Friday, March 12, 2010

What we have here is a failure to listen to the words

What is it about anthemic songs and Republicans? When Ronald Reagan in 1984, and later Bob Dole in 1996, co-opted Born in the USA for their campaigns, it could only have been for the visceral arrangement and the chorus, because the verses didn't exactly have the singer living in that "shining city upon a hill".

British band Muse have been with us for more than a decade now, but only with their latest release, The Resistance, have they cracked the American market. The debut single from that album, Uprising sat at the top of the Billboard Alternative chart from September 2009 to January 2010.



Sayeth Wikipedia,
The song has been interpreted by some to have a libertarian message, and has been used by some in the liberty and Tea Party movements as a popular anthem. The song played as conservative commentator Glenn Beck took the stage at the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference.

One small problem:
Lead singer Matt Bellamy explained: “The lead single, ‘Uprising’, was kind of inspired by the G20 protests which took place last year. I was in London at the time and I saw it all going on outside where I live.”

He added: “I sort of found that whole protest quite inspiring really; just the idea that people just having a good time, putting together a peaceful protest but the police still do their best to make it become violent and I find that quite aggravating. So, that’s what the song’s about.”
(emphasis mine)

I expect Teabaggenführer Beck would point to the quote,
“I sort of wanted to write a song that summed up that feeling like you’ve been done over by people you’re supposed to trust. That’s kind of where the song’s coming from really.”
for some sort of justification, but it's the likes of Beck that have had the trust placed in them by their audience...

...who should be paying more attention to the words, and thinking about just who "the fat cats" of the song actually are.