“What happens to messages and acts of protest when they end up packaged and sold at grocery stores?”
“As a child I was more interested in the artwork and packaging on my parents’ records than the musical content. I wasn’t allowed to play records, but I could familiarize myself with various bands’ music through my Dad’s 8 track player in the car. In the early ’80s I would ride in the car between my parents up front and in the middle, sitting atop a storage case between their seats with no seat belt. We went everywhere this way until I grew too big and had to move to the backseat with my brother. My Dad had a few great 8 track tapes. The one that stood out and often led me back to the record collection to investigate further was a Creedence Clearwater Greatest Hits compilation.
C.C.R. may be the greatest Anglo-American band of the ’70s. Of course there is also ZZ Top, but in my perspective ZZ Top were an ’80s band, as I came to know them through their ridiculous ’80s videos, whereas C.C.R. just seemed to typify an era that I missed (and can therefore magically create in my own idealized way).
They were finished by the time I heard them. The band had no painful years in the ’80s. The Creedence compilation my Dad owned has a typically bad band photo on the cover. This is a budget collection that he most likely bought either after seeing a TV commercial or on a trip to the supermarket. He has never frequented record shops, but I remember clearly that records and CDs were often bought at the grocery store checkout line or later, Wal-Mart. Much of his collection then, are Greatest Hits compilations from different eras. I think he has about four copies of the Eagles’ Greatest Hits.
Anyway, I wonder how many records Creedence sold in those days. How many white male baby boomers bought this same compilation at the grocery store checkout and then blared “Fortunate Son” on the way home.
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue
And when the band plays “Hail to the chief”
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, oh
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask them, “How much should we give?”
Ooh, they only answer “More! More! More!”
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no military son, son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, one
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no no no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son, no no no
How times have changed.
That eager generation of white, male Creedence buyers are the same people who turned the tide in favor of America’s Number One Fortunate Son, Donald Trump. What the hell? Many of them are the same people who spent their working lives in a union and then voted anti-union. Many of them are the same people who saw the benefits of the creation of the EPA, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Wilderness Act and then voted against the environment. The same people who sang along with “Fortunate Son” in their cars in 1976 then went and voted for Trump 40 years later.
Creedence had a total of 7 studio albums in their career, 2 live albums, and 41 compilation albums. A quick search reveals the following Greatest Hits compilations released by C.C.R.: The Best Of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Smash Hit Songs of Creedence Clearwater Revival, 20 Super Hits, Creedence Gold, More Creedence Gold, 20 Super Hits Vol. 2, C.C.R Best 20, Chronicle: The Best of Creedence Clearwater Revival, C.C.R: 20 Golden Greats, The Very Best of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chronicle 2, The Creedence Collection, The Fantastic Creedence Clearwater Story, and 24 Classic Hits: The Ultimate Creedence Compilation.
Is music not as powerful as we think it is? Didn’t these quite obvious messages get through? It certainly did get to me. I revisited “Fortunate Son” in my teenage years when a band I played in covered the Circle Jerks’ version. The lyrics are again resonating with me, 34 years since I first heard it. What does it take to go from singing along to Creedence to voting for Donald Trump? Or maybe I shouldn’t have had so much faith in that generation of record buyers in the ’70s. Music becomes less effective the more it is packaged and regurgitated… to the point where it becomes wallpaper, or worse—co-opted. Republican douchebag Chris Christie’s idol Bruce Springsteen and his song that everyone seems to misinterpret, “Born in the USA” is the ultimate example.
This is one reason why I will happily pay $5 and go to a noise concert. Unlike punk, hip hop, and everything else that has come before it and was once subversive, it can’t be co-opted. The noise concert is a wonderful refuge. A sanctuary.”
—Jeremy Barnes
A Hawk and A Hacksaw’s brand new full length release, Forest Bathing is in stores now via Living Music Duplication—on vinyl.
