Reply #5: This interview with Don Henley may interest you.

[Zorra]

Post: At your age, do you feel a more urgent need to use your music to affect the political process than you did 30 years ago?

Henley: At my age, I have come to believe that my music - and music in general - has little or no measurable effect on the political process. That is, I really don't believe that the content of any of my songs or anything that I might say on a microphone in a public forum is going to influence anybody to vote one way or another. It seems that the most effective way to make a difference is to do what we are now doing - and have done for many years - which is to simply show up and play at a political fundraiser. Usually, we don't try to impart a spoken "message" to the attendees, but rather let the songs and our presence be interpreted as a statement of support for that particular candidate. I'm glad to see that some of the younger groups are starting to write "political songs," but I fear that corporate radio will not play them today. The owners of the corporate radio conglomerates are, by and large, on the opposite side of the political aisle from most musicians (with the exception, of course, of many country artists and a few ageing, novelty acts like Alice Cooper who will say anything just for effect - that is, when they're not putting on the ninth hole).

Post: With so many musicians jumping into the political fray this year, do you think that is a reflection that musicians are more sophisticated about politics and power than they were in the 1960s and early 1970s when Vietnam and the draft were the central issues?

Henley: Some musicians are, in fact, more sophisticated now about politics and power (particularly as these things relate to the music industry) than they were in the 1960's and early 1970's. Although top government officials deny it, this war is very much like Vietnam and becoming more so with each passing day. Because of the depletion of our forces overseas, the draft will become a central issue again in the not-too-distant future. As Senator McCain has repeatedly pointed out, we can't successfully fight this war using just bombers and heavy artillery. We've got to have troops on the ground and many experts are complaining that we are short of manpower. Unfortunately, our troops are not really trained to fight a war of insurgency.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~78~2424666,00.html

5 years ago my band did an album project and almost every song was political (I wrote almost all the lyrics). Our producer was a corporate jerk. He didn't even understand the lyrics and asked what they meant. So I told him. He told us that political lyrics don't sell records anymore, no one cared about politics anymore, and that we had to change the lyrics. I was totally adamant about not changing the lyrics, being political is a big part of why I play music. But the rest of the band outvoted me, and they changed the lyrics to love songs mixed with angst ridden psychobabble. Except for one tune.

The lyrics that I wrote for that record turned out to be extremely relevant to what is happening today, and not having them on that record is very disappointing.

The corporate music world sucks.