#ThrowbackThursday: Rock 'n Roll vs. George W. Bush

Hey what's going on music heads welcome to another posting of the "Throwback Thursday". Ever since I've noticed Throwback Thursday was indeed not my idea, I've realized you can find out everyone else's Throwbacks on this fine Thursday by doing a twitter search for "#throwbackthursday", and see what everyone else is thinking about in musical retrospect. I stumbled upon my idea for this week's throwback because as I was going through some of Eminem's old albums, I came across a song I hadn't heard in quite some time: "Mosh". This song came out and stirred up quite a buzz when it was just before election time in 2004, and actually I haven't really heard it since. It's not the most inspirational and motivating political song in the world, but it kind of became a symbol to youths and the hip-hop community that arguably the most powerful man of rap at the time, Eminem, really did not want George W. Bush re-elected. It has a pretty original concept of a video as well. Check it out if you don't remember:



Remember now? I sure hope so. While this song didn't help to knock Bush out of the campaign run, it made me remember the other movements that were going on in the realm of politics and music at the time. I remember there being a tour rallying in campaign support for John Kerry that included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Patti Smith, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews Band, John Mellencamp, The Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, The Dixie Chicks, and a few other noteworthy names. I think it's pretty much safe to say that at the time, 80% of the music industry was sick of Bush. Except for maybe the country singers like the redneck all-star Toby Keith making songs about freedom and putting his foot up Osama Bin Laden's ass. Now with Eminem, even several rappers showed their militant support for John Kerry. We all know how it ended up though. In the end, Bush won, the liberal side was heartbroken, and many musicians felt their efforts were in vain. I guess it was just an important moment for music because it showed that people were willing to sacrifice their careers by coming out about their political affiliation and were willing to take a stand. I think that's important. We have definitely seen that in the Obama vs. McCain election in 2008. When even rappers make their own political songs ("Black President" by Nas, "My President" by Young Jeezy), it shows some serious support. Welcome to America, where everyone is allowed to speak their mind.

~M