National Review seems to be getting ideas from Free Republic

[jmowreader]

For the last couple of days, we've all been laughing about the "Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs of All Time" that you'll find on National Review's website, and now the New York Times.

A while back we were laughing about the "Top 40 ALL TIME Conservative Pop Music" list that made its way to Free Republic by way of Townhall.com (original link: http://www.townhall.com/phillysoc/bartlettpaper.htm).

Let's compare the two lists.

The Townhall.com/Free Republic list, which was written by Bruce Bartlett and presented in a speech to the Philadelphia Society, is:

1. Paul Anka, “(You’re) Having My Baby”
2. The Beatles, “Revolution”
3. Chuck Berry and Linda Ronstadt, “Back In the U.S.A.”
4. James Brown, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”
5. The Browns, “The Three Bells”
6. Johnny Burnette, “God, Country and My Baby”
7. The Byrds, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
8. Judy Collins, “Amazing Grace”
9. Charlie Daniels Band, “In America”
10. Neil Diamond, “America”
11. Doobie Brothers, “Jesus Is Just Alright”
12. Yvonne Elliman and Helen Reddy, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”
13. Miss Toni Fisher, “West of the Wall”
14. Connie Francis, “God Bless America”
15. Bobby Fuller Four, “I Fought the Law”
16. Cast of Godspell, “Day By Day” “
17. Lee Greenwood, “God Bless the U.S.A.”
18. George Harrison, “My Sweet Lord”
19. Edwin Hawkins Singers, “Oh Happy Day”
20. Johnny Horton, “Battle of New Orleans”
21. Whitney Houston, “The Star Spangled Banner”
22. Ferlin Husky, “Wings of a Dove”
23. The Impressions, “Amen”
24. Jay and the Americans, “Only in America”
25. Elton John, “Philadelphia Freedom”
26. Kingston Trio, “M.T.A.”
27. The Kinks, “Sunny Afternoon”
28. Laurie London, “He’s Got the Whole World (In His Hands)”
29. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Sweet Home Alabama”
30. Madonna, “Papa Don’t Preach”
31. Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Andy Williams, “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
32. Ocean, “Put Your Hand in the Hand”
33. Elvis Presley, “Crying in the Chapel”
34. Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”
35. SSgt. Barry Sadler, “The Ballad of the Green Berets”
36. Dusty Springfield, “Wishin’ and Hopin’”
37. Diana Ross and the Supremes, “Love Child”
38. The Temptations, “Ball of Confusion”
39. Aaron Tippin, “Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly”
40. Tammy Wynette, “Stand By Your Man”

(Underpants' thread on this list is at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=5019021)

The National Review piece, which was written by John J. Miller, lists these as the top 50 conservative rock songs:

1. The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again"
2. The Beatles, "Taxman"
3. The Rolling Stones, "Sympathy for the Devil"
4. Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Sweet Home Alabama"
5. The Beach Boys, "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
6. U2, "Gloria"
7. The Beatles, "Revolution"
8. The Sex Pistols, "Bodies"
9. Metallica, "Don't Tread On Me"
10. The Kinks, "20th Century Man"
11. Rush, "The Trees"
12. Bob Dylan, "Neighborhood Bully"
13. The Pretenders, "My City Was Gone"
14. Jesus Jones, "Right Here, Right Now"
15. The Crickets, "I Fought the Law"
16. The Eagles, "Get Over It"
17. Blink-182, "Stay Together for the Kids"
18. Living Colour, "Cult of Personality"
19. Paul Revere and the Raiders, "Kicks"
20. The Clash, "Rock the Casbah"
21. David Bowie, "Heroes"
22. Rush, "Red Barchetta"
23. Ben Folds Five, "Brick"
24. After the Fire, "Der Kommissar"
25. Led Zeppelin, "The Battle of Evermore"
26. Oingo Boingo, "Capitalism"
27. Joe Jackson, "Obvious Song"
28. Aerosmith, "Janie's Got a Gun"
29. Iron Maiden, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
30. Graham Parker, "You Can't Be Too Strong"
31. John Mellencamp, "Small Town"
32. The Georgia Satellites, "Keep Your Hands to Yourself"
33. The Rolling Stones, "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
34. Blue Oyster Cult, "Godzilla"
35. Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Who'll Stop the Rain"
36. The Rainmakers, "Government Cheese"
37. The Band, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"
38. Sammy Hagar, "I Can't Drive 55"
39. The Marshall Tucker Band, "Property Line"
40. The Everly Brothers, "Wake Up Little Suzie"
41. The Cranberries, "The Icicle Melts"
42. The Proclaimers, "Everybody's a Victim"
43. Everclear, "Wonderful"
44. The Kinks, "Two Sisters"
45. Cheap Trick, "Taxman, Mr. Thief"
46. The Scorpions, "Wind of Change"
47. Creed, "One"
48. The Offspring, "Why Don't You Get a Job"
49. Kid Rock, "Abortion"
50. Tammy Wynette, "Stand By Your Man"

According to Townhall.com, this makes a good conservative pop song:

Before listing my top selections, I should explain the criteria on which I based my choices.  First, I based them solely on the conservatism of the lyrics.  A song had to have an explicitly conservative theme, although just a single line may represent it.  I looked particularly for those embodying religious or patriotic themes, as these are unambiguously conservative values. 

Second, I paid no attention to the politics of the performer.  There are a number of good conservatives, such as Ted Nugent and even Walter Brennan, who have had hit songs over the years.  But unless their songs had an explicitly conservative theme, I did not include them.  Conversely, if some outspoken liberal recorded a song with explicitly conservative lyrics, I still included it.

According to the National Review, this is what makes a good conservative rock song:

What makes a great conservative rock song? The lyrics must convey a conservative idea or sentiment, such as skepticism of government or support for traditional values. And, to be sure, it must be a great rock song. We’re biased in favor of songs that are already popular, but have tossed in a few little-known gems. In several cases, the musicians are outspoken liberals. Others are notorious libertines. For the purposes of this list, however, we don’t hold any of this against them. Finally, it would have been easy to include half a dozen songs by both the Kinks and Rush, but we’ve made an effort to cast a wide net. Who ever said diversity isn’t a conservative principle?

It's not a word-for-word dupe, but it's closer than most copyright lawyers would care to go.

Now for comparison: Which songs appear on both lists?

4. Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Sweet Home Alabama" (number 29 on the TH/FR chart)
7. The Beatles, "Revolution" (number 2 on the TH/FR list)
15. The Crickets, "I Fought the Law" (number 15 on the TH/FR list)
50. Tammy Wynette, "Stand By Your Man" (number 40 on the TH/FR list)

The Townhall guy doesn't seem to like rock and roll music very much; that list is full of country songs, standards and hymns whereas the National Review guy's list is mostly rock songs. (And the reason you don't find Ted Nugent's songs on either list is that his greatest hit--Cat Scratch Fever--is not conservative, and his most overtly conservative song--Kiss My Ass--is so bad even freepers think it sucks.)