Music and politics have an uneasy symbiosis, as two recent stories have made clear. Ed Sheeran went through ‘the worst week’ of his life after his tour support act, Macklemore, was shuffled off the gigs following an on-stage pronouncement about Palestine. The Jewish owner of the Gillette Stadium, Robert Kraft, was apparently so incensed by this that he issued an ‘ultimatum’ to Sheeran. Macklemore was dropped from the tour.
By Miles Salter
Feature photo: Ed Sheeran By Harald Krichel – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89094695
Sheeran stood back and watched it all happen. Had he dug his heels in and stood up for his support act, he would have been commended for having guts. But that’s now what happened. Other support acts also pulled out over the debacle, leaving Sheeran looking exposed and unpopular. Sheeran issued a rather lame statement which tried hard to appease both Jewish and Palestinian victims of violence. He did not pick a side, which is increasingly tricky in today’s binary world. Sheeran’s cousin Jethro has called the singer a ‘coward’.
Arguably, Sheeran’s inoffensive pop goes hand in hand with avoiding any bigger issues. This is not new. At a 1972 press conference before playing huge shows at Madison Square Garden, Elvis was asked about his views: ‘I’d just as soon keep my own personal views about that to myself, because I’m just an entertainer so I’d rather not say.’ Presley’s career, while musically ground-breaking, was conspicuous for its lack of political content, although he did offer some social commentary with the song ‘In The Ghetto’.
Other musicians are less reserved. Bruce Springsteen has recently publicly harangued Donald Trump during the Republican’s second term as President. Springsteen is either brave or out of line, depending on your point of view. John Lennon spoke out on a number of issues and released a song called ‘Woman Is The N*gger Of The World’.
But sticking one’s neck out comes at a price, as many artists have found out. In 2003, the Dixie Chicks spoke out about the war in Iraq. At a concert in London, singer Natalie Maines told the audience: ‘just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.’
The backlash was intense. Country radio stations withdrew the band’s songs from rotation. Record sales plummeted. Angry Texans burned CDs of the band. Some even used bulldozers, which seems a little extreme, but that’s America for you. Had they spoken to Sinead O’Connor, the Irish singer-songwriter might have offered some counsel. O’Connor ripped up a photo of the Pope on live television in 1992. Thousands of angry phone calls flooded into NBC and when O’Connor appeared at a Bob Dylan concert weeks later, she was booed off stage.
Everyone’s favourite singing Scottish twins, The Proclaimers, have also caused a stir recently. Around the time Sheeran was getting harangued for his lack of courage, Charlie and Craig Reid took the opposite of Sheeran’s ‘softly softly’ approach. Their new album is called ‘You May Offend’ which is odd as for the best part of 40 years they’ve been Scotland’s polite duo, hollering crowd-pleasing songs about hiking at their packed gigs. In an interview, Craig Reid said that a woman is an “adult human female” and that those who hold pro-trans views are ‘truth-phobic’. Thomas Willett, founder of Equality Amplified, said ‘who cares what The Proclaimers think about trans people? They’re not experts on gender, healthcare, law or human rights.’
So, if, like Ed Sheeran, you refuse to pick a side, you’re criticised. If you do speak out, like The Proclaimers, Springsteen or The Dixie Chicks, you’re criticised. Is it any wonder acts prefer to be quiet? They just don’t want the hassle.
Ultimately, though, audiences respect somebody who has a view and makes it known. Which is why Sheeran has been so harangued. He’s happy to take the money and put his work into the public domain but won’t stand up and be counted. As Bob Geldof put it over the Sheeran row, ‘there’s virtue in kicking up a fuss and being a pain in the arse sometimes.’ Or, as American singer John Mellencamp sang in 1985, ‘You’ve got to stand for something, or you’re going to fall for anything.’