This is the first of what I'm hoping will be a long-running series of diaries exploring politics and grassroots movements through my preferred medium: music. I first got the idea for this almost two years ago, when a handful of major bands were finally beginning to speak out against the war, and the mainstream media were shocked - shocked! - to find there was protest music going on. I was confused. If protest music, apparently dead since the sixties, was only now making a comeback, then what the hell had I been listening to all of my teenage and adult life?
Anyway, I decided to start this diary when I started reading the weekly interviews with prominent diarists - specifically, the question about what music makes them feel invincible to the GOP horde. Eager to answer that question myself, but aware that (a) I would probably never reach "prominent diarist" status, and (b) my response would be longer than the rest of the entire interview and probably longer than the rest of C&J, I figured I might as well parcel it out over a series of entries designed to shed some light on modern protest music and prove that it's alive and well.
Today's entry is "Save The War" by Bomb the Music Industry!; lyrics and discussion are below the fold.
Let's save our arms, knives, tanks, and guns
Let's put 'em in the shed until we fight a war not based on assumption
And let's save our bombs and set our sights on
Faith-based initiatives that only work for some
We need to save the war for something worth our lives
Let's spend more time stopping blatant gay hate crimes
We need to keep the war reserved for something big
Like religious zealots that want to murder gay kids
How do you find you'll prevent suicide
By telling a teenage lesbian to go find Jesus?
One love, one people, that's what we need, but we're focusing on all the wrong things
Besides, fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity
We need to save the war for something worth our lives
Let's spend more time stopping blatant gay hate crimes
We need to keep the war reserved for something big
Like religious zealots that want to murder gay kids
We cannot stand for this
I can't believe we're gonna let 'em kill the kids
We need to save the war for something worth our lives
Like Commissions Acts rescinding all our rights
We need to keep the war reserved for something big
Not just trying to put the fear into the kids
This song hits on several different topics, including everyone's favorite fighting-for-peace analogy and even a line on net neutrality snuck in there, but the main point is about a push to incorporate "faith-based" methods in the 1-800-SUICIDE hotline - a practice that would be blatantly discriminatory against LGBT individuals, encouraging them to seek curative therapy for their orientation rather than giving them the same treatment as heterosexual people. While this is one specific example, the broader message I take away from this song is a rallying cry to fight for gay rights and equality on all fronts, made all the more urgent with California's Prop 8 now on the ballot. My hope (and probably BtMI! frontman Jeff Rosenstock's hope) is that this song will be added to the personal soundtrack of everyone working for equality in California and across the country.
P.S. This song (along with BtMI!'s entire catalog) can be downloaded for free from Rosenstock's label at quoteunquoterecords.com, but the site is currently down, and it could be days or weeks before it's back up. But there are probably other sources out there if you look hard enough.
UPDATE: The Quote Unquote Records site has been moved to http://www.quoteunquoterecords.com/... - click the "albums" link on the left and scroll down to the Bomb the Music Industry!/O Pioneers! Split; this song can be downloaded from there (this is free and legal under a Creative Commons license).