I enjoyed the cut and thrust of H.P.’s Brexit thread, but at some point it got a bit bogged down in complex political terminology. Tahir made a comment about political postings on a music site, and it made me think of all the different sorts of political philosophy/ideolology/dogma that one can list and how they are a bit like musical genres – over simplified but sometimes helpful as a basic guide to a school of thought/musical form.
Then I thought, I wonder if there is a musical genre for every school of political thought. Could we map them, one to another and say why they match?
I’ll post a few example genres and philosophies in the first comment, as a form of kindling, then step back, and watch to see if the bally thing lights up.
Musical genres
Acid jazz, Americana, Avant-garde, Bebop, Bluegrass, Blues, Boogie-woogie, Country, Disco, Drum and Bass, Dub, Easy listening, Electronic, Folk, Free jazz, Funk, Grime, Hip hop, House, Jazz, Latin, Pop, Soul, Rhythm and blues, Rock, Soul, Swing,
Political philosophies
Anarchism, Capitalism, Centrism, Christian Democracy, Communism, Conservatism, Environmentalism, Fascism, Federalism, Feminism, Leninism, Liberalism, Libertarian socialism, Libertarianism, Maoism, Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Nationalism, Nationalism, Nazism, Neo-Liberalism, Reactionary, Socialism, Stalinism, Third Way, Trotskyism, Zionism
Punk, and more particularly Post Punk comes across as informed by Socialism.
I view it as more liberal than “hard” socialist
You’re thinking of Gang of Four. Singing, dancing Marxists from Leeds. You don’t get that on Britain’s Got Talent.
Gang of Four?
Jenkins, Rogers, Williams and Owen.
Their first release “The Limehouse Declaration” contained some good ideas. But their later work failed to live up to initial promise
Lord Owen’s choppy guitar was pretty influential though.
Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is
I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses *
* changed over the years to “my usual masseuses” / “some organic fruit juices”
The lyrics of that song come back to me regularly. I particularly savour the line –
…and he is reminded that Doctor Robert Oppenheimer’s optimism fell at the first hurdle.
and – never more relevant than now –
The revolution is just a T-Shirt away!
I’m still waiting for the great tulip.
…an early Stephen Fry sketch with Donald Trefusis.
…some trite quote from the collected works of Confucius.
…a walk-on role in a new stage version of The Producers.
…a selection of scenic north Norfolk river cruises.
After Lewisham 1977, we regrouped in a flat somewhere near Tulse Hill. Nowhere near where i lived. No where near the life I lived. A levels coming up. Where am I? Who cares. I’m scared and exhausted. Exhilarated and wired. That music? Neve heard anything like it. It’s calming. A balm. We can win. Julie’s there. She’s smiling. Hands me a can of cider. Sways away from me.
The Mighty Diamonds
I Need A Roof
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7sn9Fd_EAc&list=PL47CDC1AD51E3AFB0
Most of the 70s pre-punk Rock stars all seemed to be Tories. They steered clear of politics but they were definitely Tories. Just like the majority of the people that keep voting them in – they just quietly do it and get on with whatever it is they do. So much so, that I assume outwardly apolitical people are probably right wingers.
So – my Hepworth-esque theory is that artists who have never expressed a political thought in their somgs are probably Tories. Cliff. Elton. Status Quo. People like that.
You couldn’t mistake Roger Waters for a Tory. An arrogant bastard perhaps, but a lefty arrogant bastard.
Indeed – but Rog nails his colours to the mast politically in some of his songs, so I think my rather thin theory lives to fight another day.
I don’t think you can really map genres onto political philosophies in any direct way. For me popular culture, and art more generally, creates a climate and an energy for the exchange of ideas, including political ones. Some instances obviously do this in more interesting ways than others do, but that’s all.
One of my favourite writers in popular fiction is the crime writer James Ellroy. I had already read a couple of his books and enjoyed them before I found out that he espouses certain rightwing views in his interviews (I love the genre of the authorial interview). The reason that didn’t bother me is that he treats characters with views very different to his own quite sympathetically, as one expects from a good writer. On the other hand he pillories out-and-out creeps like J. Edgar Hoover, which is also fine with me.