Campaign '08: Artists Prep Protest Albums

Tweet

With Election Day approaching, musicians are rolling out politically charged tunes. On October 28th, Against Me! frontman Tom Gabel will release Heart Burns, a seven-track EP of fired-up folk punk, including "Amputations," about wounded Iraq War vets. Lucinda Williams revisits Sixties anthems on Lu in 08, a digital-only four-song EP (out October 28th) featuring covers of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" and Bob Dylans "Masters of War." Wilco and Fleet Foxes team up to cover another Dylan song, a stunning live version of "I Shall Be Released," available as a free download on Wilco's Website — to anyone who pledges to vote. And soul great Mavis Staples' Live: Hope at the Hideout (out November 4th) nods to the civil rights era with covers of folk tunes and spirituals, including "Wade in the Water" and "This Little Light." "We're not where we need to be as far as racism and injustice," says Staples. "But if Obama can get in and be president, we'll see a change."

Rock for Barack Barack Obama's campaign has enlisted musicians to contribute to Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement, an 18-song fundraising album. The compilation — at barackobama.com — features a new song from Kanye West, Adam Levine and Malik Yusef ("Promised Land"), John Legend's cover of U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and previously released tunes by Stevie Wonder, John Mayer and others. " 'Pride' was originally a tribute to Martin Luther King," says Legend. "Obama is a manifestation of Dr. King's dream." Also supporting Obama: Jim James, who'll play an acoustic set at an Obama fundraiser in Chicago on October 8th, and the National and the Breeders, playing a Cincinnati benefit on October 16th. To urge fans to cast ballots, voters will be bused to local precincts after the show.

[From Issue 1063 — October 16, 2008]

Related Stories:
• Sheryl Crow, T.I., The Dead Get Out the Vote
• Total Democratic Convention Coverage, Including Kanye West and Rage Against the Machine
• Kanye West, Steve Wonder, John Mayer Appearing on Obama Compilation

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES The 10 Best Zombie Movie Scenes
• 
  TV The Most WTF? Moments of 'Mad Men'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie”

The Joy Formidable | 2011

The opener off the Welsh group’s The Big Roar album was an epic one, but the band was worried that track had polarized fans. “The first song is eight minutes long,” Rhydian Dafydd, the Joy Formidable bassist, said. “If you did that in the Seventies people would be, ‘Whatever.’ You do it now, people think, ‘Holy s---!’ Some people think it’s the f---ing greatest track on the entire album, and some people think it’s f---ing boring. It’s that element of needing to challenge people.” The band concluded through the song’s lyrics that love was the “everchanging spectrum of a lie.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter