Wednesday, September 08, 2004
They Can't All Be The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
Salon had a piece a little while ago by their mildly annoying music critic ("mildly" only by the standards of other music critics, of course) in which he reviewed a series of modern protest songs. A buncha free music to download, which is nice, but most of it really sucks. Dan Bern sucks. Billy Bragg has written better ones. So have Sonic Youth. Really, sadly for our generation, wherever you draw the line, the best one is by old folkie Loudon Wainwright III. It's worth a listen -- especially if you are Dan Bern (or worse, the excoriable Chan Poling) and want to know what anti-Bush songs should sound like. And if either of you are reading my blog, Dan -- you're not Elvis Costello or Billy Bragg. You're not even English. And Chan -- spell your fucking name right and stop crying, you big baby.
Actually, that wasn't entirely accurate. Anti-Bush songs should sound more like anti-Thatcher songs. That is, filled with unimaginable bitterness and bitchy clever-dickery. Or just some ska.
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Actually, that wasn't entirely accurate. Anti-Bush songs should sound more like anti-Thatcher songs. That is, filled with unimaginable bitterness and bitchy clever-dickery. Or just some ska.
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