Larry asked on the message board, WHERE ARE OUR PROTEST SONGS OF TODAY?! good question. But when I think about it, were the ones of yesteryear really all that good of a tune? now, as far as my money goes, Gil Scott Heron, Dylan, Prince, Phil Ochs, N.W.A., ICE T, Public Enemy, Grand Master Flash, Love, The Kinks (Yes, Them! They were aint-Establishment and pro-individual…equally important!) and the Clash. these were groups who not only had a message but mixed it up with great tunes. So then why come no one else? well, that’s a very good question. Personally, i think that if Kurt Cobain were still kicking you’d see a different America. Now that sounds bold, cause he’s only a rock musician. But i don’t really have the energy (with the LAKER game on) to go into it. but trust me, he had a a deep influence on the youth and beyond the youth. on different age groups. BUSH would never be in a Cobain world. now, i am not a Cabinet or anything like that. i do know that, the guy went on TV and called pearl jam a bunch of phonies. and if anyone was primed to vote for Bush i would certainly think they would start with pearl jam records as an inspiration. not because the records are Conservative or spark you to think in one way or another. precisely the opposite; pearl jam records lull you into complacency. but the general public were under some strange illusion that they were rebels. hmmm. whatever. now on to the protest song. why would anyone even waste their time (except to make money) writing a protest song? no one even cares. look at the asshole sitting in the white house. people didn’t even vote and you wanna write them a song? tell you what, if the people come out in November (and how can they not?) and, assuming all the votes get counted (cross your fingers), i will write a nice protest song. but it wont be a song about the crooks in the white house. it’ll be a song about the lazy a-holes that allowed our wonderful democracy to be hijacked by a bunch of loony toons. they have MORE THAN deserved that song….they earned it. cause EVE OF DESTRUCTION ain’t gonna cut it this time boys. (no offense P.F. cause i got nothing but love for you )

Mike Randle