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Sex Pistols, the Queen, and the Olympics

May 1st, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in Punk | Sex Pistols | UK News - (0 Comments)

The Sex Pistols have been in the news recently in connection with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, and the Olympic Games. Plans are underway to re-release the Pistols’ God Save the Queen, originally released in 1977 during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee events.

The song caused huge controversy, both for the defaced image of the Queen on the cover, and for its lyrics, which include “God Save the Queen / A fascist regime”; despite a ban by the BBC, the record managed to get to number two in the charts. This time round the song is likely to be up against a special Jubillee song of celebration written by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and pop singer Gary Barlow, do to be released at the end of May; perhaps this time the Pistols will get to number one!

The Sex Pistols are also in the news after they declined to take part in the Olympic ceremonies, along with various other acts. The Olympic authorities wanted to censor Pretty Vacant by not allowing Johnny Rotten to sing the word “vacant” with his usual slight variation on the final syllable!

Bob Dylan Awarded Medal of Freedom

April 30th, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in Bob Dylan | North America - (0 Comments)

Bob Dylan has been awarded The Medal of Freedom, the USA’s highest civilian honour; he will receive the award from President Obama in a few weeks time. The White House statement announcing the awards says

Bob Dylan. One of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century, Dylan released his first album in 1962.  Known for his rich and poetic lyrics, his work had considerable influence on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and has had significant impact on American culture over the past five decades. He has won 11 Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award.  He was named a Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Art et des Lettres and has received a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation.  Dylan was awarded the 2009 National Medal of Arts.  He has written more than 600 songs, and his songs have been recorded more than 3,000 times by other artists.  He continues recording and touring around the world today.

Toni Morrison will also receive the Medal of Freedom at the same ceremony. So … from Chimes of Freedom in 1964 (with its bells “Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake / Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an’ forsaked / Tolling for the outcast, burnin’ constantly at stake” and “for the aching whose wounds cannot be nursed / For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse” to, from the American government’s Medal of Freedom in 1912 … there’s a thesis waiting to be written about that! Chimes of Feedom has been covered by many singers, including a powerful version from Bruce Springsteen.

Song Protest in Defiance of Breivik

April 29th, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in Europe - (0 Comments)

Crowds of many thousands flocked to Norwegian city centres on Thursday 26th April to protest against mass murderer and extreme right wing fanatic Anders Breivik and everything he adheres to. The main vehicle of their demonstration was song. In Oslo Norwegian artist Lillebjoern Nilsen led an estimated crowd of 40,000 in singing the 1970s peace song Children of the Revolution;

the song is based on Pete Seeger’s My Rainbow Race;

Janey Buchan Memorial Event Images

April 23rd, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in Janey Buchan Political Song Collection | UK News - (0 Comments)

Following a very successful and enjoyable event on the 13th April at Partick Burgh Hall to celebrate the life of Janey Buchan, Edwin Moore has put some images of the event on his Blog, including some of the display about the Janey Buchan Political Song Collection, curated by me at the School of Culture and Creative Arts, University of Glasgow. To check out Ian’s piece, go to his blog at
http://glasgowalbum.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/remembering-janey-buchan.html

Please note – There will more news about the Collection, and accessing lists of materials held, over the next few weeks.

Protest Song from Wakefield Cathedral

April 21st, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in England - (0 Comments)

VAT Ditty, written and performed by Pamela Greener has been created to protest at the U.K. Government’s measure to charge VAT on renovation work being carried out on listed buildings, in this case Wakefield Cathedral where renovations have been ongoing for four years, but now have been halted because of lack of funds to take account of the VAT imposition, announced in the recent Budget. As the song makes clear this move is anti-community, ironic given that it is being pursued by a government which has made so much of its “Big Society” propaganda – to which it pays such huge lip service, but in fact acts against in so many ways.

Anti-Capitalist Roadshow Gigs

April 19th, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in Anti Cuts & Financiers | England - (0 Comments)

The Anti-Capitalist Roadshow: Celebrating Subversion and Republicanism is touring various venues commencing 21st April. Each show features a host of top performers drawn from a pool of singer/songwriters renowned for their activism and campaigning – including Frankie Armstrong, Peggy Seeger, Leon Rosselson, Roy Bailey, Rob Johnson, Reem Kelani, Sandra Kerr, Ian Savile, Grace Petrie and Janet Russell.

By the way – Whilst checking out Reem Kelani’s website I came across what I think is one of the best summations of the power of song I have yet seen. Reem recalls a conversation she had with an Armenian man whose parents died in the Armenian Genocide. ‘He said: “You can burn a book, you can burn a piece of antique furniture, but our music, our songs, our poetry, you can’t burn; it travels, it goes everywhere”.’

Donald Trump Does Bohemian Rhapsody

April 3rd, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in Anti Donald Trump | Scotland - (0 Comments)

Following up an earlier news item on this blog, I have now been sent a link to the completed satirical music and song video about Donald Trump (whose actions to establish a golf course near Aberdeen have been described by Brian May as ‘a horrible example of bullying the defenceless by a rich man who apparently can buy anyone or anything he wants’).

Following permission from Brian, the song adapts Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to great effect; as the introduction to the video puts it “This is a story of destruction and greed, a story of lies and treachery, of how one man has used power and money … in his [Trump] battle for The Great Dunes of Scotland”.

Donald Trump does Bohemian Rhapsody from Hazel Cameron on Vimeo.

ILL Manors from Plan B

March 28th, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in England | Rap - (0 Comments)

Plan B (Ben Drew) has released Ill Manors, a rap that many commentators are heralding as one of the greatest protest songs for years. The song deals with the riots in England last August, and with the underlying problems of social alienation, exclusion, and the hopelessness and anger felt by many young people in the sick manors (inner city areas and housing schemes). Plan B explains his thinking behind the song (and soon to be film of the same name) in an interview with BBC1Xtra. One of his comments seems particularly insightful:

I’m not trying to condone what happened during the riots. It disgusted me. It made me sick. It saddened me more than anything because those kids that was rioting and looting they’ve just made life 10 times harder for themselves. They’ve just played into the hands of what certain sectors of Middle England think about them.

The lyrics are a clever and effective mix of angry and violent rants, such as:

Truth is here, we’re all disturbed / We cheat and lie its so absurd / Feed the fear that’s what we’ve learned / Fuel the fire / Let it burn”, together with critiques of specific issues; the sarcasm of We got an eco friendly government / They preserve our natural habitat / Built an entire Olympic village / Around where we live without pulling down any flats

seems especially apt and timely, whilst other parts of the rap raises questions about government cut programmes being a significant part of the problem:

Who closed down the community centre? / I kill time there used to be a member / What will I do now until September? / Schools out, rules out / get your bloody tools out / London’s burning, I predict a riot / Fall in fall out / who knows what it’s all about / What did that chief say?

Pussy Riot Song Protest in Red Square

March 5th, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in Europe | Punk - (0 Comments)

Eight members of an anarchic punk band have been arrested in Moscow and charged with public order offences as a result an impromptu performance of an anti-Putin song, prefaced by a chant of “Riot in Russia”. The radical feminist group, Pussy Riot, usually performing in balaclavas, has gained both influence and notoriety following a number of performances over the past few months in a range of venues, including city squares, the Moscow metro and on a bus. One of the group’s members, Garadzha, stated

We are against Putin, against the regime. We wanted to show that this can happen in Russia, that there are girls who are active, who can do things like this.

Staff Halt Performance of Hitler’s Favourite Opera

February 7th, 2012 | Posted by John Powles in Europe | Opera - (0 Comments)

Staff objections have led Berlin’s biggest opera house, the Deutsche Oper, to drop plans to perform Hitler’s favourite opera. The opening night was to be April 20th, Hitler’s birthday. Wagner’s Rienzi (Last of the Tribunes) was said by Hitler to be a major influence on his political thinking. Rienzi is set in Rome and is based on the life of Cola di Rienzi (1313–1354), a medieval Italian populist figure who succeeds in outwitting and then defeating the nobles and their followers and in raising the power of the people.

The actual impact of the opera on Hitler has been widely debated, but certainly there are clear affinities between the plot and Hitler’s actions; one commentator Thomas Grey has very interestingly stated “In every step of Rienzi’s career – from … acclamation as leader of the Volk through military struggle, violent suppression of mutinous factions, betrayal and … final immolation – Hitler would doubtless have found sustenance for his fantasies.”