Chrissie Hynde speaks out for something that used to be ordinary but is now getting to be extraordinary
I’m referring to the idea that differences of opinion about politics are okay, and people can love one another despite them.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
On Twitter, the Ohio-born singer [who was the lead singer of the rock group The Pretenders] wrote of her dad’s WWII service and the fact that he loved listening to Rush.
But there was more, and buckle up for this one, America: She and her father often…disagreed.
Yes — and it was okay.
Furthermore, people who can’t tolerate disagreement…well, it sounds like they’re lame.
“An open Letter to @realDonaldTrump, President of the United States.
Dear Mr. President,
I often think of how much my father, Melville “Bud” Hynde, who proudly served his country as a Marine on Guadalcanal, would have enjoyed your Presidency. The other day when you gave that award to Rush Limbaugh, my father would have been so delighted. He loved listening to Rush, which is why I allowed my song, “My City Was Gone,” to be used on his radio show. My father and I didn’t always see eye-to-eye. We argued a lot. But isn’t that the American way? The right to disagree without having your head chopped off?”
It’s sad that for someone on the left to express thoughts like Hynde’s now rates a blog post. But I think it does.
Yes, so sad.
Well, shouldn’t she be addressing this more to the lunatics on the left?
Those are the people that freak when anyone agrees with Trump even a little.
This split started long ago for some people. I had a neighbor girl I played. One day she threw a rock at me and called me a ‘Publican. At 6 years old, I had no idea what she was talking about. And neither did she.
Meemsie,
‘Called me a Publican’
Maybe she thought you owned a pub?
beautiful.
and since Amazon has destroyed so many malls, she should do a rewright of My City was Gone
For those who don’t know the song:
“The Pretenders — My City Was Gone”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvAYGz6Iwmc
Nice choice by Rush. Classy move by Chrissie.
I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
South Howard had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
A, o, way to go Ohio
Well I went back to Ohio
But my family was gone
I stood on the back porch
There was nobody home
I was stunned and amazed
My childhood memories
Slowly swirled past
Like the wind through the trees
A, o, oh way to go Ohio
I went back to Ohio
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride
The farms of Ohio
Had been replaced by shopping malls
And Muzak filled the air
From Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls
Said, a, o, oh way to go Ohio
It’s long struck me as whiny posing by rock stars, who built their city on material created by blacks and hillbillies, to go, “Oh, you can’t play my precious song if I don’t like your politics.”
I like Chrissie Hynde’s work, but here’s something she said at a rock concert in 2003, not long after the 9/11 attacks:
“Have we gone to war yet?” she asked sarcastically, early on. “We (expletive) deserve to get bombed. Bring it on.” Later she yelled, “Let’s get rid of all the economic (expletive) this country represents! Bring it on, I hope the Muslims win!”
See my post Beauty and Ugliness:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/34008.html
David Foster: Always a pleasure to hear from you. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld:
You go to war with the rock stars you have, not the rock stars you might want or wish to have at a later time.
I haven’t kept up with Ms. Hynde. That she’s somewhere on the left, which I find close to anti-American is sad, but at least she gets America close enough.
If I disagree with her, she won’t wish a gulag upon me that I might be re-educated to become a better person.
I don’t know Hynde from a hindi, but by the looks of those lyrics she appears to wish to have conserved something now changed for the worse. And from the looks of her other remarks doesn’t know shit from shinola. Just another ditsy popstar.
I have some very dear friends who Democrats, they get their news and information from the left side of the media and don’t know what they don’t know however they treat me with kindness and respect and I treat them the same way while we avoid political discussions. Some of my friends were so mad when Trump won they decided they were through talking to people like me who thought he actually had a chance to win and then we were delighted with the outcome. I was careful to not rub it in that we won but that made little difference, I seemed to have become and enemy.
Maybe that is some sort of acid test of true friendship.
It’s “cool” to hate the successful. Jews in Germany. Christian Armenians East of Turkey. Chinese in Malaysia. Tutsis in Rwanda.
Capitalism as the best known system for creating wealth, and materialistic hope for the poor; it’s successful. And it rewards those who ACTUALLY give poor and normal folk the goods & services they want (within their budgets) — which drive elite professors “crazy”. Crazy enough to support failed socialism. After fail, after fail, after fail.
Neo, I like Hynde’s attitude here but it’s important to note that she is talking about her father. It is a lot easier to disagree with a loved one over politics and still love and respect them than it is for strangers to come to the same agreement.
BUT it shouldn’t be! The problem is most of us like to label those we don’t like and then keep pushing the label even if it doesn’t stick. Here’s one; “Democrats are socialists”. Not true. But then either is “Republicans are racists.”
I have Republican friends and we get along fine most of the time by mostly avoiding politics.
huxley
It’s long struck me as whiny posing by rock stars, who built their city on material created by blacks and hillbillies, to go, “Oh, you can’t play my precious song if I don’t like your politics.”
When a politician plays a song in a way that uses the musicians lyrics in order to push the politician’s message it can be interpreted that the musician[s] endorse the candidate. If you wrote a song and it was used by Hillary Clinton or [whomever you hate this election cycle] I am pretty sure you would object. It’s not being whiny to not want the property you created to be used in political ways you do not agree with. If these musicians are just using material created by ‘blacks and hillbillies’ then why don’t these politicians just use that material rather than the rock star’s music?
If Chrissie had been a Classical era Roman, what kind of nostalgic anomie would she feel when gazing upon the Rome that we know? It’s not a special feeling found in les artistes; it’s human. Dust in the Wind.
Montage:
Obviously she’s talking about her father. At least, that’s her jumping-off point.
But you might be surprised to learn how many family members either can’t talk to each other about politics because they disagree, or even break off relations. It’s not at all unusual.
Plus, Hynde is going public with this, thus opening herself up to a huge amount of potential criticism from the left. She obviously wanted to send a more general message.
And that more general message is the following, which she wrote:
She’s not just talking about fathers and daughters.
The presupposition of her statement is that political arguments are arguments over policy, not delineators of in-groups and out-groups. It presupposes we live in a society of working adults. Right now, political discourse occurs in a cultural matrix where high school never ends. Some of us are responsible for this, and some of us are not. The responsible parties vote Democratic.
. If you wrote a song and it was used by Hillary Clinton or [whomever you hate this election cycle] I am pretty sure you would object.
Montage: You don’t know me. I do object when people tell me how I would respond to something. Knock it off.
I might have words with anyone using my creative material for whatever reasons. But I sure wouldn’t make a big public stink about it. I don’t think I would do it over politics, assuming the usual fees were paid.
“The presupposition of her statement is that political arguments are arguments over policy, not delineators of in-groups and out-groups.”
I just finished a 4,000 word essay of which the last sentence is “And that’s why the culture war is a war, not an argument.”
Neo,
I agree. I’ve never considered disagreeing with someone a qualifier to not talk to them anymore. Or to cancel them as they now do. Some on the left will make noise about this.
huxley
I might have words with anyone using my creative material for whatever reasons. But I sure wouldn’t make a big public stink about it. I don’t think I would do it over politics, assuming the usual fees were paid.
Right, but famous people only have to say something once [having words] for it to be a big deal.
Brian May of Queen said of Trump using his lyrics:
“Permission to use the track was neither sought nor given,” concerning the Queen hit “We Are The Champions” being used as Trump’s “theme song.” May also added, “It has always been against our policy to allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool.”
I don’t consider that making a stink but some would. I say it’s just an artist wanting their song not to be used. But, true, if fees are paid then some artists might consider it. Some musicians certainly play concerts at rallies to help get bigger crowds for the candidate.
Montage: How tiresome. Re: Queen — if that’s how Queen wants to play it across the board, fine.
Of course, that’s not the situation we are addressing here. Hynde could have made a big public stink and stopped Limbaugh — a person she disagrees with — from using her music. Do you not understand what I mean?
That’s not what she did. (Or Queen.) In fact she switched it around to the opposite — making a public show of tolerance. That’s what we are talking about. Since I support Hynde’s stand, I’m saying I would do the same.
I left myself some wiggle room in case someone like you moved the goalposts to “Well, Mr. Huxley, would allow your music to be used while people were being shoved into ovens?” No, I would not.
The situation I was addressing was the one you posed about ‘whiny rock stars’. In the case of Hynde she didn’t make a big stink because she gave Rush permission before he used it. Trump’s campaign, however, didn’t seek permission when using songs by Queen and Neil Young and The Rolling Stones and some others. Sure, they likely would not have allowed it and maybe they aren’t being tolerant. I’d be curious to know how Ted Nugent or Kid Rock would respond if Bernie used a song without asking. Cat Scatch Fever at Bernie rallys. Why not!?
Another person rooting for the-emotion-formerly-known-as-tolerance:
https://www.redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2020/02/18/walk-away-democrat-who-left-party-after-attending-trump-rally-not-backing-down-in-face-of-harassment/
Here I thought that Chrisse Hynde’s father loved Rush – the Canadian prog-rock group whose drummer just died. I guess `Rush’ has a different connotation in the U.S…
It bothers me greatly that people are still playing like this is all just about common disagreements.
The “divide” is about whether to a free people and members of a representative republic or be enslaved to the state.
That is not an agree to disagree issue. That is a pick your side and fight to the death issue and winner takes all.
“Here I thought that Chrisse Hynde’s father loved Rush – the Canadian prog-rock group whose drummer just died. I guess `Rush’ has a different connotation in the U.S…”
I have to say that to me, especially in context of the phrase “…he loved listening to Rush”, “Rush” means the band; “Rush Limbaugh” means the radio host. I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh nor do I know anyone (IRL) who does; when I hear or read a reference to the radio host it’s always in the form of “Rush Limbaugh” not just “Rush.” I wouldn’t think of him as just Rush, any more than I thought of Howard Stern as just Howard.
Hereogar:
That’s a reason to disagree strongly and to talk to the person about why you see it that way. It’s no reason to hate them unless they also already see it that way. Which the vast majority do not.
They see it as being kind to those less fortunate. They don’t see it as “being enslaved to the state.”
As a long-time listener of Rush’s (and a fan of Rush as well :)), I’m compelled to correct the record.
“In the case of Hynde she didn’t make a big stink because she gave Rush permission before he used it. ”
That’s incorrect. Rush was using the song as his opener from very early on, if not the very beginning of his syndicated broadcast. I distinctly recall in the early 90’s that he suddenly switched the opening to something else. This remained the case for roughly a week and then resumed using the Hynde track. He explained in that same time frame that he’d received essentially a “cease and desist” from Hynde, but that they had come to a mutually agreeable resolution. I presumed at the time that it probably involved a considerable sum, but with this recent revelation about her Dad, perhaps not so much or any at all.