Happy Music Monday! Sometimes people mean well, but execute poorly. That happens with songs about race more often than not. Scott's found five songs (mostly from white guys) that actually come from a good place, but kinda... well, nobody would call them instant classics. Even still, they attempt to do good and don't do any real harm. Maybe that's what's important with music? Who can say?
Billy Idol - Shock To The System
When you think social justice, you don't instantly think of Billy Idol. Nor do you think of a cyborg when you think of the LA Riots from the 1990s. And yet, here we are, listening to a song from Cyberpunk that was written while Idol watched fires from his house. The ending calls of "You could be King/I could be King" is not at all a bad message, it's just then when combined with a stop-motion monster movie... well, it is what it is. A slice of a very different time.
Four more to come, and then it's your turn!
David Bowie feat. Al B. Sure - Black Tie White Noise
All of you know my deep love of Bowie, and I actually do enjoy this song. There's a lot going for it, including co-star Al B. Sure, trumpeter Lester Bowie, and guitarist Nile Rogers. I am also a fan of "they'll tell you how to break the rules/but never how to make the rules" as a lyric. But this song is hard to take it completely seriously. Normally for Bowie that's a positive but here? Anyway this song was also written about the same LA Riots, where Bowie and Iman were right after their wedding. Good? Bad? YOU BE THE JUDGE.
Three Dog Night - Black & White
This multi-cultural song clearly has roots in the hippy movement, where people thought things would get better if we all just hung out. And it's certainly got the right message. But it hasn't really aged well, and the idea that we could all just chill out together and the problems would vanish kinda got disproven as the 1970s went on. Which is sad, because who doesn't like chilling out? If only that were the solution to everything!
Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name Of (nsfw)
RATM made a song about social issues, that was catchy and had a good beat. Then they made that ending chorus. That's what everyone remembered. That's what everyone sings. Including the people who don't even know what this song is actually about, and voted it to number one in the UK as an attack against Simon Cowell. I think that's the mistake RATM made, because now a song that was in fact meant about racism has turned into a simple song about rebellion. It's still a good song, but maybe the catchy part has obscured the message?
Brad Paisley feat. LL Cool J - Accidental Racist
This song really blew minds when it came out, and I can't say I like it myself. But one can't help but admire the courage that it took to even try a song like this, which might be why LL decided to get involved. Listen to it and judge it for yourself. It gets kinda weirder as it goes on.
Instead of giving away one of these records, we're turning to a far better album: Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly. You can maybe win one by heading over to our Facebook Page and following the rules. Let us just remind you: some images come from the corresponding Wikipedia page and are here under fair use. See you next week.