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Re: The Who & liberals vs conservatives



At 14:00 22/06/96 -0400, you wrote:
>hiwatt-
>In a message dated 96-06-22 01:13:36 EDT, you write:
>
>> My guess is, if you like a stack of Hiwatts or Marshalls cranked to full
>>volume, you are probable conservative, have a sense of humor, enjoy life
>>and would rather make your way without government interference.
>>  If, on the other hand, you enjoy acoustic guitar and a gentle ballad, you
>>are probable liberal, can't laugh at yourself, take things too seriously,
>>are miserable with your own personality and would like government to take
>>every penny you earn and give it to non-workers. Geez! Did I just sound
>>biased?! What? I can't hear you because of the ringing in my ears!:)
>>
>>
>>
>
>Nice guess, let me know if you ever want to bet on the World Series or the
>Super Bowl.
>
>Kyle in NJ
>
>My experience is that rock fans don't divide neatly along conservative and
liberal lines. Therefore Who fans can't be viewed monolithically in these
terms. A distinction I perceive is between people who express themselves
artistically (or "seriously") in music - whether as performer of some kind
or informed listener - and people who don't have a "serious" interest in
music but rather a casual one (or for performers in this category, primarily
a business  interest). The former category tend to admire the "thinking" or
challenging side of rock such as the Who (pre-eminently), the later Beatles,
Kinks, Hendrix, Dylan, David Byrne, Springsteen, Van Halen, etc., whereas
the casual listener tends to like the less substantial or "entertainment"
side of rock, say the Archies, Johnny Rivers, Mamas and Papas, Mellencamp,
Simon & Garfinkel, Dire Straits, Def Leppard, America, Styx, Asia, etc. But
of course these categories aren't watertight. The Stones and Beach Boys
cross both categories, and even "serious" fans have their pet likes on the
"entertainment" side of the divide, eg. I've always liked Heart, Cheap Trick
and AC/DC. And Linda Ronstadt. But the political opinions of people on both
sides of this musical divide will cover the full spectrum. Thus Ted Nugent
is a well-known conservative on many issues. So were the Stones, an early
tax exile group, and apparently Elvis Presley. Because so much 60's-70's
music was "engaged", probably more musicians of that era were liberal than
conservative but I'll wager many of those musical liberals changed their
tune as they got older. In my case, when I first listened to the Who in the
late 60's and early 70's I liked their hardest, loudest music and at the
time was very conservative politically. Now, in my 40's, I find myself more
liberal on many issues, partly because my working and life experiences have
taught me to view the world more realistically than when I was a twenty-year
old hard hat. But my musical tastes still run to the heavy side of whatever
the current rock scene is, hence my liking over the years for Sabbath and
Ozzie, the Sex Pistols, Ramones, Green Day, Soundgarten, Metallica, Pearl
Jam, Junkhouse, and Sloan (Canadian boys who've learned a few things from
Pete & Co)....Gary M.