TSOL's Grisham Runs for Gov.

Despite having once recorded a song titled "Abolish Government," TSOL's Jack Grisham has joined Arnold Schwarzenegger and many others in the race for California governor.

"TSOL were always a big anti-government band," Grisham says of punk rockers, who formed in 1978, "but we're a pro-populace band."

A vote to recall the state's current governor, Gray Davis, is set for October 7th, one month after TSOL [True Sounds of Liberty] release their new album, Divided We Stand. If the referendum passes, Grisham would join more than 500 potential candidates. The singer, who is an Independent, is centering his campaign platform on health-care reform and immigrant rights.

Grisham argues that his difficult life experiences make him best able to understand the needs of his potential constituency. "I've been in jail, I've been arrested, I've been screwed up on drugs," he says. "That separates me from the other candidates."

Unfortunately, Grisham may not be able to count on his audience for support. "Most of the people that see our band aren't allowed to vote," he quips, "'cause they're all felons."

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Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

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