Last Thursday, the band No Age was the musical guest on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."" Their guitarist, Randy Randall, was told that he had to change out of his Obama T-shirt before they recorded. After the band got upset, CBS threatened not to let them perform on the show, and eventually Randy turned his shirt inside-out and wrote the words ""Free Health Care"" in black magic marker on the inside of his shirt. Although the segment was supposed to air on Oct. 27, CBS moved up the air date to Oct. 9, most likely because the story was leaked on several well-known music blogs and was attracting some significant attention.
I read about this story and, instead of boycotting CBS for their censorship of a musical guest, started researching musicians that supported a specific candidate for the upcoming election. While I easily came up with 50 recording artists and bands that supported Obama, I could only find about six that supported McCain. Two questions came to mind: Why do so many bands support Obama over McCain? And why should I care which candidate some musician supports?
Part of the answer to the first question reflects larger cultural issues. Musicians and artists have long been part of the culture war between the socially conservative and socially progressive elements of society. Artists like U2, Roger Waters, Rage Against the Machine, the Dixie Chicks and Public Enemy have used their music to critique society's treatment of war, consumerism and racism. Musicians have most commonly associated with the Democratic Party because it is generally more interested in the same social issues as musicians. But even beyond the cultural association, I think Obama has a message that resonates with musicians and artists even more than other Democratic candidates. His message of hope and change and musicians' social critiques can be seen as two sides of the same coin. Musicians highlight the problems they see in society, and Obama's vision is to change the way our society handles those problems.
The second question is a little more difficult. Why should I care who Nas, Conor Oberst or Ted Nugent wants to be president? Is Macy Gray or Adam Levine an expert on the economy or foreign policy? Is Aaron Tippin an expert on issues surrounding the oil crisis and our relations with OPEC? What makes the Decemberists a better source for political advice than my dad or my neighbor or the piccolo guy on State Street?
As much as I love the Decemberists, and as much as I may agree or disagree with them, I don't think they necessarily provide a ""better"" source of political opinion. They just have a bigger stage. Just because the Beastie Boys have more exposure doesn't mean they have any greater insight than any other informed voter. So, while I support freedom for artists to advocate whatever political candidate they want, I don't think they deserve any special respect because they are famous. Fame may allow them to get their message to more people, but their opinions, just like the opinions of any one else, needs to be seen as such.
In the end, somebody else's opinion won't be the deciding factor in whom I vote for. A guitarist wearing an Obama T-shirt shouldn't have an impact on your political decisions, no matter how good their album is.
Think Dale should drop his own bias and take off that hat? E-mail him at dpmundt@wisc.edu
