Originally uploaded by alyssa’s gallery
Ian Brown, the former lead singer with The Stone Roses has a new single out. Illegal Attacks is an anti-war song featuring Sinead O’Connor urging the US and UK governments to “bring the soldiers back home”. The striking thing about the song, to my mind, is its scarcity value.
The War in Vietnam brought us anti-war songs by Glen Campbell (Galveston); Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (Ohio); Edwin Star (War!); Donovan (The Universal Soldier); Steppenwolf (Draft Resister); Billy Joel (Goodnight Saigon); Bruce Springstien (Born in the USA); Jimmy Cliff (Vietnam) Nina Simone (Backlash Blues) and many, many more . Why have the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are as deeply unpopular, not generated a similar body of work?
Tags: anti-war, Ian brown, sinead o'connor, stone roses
August 29, 2007 at 11:32 pm
OK, there are a few other anti-war songs about Iraq and Afghanistan. Billy Bragg wrote Bush War Blues; Mudhoney’s Hardon for War; The Beastie Boys’ World Gone Mad; Bright Eyes’ When the President talks to God
August 29, 2007 at 11:39 pm
and Neil Young (perhaps the only artist to write a song about Vietnam and Iraq) has waded in with Living with War
August 29, 2007 at 11:58 pm
No songs because there is no draft right now. “Anti-war” during Vietnam really was “Anti-Draft”. In 1973, the draft ended and the U.S. converted to an All-Volunteer military. The war went on, but the rallys and the songs faded.
August 30, 2007 at 6:57 am
Because topical music makes for bad art. It may have worked 35 years ago, but now it just makes smart people cringe. Rappers can still pull it off, sometimes though. Check out “Tell the Truth” by Mos Def. Just search ‘mos def’ on you tube and watch the excellent music video. (Note: I think the video is ‘unofficial,’ but it’s excellent.
August 30, 2007 at 11:26 am
Agree with both John and Eric, and in particular the Mos Def tip.
Why doesn’t somebody cover one of the best anti-war songs ever by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band?
“Suppose they give a war and no-one comes” (not to be confused with similarly titled film: Suppose they gave a war and nobody came)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_Coast_Pop_Art_Experimental_Band
August 30, 2007 at 2:57 pm
music is much more spread out then it was 30 years ago. lots of small local bands that no one has heard of plays anti war music.
check out bobby conn and the glass gypsies – specifically “the homeland”
August 30, 2007 at 3:07 pm
here is some video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lmS
November 27, 2007 at 5:43 am
Check out a song I wrote about an American soldier who survives Vietnam, only to lose his son in Iraq. When you open the video, you can view the lyrics by clicking on “more” to the right of the screen.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WnPOk4qeJiA
November 29, 2007 at 6:15 pm
I run a small record label in Florida, EMPulse Records, nearly all of the artists recording right now are writing some type of anti war song. Anti war songs are being written, they’re just not getting played on the radio.