You’ll be surprised by which musicians had the most to say about the US election
Regardless of where you live, it’s been hard to avoid the lead up to (and fallout from) Trump’s surprising win in the US presidential election. Our social feeds have been full of memes and articles as collectively we have vented our frustrations on-line.
And so it’s no surprise that popular musicians have joined (and in many cases lead) the conversation in this regard. Music, politics, and protest have always been linked. The 60’s were flooded with good music as musicians appealed to a counterculture that was anti war and pro peace. And 2016 is no different.
As a content curation platform for music, MuzeRoom has a wealth of data including which musicians mentioned Clinton, Trump, or the election — and how often they were in the news.
But it wasn’t metal, punk, or even rock n roll that led the way as you might expect in these angry times, but rather a random cross section of popular culture. So here are the top 5 artists that had the most headlines relating to the elections…
1. Jay Z
Jay Z endorsed Clinton’s candidacy speaking at one of her rallies in Cleveland — “This other guy, I don’t have any ill will … he cannot be my president,” Jay-Z said. “He cannot be our president. Once you divide us, you weaken us, we are stronger together.”
Donald Trump then attacked him over his use of bad language at a Clinton rally, and it turns out that Jay-Z may have some political aspirations of his own. Jay-Z vs. Kanye 2020?
2. The White Stripes
The White Stripes were so pissed, they reunited to publicly condemn Donald Trump and his ‘illegal’ use of Seven Nation Army. Oh, and they started selling ‘icky Trump’ shirts too. The red t-shirts, which are named after Jack and Meg White’s 2007 album ‘Icky Thump’, are currently on sale on Third Man Records’ website — brilliant.
3. Death Cab for Cutie
Dis tracks are usually left to the rap game, but Indie darlings Death Cab surprised us all with a video dis track called ‘million dollar loan’. The song targeted Donald Trump, who famously said his father gave him $1 million to start his business dealings. The track is part of the ’30 Days, 30 Songs’ project, in which a new anti-Trump song was unveiled every day in the run up to the US election.
The band also recently assured us that their shows ‘will always be a safe place’ — encouraging “people of all colors, all genders, all sexual orientations and all beliefs to come together to celebrate music, love and mutual respect” at their concerts. Amen.
4. Franz Ferdinand
It wasn’t just American artists voicing their discontent either. Scottish indie rockers Franz Ferdinand unveiled a new song which was a blistering attack on Donald Trump called ‘Demagogue’, (also part of the ’30 Days, 30 Songs’ project). Not content there, the band then collaborated with Shepard Fairey to unveil an anti-Trump design for the song.
5. Marilyn Manson
Perhaps the only artist on this list that doesn’t come as a surprise is Manson. The shock rocker shared a music video for a new song, “Say10” in which he juggles a Bible while pulling pages from it before the camera jumps to the bloody, beheaded body of someone that looks very similar to Donald Trump.
Despite this artistic statement, he publicly stated that he did not vote in this election — “I don’t find either candidate to my liking, so I choose to stand out of this one,” he told Rolling Stone. “And I don’t think that’s a coward’s stance.”
It will be interesting to see what output we see from our favourite artists as this continues to unfold. We can only hope that the current state of discontent sparks a creative fire that inspires our favourite artists musically.
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