Politics and music are mixing unusually well at the moment, just not in the ways we’ve come to expect, says Chris Parkin…
Dorian Lynskey’s fantastic tome about protest music 33 Revolutions Per Minute was a clear reminder that music is the ideal weapon for delivering dissent. And such is its all-pervasive influence on The People, politicians are often at pains to co-opt music, a la David Cameron professing his admiration for The Smiths.
But there’s another interesting development afoot. It seems, after banging their heads against a brick wall, musicians are simply running for office. The following have all taken to the soapbox…
Youssou N’Dour
Senegal’s King of Pop Youssou N’Dour running for President is a little like Paul McCartney campaigning to be PM over here. Only N’Dour has an even better chance than old Mop Top would, what with him being his country’s favourite son and almost no-one having a bad word to say about him. He’s best known in the West for his 1994 collaboration with Neneh Cherry, 7 Seconds, and has been destined for leadership for decades – as far back as 1995, the country’s youth were sloganeering “Youssou President”. We’ll find out at the end of February if fulfills it or not.
John Huntsman
The Republican candidate who limped through the recent Iowa caucuses hasn’t always been a stuffy politician. Back in high school, he played keys for a band with one of the most traditionally wyrd-sounding out-there names in progressive rock ’n’ roll: Wizard. So they were never as ear-scorchingly brilliant as Electric Wizard, and they had to change their cover of Eric Clapton’s Cocaine to Propane to suit their Mormon-heavy audiences. But it has given him a good grounding in performing, which is a pre-requisite in US politics. Also he’s the only politician who performs a rendition of the Peanuts theme when on the campaign trail. This may or may not have something to do his proposed welfare policies.
Jón Gnarr
Reykjavik’s mayor is only a sometime musician – comedy, satire and anarchism are more his bag – but he did travel with Björk’s old band The Sugarcubes and alongside him in the party he chairs, the Best Party, is former Sugarcube Einar Orn Benediktsson. The rest of the group is comprised of local punk musicians, writers and artists, and their manifesto has included putting more polar bears in the zoo and making all politicians watch The Wire. They also make their own campaign videos…
Dave Rowntree
This lesser-spotted Blur member is a modern renaissance man of sorts: drummer in one of the UK’s finest combos, animator, solicitor, pilot… and would-be Member of Parliament. The Britpop sticksman confused all and sundry in 2008 when he contested the Conservative seat of Cities of London and Westminster on behalf of Labour. His election pamphlet bore the legend: “My name is David Rowntree, and as well as being the drummer in the band Blur, I am your local Labour candidate”. He didn’t win (he’s the one in the back of this video…).
Screaming Lord Sutch
Probably the most famous of all political musicians is David Edward Sutch – or Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow. He led the Official Monster Raving Loony Party from 1983-99. But what a lot of people didn’t realise was that he was one of rock ’n’ roll’s more creditable nearly-rans, fronting a series of schlocky garage-rock bands, recording with Joe Meek and inspiring such bands as the Horrors, who covered his finest moment on their debut EP. His tactics were wonky but he caused a much-overlooked stir in UK politics.
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- AWOLNATION's Not Your Fault music video
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