Punk rockers are jumping into and shaking up the political mainstream. "It’s not about ‘let’s be punk rock and hate the government,’ reads the jacket liner to this compilation album, "it’s about ‘let’s be punk rock and change the government.’" Fat Wreck Chords has produced a classic collection of punk rock of varying shades and motifs – metal, industrial, riot grrl, techno-derived, even pop – all uniting to defeat Bush in the 2004 elections.
Big bands and artists like Ministry, Sum 41, The Offspring, Anti-Flag, Pennywise, (former Green Party presidential candidate) Jello Biafra and a featured performance by Billy Bragg mix it up with sharp, driving bands like The Soviettes, Against Me!, Rise Against, The Ataris and many more. This album is loud, it’s fresh and it’s hardcore politics. From advocating revolution to exposing the hypocrisy, lies and violence of the Bush administration, these bands are saying, "Apathy is a luxury we can’t afford." The difference between action and inaction is the difference between peace and war, justice and atrocities, jobs and unemployment, healthcare and sickness, equality and racism.
Lyrics cut to the heart of the realities of Bush’s war, US imperialism and government repression. Sum 41’s "Moron" wails, "I can’t take anymore…I can’t ignore it anymore." Ministry drives the point home even more directly in "No W.":
Ask me why you’re feeling screwed
And I’ll give the answer
There’s a Colin, Dick and Bush
Just hammerin’ away.
Using samples of a speech given by Father Roy Bourgeois of the School of the Americas Watch, Anti-Flag assaults the School of the Americas (SOA/WHISC) in "The School of Assassins":
Ft. Benning, Georgia is gonna teach you how to move
Take our rights back! Stand up for Liberty!
This is the era when we give the world a better way.
With heavy guitars that recall Metallica in its youth, frat-boy band The Offspring surprises with its satire of Bush in "Baghdad." "The President said/‘Let it ride,’" sings front man Dexter Holland, "Islam be damned/Make your last stand/In Baghdad."
Other notable songs are "God Save the USA" (Pennywise), "The Expatriate Act" (World/Inferno Friendship Society), and "Lion and the Lamb" (The Get Up Kids), though of the 26 songs on this CD, listeners are bound to find their own favorites. That CD must cost a fortune, you say, with 26 songs. At six dollars, it’s a steal.
But that’s not all you get. Enclosed with this monster CD is a DVD with several features. Several short documentary films, including "Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War," which uses televised speeches and interviews by members of the Bush administration to chart the course of the lies used to generate support for the war on Iraq. Anti-Bush television ads made for a MoveOn.org commercial contest are entertaining and educational. Music videos by some of the bands on the CD are also included. Every inch of this two-disc package is covered with anti-Bush propaganda and more than worth the money.
But this album isn’t about making money. It’s about getting out the word, getting us on our feet and moving to shut down the Bush administration on November 2nd.
--Roberta Jones writes on the music scene for Political Affairs. She can be reached at pa-letters@politicalaffairs.net.
