Friday I posted a music diary to pump everybody up, and enough people got into it I'd thought I'd do it again.
Let's get things started right with "Can't Stop" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Does anybody else still miss Morning Sedition on Air America Radio?
Some of the commenters in my last diary mentioned R.E.M. as good political-angst music. I totally agree, but struggled to find one that's, shall we say, at all upbeat. I settled on "Welcome to the Occupation" and placed it second—as I did on all mix tapes featuring this song—because it appears second on the Document album.
Public Enemy got a few good hits in the comments last time, too. Many of their songs kick ass—"Fight the Power", "Welcome to the Terrordome", "911 is a Joke", etc. In fact, the entire Fear of a Black Planet album is outstanding. But I chose a slightly older-school track, "Rebel without a Pause." This is the song that drove my mom practically insane, and when you listen to the key sample, you'll know why.
I tried this Friday and the video wasn't available anymore. This is a song that if you haven't heard, you'll want to listen to it a couple of times. "The Revolution will not be televised" by Gil Scott-Heron. This is a more "official" video which as a bonus is psychofreakinfunkadelic.
A lot of these references are old ad slogans—"the tiger in your tank," "fights germs that may cause bad breath", "gets rid of the nubs", and so on. The Wikipedia article has a good list. Heron's point, I think, is that constructed (white) culture is not going to tell us what's really going on. The truth comes from the streets. So you can think about it as the duel between the traditional media and the web-based media. I won't spoil the ending lyrics which seal the deal.
Kicking it down a notch, here's the always politically outspoken Bruce Springsteen singing the haunting antiwar ballad "Mrs. McGrath".
This allows me to get on my soapbox about one of my pet peeves: songs that are considered patriotic because they mention the US but are actually critical of it. "Born in the U.S.A." is about Vietnam Vets finding the "support" of the troops a pretty hollow promise when they can't get work. "American Woman" is an antiwar song: "I don't need your ghetto scenes/I don't need your war machine." But you all know this, I'm sure. :-D
Here's one for the fans of classic country. Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson toured as The Highwaymen for a while in the eighties and nineties. Here they are with "Big River", about the Mississippi, which we hope will carry Missouri into the blue column and Al Franken from Minnesota to Washington.
This is a little far afield of political action, but it was brought up in the last diary and the song does groove. Here is Barry White with "Never Gonna Give you Up."
I also now have an excuse to foist upon you one of my favorite covers. Lisa Stansfield earns a nomination for best video enhancement of a song:
The Clash is a band I should have put in the first time, but I just wanted to spread the wealth around. My favorite track by them is "London Calling."
Time to wrap it up. Even though we are proud Americans, we admit the French nearly rival us in patriotism. Here is an American movie making the point. Watch the <it>Marseillaise</it> scene from Casablanca. The clip includes a little more than the song, but you get to watch some great acting and editing.
This scene made Charlie Pierce's list of 162 Reasons it's good to be an American.
Absolute chills every time, especially when the strolling lady guitar player starts hitting the strings like Pete Townshend. And Bogart was supposedly plastered when they filmed it.
He wrote the piece in the aftermath of 9/11, and it's a good read still. Check it out and remember how we felt during that time—unified. It can happen again.
Finally, Stevie Wonder singing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." I grabbed the live performance at the DNC with the MSNBC commentators dancing along. I think this clip embodies the campaign: the entire stadium was excited, optimistic, and ready to change the world.
Contrast that with the RNC's massive video flag and "actual responsibilities" sneer. We have a righteous wind at our back.
That's it for now. Let me know in the comments which ones you like and any I've missed. (for some reason, I can't get polls to work: the only button avaiable to me is "Remove" and that seems counterproductive). Don't worry: I saved some good ones for an election day playlist. Now get off the computer and GOTV!