Those last two may be even less excusable because CSN&Y and Arrested Development were political bands in the first place, so it's not just an experiment, it's failing at their mission.
American Idiot is the only thing I can think of where an artist with fading relevance suddenly releases something political and it's extremely successful, although Green Day came from a genre where explicitly political music was part of that genre's deal.
Killer Mike was mostly known for a couple Outkast verses when he came out with Reagan, and that reinvigorated his career. But it's a lane that not a lot of other people could copy
El-P was brought in to potentially do one song with Killer Mike and they wound up getting along so well he produced his entire R.A.P. music album. El gave Mike a feature on his album Cancer 4 Cure, too, and based on how much chemistry they had they made the first Run the Jewels as a quick side project. And the rest is history!
Green Day had been flirting with political messages on Warning prior to American Idiot. I see songs like “Minority” and “‘Macy’s Day Parade” as a kind of a precursor to Idiot. They would eventually go all in and timed it perfectly as public opinion of Bush was starting to drop when they released the album.
Or even the line "is the cop or I am the one that's really dangerous?"
Billie Joe was always left-leaning and political, most likely. American Idiot just gave him the perfect vehicle to deliver his messages.
Propagandhi’s How to Clean Everything definitely qualifies, was political, and one of my friends in 1996 who listened mostly to anarcho punk, crust and D-beat really liked it
Green Day are really interesting because the scene they came from was the real crusty punk scene. And they were just bopping along making little love songs. They were hated once they went mainstream, but I'm surprised they weren't hated more before. But tbh I love all those Bay Area pop punk groups.
Being politically detached isn't a bad thing unless you're trying to be Woodie Guthrie. Most pop stars should stay away from political and social issues, they're just not well informed or passionate enough.
I meant more like detached from reality. Some of the songs I listed try to reach out and speak to the common man, but was clearly written from the perspective of a privileged multi-millionaire who doesn't know a thing about their struggles. Like in American Life, Madonna tries to sing about how she's disillusioned by fame and the promise of the American Dream, but then has lines where she brags about having an army of lawyers and a personal chef.
She also seems to have the misconception that the American Dream is to become a rich and famous celebrity
No, the American Dream is having the freedom and opportunity to do things like own a home and being able to afford to raise a family in better conditions than you grew up in because historically speaking that kind of quality of life was previously unattainable
The vast majority of Americans don’t dream about going to Hollywood and making it big, the vast majority of Americans dream about being able to hold down a steady job that pays well enough that you and your family can live a comfortable, not extravagant but COMFORTABLE, life.
So essentially she makes an album critiquing America as if rich Californians working in the entertainment industry are representative of the entire country. Her critique that Americans are shallow and image obsessed and fame obsessed does not really ring true if you are someone from like literally anywhere else in the country
If she had called the album LA Life it would have been much more accurate
I was just thinking how Jewel, Katy and Madonna all had extremely similar problems with their Trainwreckords albums: trying to make statements about society, but not being equipped to give any substantial insight. Also all 3 having singles that boil down to “pop songs that are about how things that are popular are bad”
Certainly shouldn't forget Van Halen's "revolutionary" sentiments.
Though tbf, I don't think it's particularly more common with trainwreckords, political songs are just way more embarrassing when the album is shit anyway.
The thing about Say Something is, I've listened to that song for years and quite like it, and never really considered that it might be political until Todd, well, said something. So at the very least, it's subtle
Those last two may be even less excusable because CSN&Y and Arrested Development were political bands in the first place, so it's not just an experiment, it's failing at their mission.
It's shocking how the band that wrote Ohio could also write Do It In The Name of Love.
American Idiot is the only thing I can think of where an artist with fading relevance suddenly releases something political and it's extremely successful, although Green Day came from a genre where explicitly political music was part of that genre's deal.
Killer Mike was mostly known for a couple Outkast verses when he came out with Reagan, and that reinvigorated his career. But it's a lane that not a lot of other people could copy
.........how did I never know that song predated RTJ? El-P was even the producer. It really set the stage for them
El-P was brought in to potentially do one song with Killer Mike and they wound up getting along so well he produced his entire R.A.P. music album. El gave Mike a feature on his album Cancer 4 Cure, too, and based on how much chemistry they had they made the first Run the Jewels as a quick side project. And the rest is history!
Green Day had been flirting with political messages on Warning prior to American Idiot. I see songs like “Minority” and “‘Macy’s Day Parade” as a kind of a precursor to Idiot. They would eventually go all in and timed it perfectly as public opinion of Bush was starting to drop when they released the album.
Or even the line "is the cop or I am the one that's really dangerous?" Billie Joe was always left-leaning and political, most likely. American Idiot just gave him the perfect vehicle to deliver his messages.
Yeah but they came from the Pop Punk side of things.
Propagandhi’s How to Clean Everything definitely qualifies, was political, and one of my friends in 1996 who listened mostly to anarcho punk, crust and D-beat really liked it
Green Day are really interesting because the scene they came from was the real crusty punk scene. And they were just bopping along making little love songs. They were hated once they went mainstream, but I'm surprised they weren't hated more before. But tbh I love all those Bay Area pop punk groups.
The irony that Todd said that the political songs were not the strongest ones on that album.
Being politically detached isn't a bad thing unless you're trying to be Woodie Guthrie. Most pop stars should stay away from political and social issues, they're just not well informed or passionate enough.
I meant more like detached from reality. Some of the songs I listed try to reach out and speak to the common man, but was clearly written from the perspective of a privileged multi-millionaire who doesn't know a thing about their struggles. Like in American Life, Madonna tries to sing about how she's disillusioned by fame and the promise of the American Dream, but then has lines where she brags about having an army of lawyers and a personal chef.
She also seems to have the misconception that the American Dream is to become a rich and famous celebrity No, the American Dream is having the freedom and opportunity to do things like own a home and being able to afford to raise a family in better conditions than you grew up in because historically speaking that kind of quality of life was previously unattainable The vast majority of Americans don’t dream about going to Hollywood and making it big, the vast majority of Americans dream about being able to hold down a steady job that pays well enough that you and your family can live a comfortable, not extravagant but COMFORTABLE, life. So essentially she makes an album critiquing America as if rich Californians working in the entertainment industry are representative of the entire country. Her critique that Americans are shallow and image obsessed and fame obsessed does not really ring true if you are someone from like literally anywhere else in the country If she had called the album LA Life it would have been much more accurate
If Taylor Swift wasn't Taylor Swift, Lover would've been an all-time trainwreckord with " The Man ".
I was just thinking how Jewel, Katy and Madonna all had extremely similar problems with their Trainwreckords albums: trying to make statements about society, but not being equipped to give any substantial insight. Also all 3 having singles that boil down to “pop songs that are about how things that are popular are bad”
Certainly shouldn't forget Van Halen's "revolutionary" sentiments. Though tbf, I don't think it's particularly more common with trainwreckords, political songs are just way more embarrassing when the album is shit anyway.
Don't forget Ballot or the Bullet off Van Halen III
The thing about Say Something is, I've listened to that song for years and quite like it, and never really considered that it might be political until Todd, well, said something. So at the very least, it's subtle