Posted on 05/26/2006 12:39:03 PM PDT by Keflavik76
Rockin' the Right
The 50 greatest conservative rock songs.
By John J. Miller
EDITOR’S NOTE: This week on NRO, we’ve been rolling out the first five and now all 50 songs from a list John J. Miller compiled that appears in the June 5 issue of National Review . Here’s a look at #1 and get the whole list—complete with purchasing links—here.
On first glance, rock ’n’ roll music isn’t very conservative. It doesn’t fare much better on second or third glance (or listen), either. Neil Young has a new song called “Let’s Impeach the President.” Last year, the Rolling Stones made news with “Sweet Neo Con,” another anti-Bush ditty. For conservatives who enjoy rock, it isn’t hard to agree with the opinion Johnny Cash expressed in “The One on the Right Is on the Left”: “Don’t go mixin’ politics with the folk songs of our land / Just work on harmony and diction / Play your banjo well / And if you have political convictions, keep them to yourself.” In other words: Shut up and sing.
But some rock songs really are conservative — and there are more of them than you might think. Last year, I asked readers of National Review Online to nominate conservative rock songs. Hundreds of suggestions poured in. I’ve sifted through them all, downloaded scores of mp3s, and puzzled over a lot of lyrics. What follows is a list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs of all time, as determined by me and a few others. The result is of course arbitrary, though we did apply a handful of criteria.
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Where is "People Got to be Free" by the Rascals? That should be up near the top.
A pro-Israel song released in 1983, two years after the bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor, this ironic number could be a theme song for the Bush Doctrine: “He destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad / The bombs were meant for him / He was supposed to feel bad / He’s the neighborhood bully.”
I have posted the lyrics of this great song several times on FR...we need to keep it mind, and I'm glad to know the folks at NRO remembered it, too!
Tom Petty is a big lefty. When Bush ran in 2000, the campaign played a song of his. Petty loudly complained, demanded his songs not be used by Bush. Also see some comments from others about the Eagles, and I’m pretty sure that at least Don Hennely is a big time lefty.
Marilyn Manson of all people, actually supported Bush.
What, no Stryper? :)
Yeah, who?
That song was from late 1982. So “who can it be now?” (that song also from the same timeframe!)
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