below)

My personal views on the war (which are irrelevant to my point) are admittedly conflicted. I have doubts, as do many of us. So, I would like to be able to turn to the poets and pop-philosophers who guided us when our country fought in other controversial campaigns. But, with respect to the small peppering of them, they remain silent. Either most artists are pro war, and are, therefore, keeping their mouth's shut. Or someone is suppressing them from speaking out. Or, they just don't give a damn.

Here is some information that might explain why we're heard very little. Don't be too shocked. With this kind of corporate intimidation we're not likely to hear anything balanced from our beloved rebels.

MTV Bans Peace

An intercepted memo from the MTV Networks Europe office was posted on Velvet Rope (a music industry insider website). I don't know if it's real, but time will tell. Here's what it says:

"In the light of the outbreak of war in Iraq in the last 12 hours, our recommendations for the scheduling and content of videos and programmers are as follows.."

The memo states that any video containing, war, soldiers, war planes, bombs, missiles, riots and social unrest, executions, or other obviously sensitive material, "will be banned from the playlists." Furthermore, songs with words such as, 'bomb, missile, war or other sensitive words in the artist or song title, should not be shown."

The memo goes on to single out some videos by the following artists: System of a Down, Aerosmith, Manic Street Preachers, Bon Jovi, Iggy Pop, Paul Hardcastle, Radiohead, Billy Idol, Trick Daddy, Megadeth, Gavin Friday, B-52s, to name but a few that have landed on the MTV "controversy" radar.

Notably absent from the list are videos that depict urban violence and gangland war. (Guess we can handle that, even though, on an annual average, more Americans die in events related to urban violence than in military theaters.)

MTV Europe's justification for doing this is an ITC regulation that reads as follows: "Not to broadcast material which offends against good taste or is offensive to public feeling."

And I'm thinking, when has that stopped them before?

In addition the memo contradicts itself:

"...the content of each long-form show should be considered before scheduling... we need to ensure that any programme which deals with [the war] does so fairly with each opposing view. It cannot be one-sided... grossly inflated numbers of estimated casualties are to be ignored. Example: an anti-war argument that states the war is bad because 50 million Iraqis will die [should be ignored as] the official estimates are much lower than that."

Naturally, this type of policy will likely curtail any video that has an anti war sentiment, unless that video can happen to convey its message without using the words "bomb," "missile," "war" or make use of ANY war imagery. 

Music Artists of the West, please, for God's sake, wake up and do something. Regardless of your views, let's each do our part to make sure that the public understands what is at stake and is informed on all the issues. That's your job. That's why we patronize your music and your shows and your merchandise. It's your responsibility to be outspoken. That is as much a part of "living the life" as the limos and the fancy hotels. It is as much a part of your "product" as your CD. Perhaps some of us have forgotten that.

We had this attitude once. Let's scrape off some of the bong resin from yesteryear and have it again. Before it's not only MTV Europe taking away your (and our) voices, but ISPs, newspapers and governments. When it comes to rallying a people to a cause, there is no more powerful artform than music.

Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © Tag It 2003 - Republished with Permission