Taking Care of Business (as Usual)

If I were paranoid, I'd think NPR wonks sometimes sat around a conference table brainstorming on ways to try and demoralize progressives and people of conscience. This morning we get to hear about rock stars selling their songs and image for commercials. Okay, if someone who wrote songs back in the day has fallen on hard times and feels they need to make some money by selling their work, who am I to condemn it? I know I've compromised my values at times, but for God's sake, I don't then extol my compromises as acts of virtue and try to put down those who have more integrity - but that's exactly what this report does.

Consider what Joel Rose of WHYY has to say:

"With Bob Dylan…in a commercial for Victoria’s Secret and the Beatles’ song…in a new ad for Target, the major remaining holdouts are Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits. But that stance is getting harder and harder to find says Billboard's Brian Garrity: ‘Even though you have some bands that are still kind of clinging to this notion being in commercials is some kind of sellout, the industry by and large has moved past that stigma.’ "

"Clinging to this notion"! That smug little put-down really ticks me off - as if consumerism and commercialism are value neutral, instead of the soul-shriveling, planet destroying ventures that they often are. I don't have a problem with NPR reporting on the phenomena of rock stars selling to advertisers, but wouldn't it have been interesting to hear from those "remaining holdouts"? Isn't it fascinating that Springsteen and Young also have publicly opposed the Iraq war - along with other rockers. A news program might cover that, might even interview the musicians to find out what informs their values, and what challenges they face in such a market driven profession. I don't think I'll be hearing that one on NPR news any time soon.

BTW: I do love the music of Johnny Cash!