What music is good for these days?

[Renew Deal]

I think some of the early 80's punk and hardcore fits these times well.

Reagan Youth
Dead Kennedy's
Mission of Burma


What else is going to be in your CD player for the upcoming election cancellation, warmongering?

[AlCzervik]

1. Just got a new copy

of Ten Years After-a space in time. My favorite song is I'd love to change the world.

[Mojambo]

2. I find myself gravitating back to Phil Ochs

He was one of the many in Chicago in 1968 and I just know his spirit will be in New York in 2004.
His songs hold up VERY well these days.

[BigMcLargehuge]

3. Iron Maiden: Piece of Mind

that's what'll be in my playlist on election night.

[liberal72]

4. Rage Against the Machine baby!

n/t

[Renew Deal]

6. Circle Jerks, System of a Down

Rage had it right too.

[amber dog democrat]

5. Bluegrass

or sea chanties.

[sundog]

7. Ravi Shankar

The whole planet needs some serious meditation B-)

[Hailtothechimp]

8. Mellencamp's "Pink Houses" is very fitting for these times

The cool, almost hypnotic guitar riff grabs your attention from the first note. The lyrics are then delivered by a real storyteller:

There's a black man
With a black hat (or cat??)
Livin' in a black neighborhood
He's got a interstate
runnin through his front yard
you know he thinks he's
got it so good.

And there's a woman
in the kitchen
cleanin' up the evenin' slop
and he looks at her
and he says "hey darlin'
I can remember when you could
stop a clock"

But ain't that America
for you and me?
Ain't that America
something to see, baby?
Ain't that America,
the home of the free, yeah?
Little pink houses
for you and me.

And then the guitar starts to build on into the next verse

Well there's a young man
in a t-shirt
listenin' to a rock and roll station.
He's got greasy hair
and a greasy smile.
He says Lord, this must be
my destination.

Because they told me
when I was younger
said boy, you're gonna be president.
But just like everything else
those old crazy dreams
just kinda came and went.

By the time the refrain is repeated again and the solo kicks in, the song is in high gear. The background singer is clearly into it as well. It's a jam at this point. Then they bring it down for the third verse.

Well there's people
and more people.
What do they know, know, know?
Go to work in some high rise
And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico.
Oooh yeah.

And there's winners
and there's losers.
But there ain't no big deal.
'Cause the simple man, baby
pays the thrills,
and the bills,
and the pills that kill.

By the end of the next refrain, and Mellencamp's final "little pink houses, baby, for you and me....oooooooooo" and the final notes on the guitar, the song crescendos to a abrupt and satisfying conclusion.

Great tune, and a great message. I think it fits John Edwards' "two Americas" theme really well. It praises the theory of America, but shows that most of us don't get more than a humble little bit of it. And I think John Edwards, although I don't know if he ever had a greasy smile, could be the "young man in a T-shirt" in verse two. Not any more, of course, but once upon a time in Robbins, North Carolina I could see it.

[bobthedrummer]

9. The Blues.

eom

[liberal72]

10. Also Faithless' single "Mass Destruction."

n/t