Re: [Marxism] Dylan documentary

["Calvin Broadbent" <calvinbroadbent@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

No anarchist political culture before Crass?! That is untrue. What is more
accurate is that punk as a cultural form was more or less dead before Crass
rejuvenated that scene around 1984. I don't know what Crass had to say about
Rock Against Racism, but I suspect they weren't wide of the mark on that
issue. However, Crass' constant refrain, basically, 'left and right are all
the same, we want anarchy', is bad politics and makes for dull lyrics.
Crass' best lyrics are in 'Christ died for his own sins, not mine' and their
song about Myra Hindley.

Public Enemy's politics were better than Crass'. PE conveyed their ideas to
people who were not lifestyle culture vulture types, but ordinary music and
dance fans. Not so for Crass.

Anyhow, this is all I have to say. I was through being a 'fan' of one band
or musician or group over another when I was fifteen. I just listen to
whatever is good. Its only music at the end of the day, and only the
privileged and deluded would ever consider music capable of changing the
world.

PS Crass are rich and live in a large English country mansion now, making no
serious political music whatsoever. Public Enemy has two new albums coming
out *New Whirl Odor* and *Rebirth of a Nation*. Neither of them is worth
getting excited about, but at least Chuck D from Public Enemy still has
plenty to say.

<http://www.publicenemy.com/>

ROBERT WOOD WROTE:

I had mentioned Crass and Public Enemy because both of them actually
produced large political movements (Crass more so that PE).  I find the
notion that Bob Dylan did anything of the sort to be a bit absurd.  Dylan
may have faced nasty press comments but he didn't have his music banned or
tracked by the intelligence service. (both of these happened to Crass) He
didn't produce an entirely new form of cultural activism. More people may
have heard Dylan, but a greater percentage of Crass's audience took their
message to the streets and made it reality.  Once again, before Crass
there was literally almost no anarchist political culture.  I tend to
agree with Calvin that some of their politics are a bit dodgy
(particularly in regards to some of the comments that they made about Rock
Against Racism)but they radically transformed the way that politics,
music, and culture operated.  In this sense, it would be better to compare
them with the work of Brecht (they probably would really hate that
comparison) or the Situationist International.

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