Youth's Moore Protests Online

Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore has launched a new Web site, Protest-Records.com, offering free MP3s of anti-war songs.

Among the songs now available on the site are Cat Power's "Rockets" and "Maybe Not," the Beastie Boys' "In a World Gone Mad," Stephan Smith's "Business," Eugene Chadbourne's "New New New War War War," and a nine-minute cover of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" by Geraldine Fibbers' frontwoman Carla Bozulich with drummer Scott Amandola (formerly of T.J. Kirk). Anne Waldman's poem "Rogue State" is also featured.

According to the Protest-Records.com's mission statement, the site "exists for musicians, poets and artists to express love and liberty in the face of greed, sexism, racism, hate-crimes and war. Fight the good fight."

In addition to the music and poetry, Protest Records' site includes seven stencils to be downloaded, printed, cut out and spray-painted over. Among the images are an inverted, flaming American flag with an anarchy-"A" superimposed over the stars (which also reads, "Fuck the Flag," a commentary on Washington's doings rather than an order), a skull and crossbones with George W. Bush's face subbing for the former, and other icons with phrases including "Give Up War for Lent" and "Sit In, Walk Out."

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

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