Right Wing Rock!

December 7, 2007 3:32 PM

Right Wing Rock! (Download links at the bottom of the page.)
posted by Armitage Shanks (29 comments total)

Linda Polley and her husband Gerald are self-professed visitors from another planet, now living in North Dakota, who also claim to be psychics channeling the songs of John Lennon from the afterlife. It seems that in death, Lennon has abandoned his anti-establishment stance and joined the Religious Right, returning to a “back to basics” style based around Casio keyboard and nursery-rhyme phrasing, on exciting new songs such as this jaunty tribute to American military power. All things considered, it’s a shame the other three Beatles didn’t reform to record a backing track for this, rather than the comparatively dreary “Free As A Bird”.

This is the best news I've heard all week.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:45 PM on December 7, 2007

Right Wing Rock! (Download links at the bottom of the page.)

Yeah -- like I'm gonna trust a download from a site like this!
posted by ericb at 4:00 PM on December 7, 2007

I haven't paid any attention to Charlie Daniels since I was about 18 years old (that would be the year 1975), so I had no idea he'd become such a comically right-wing blowhard. Went and checked out some of his blog entries: pure gold. Like this one: The Flower Generation.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:03 PM on December 7, 2007

(From the Charlie Daniels blog:) Godless and without moral conscience, an unpenitent, unprotected, unprincipled nation of arrogant elitists who would tell all the rest of us how we should think [...]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
posted by shakespeherian at 4:21 PM on December 7, 2007

More of the Lennon-channeling Linda Polley here. Includes awesome animations.
posted by thinman at 4:38 PM on December 7, 2007

merle's a little harder to classify than that - rainbow stew
posted by pyramid termite at 4:40 PM on December 7, 2007

from Charlie Daniels: They have joined society and forsaken the paths of Chi and Lenin and now want to claim their share of the American Dream.

Chi and Lenin. I love that!
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 4:44 PM on December 7, 2007

Right Wing Folk
posted by Kibbutz at 4:59 PM on December 7, 2007

Root 'em out Joe!
Root 'em out Joe!
Send them all back to icy Moscow...
posted by PlusDistance at 6:51 PM on December 7, 2007

right-wing rock peaked at "Now Watergate doesn't bother me; does your conscience bother you?"
posted by panamax at 8:02 PM on December 7, 2007

Chi and Lenin.

Tagged as feng-shuist.
posted by y2karl at 8:19 PM on December 7, 2007

The thing that gets under my skin most about George W. is his intention to install fear in people. This is America. We're proud. We're not afraid of a bunch of terrorists. But this government is all about terror alerts and scaring us at airports. We're changing the Constitution out of fear. We spend all our time looking up each other's dresses. Fear's the only issue the Republican Party has. Vote for them, or the terrorists will win...

Does Merle Haggard Speak for America?
posted by y2karl at 8:35 PM on December 7, 2007

Does Merle Haggard Speak for America?

Backing for Hillary comes from opportunism on the part of her supporters, from Haggard to Murdoch — the piece illuminates how Haggard is just doing the all-American thing by jumping on the Winning Team.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:41 AM on December 8, 2007

Oh, bullshit.

...he's not shy about saying that one of the biggest things Hillary has going for her is Bill, who ranks up with Reagan in the Haggard pantheon and not only because the former President used to have a pickup truck with Astroturf in the back. "He cared about this country, about our problems," Haggard said, with a twinkle. "And I figure that whatever she doesn't know, he does."

He liked Bill Clinton. He likes Hillary through liking Bill. He liked Roosevelt and Reagan, too. Go figure. Merle Haggard is a contrarian confabulist populist contradiction unto himself.

Upon closer examination, Merle quotes aside, that article, being by Joe Klein, presumably, is a piece of crap. Soundbites and bloviating and a missed opportunity to pay real attention to a very interesting man. What a waste.
posted by y2karl at 3:01 AM on December 8, 2007

...As a follow-up, Haggard wrote "Irma Jackson," a story of interracial love, but Capitol Records refused to release it. Instead, it pushed "The Fighting Side of Me," a flag-waving screed that remains one of the few dull moments in the Haggard songbook.

Salon.com People | Merle Haggard

It really is an awful song and it's not one you ever see him performing. Okie from Muskogee and then Fighting Side of Me both put him on the map and then blighted his career.

And the irony--if the common account has any truth-- is that it all starts with Okie from Muskogee and that little ditty begins with Merle and band on route, on the bus and getting stoned and passing a highway sign outside Muskogee, Oklahoma. Someone looks out the window and riffs "We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee...'' and the song writes itself from there. Lots of giggles and then he becomes the secret stoner voice of the Silent Majority until he can't stand it anymore. Which doesn't take long.
posted by y2karl at 4:02 AM on December 8, 2007

Root 'em out Joe!
Root 'em out Joe!
Send them all back to icy Moscow...

That's funnier than the entirety of A Mighty Wind.
posted by jonp72 at 7:41 AM on December 8, 2007

Backing for Hillary comes from opportunism on the part of her supporters, from Haggard to Murdoch — the piece illuminates how Haggard is just doing the all-American thing by jumping on the Winning Team.

Are you kidding?

I would bet that Haggard lost a noticeable portion of his income by announcing support for Clinton. I would also bet that he knew that he would.
posted by Flunkie at 8:23 AM on December 8, 2007

IT'S A FLAG - NOT A RAG.
255MB of Right Wing Rock heading over the tubes. This is what Internets are for.
posted by porn in the woods at 8:42 AM on December 8, 2007

I would bet that Haggard lost a noticeable portion of his income by announcing support for Clinton.

not all the american people are so politically intense and polarized that they keep track of who their favorite musicians support for president and stop buying their records because of it
posted by pyramid termite at 10:10 AM on December 8, 2007

I would bet that Haggard lost a noticeable portion of his income by announcing support for Clinton.

I doubt he would notice any temporary hypothetical dip at this point in his career.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:10 AM on December 8, 2007

not all the american people are so politically intense and polarized that they keep track of who their favorite musicians support for president and stop buying their records because of it

Yeah, so?

Are you claiming that there's not a significant portion who do? Because that's what actually matters with respect to this.
posted by Flunkie at 11:10 AM on December 8, 2007

I saw the post title, and all I thought of was vocodoed Daft Punk voices going: ROCK. RIGHT WING ROCK. while video of brown people exploding was played.
posted by sparkletone at 11:34 AM on December 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think they're actually channelling the ghost of Johnny Ramone, not John Lennon
posted by Rajamadan at 1:17 PM on December 8, 2007

Yeah, the Ramones were great (in their own special way...) but Joey's political views were... well, heck, I mean, he was dumb.

But hey, he played "pure white rock and roll, so whaddaya expect?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:22 PM on December 8, 2007

Are you claiming that there's not a significant portion who do?

yes - not significant compared to the other variables he's been faced with, such as lack of recent airplay and lack of promotion - something all the old time country musicians have had to deal with, not just him

and not all that significant by itself either - most people don't weigh everything according to political belief

it's called having a balanced and sane perspective on things
posted by pyramid termite at 2:39 PM on December 8, 2007

by the way, october's "the bluegrass sessions" reached no 43 on the top country album charts while 2005's chicago wind only reached 54, according to allmusic

sounds like you've lost that bet
posted by pyramid termite at 2:46 PM on December 8, 2007

and not all that significant by itself either - most people don't weigh everything according to political belief

Who cares if "most people" don't? That's (again) not relevant. What's relevant (again) is if a significant number do.

The Dixie Chicks claimed to have lost half of their concert-going audience due to political backlash.

it's called having a balanced and sane perspective on things

Yeah, thanks for explaining this to me, man. Sheesh.

by the way, october's "the bluegrass sessions" reached no 43 on the top country album charts while 2005's chicago wind only reached 54, according to allmusic

LOL. This is just silly, on multiple levels. The small sample size, the small difference, the fact that money comes from tours, the fact that you seem to be under the impression that I'm ranting and raving and need to be told that "most Americans" are "balanced and sane", and so forth, but the following silliness is what convinced me that you're trolling:

The album he released between the two that you chose got higher on the chart than either one of those two.
posted by Flunkie at 4:03 PM on December 8, 2007

but the following silliness is what convinced me that you're trolling:

it's tiresome to cite facts to people who only give opinions and then be told that i'm trolling

The album he released between the two that you chose got higher on the chart than either one of those two.

no source quoted, album not identified, main point not addressed, unnecessary insults added

you have forfeited the privilege of discussing this with me

bye
posted by pyramid termite at 5:26 PM on December 8, 2007

Yeah, your snide little backhanded comments like "it's called having a balanced and sane perspective on things" were not unnecessary insults.

And your lack of ability to acknowledge the fact that "most people don't boycott artists over political views" has nothing to do with "significant numbers of people do" is totally indicative of your desire to merely cite facts in a completely neutral and objective way. *Especially* when it is pointed out to you that significant numbers *have* done so, specifically within Haggard's general musical genre and for a similar reason.

And the same source as yours. The non-"best of" album listed on the "charts" page between the two that you listed.

you have forfeited the privilege of discussing this with me

bye

LOL. OK. Bye.
posted by Flunkie at 5:43 PM on December 8, 2007