Simmons Unites Anti-War Stars

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Russell Simmons, Lou Reed and David Byrne were among the artists on hand in New York yesterday to announce the formation of Musicians United to Win Without War, an industry-wide peace alliance. Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews, Outkast, Busta Rhymes, Roseanne Cash and Tweet are among the other members of the group, which will use its public platform to support weapons inspections, as opposed to invasion and occupation, as a means to resolve the conflict with Iraq.

The group took out several ads in the country's major newspapers this week. Members will also work in conjunction with social organizations like the Sierra Club, the NAACP and NOW, as well as the film-industry analog, Artists United to Win Without War, to enhance public awareness of the complex issues that make up the conflict.

Along with the rapper Mos Def, Simmons, head of Def Jam and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, has also recorded two thirty-second TV spots attacking the Bush administration's policies in the Middle East.

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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