Michael Graves (The Misfits)
Ted Nugent
Bob Seger
Pat DiNizio (Smithereens)
Alice Cooper
Danny Elfman
Neil Peart
Kid Rock
C.C. Deville (Poison)
James Hetfield
Dave Mustaine
Gene Simmons
Britney Spears
Jessica Simpson
Chaka Khan
Frankie Avalon
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter
and Meat Loaf
Let's start with the obvious: This is a pathetic list. If you have to resort to including Frankie Avalon on a list of "rock-stars" you do not have yourself much of a list. You might as well throw Pat Boone in there too.
Beyond this, at a glance I can tell at least some of these are just plain wrong.
Danny Elfman? Would that be the same Danny Elfman who currently has a post on The Huffington Post calling Sarah Palin his "worst nightmare"? (Also, while Danny Elfman was in a rock band before he became a famous film composer, he was never a rock-star).
Chaka Khan? It's true she performed at the 2000 Republican convention. But she's not exactly a rock-star either and says she only agreed to perform at the convention to raise awareness for her autism foundation, and now regrets it, claiming "it might have done more damage than good, for me anyway, for my spirit."
Neil Peart? First of all, he's Canadian. Second, he identifies himself as a "left-leaning libertarian" (although at least there is no doubt that he is a rock-star).
There could be more mistakes on this list, but unless someone can explain to my why I should give a crap what Kid Rock or C.C. Deville (of Poison!) thinks about anything, I'm not going to bother to check. Those are just the ones that jumped out at me.
Beyond that, if you need to write a list of rock-stars who share your political beliefs (whatever they are) in order to justify them, I suggest re-examining what you believe and why. I mean, I'm happy that Bruce Springsteen is out there campaigning for the Barack Obama. But I'm not voting for Obama because Springsteen told me to.
But mostly what a pathetic list. There must be other actual rock-stars who are Republicans. Joe Perry of Aerosmith endorsed McCain. Johnny Ramone was a Republican. I'm pretty sure Mike Love is a Republican (he's definitely an asshole). And don't forget Mike Huckabee plays the bass!!!
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Not that it in any way refutes your assessment of Mr. Elfman's status as a "rock star" but in their heyday (the '80s), Oingo Boingo was actually pretty big out here in L.A. (as in selling out multiple nights at amphitheaters). And on their first album he did write a song called "Capitalism" where he non-ironically asserted "there's nothing wrong with wanting to live nice," so even in his younger days he had no socialist leanings. Whether that puts him as a right-winger is another story, but hey, even if so, it won't make me enjoy those Boingo tracks any less when they come up on my iPod.
I mean, Ted Nugent is certifiably insane but that doesn't mean that "Stranglehold" doesn't rock. I digress.
I imagine a lot of "rock stars" are more ambivalent. Paul Westerberg wrote in the Replacements' b-side "Election Day": "I don't care who gets elected." (That may or may not be his actual opinion, but it seems as though there are those out there who share that sentiment.)
But as regards stretching to fill such a list: It does seem if the Republicans were a bit more supportive of the arts that perhaps the arts would be more supportive of them. Just a thought.
again, thank you very much
On Pat DiNizio, that one struck me as little surprising too. I did a little research and found an interview with him in the Village Voice from 2000, when he was running for some office under Ross Perot's Reform Party. I don't know if he's technically a Republican, but he sounded at the very least very conservative, and full of hate for the Clintons.
Doesn't make a bit of difference to me as far as his music is concerned.
I have no idea how exactly I stumbled upon your blog, but I'm glad I did...this was a hilarious list. Thanks for the entertainment tonight.
Michael Graves (The Misfits) - He wasn't even an original Misfit. Doesn't count for shit.
Ted Nugent - who else would that assmunch vote for?
Bob Seger - whatever? who cares, right?
Pat DiNizio (Smithereens) a little surprising, but I guess that happens when you start making a living playing small town volunteer fire department type festivals
Alice Cooper - okay... again, who cares?
Danny Elfman - a little surprising
Neil Peart - I hate Rush..it figures he'd be a Republican
Kid Rock - Thank goodness he's a McCain supporter. It would be a embarrassing to think I have anything in common with that ass!
C.C. Deville (Poison)Same as above.
James Hetfield - we all know how those metallica guys hate to share the wealth
Dave Mustaine - figures
Gene Simmons - Was he ever *really* a rock star? Isn't he more of an capitalist pig entertainment mogul?
Britney Spears - wonder if she registered to vote when she finally got a California driver's license?
Jessica Simpson - That right there should be more than enough reason to keep any sane person from voting for McCain
Chaka Khan - hmmmm...I just never though of her as rockin' it
Frankie Avalon - it's just sad that he's even a part of this list
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter - No one in Steely Dan liked him anyway.
and Meat Loaf - does anyone really care what Meat Loaf thinks about anything?
First, sad to her about Pat DiNizio. I really liked the first Smithereens album.
Second, Linda Ramone has been campaigning for McCain
I guess whether Elfman was ever a "rock star" is a judgment call. I personally don't think Oingo Boingo's popularity rose to that level, but then I'm a life-long East-Coaster.
I'm not sure where the line between "dude in a band" and "rock-star" is, but I'd put Bruce Springsteen and Ted Nugent into the later category and Danny Elfman and say, Stan Ridgeway into the former. Either way, it's not meant as a knock on anyone's music.
I suspect the song "Capitalism" is the only reason why Elfman sometimes appears on lists like this. The song certainly sounds like it could have been written by someone who was a Republican at the dawn of the Reagan era, or possibly by someone who just broke up with an annoying middle-class, wanna-be "socialist" girlfriend. Whatever Elfman's politics were then, if you read his HuffPost editorial it is clear that he identifies with absolutely nothing about today's Republican Party.
Nugent is nuts (he is after all "The Motor City Madman"), but there is no doubt "Strangelhold," "Free-For-All," "Yank Me, Crank Me," "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang," and most of all "Journey To The Center Of Your Mind" rock righteously. His politics do not effect my opinion of his music at all.
A Republican who decided to only listen to the music of those who shared his political ideology would have a very limited music collection. A Democrat who did the same could assemble a much larger collection, but it would still be unnecessarily limited.
Mostly, I just thought this was a very sad list.
Hi Malcom,
The quotes show up automatically when using the "blockquote" html code. I think it's part of the blogger template I chose. I suspect other templates (such as the one you use) treat the "blockquote" command differently.
Hope that's helpful...
You may think I'm out of my mind with my comment, but I've always wondered how do you embed these beatiful quotation marks you use. Thanks a lot & back to lurking
I'm sad to say this, but Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens is a wingnut. I just spent five minutes on his website and he's getting his "news" from The Washington Times and fascist ideologues like Charles Krauthammer.
I still love The Smithereens and am looking forward to catching them in Santa Cruz, CA next Friday, but I'll never hear their stuff the way I did before.
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