Chrissie Hynde and Neil Young: Rock of the Aged Protesters | National Review

Chrissie Hynde & Neil Young
The Pretenders Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Neil Young - 2005
(Click photo to enlarge)
A rather provocative article on the politics of Chrissie Hynde and Neil Young.

Claiming that Neil Young is a "rock-and-roll bully" and Chrissie Hynde is "an American pragmatist with a heart of gold", the article Neil Young and Chrissie Hynde: Rock of the Aged Protesters | National Review by Armond White hits all sorts of discordant notes.

The setup is Neil Young's "Open Letter to Donald Trump" saying: ‘You Are a Disgrace to My Country’ and Chrissie Hynde's tweet to President Trump on Julian Assange's extradition.

From Neil Young and Chrissie Hynde: Rock of the Aged Protesters | National Review by Armond White:

Both artists stepped outside their usual medium of the rock-and-roll record that brought them fame; their passion and creativity won our attention and instilled our fondness. Politics is not what we want from them, though, except in compelling tunes that describe the human condition and sustain our moral beliefs. Who doesn’t like “Heart of Gold” and “Brass in Pocket”? Who can resist the former’s sensitivity or the latter’s scintillation?

Pop music no longer represents the counterculture. Rolling Stone magazine hasn’t caught on, but it’s time that rock-and-roll politics change and shift.

Only the recent antagonism in current affairs of state could cause crowd-pleasers Young and Hynde to draw such startling political contrasts and reveal their divergent, individual styles. Pop artists are not role models so much as bellwethers of human potential, and though it’s usually best to ignore their off-stage actions, the two musicians’ difference in behavior can reveal our moral and political options.

National Review's White suggests that both Hynde and Young work their messaging on liberal or conservative audiences and that "Hynde trumps Young because her middle-American brashness instills a blue-collar noblesse oblige greater than Young’s Canadian guilelessness." It should be noted that author White seems to misinterpret Young's song "Rockin' in the Free World", which is a critique of America under George H.W. Bush. In addition, "Rockin' in the Free World" came out in 1989 on the album Freedom -- not after 9/11/01.

Full article @ Neil Young and Chrissie Hynde: Rock of the Aged Protesters | National Review by Armond White.


Neil Young Inducting The Pretenders @
2005 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony
More on Chrissie Hynde and Neil Young Inducting The Pretenders into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Also, see:

• Politics of CSNY Freedom of Speech Tour
• Lynyrd, John, George & Neil
• Northern Man, Southern Man and The Un-Civil Wars of Donald Trump & Neil Young
• Neil Young Sings Truth to Power
The World Listens
• Will Neil Young's "Living With War" be Rock's "Fahrenheit 9/11"?

Neil Young Speaks Truth to Power
Neil Rocks on CNN

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VIDEO: A Protest Song for Canada: "Politician Man" by Adrian Sutherland

Frame via video for "Politician Man" by Adrian Sutherland

Earlier this year, we posted a cover of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" by the Canadian band Midnight Shine.

As we said at the time, while many may argue that the world really didn't need yet another cover of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold", we begged to differ. Because we say that the world really DOES need another cover of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". Actually many, many more would be a thing of beauty. And if you watched their beautifully, wonderful video cover featuring Cree Indian children in Northern Ontario, you understood.

"It's these expressions I never give
That keep me searching for a heart of gold"
Video frame via "Heart of Gold" by Midnight Shine

(Yes -- it really is all about The Kids, The Children of Destiny.)



The video above is titled "Politician Man", the debut single from Adrian Sutherland, a protest song for Canada. The seeds were planted in July, when his Cree community of Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency over contaminated water. At the same moment, insensitive comments from a politician in Ottawa sparked massive public outcry, a spontaneous response from Sutherland himself, and national media coverage.

Call it uncanny circumstances that lead to the release of a song from Adrian Sutherland (of Midnight Shine). Uncanny timing, too, considering the song’s name, and the fact there’s a federal election just around the corner. Jump ahead to August, when co-writing sessions with musical brothers sparked a song that was important, timely, and totally kickass. One day in September, that song came to life in a recording studio. By the first week of October, a filmmaker was adding his keen artistic eye to the message behind the music.

The result… is Politician Man, released October 17 with accompanying video by Justin Stephenson (director of animation and editor, The Secret Path).

Politician Man was written by Adrian Sutherland, Chris Gormley (The Trews, Daylight for Deadeyes), and Matt Gormley (Daylight for Deadeyes). It was produced and engineered by Carl Jennings at Westmoreland Recording in Hamilton, mastered by João Carvalho in Toronto, and released independently on Sutherland’s record label, Midnight Shine Music.

Politician Man speaks to Canada’s troubled relationship with First Nations. Growing up in an isolated place like Attawapiskat has given Sutherland a unique perspective, while his growing profile as an artist is now giving him a voice. This is his way of taking action, doing something, about the ongoing struggle that Indigenous people face in Canada, while the country takes growing steps toward reconciliation.

“Sometimes reconciliation sounds like an empty word, and it’s frustrating. You keep trying to get ahead, but there are ongoing challenges, one obstacle after another. I have to wonder what I’m doing still living in Attawapiskat, and if anything is ever going to make a difference,” says Sutherland.

“The relationship between Canada and First Nations has been difficult for a long time, and in many ways it still is. Politician Man is about this relationship, and the need for all of us – politicians, chiefs, Indigenous people, all Canadians – to start listening to each other, and take steps together. Let’s move past the blaming and do something. We all need to do our part. That’s what reconciliation is, and the message behind Politician Man.”

When it came time to think about something visual to go with the audio, only one person came to mind. Sutherland’s team approached Justin Stephenson, who saw the vision right away. Stephenson came up with a video treatment that, quite literally, makes Politician Man a song about a country done in a style that pays homage to country songs, while honouring Sutherland’s Cree culture.

"I love the song and believe in the message. I really wanted to do this. Adrian is a real talent and powerful storyteller. He’s the kind of person that makes you want to do something about this difficult history, and makes me, personally, want to be a better ally. In this song, I feel he really speaks to non-Indigenous people in a way that makes you want to step up. My respect for him grows with each pass of the video I make,” says Stephenson, who had only two weeks from concept to completion.

“I knew we’d have footage of Adrian in the studio and used this as the starting point. We wanted to combine his performance with images of Canada, and sought permission from Canadian Geographic to use their Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. It's a beautiful and important map that shows Indigenous territories and communities without provincial boundaries.”

Adrian's family did a translation of the title into Cree syllabics, explains Stephenson: “I was struck by Adrian’s description of the Cree term for ‘Politician Man’ – which he said translates into ‘okimaw-khan’ or ‘voted big boss’. I found this interesting as it takes into account the system of governance imposed by the Indian Act.”

“I added song lyrics using a treatment reminiscent of the rich and inviting visual language of old Nashville music posters, with design embellishments that draw inspiration from Cree floral patterns like those found on the beading on moccasins and mitts.”

SECRET PATH WEEK

Politician Man is being released at the start of Secret Path Week, a national movement commemorating the legacies of Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack, and calling on all Canadians to “Do Something.” Adrian Sutherland will be taking part in several events in the Toronto area:

Ø October 16 – Legacy: A Tribute to Gord Downie (Rose Theatre, Brampton)

Ø October 17 – Artist Ambassador school visit (Toronto)

Ø October 17 – Indie Week media event (Toronto)

Ø October 17 – Legacy: A Tribute to Gord Downie (Burlington Centre for the Performing Arts)

Ø October 18 – Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants online classroom (streaming from Toronto)

Ø October 18 – Gord’s Legacy Concert: The Path of Reconciliation (First Ontario PAC, St. Catharines)

onward
mahalo, pono
namaste
#WT1sWBWO

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Why is our protest music stuck in the past? | Washington Post

Over the years, we here @ TW -- and many, many others -- have tracked the decline of "protest music".

From It’s a brave new world. Why is our protest music stuck in the past? | Washington Post by Chris Richards:

These are wild and anxious times for our wild and anxious planet. So why do the most visible protest songs of the Trump era feel so inert? From the numb thud of “This Is America” to the woke winks on the new Taylor Swift album, contemporary protest pop feels increasingly prominent, deeply unimaginative and embarrassingly insufficient.

As it stands, the two most widely applauded protest anthems of Trump’s presidency are “Love It If We Made It,” by the British band the 1975, and “This Is America,” by Childish Gambino, the nom-du-rap of Hollywood polymath Donald Glover. The former was named the best song of 2018 by Pitchfork in December. The latter won record and song of the year at the Grammys in February. “Love It If We Made It” recites the ugliest global headlines of the past few years while flashing a hopeless smile. “This Is America” holds a mirror up to our violent, racist, violently racist system, then gives a blank shrug.

What are these songs trying to achieve? Both offer hyper-topical verses, flanked by titular refrains that radiate heroic despair — and by setting those feelings of total powerlessness to such patently urgent music, the effect becomes strangely self-canceling. You feel seen, but you also feel small.

So why has "protest music" gone "inert" as Chris Richards contends?

"Ohio", Kent State & Today: Tin Soldiers Still Marching

Obviously -- for us -- the penultimate protest song is Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young 1970 song "Ohio". The song "Ohio" is "perhaps the most powerful topical song ever recorded: moving, memorable, and perfectly timed. But it turned out to signify the end of the era of protest songwriting which had begun with the folk revival rather than a thrilling rebirth", author Dorian Lynskey writes in the book 33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day.

Freedom: Kent State University, Ohio - May 4, 1970 (Click to enlarge full frame & note girl's shirt message)
Neil Young wrote in the liner notes of the Decade album about the song he wrote for CSNY "Ohio": "It's still hard to believe I had to write this song. It's ironic that I capitalized on the death of these American students. Probably the most important lesson ever learned at an American place of learning. David Crosby cried after this take."

Rock's "Fahrenheit 9/11"
Living With War by Neil Young - 2006
In 2006 -- as Gulf War II raged -- Neil Young was urged to deliver another "Ohio" -- a song which helped change public attitudes and marked an important turning point in the Vietnam War. In response to the challenge, Neil Young released the anti-war, protest album LIVING WITH WAR was released to a firestorm of criticism and controversy. Neil Young called the music "Metal Folk Protest" like Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan's.

Upon release, Neil Young stated that he felt compelled to write his new album "Living With War" because he was tired of waiting for young protest singers to pick up the torch.

What followed was an inspired reaction from "younger singer-song-writers" who maintained that they were holding the flame. A provocative article titled Why Neil Young Is Wrong by Stephan Smith-Said has generated a lot of attention. This article resulted in Neil establishing the Songs of Our Times page on the Living with War site, ass well as, a series of concerts called Songs of Protest.


Songs of Protest - Feb. 10th, 2007
Poster by McNevin Hayes
In 2008, the man whose song "Ohio" played a part in helping end the Vietnam war, admitted that "music can no longer change the world". Neil Young made the comment at the Berlin film festival which is screening "CSNY: Deja Vu".


"Music Can't Change World" - Neil Young
2008 Berlin Film FestivalNeil Young's comment that music can't change the world was been met with a pretty strong reaction from around the world.

Many argue that music can change the world while others argue that it never has and never will. Young responded with a post titled "A Song Alone":

"No one song can change the world. But that doesn't mean it's time to stop singing."

"Children of Destiny" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real

Frame from Official Music Video

In 2017, Neil Young + Promise of the Real released a song and video titled "Children of Destiny". From Neil Young News @ Thrasher's Wheat: A Happy New Year for 2018's "Children of Destiny" on the state of today's "Protest Music": The protesting of state sponsored brutality and violence continues, but where are the musical anthems that capture the emotions of our times? From Billboard | 'Fear of Being Blackballed' Prevents Artists From Releasing Protest Music:

Neil Young was so shaken by photos of the four unarmed students killed by military gunfire at Kent State that he wrote "Ohio" for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young right away. By the end of the week, it was playing on the radio. That was 1970. Now, in 2014, outrage over police brutality has become much more widespread, inspiring protests and "die-ins" nationwide for Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two unarmed black men killed in confrontations with cops. Days ago in Brooklyn, two NYPD officers were murdered while sitting in their patrol car. But this year will end without a defining protest song. ... "I think a lot of it is just due to fear of being blackballed and not making a living," Questlove of The Roots told Billboard, referring to the backlash the Dixie Chicks faced in 2003, when Natalie Maines told an audience that the band was "ashamed" that President Bush was from Texas. "We were like, 'Man, if a white woman can lose her career in the United States for speaking up for what's right, then shit, we'll get the electric chair.' I think that was the bottom line. And that just really rendered America silent." 

Neil Young performs "Ohio"
Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America, Miller Park, Milwaukee on October 2, 2010

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"Music Can't Change World" Says Neil: World Reaction

Photo by Markus Schreiber
From the man whose song "Ohio" played a part in helping end the Vietnam war, now admits that music can no longer change the world.

Neil Young made the comment at the Berlin film festival which is screening "CSNY: Deja Vu".

From Associated Press story by GEIR MOULSON:

"I think that the time when music could change the world is past. I think it would be very naive to think that in this day and age.

I think the world today is a different place, and that it's time for science and physics and spirituality to make a difference in this world and to try to save the planet."

There's been quite a reaction to Neil's observation.

Commenting on Neil's remarks, Mother Nature On the Run said:

Did I read that right?

Music has always served as the catalyst for change ... the musician who provides the message in many cases is like a teacher we don't appreciate until we look back and see how they directly impacted our lives ...

What quickly precipitated change in the Nam years was the public's strong reaction to the deaths of the young people caught in the protest crossfire on campuses throughout the US ... do we really want to see our kids being shot down on the college campus today by orders from their own president? No. This is happening anyway due to a different war we're fighting here in the homeland ....

But don't sell yourself short, you old geezer. How many times has a person come up to you to say, "thanks Neil, for making LWW."

There's your answer.

Consider this ... the increase in activism lead by some very brilliant young people associated with MoveOn & increase in voter registration over the past 8 years from people who typically don't show at the polls ... it is always a few who lead ...

Hell, I got off my fat ass and did something after listening to LWW ... we all did ...

Rock on, Neil!!

Be safe, be careful, and send us a postcard ...

RoseMerry comments The Huffington Post:

If you read a number of biographies, you see that unless the subject dies young, the final chapters are never the best. I love Neil and I am just as prone to fall in the darkness of despair as anyone but the man is so, so wrong. Music has enriched my life and often provided meaning in a life that might otherwise would not have been worth living.

I am so sick of hearing that "today's music does not have the same soul". There are so many great, great young new artists, you just have to look past the noise of the megacorp idols that the Monsters of Distraction want to force feed us. The Wide World Web provides a great bypass of the this monster. Just takes a bit of effort on one's part.

We have changed the world - hey, did you ever think that a black man would win the Presidential primary in George Wallace's Alabama!!! I never dreamed I would live to see that!

This southern man is so glad that Neil Young is and was but he is so wrong in this - as wrong as Lynard Skynard was about his song.

From TakePart Blog Network:

"Neil Young is right. Music can’t change the world but musicians can. There just has to be enough of them working together."

misterbone The Huffington Post:

In the heyday of CSNY, music was one of the few forms by which political messages could be communicated to a mass audience. It was after all a form of entertainment which made it available to radio and television, media which otherwise gave little opportunity for straight political discourse, especially radical discourse beyond the mainstream. Today in the age of round the clock cable television news, the blogosphere, et cetera, music no longer is an indispensable means of mass political communication. However, given its power to reach our emotions, it can still play a role where the message has particular urgency.

From Sexuality in the Arts:

"Whether you agree with Neil Young or not, is not so important.

If you disagree in part with Neil Young, prove him wrong by showing or improving music’s reach and quality of communication to the rest of the world (and more specifically, start with your community and friends).

If you agree with Neil Young, then do what Neil Young does and keep singing, expand into new mediums (he just put his band’s music into a film), and keep speaking out for the things you want to see changed."

From Quark Soup:

"Wow, I'd really like Neil Young to explain how physics is supposed to save the world. It's far from obvious, especially to the physicists."

From TakePart Blog Network Amy V. writes:

"Perhaps it’s true that music and musicians don’t change the world the way they or we like to think they can. But individual people create change every day. Some by teaching, some by protesting, some by volunteering time or money. Sometimes a smile is all it takes to make the difference in another’s day. A song won’t change the world dramatically overnight, but it has to start somewhere, and musicians and their music can still do their part even if it’s not a revolution."

From Stereogum: Pack It Up, You Hippies Marty posted:

"As for whether music still has the power to change the world, I'd argue that it has no more and no less power than it did in the sixties. The only difference is that, with the arrival of the Beatles, several different social movements coalesced around the central point of music. Music wasn't necessarily what changed the world so much as a medium for what the world was going through."

From The Huffington Post mouselion posted:

"Music, as with all art, is not made in a vacuum. You can't separate life from the art. All art, no matter when it was made (and no matter how unwittingly) makes a political statement.

When Neil says, 'it's time for science and physics and spirituality to make a difference in this world' he's ignoring that they've been saying that for a few centuries now and, in fact, the current situation with Iraq (war), Pakistan (nukes), Iran (maybe nukes), terrorism, energy consumption and global warming is because 'we' put 'our' faith in science and technology. What ever happened to 'When the aimless blade of science slashed the pearly gates'?!

And, as far as spirituality -- whose version of spirituality? Another blogger today wrote of the need of a spiritual awakening. Seems like that also plays into the problems of today. Somebody's grasping at enlightenment eventually caused subsequent followers to hate somebody's grasping at enlightenment.

So, for 'science and physics and spirituality' to make a difference in the world, it takes vision. To communicate that vision, it takes art (which includes web design, blogs, and even 'objective' news media).

So, sorry Neil, you're not off the hook on that. And, neither are the rest of us...

From The Huffington Post by ArmchairNihilist:

"Give Neil credit for not capitulating to hippie sentimentality about 'the power of music' and such nonsense. The power to change the world could be in people's hands--IF they would choose to seize it, and if they'd sacrifice some of their comforts in pursuit of the common good. Alas, our narcissistic, individualism-uber-alles, winner-take-all spectator American society thinks it's just a matter of sitting around, waiting for the pendulum to swing back toward center. I'd say our 'progress' toward fascism is about 45% complete."

Neil Young Still Doesn't Get It | Future Majority:

"... music and culture continue to have a vital role to play. One song may not be able to change the world anymore, but hundreds and thousands of songs by as many artists, supported by fans that are smart and organized can. Neil Young should stop singing laments for activism of the past, and channel his anger and frustrations into aiding these new artists and activism models that are in part following in his footsteps."

Beyond the Art Fair: Neil Young is Feeling Bad:

"If we give up on the idea that that music or art will not repair what's wrong in this world, then we have lost our world.

It's not naive to think that art will change the world, Neil. It's naive to think we CAN'T."

Paz3 comments on The Huffington Post:

Sorry Neil, but I have to tell you that many of us over 40s (I'm 66) who work in non-profit social service are very familiar with your work, and it helps a lot of us keep going.

One of our particularly dedicated and inspiring staff members has "Rust Never Sleeps" scrolling across his PC monitor screen as a screen saver. That's just one example, among many. Also, quite a few of us in this work are big U2 fans.

Small change, maybe, and maybe we are mostly keeping our fingers in the dike, but remember that human beings learn most effectively via eaxmple.

Don't sell yourself short, Shakey.

This whole reaction is similar to that when Neil commented that he made "Living With War" because today's musical generation wasn't which resulted in an open letter to Neil Young by musician Stephen Smith which in turn resulted in the Songs Of The Times web page.

Lastly, many blogs site this video "Yes We Can" by will.i.am as an example of music possibly changing the world.



UPDATE: 2/11/08 - "I will keep on singing": Neil Reacts to Reaction.

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SONGS OF PROTEST 3: An Evening with the Songwriters Featured at Neil Young's Living With War Site

Poster by McNevin Hayes
Following up May's Songs of Protest concert in Los Angeles comes word of a third concert.

Neil Young has been using his reputation as a songwriter/performer and his fascination with new technology as tools to promote protest song writing and performing. His website Living with War Today features downloadable protest songs written and performed by songwriter/performers from all over the world.

Responding to letters to the LWW site urging Young to take the best songwriters on tour , songwriter/recording artist Cindy Lee Berryhill has organized a series of "Songs of Protest" shows featuring songwriter/performers whose work can be heard at the Living with War Today website. The first and second of these shows have been at the Largo nightclub in the Fairfax region of Los Angeles.

The upcoming "Songs of Protest" show (third in the series) will be on Saturday evening August 4th, and will feature songwriter/performers Berryhill and Tim Easton, Victoria Williams, Joel Rafael, The Truckee Brothers and more.

Where: Largo, 432 North Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036, Phone (323) 852-1073.

For details, email cindyleeberryhill@hotmail.com

More on Songs of Protest 2 and photos.

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