Rockers unite to oust Bush

[anitram]

From Rolling Stone (read the rest of the article here):

Bruce Springsteen told a crowd of 50,000 New Yorkers on October 4th to "shout a little louder if you want the president impeached." Two weeks later, John Mellencamp posted an open letter to America on his Web site, declaring, "We have been lied to and terrorized by our own government, and it is time to take action." Meanwhile, Moby, Eddie Vedder and Michael Stipe are organizing a TV-ad campaign that will run anti-Bush commercials during the week of the State of the Union address in January; Dave Matthews is railing against the war in Iraq in interviews; and at press time, at least three multiband rock tours planned to take aim at Bush-administration policies. Green Day, NOFX, Tom Morello, Dixie Chicks, Don Henley, Willie Nelson and Steve Earle have all played (or plan to play) for political candidates or causes. Hip-hop stars have also gotten involved. "We have a voice and a responsibility to speak out," says Jay-Z, a member of Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit, which aims to register 4 million voters before the 2004 election. "People listen to us."

 

[AcrobatMan]

i have a feeling bush is actually going to gain from this anti-bushism. the more you become anti-bush, the more decisive people who support bush or are undecided become.

 

[TylerDurden]

i have a feeling bush is actually going to gain from this anti-bushism. the more you become anti-bush, the more decisive people who support bush or are undecided become.

lol....

Umm, I think it really depends on who's talking and what they're saying. If you have the Dixie Chicks throwing up dumb soundbites it's one thing, but if you have American 'legends' like Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson, people will listen.
If some d*ck like Fred Durst or whoever opened their mouth and spat out an incoherent summary of the one paragraph of a Michael Moore interview they've read then it does more harm then good - "Aah, it's like, totally about oil."

People like Eddie Vedder, Michael Stipe and especially Bono, can put together extremely convincing, emotional, intelligent arguments and that will have an effect against Bush. You all know how good Bono is at it, and the effect he can have. If Bush shafts him on AIDS/Drop the Debt, he'll throw his olive branch to the Right out the window and he'll give Bush hell to 80,000 people all the way through a summer stadium tour leading almost right up to the election. You know he'd do it, and you know people would listen.

Sheer numbers of influential artists against Bush will do it as well. Especially with an under 30 vote.

 

[Dreadsox]

Bruce Springsteen = Rocker
Meloncamp = Rocker

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Many people booed at the Bruce shows I went to when he made statements about Bush or the Franken book. He talked about impeachment only at the end of the tour. I guess he figured it was time then to go all out

Many people also complained/were negative about Bruce's political statements on msg boards. I don't really care what actors, musicians etc. say about politics, as long as they are well informed and their motives are pure.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

if you're looking for bono to pick sides in this election you could be looking for a long time

 

[diamond]

This lady interviewed Bono before and they seemed to really like eachother

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

eddie vedder makes it harder and harder for me to be a pearl jam fan every day

i love springsteen as well... but i think the american skin fiasco in new york proved that even he can't convince his fans if it's something they don't believe in.

 

[diamond]

[Bhe can't convince his fans if it's something they don't believe in. [/B]

 

[verte76]

I agree that rockers can't change votes. They may be able to motivate more to register to vote but they can't tell people what to do with their votes. I think Bono realizes this and is not going to take sides in the 2004 election. No question he *will* talk about Africa and it could be a campaign issue. The most partisan thing Bono will ever say is "whoever writes the biggest check". If they're proposing equal-sized checks by that point forget it.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

bono won't say anything because his organizations will have to deal with whoever wins... so if he takes sides, and the other person wins, the other side might not be as open to working with bono as they would be if he didn't take any sides

 

[verte76]

bono won't say anything because his organizations will have to deal with whoever wins... so if he takes sides, and the other person wins, the other side might not be as open to working with bono as they would be if he didn't take any sides

Absolutely. The campaign is going on now, and he's respectfully working with the Bush Administration in the U.S. and Martin in Canada and whoever is in office elsewhere. We pick the office holders, he works with them.

 

[diamond]

Absolutely. We pick the office holders, he works with them.

 

[deep]

i love springsteen as well... but i think the american skin fiasco in new york

what is this about?

 

[STING2]

TylerDurden,

Most U2 fans are over 30 and considering the reaction that Eddie Vedder got for some of his comments, I don't think casting a U2 tour into an Anti-Bush tour would be a good idea. That would offend way to many of U2's audiance here in the USA.

Most people in the USA like Bush and if U2 is doing a stadium tour, their going to need to do everything they can to fill up the seats at the back. Extreme political stances won't achieve that.

 

[BVS]

TylerDurden,

Most U2 fans are over 30 and considering the reaction that Eddie Vedder got for some of his comments, I don't think casting a U2 tour into an Anti-Bush tour would be a good idea. That would offend way to many of U2's audiance here in the USA.

Most people in the USA like Bush and if U2 is doing a stadium tour, their going to need to do everything they can to fill up the seats at the back. Extreme political stances won't achieve that.

I'm not so sure about that.

And you think most U2 fans are over 30?!

 

[STING2]

BonoVoxSupastar,

"And you think most U2 fans are over 30?!"

Yes, and I'll explain why. U2's first mega arena tour in the USA was back in the Spring of 1985 for the Unforgettable Fire Tour. Most rock concerts typically do not have many fans at the show below the age of 16. Were now coming up on nearly 20 years since that time for audiances that were mainly 15-25. Add 20 years, and they are now 35-45.

Same procedure with the Joshua Tree. Zooropa was the first U2 album not to really bring in "significant numbers of new fans. POP even less so.

ATYCLB is huge success, but this is mainly do to large numbers of old fans who skipped Zooropa and POP, coming back on board for ATYCLB.

the Majority of U2s fanbase was formed in the years from 1984 to 1993. From 1993 to 2000, Zooropa and POP really only generated interest with those who were already longtime fans. The Success of ATYCLB is do far more to old fans getting into the band again, rather than new younger fans who never liked U2 before getting into them, based on what I have been able to observe.

There is a poll in the Lemanade Stand, that shows that the average age of the Interferencer is 27. The average age of all U2 fans regardless of whether they serf on the net for U2 is around 33. A lot of new people became U2 fans in 1987 because of the Joshua Tree and in fact, I'd say U2 picked up more "NEW" U2 fans that year, than any year sence then.

Sorry for the lengthy explanation and the fact that its way off topic.

 

[anitram]

The average age of all U2 fans regardless of whether they serf on the net for U2 is around 33.

Your logic makes sense, but this statement is not statistically sound, and you know you don't have the numbers to back it up. I'm not saying it's false, I'm just saying that stating is as fact is false.

 

[STING2]

anitram,

I can't be certain to a degree of 100%, but I have plenty of numbers that make it the most likely possibility. Everyone knows that U2 sold the bulk of the albums in the period from 1987 to 1994. Everyone also knows that the majority of the people buying the albums in that time period were over the age of 13.

I never stated anything as absolute fact, but gave what is the most probable answer based on the information that is available.

If one were willing to assume a few statistical parameters, one does have the numbers to make statistically sound statement on this.

 

[TylerDurden]

Extreme political stances won't achieve that.

I wouldn't describe being anti-Bush as extreme.

I don't think Bono would turn a U2 concert into anti-Bush. What I was saying was, Bono will no doubt use the concerts to publicise/push both the AIDS and Drop The Debt campaign. They're not in-your-face political at their concerts anyway (rarely) often just the images on a screen, or Bono changing lyrics to a song, or subtle references in some of his in between song chatter. Not like he's going to ask everyone to sit down and then start ranting. Most of what they do would go over the heads of the casual music (but not hardcore U2) fan at the concerts. Everyone here is picking up on the little things, but most people wouldn't. If Bush were to shaft him on one or both of these campaigns, considering Bono's natural place on the political spectrum and his long history of opposing people of Bush's natural place on the political spectrum (and from what I've read in some interviews, he seems to subtly suggest that he ain't a Bush fan at all, but needs him) then I'd say you'd see some of those subtle messages being beamed out at U2 concerts next year. I don't think he can help it to be honest.

As for the original argument, would/could a rock star do damage or change a mind or influence a vote... no, I don't think some out of context rant at a concert or stupid quote from a dumb arse pop star can do it at all. But again to use Bono as an example, again imagine Bush doesn't support say the AIDS campaign. Bono goes back on Oprah, a woman who also has been giving very strong support to the campaign and I think clearly has a genuinely high level of feeling towards it. No rants, no stupid soundbites, no "I hate Bush" quotes, but Bono speaks intelligently, passionately and in a calm and level headed way about the campaign, what it means, and why he is so dissappointed with Bush for not backing it, Oprah sitting there agreeing and saying how dissappointed she is "We're watching them get on the train" etc, this being beamed into 10's of millions of homes. That can have an effect.

The point is, can a rock star make a difference? I think 98% of celebrities can't at all, and really opening their mouths does more damage then good for their campaigns or beliefs. But a few can. Bono is a rock star who can. Oprah is a tv personality who can. Lol.. can't think of any actors who could....

 

[STING2]

Bush has supported Bono's idea's on debt reduction and Aids to a greater degree than Clinton ever did, so I don't think Bono is going to turn around and bite Bush in the ass. Politics is about compromise and while the level of funding may not be what it should, be plenty has been accomplished through working with and respecting people rather than the "Rockers Unite Against Bush" thing.

Bono came out in HOT PRESS 2 years ago to say that he supported Bush's war on terrorism and thought they got Afghanistan right. He also stated in that article that he is not a pacifist. This may be disappointing to many very liberal U2 fans, but the fact of the matter is that Bono's views on most things are actually unknown, and I don't buy it when people try to say well Bono is 100% for x y or z policy and 100% against x y and z politician. Bono has a lot of liberal views, but that can't be extrapolated to explain his views on everything.

 

[Scarletwine]

That is very true, however he did come out against the war on Iraq, and he is downplaying that to the point of not mentioning it.

Clinton also didn't have the majority in Congress, without the Democratic votes none of this would have passed - look at the vote breakdowns. Failure is squarley in Bush's lap.

 

[STING2]

I don't recall Clinton voting for the level of Aids funding that Bush did this year.

 

[verte76]

Bono has expressed appreciation for any support he gets on debt relief, AIDS funding, and so forth, no matter who it comes from. I'm sure future trips to the White House *and* Congress are in the works.

 

[wolfwill23]

It's too bad rockers won't unite to end terrorism or world hunger. Also, are they citing specific reasons they'd like to 'oust Bush' or just kind of doing what they think is cool?