www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,158986,00.html
BACKGROUND The answer, my friend, is in the record sales. Americans are passionate about the War on Terror, and their involvement i s reflected in the Billboard Top 200, where politically charged albums h ave been top sellers in recent weeks.
search) offe ring, "Honkytonk University," while less political and more personal tha n his previous recordings, debuted in the same week and came in second w ith 283,000 copies sold.
But are these albums selling because of their politics, or their musical mettle? Casey Seiler, entertainment editor of Albany's Times Union newspaper, thi nks that when it comes to popular music, it's more about proper packagin g of a message than the message itself.
"You can have a great message and deeply felt political beliefs, and if y ou can't put it into a 3 1/2 minute song, it's not going anywhere," he s aid. "The big casino is an artist who is able to find a mass audience and then bring along a complex, deeply held way of looking at the world, which i s what politics is in its core. That's when you're really playing the bi g game," Seiler added, citing recent releases by Springsteen, whose "Dev ils & Dust" debuted at No.
Green Day, the band formerly known for its adolescent apathy, recently to ok a left turn on the political highway, using their most recent album t o take digs at President Bush. tanks going into Baghdad with splashes of Viagra commercials in between. It comes from that standpoint," Green Day front man B illie Joe Armstrong said in an Associated Press interview. Along with Springsteen, REM and other musicians, Dave Matthews Band em barked on the Vote for Change tour in support of Sen. Its new album, "Stand Up," features a song about getting on with life after Sept. And the album's first single, "American Bab y," urges the United States to return to what made the country great in the first place. "I wasn't editing myself, and I didn't go into writing the lyrics for thi s album with any kind of agenda, but it's on my mind, and I wish it was on more people's minds, that this country, from town to town, is very di vided now," Dave Matthews said in an MTV interview. Nine Inch Nails' fourth studio album and first in six years, "With Teeth, " also debuted last month at No. His lyrics often teem with flag-waving American pride and support f or the military. At the recent 40th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, a camouflage-c lad Keith performed "As Good as I Once Was" for a crowd of clapping US troops in Iraq, saying "Welcome to honky-tonk university, y'all. And while they may not be on the best-seller lists (yet), other artists a re trying to get their position on the war known.
search), the former lead singer o f the group Highway 101, returned to Nashville six weeks ago to record t he song, "Thank You Vets." Carlson said the inspiration for her song was her brother Gary, a Vietnam veteran now suffering a debilitating illness contracted during his tour of duty; the song will open the Operation Homecoming USA concert in Bra nson, Mo, on June 13. "It's the national homecoming we never gave our Vietnam vets," she said o f the concert.
search), fre sh off a tour of Iraq, has been playing free concerts for soldiers here and overseas. "I'm a big supporter of the military," Daniels said recently. "I can't ca rry a rifle, but I can carry a guitar and a fiddle." Daniels is known for his song "This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag," which bec ame a country hit after Sept. As far as music sales go though, experts say it's more about the quality than politics. System of a Down, known for their boundary-free musical experimentation a nd erratic heavy metal sound, has earned remarkable reviews alongside it s chart-topping numbers. Newsday's Glenn Gamboa called "Mezmerize" "one of the most inventive, uni que albums in years," while Rolling Stone's David Fricke dubbed the albu m a "thrilling confrontation, a graphic reflection of a nation tearing i tself apart in anger, fear and guilt." Shock value also adds allure, according to Andrew Katchen, a freelance mu sic writer for the New York Daily News.
on 'Saturday Night L ive' scream swear-words loudly into the camera, they'll go out and get t hat record. System guitarist Daron Malakian snuck an F-bomb through the live broadcas t during a May performance.
Indeed, System's members hesitate to attribute their success to their pol itics. "We do say things that are on our minds, but most of what we say is from a social perspective more than a political perspective," singer Serj Tan kian said in an AP interview. "Even though we have things that we touch upon, you know, social issues or political issues, it's a small percenta ge of what we do, compared to personal narratives, songs about life, the ories, sex, humor." Keith also embraces Tankian's disdain for being labeled a political artis t, though he's learned to accept it. "I get brushed with this big, gigantic red, white and blue brush. That these artists from both sides of the political aisle are selling wel l shouldn't really come as a surprise; a look back at the charts of the 1960s will uncover innumerable Vietnam War-inspired songs. "Do we still listen to songs like (Bob Dylan's) 'Blowin' In The Wind' bec ause they crystallize a political moment, or because they have great rif fs, lovely melodies and wonderful vocals?"
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