To question or to bed?
It seems like a lot of what I find on the internet is older stuff but always very interesting. This is a piece from BBC News in the year 2005.
Alex Kapranos of the band Franz Ferdinand believes that the government needs to have a bigger role in Scottish music.
He states that for cultral output to thrive, there needs to be state input aswell.
I guess what he means is that music, as nice as it is, doesn’t make much money but costs a lot to produce. If the government want to have nice music on their radio stations, they need to provide funding for ‘musos’ to go into recording studios and make music. Aswell as helping less experienced, poorer bands with instruments, amps, all that kind of stuff to make the music sound good.
“I think the role of musicians is to question politicians rather than to go to bed with them,” Kapranos said.
So although musicians need funding from the government and are thankful for the funding they get, they shouldn’t suddenly write songs about how much they love the government. Bands should still stick to their Green Day, American Idiot punk roots which say ’screw the authorities’.
Kapranos believes some parts of music need help being sustained as they are not ’self sufficient’. I’m guessing this applies to the expense of making music which far outweighs the profit a small band gets from putting their music out there.
In addition to his comment about ‘bedding’ politicians, he also says having tea with them is not a good idea either, meaning it’s best not to get too close and friendly to one particular party.
I still think this goes back to the punk kinda movement where music was about doubting authority rather than agreeing. Even rock music has a degree of rebellion rather than conformity and I think it’s important to keep it that way. Even if bands do get help from the authorities, definitely does not mean they’re your best friend.
“If you take everything I’ve accomplished in my life and condense it down to one day, it looks decent!” – George Costanza
Tory.