Rockin' with the Right Wing

Over the weekend, National Review issued a list of the top 50 conservative rock songs. Although they take great pains on their site to point out that you need to be a paid subscriber to access the list itself, conservative blogger kevin at The Amboy Times tramples all over their intellectual property rights by posting the full list and some commentary. That's just as well for us, of course, because it gives us something to talk about.

It's a fascinating list because the majority of choices beg one of two questions (although sometimes both at once): what does it mean to be a conservative, or what the heck do they think that song is saying? OK, fair enough, "Taxman" is an anti-tax song (although it's talking about a far more draconian tax rate than anything US conservatives complain about), we can give them that. But their number one song is "Won't Get Fooled Again." Since when is pointing out that a revolution didn't go far enough a secret message to reinforce the status quo? Does "meet the new boss; same as the old boss" really mean that we should've just kept the old boss in place and celebrated him? Add in the irony of the continued full-throated support many conservatives give to the Bushies who have consistently undermined true conservative values such as small government, no deficit spending, etc., and it's easy to remind ourselves that "we know that the hypnotized never lie--do you?"

I also like the fact that they put U2's "Gloria" in at number 6 because Bono sings in Latin. That's all. Latin is a conservative language--what more do you need to know? Number 7 lists The Beatles' "Revolution" and even quotes, "You say you want a revolution / Well you know / We all want to change the world . . . Don’t you know you can count me out?" I guess they never heard the version on the White Album.

Punk gets represented, too. "Bodies" by The Sex Pistols comes in at number 8 because it's ostensibly against abortion. Does this mean that prolific use of the F word is a conservative value? One thing that does seem to take a conservative tack on the issue is that, although the song jumps around among multiple points of view, none of them belongs to the pregnant woman. (Here's an interesting essay I stumbled on that discusses the song and its position on abortion.) The Clash is here, too, with "Rock the Casbah." I'm not sure why. They offer no explanation about what aspects of conservatism the song addresses. Is it conservative to play music in defiance of a ban by religious leaders? Perhaps so.

David Bowie receives a nod for "Heroes," which featured lovers separated by the Berlin Wall. I guess only conservatives were against the Berlin Wall--liberals must've thought it was a reasonable idea. This does raise an interesting question, though. Would it remain a conservative song if the location were changed to the proposed wall on the Mexican border?

I could take potshots like this all night, but I've got to go to bed. Amanda has a nice discussion at Pendagon, and there's plenty of snark in the comments to her post, as well.