# conservative rock bands? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680 "2003-01-10T04:09:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/61 "2003-01-12T08:02:35Z")
Marilyn Manson endorsed George W. Bush. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/62 "2003-01-12T13:54:56Z")
That list is idiotic. I’m surprises it didn’t add U2’s _40_ as it was based on a psalm. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/63 "2003-01-12T18:04:47Z")
> [@](#): > > _It is also worth noting another important song by this group that was not released as a single, “20th Century Man.” Written by Ray Davies, leader of The Kinks for almost 40 years, it reflects a profoundly conservative worldview_ The Kinks have a strong element of, not so much **con** servatism in the right-wing political sense, as I guess you could say **pre** servatism in the sense of disliking “progress” and modernization and wanting to preserve the good, simple, classic, old-fashioned things of the past. See especially _The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society_. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/64 "2003-01-12T18:14:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gonzalo de cordoba \* > Dylan disavowed his protest songs very early on. When he sings Masters of War nowadays, it ain’t aimed at the Pentagon, that’s for sure. Then whom is it aimed at? More interestingly, whom _was_ it aimed at when he performed it at the Grammys during the (First) Gulf War? Doesn’t sound like the action of someone who has disavowed his protest songs to me. > [@](#): > > … liberals don’t write songs like “Sundown on the Union” … Er, huh? “Union Sundown” is a pro-union, anti-capitalist, anti-sweatshop song. Not exactly conservative material. ---
**Author:** ![gonzalo\_de\_cordoba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/848f3c/32.png) [@gonzalo\_de\_cordoba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzalo_de_cordoba)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/65 "2003-01-12T22:30:08Z")
porpentine– I had hoped to make it clear that Dylan is not a political conservative, just a man with a conservative outlook on things. Yes, Gulf War I “Masters of War” was aimed at Bush senior. I applaud you for remembering that event, and even more for understanding what the hell he was saying. As far as Union Sundown, there is nothing there that Pat Buchanan would disagree with. Dylan still plays some of his “protest songs”, but rarely. He hasn’t been a “protest singer” in 40 years, though. I am sorry if by my posts I wasn’t clear in what I was aiming to say. Dylan is not conservative in the way that the OP asked about. I just tossed this out there because a lot of people make assumptions about who Dylan is, and what he stands for, and then use this to their own ends. Dylan’s work is much, much richer than just his second and third records, and frankly, if there is one thing that I do know about him, it’s that he hates getting pigeonholed as a sixties lefty-hippie leader. As for disavowing his protest era do this A. Listen to My Back Pages B. Listen to Rolling Stone. Remember, there was a guy, can’t remember his name, who stalked Dylan for years in the village, going through his Garbage and stuff because he was convinced that Dylan had been bought off by the CIA, since Dylan was refusing to be a leader of the left, and more importantly, sing his old songs-- which he wasn’t doing. Dylan lived a great deal of his life in lower Manhattan. If you can’t figure out who he’s singing Masters of War to, I suggest you get a copy of comments he may have made at concerts he’s given in NYC recently. No, Dylan is no Republican (neither am I). But he does seem to have a conservative Midwestern approach to life, which is all I am arguing. This may have been the wrong place to make this argument in this thread, I’ll admit. I was just trying to toss somehting out there. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/66 "2003-01-12T23:08:45Z")
Well, if you wanted to get really, _really_ conservative, you could cite **Genesis** for their song **“Time Table”** , which waxes nostalgic for the medieval days of chivalry: _A time of valour and legends born, A time when honour meant much more to a man than life_ ---
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/67 "2003-01-13T00:03:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gonzalo de cordoba \* > \*\*Remember, there was a guy, can’t remember his name, who stalked Dylan for years in the village, going through his Garbage and stuff because he was convinced that Dylan had been bought off by the CIA, since Dylan was refusing to be a leader of the left, and more importantly, sing his old songs-- which he wasn’t doing. > > \*\* I believe the guy you are thinking of was A.J. Weberman. Dylan doesn’t do much in the way of “protest songs” because he has always hated the idea of being the “leader of a movement”. He has always encouraged people to think for themselves, not look to him for answers.(This explains his awful album “Self-Portrait” as an attempt to self-sabotage his own career.) Self-reliance is definitely a conservative notion but beyond that, I would hardly call Dylan conservative. Chris W “If you don’t know where you’re going, Any road will take you there” – G. Harrison ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/68 "2003-01-13T00:22:35Z")
Couple things: **Papa Don’t Preach** is about Madonna’s relationship (at the time of release) with Sean Penn–it’s not a pro-life song. ## **99 Luftballons** is by Nena, not Enya What about The Offspring’s _‘Why Don’t You Get A Job’_? ---
**Author:** ![KillerFig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/51bf81/32.png) [@KillerFig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KillerFig)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/69 "2003-01-13T00:28:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by syphillis\_sam \* > \*\*as for punk bands, someone already posted this, but most oi bands are generally conservative. > > Also, you can take into account skinhead bands, which are ALL right-wing, AFAIK. Bear in mind that not all skinheads are neo-nazis as well, before some nut tries to equate conservatism with all those evil things like racism as I’ve seen happen far too many times. \*\* It’d be a mistake to say that all (or even most) oi/skinhead bands are conservative. I think that if you look at a cross section of such bands out there, you’ll find them pretty evenly split amongst liberals, moderates, and conservatives. For every conservative band in the genre–like Patriot, Better Dead than Red, Skrewdriver, etc.–there’s a liberal band, like the Oppressed, the Partisans, or Sham 69. The Dropkick Murphys are probably the best-selling skinhead/oi band around right now, and their politics are economically liberal but somewhat socially conservative, so I’d say they’re best described as moderates. And a while back, there was a band called the Redskins who, as their name implied, were skinheads who were also members of the British Socialist Workers’ Party. So there’s plenty of left-wing and moderate skinhead acts out there. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/70 "2003-01-13T00:33:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KillerFig \* > \*\* For every conservative band in the genre–like Patriot, Better Dead than Red, Skrewdriver, etc.-- \*\* Skrewdriver were neo-Nazis, essentially. Are the other two bands such? ---
**Author:** ![KillerFig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/51bf81/32.png) [@KillerFig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KillerFig)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/71 "2003-01-13T00:40:32Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Daoloth_ > **Skrewdriver were neo-Nazis, essentially. Are the other two bands such?** No, Patriot and Better Dead than Red aren’t white supremacist acts (they are, however, really awful bands as far as I’m concerned, but I suppose that’s neither here nor there). I actually meant to make a distinction in my earlier post but then forgot. I just realized that lumping in Skrewdriver with the other two might have made me come off as though I think that all conservatives are racist or something along those lines, so I’ll apologize if it might have seemed that way. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/72 "2003-01-13T02:34:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bluecanary \* > \*\*_Papa Don’t Preach_ is about Madonna’s relationship (at the time of release) with Sean Penn–it’s not a pro-life song. > > \*\* Been a Madonna fan for 15 years, and I can tell you, _PDP_ is NOT about her relationship with Sean Penn. Madonna didn’t even write it, it was written by [Brian Elliot](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.stuart/music/madonna/papadont.html). He had a ground-floor studio with a one-way window, and high school girls from down the street would come and use the “mirror” his window created in order to primp. He got the idea for the song by listening to their tribulations from his side of the window. As for the inclusion of the song on that “conservative” list, that dude has it all wrong. Pro-choicers are all about **choice** (huh, go figure). Which means that women can choose to have an abortion, OR **not have one**. Choice does not mean “Abortions for all.” Choice means “Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others”. (Thank you, _Simpsons_.) ---
**Author:** ![cart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ec8ea/32.png) [@cart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cart)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/73 "2003-01-13T12:27:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cervaise \* > **Billy Joel clearly holds no truck with aspects of the environmental movement, given his well-known sympathies for the struggles of New England fishermen,** I don’t see how this follows. Surely he’s supporting a working-class cause here. There’s also “Allentown”. On the other hand, there’s the song “Angry Young Man”, which ridicules the left-wing activist. Steve Harley wrote “Red Is A Mean, Mean Colour”. Again, this is an attack on the left rather than an implicitly conservative message. I apologise if I’ve got my facts wrong here, but isn’t David Bowie right wing. I heard that he was a fascist at one point, but has mellowed since. A very tenuous one is Kevin Keegan. As he has had several hit singles, he could be considered a pop singer, and I clearly remember him kissing Margaret Thatcher. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/74 "2003-01-13T17:10:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cart \* > **I apologise if I’ve got my facts wrong here, but isn’t David Bowie right wing. I heard that he was a fascist at one point, but has mellowed since.** My impression was that he used the fascist **aesthetic**. It was another one of his incarnations, not necessarily reflective of his political leanings. ---
**Author:** ![stofsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@stofsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stofsky)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/75 "2003-01-13T17:46:11Z")
Re: Skynyrd–conservatives wouldn’t have them because they wanted to take away your guns. See “Saturday Night Special.” ---
**Author:** ![cart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ec8ea/32.png) [@cart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cart)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/76 "2003-01-13T18:58:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kung fu lola \* > \*\*My impression was that he used the fascist **aesthetic**. It was another one of his incarnations, not necessarily reflective of his political leanings. \*\* I didn’t think I was right, it does seem a bit far-fetched. Still, if he goes around with a big orange SS logo on his face, what does he expect? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/77 "2003-01-13T20:49:17Z")
Gut-totin’ is very radical in my opinion. I don’t know where a guy who believes everyone should have one is considered conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/78 "2003-01-13T21:58:18Z")
Where does Cat Stevens (a.k.a. Yusef Islam) fit into all this? ---
**Author:** ![lout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@lout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lout)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/79 "2003-01-13T23:13:05Z")
Personally, the idea of a “conservative rock band” makes me nauseous. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680/80 "2003-01-14T12:06:21Z")
What about Jethro Tull’s song “North Sea Oil” which promotes nuclear power as the “better way” – this was in 1979 when the No Nukes movement was in full swing; there was even a benefit concert of rockers titled _No Nukes_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-rock-bands/147680.md?page=5)