James Dean Bradfield

Decent little piece in The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jul/26/james-dean-bradfield-im-not-sure-musicians-telling-people-who-to-vote-for-helps

This caught me eye:

What do you think of punk-rock bands today, like Idles, who talk about politics onstage?

I think there’s been a generational shift. I never felt we were qualified for it – I remember being criticised for not speaking up about the Iraq war, and saying we wanted to let the songs speak for us instead. It’s not that I think speaking up is wrong – I liked Red Wedge a lot in the 80s – but I’m not sure musicians telling people who to vote for is going to help. It worked for us to talk about books we liked, or artists and thinkers, and excite fans that way. For me to preach about politics right now would be like watching a dad at a disco doing a drop-shoulder move.

It's not so much a problem if the band's audience is an echo chamber and the band can reinforce bias.  But if the audience is a mixed bag then political pontificating from the stage is like spitting in the face of paying customers who might disagree with what they have to say.  You didn't hear Mick Jagger banging the drum for Thatcherism at Stones' concerts because Mick Jagger was a big admirer of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

Really good little video this.

The Kevin Carter part is genius.