Music and Politics

I'm currently listening to a song called Nineteen. This song is proof that the connection that exists between music and using it as an outlet for political opnion is an old tactic. Within the last six years or so we've heard political statements made through music or by musicians from The Dixie Chicks, Kayne West, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, U2 and many others. What I find interesting is how far back such a practice can go, as this song was released in 1985. The song Nineteen gets its name from the average age of a solider in the Vietnam war. To that being truth, I cannot say "yes" or "no". The techno-ish song has within it dialouge from nightly news broadcats during the war, of which I believe the voice is that of Walter Cronkite. By the songs end a listener clearly gets the idea that this was meant as a piece of "anti-war" music, protesting a past conflict that by '85 was 10+ years past.

It goes to show that King Solomon was right; there is nothing new under the sun.