SOUNDS LIKE A REVOLUTION
76MIN FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Transcript
SUPER
01:00:00:05
Deltatime Production Presents
SUPER
01:00:00:11
A film by Summer Love and Jane Michener
01:00:00:21
TEXT
01:00:17:03
What's so dangerous about a song?
01:00:19:13 §§§
TEXT/INT
Pete Seeger
01:00:22:04
01:00:28:22
TEXT
01:00:30:22
01:00:38:04
TEXT/INT
Steve Earle
01:00:40:14
TEXT
01:00:45:04
TEXT/INT
Michael Franti
01:00:48:22
TEXT
01:00:53:04
TEXT/INT
Boots Riley
01:00:55:04
Throughout my life I've seen the rulers try and
control what kind of music the people hear.
(crowd cheering in background)
Let the play! Let them play!
It will make them feel angry when we want them
to be passive. It will keep people from
fighting when we want them to fight.
Let them play! Let them play!
If you're only armed with a guitar, you know
a guitar's what you fight with.
Let them play! Let them play!
The role of the artist today is to enrage,
enlighten and inspire.
Let them play! Let them play!
01:01:00:22
01:01:02:22
Music is the battle cry; music is the
collective warning that...
We're coming...
Lookout.
TEXT
01:01:04:11
Let them play! Let them play!
Narrator
01:01:08:04
When a single voice joins another
and then many others
TEXT
01:01:13:04
Let them play! Let them play!
Narrator
01:01:15:11
It sounds strong. It sounds united.
TEXT
01:01:19:02
Let them play! Let the play!
Narrator
01:01:21:06
It Sounds Like a Revolution
01:01:24:03
(cheering)
Anti-Flag
01:01:28:19
At the top of your lungs please help us sing:
Die For your Government (Subtitles)
01:01:32:23
You’ve gotta die, gotta die, gotta die for your
government? Die for your country? That’s shit!
You’ve gotta die, gotta die for your
government? Die for your country ? That’s shit!
Crowd Chanting
01:01:45:03
Free Speech! Free Speech! Free speech! Free
speech!
Crowd Chanting
01:01:48:24
Yes we can! Yes we can!
SUPER
01:01:52:19
MICHAEl FRANTI
Michael Franti and Spearhead
01:01:52:19
There's ah...a movement that's taking place
where people are saying that we feel that the
human interests, and the natural interests, and
the spiritual interest of the planet need to
begin to take a priority over the corporate
interests, the military interests, and the
materialistic interest of the planet.
01:02:10:03 §§§
Narrator
01:02:15:14
Movements for change are never about 1 person,
1 idea, or 1 political party. They arise from a
deep well of unrest among many.
01:02:26:14 §§§
SUPER
01:02:30:09
ANI DIFRANCO
Singer/Songwriter
01:02:30:09
It's been a...a...profound political crisis
that has brought us to this... growing
momentum.
01:02:39:00 §§§
Narrator
01:02:45:05
As the new millennium dawned, the world began
to experience a climate of escalating
instability and fear.
01:02:52:04
SUPER
01:02:54:04
STEVE EARLE
Singer/Songwriter
01:02:54:04
People are feeling like this is, this is
a really critical era that we're living in and
um, and um, they've decided that however it
turns out that they're, that, they can't live
with being silent, you know, during this period
in our history.
Michael Franti
01:03:09:02
Narrator
01:03:23:09
As artists in this time, we really have an
obligation to, you know, 20 years from now when
our kids say, "you know,"..."well what do you
do in that time? "I say, "Hey I was there doing
something."
Across the musical spectrum artists are urging
a new generation to fight for change.
SUPER
01:03:30:01
JUSTIN SANE
Anti-Flag
01:03:30:01
But I do believe that music changes the world,
I believe that it inspires, artists inspire
people to make great change.
SUPER
01:03:37:17
DAVID CROSBY
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
01:03:37:17
It's been around for thousands of years and
that's for us to be....Troubadours, carrying
the news from 1 town to another, Ah...Town
Criers, it's 11 o'clock and all's well, it's
11:30 and things are not so damn good.
LYRICS
01:03:55:10 §
01:03:57:09 §
01:03:58:20 §
01:04:02:08 §
01:04:05:13 §
01:04:08:04 §§§
Fat Mike
01:04:10:04
I never thought about the universe
it made me feel small,
never thought about the
problems of this planet at all
Global warming and radioactive sites,
imperialistic wrongs and animal rights, NO.
My band did a lot of shows in Florida
in 2000 before the election. And we just did
the normal NOFX show, drunk having a good time.
SUPER
01:04:18:04
FAT MIKE
NOFX
01:04:18:04
Had I said something like, "You kids have to
vote. This is an important election, make sure
you do, make sure you register and make sure
your vote counts".
If I would have said
that, you know, with our... I don't know, 40 or
50,000 fans in Florida that would have been the
difference.
LYRICS
01:04:34:04
01:04:37:00
01:04:38:20
01:04:40:21
01:04:43:14
01:04:47:04
01:04:50:04
01:04:53:04
01:04:56:04
Fat Mike
01:04:59:12
LYRICS
01:05:23:01
01:05:27:02
I never looked around,
never second guessed
then I read some Howard Zimm
now I'm always depressed.
And now I can't sleep
from years of apathy
all because I read
a little Noam Chomsky
I'm eating vegetation cause
of "Fast Food Nation"
I'm wearing comfortable shoes
cause of globalization
I'm watching Michael Moore
expose the awful truth
I'm listening to
Public Enemy and Reagan Youth.
But I never voted before the 2000 election
and... that's how I...I can relate to kids now
because I know they don't think their vote
matters. And it's really easy to be apathetic
and say, "Huh, it doesn't matter.I don't care",
but, in order to be patriotic you have to care
and know what's going on and ah...try to change
things. You can't just go by the status quo and
accept...how things are. You have to try
and make 'em better
I don't want to be another
I don't care-ican
What are we gonna do Franco,
Franco Un-American.
SUPER
01:05:31:03
BRIAN BAKER
Bad Religion
01:05:31:03
We're talking about a type of music
that exists as social commentary, you know,
this is not, ah...this is not party music.
this is...what people are thinking. And they're
writing it out, and yelling it into a
microphone.
SUPER
01:05:46:24
JUSTIN SANE
Anti-Flag
01:05:46:24
This song is about the idea that dropping bombs
on people's heads does not solve the world's
problems. It is about the idea, that endless
war, does not stop war.
01:06:03:00 §§§
LYRICS
01:06:07:04
01:06:09:04
One trillion dollars,
could buy a lot of bling.
SUPER
01:06:11:22
ONE TRILLION DOLLAR$
Anti-Flag
01:06:11:22
01:06:13:22
01:06:16:03
01:06:18:03
One trillion dollars,
could buy most anything.
One trillion dollars,
buying bullets,
buying guns.
One trillion dollars,
in the hands of
killers, thugs
Woooaah.
Woooah. Woooah.
01:06:20:03
01:06:22:03
01:06:24:04
01:06:26:04
Justin Sane
01:06:28:04
01:06:45:19
LYRICS
01:06:54:13
01:06:56:15
01:06:58:13 §§§
01:07:00:00
01:07:02:24
01:07:06:03
01:07:08:19
01:07:11:10
Justin Sane
01:07:14:11
I grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, I was
the youngest of 9 kids, obviously my parents
were catholic. Um...My dad was from Ireland; a
lot of the Irish traditional music are songs
about injustice, and songs about human rights.
And that was certainly something that I picked
up as a very young kid, these songs talking
about poor people living through the injustice
of capitalism.
Yeah, yeah.
Fuck them all,
Until the sun
burns from the sky.
Until the sun
burns so bright,
This world is no more!
The sun burns from the sky,
And all the people
are just dust
on the ground.
I can remember very, very young watching a war
movie and thinking that it totally kicked ass.
And I remember my Dad walking in and saying to
me, "Don't you ever join any man's army",
and I'll never forget that.
LYRICS
01:07:28:11
Fuck the world,
fuck them all.
01:07:31:15
SUPER
01:07:34:11
TOM MORELLO
Streetsweeper/The Nightwatchman
01:07:34:11
This is a country that was founded on
revolution. And that spirit of ah, of that
rebelling against oppressive authority, being
able to stand up and say, "You know what? This
just isn't right,"..."And I'm going to do
something about it."
TEXT
01:07:45:14 §§§
PARIS
SUPER
01:07:54:23
BREAK THE GRIP OF SHAME
LYRICS
01:07:54:23
01:07:56:01
01:07:59:22
01:08:01:05
01:08:03:02
01:08:05:08
01:08:07:09
01:08:09:05
With a raised fist
I resist
I don't burn, so don't you
dare riff or step to me, §
I'm strong and
black and proud §
And for the bulls--I ain't down. §
Life in the city's
already rough enough §
without some young
sucka runnin up §
You don't know me,
so don't step. §
I roll to the right
and then bust your lip. §
01:08:11:17 §§§
TEXT
01:08:17:24
SUPER
01:08:22:20
01:08:22:20
PARIS
I do know that...a lot of my political activism
or, or awarenessPARIS
Musician/Producer
I'm not gonna necessarily even
call myself an activist-but a lot of my
political and social awareness was raised by...
music. There was a definite cause and effect
relationship between what I was exposed to and
how I ended up. Well...that's a scary thought
when I think of what people today are being
provided and what they are exposed to. How are
01:08:43:00
LYRICS
01:08:54:03
01:08:57:16
01:08:59:09
01:09:01:02
01:09:03:06
01:09:05:03
01:09:07:05
01:09:09:06
01:09:11:18
01:09:14:06
they gonna end up?
You know, it's like, okay, when I grow out
of...tattoos and a mouthful of gold and you
know, dancing with champagne poolside, when I
grow out of that bullshit, you know, what is
there going to be to feed my mind?
Remember back when good rap
was just a cool dance hit
even though it
wasn't saying s---.
Well them days is gone.
I don't play that.
Pick the punk and I'll
say like wack
Stick with the sick
style for the serious,
Hip Hop lovers can't
get enough of this.
This is a call
and a plea for unity,
Black is back
uplift and be free
Keep pushin,
our movement moves on...
So strong...
Now.
01:09:16:20 §§§
Paris
01:09:19:10
If the lion's share of Hip Hop culture
represents misogyny, represents violence,
unnecessary violence, represents...debauchery,
then yeah, I'll be on the periphery. It's cool.
Because I know that there's a certain segment
of people that I'm reaching that are receptive
to what I do. You know that, that, that yearn
for more in their music than the bullshit
that's being offered them.
SUPER
01:09:44:02
NATALIE PA’APA’A
Blue King Brown
01:09:44:02
I would not define myself as a protest singer,
I don't think, um...that gives enough
explanation about the style and... you know,
what we're about because the word protest
automatically gives the vibe of conflict or...
that sort of energy around it where it's not
necessarily about that it could be about just
raising awareness or sharing, you know,
some...a message, you know, on a spiritual
level, you know, so... it's not always a
protest.
LYRICS
01:10:13:12
In that moment of truth
there must come a decision
01:10:15:22
01:10:18:10
01:10:20:22
01:10:23:13
01:10:25:19
01:10:28:15
01:10:30:19
Natalie Pa’apa’a
01:10:32:04
to sit back and hide or
grab hold of this vision
If we don't, then
we're never going to fly
How could you know,
if you're never gonna try
There's no reason to doubt,
when we're willing to listen
If we screw up this earth,
we shall not be forgiven
Leaders joke,
but we're running out of time
Still they don't
want to step up to this line
It's not just the hippies singing about, you
know, the struggle or the fight, there's
artists from all genres singing about it and
so, it, it, it...definitely tran-it goes way
beyond just the word protest music.
01:10:45:05
SUPER
01:10:47:05
LYRICS
01:10:47:05
01:10:49:03
Television, the Drug of the Nation
The Disposable Heroes of Hiphocrisy
Television, the drug
of a nation
Breading ignorance,
feeding radiation.
01:10:51:03 §§§
SUPER
01:10:55:03
Language of Violence
The Disposable Heroes of Hipopcrisy
01:10:55:03
01:10:57:02
When death is the silence,
In this cycle of violence,
Death is the silence
01:10:59:03
01:11:01:05
Boom, boom.
There's a battle going
on in this earth
Everyday, work, school,
death, and birth.
01:11:03:05
SUPER
01:11:06:12
LYRICS
01:11:06:12
01:11:09:19
Michael Franti
01:11:13:00
HEY WORLD
Michael Franti and Spearhead
There are 6 billion
people on this earth,
can you tell me what every
single life is worth?
When I first started making music I didn't have
any idea really what I was doing I just knew
that I had something that was burning in me to
say.
SUPER
01:11:21:01
JELLO BIAFRA
Alternative Tentacles Records
01:11:21:01
I don't know what you'd call the band he had
that we put out,it was totally unclassifiable,
it was called the Beatnigs
TEXT
01:11:28:00 §§§
BEATNIGS “NATURE”
1988
Jello Biafra
01:11:32:09
01:11:54:00 §§§
LYRICS
01:11:57:02
01:11:59:00
01:12:02:02
He was the vocals and bass guitar and I'm not
sure how much he'd even played a bass but I
think starting out in something as unusual and,
ah...and free form as the Beatnigs was probably
a major foundation for, ah...Michael's almost
total lack of fear as an artist.
We want freedom of speech
(cheering)
But we all talking
at the same time
01:12:05:04 §§§
01:12:08:02
01:12:11:06
01:12:14:16
01:12:17:03
01:12:20:18
01:12:23:19
01:12:25:22
01:12:27:01
01:12:30:03
01:12:32:23
01:12:34:01
01:12:37:02
01:12:39:19
01:12:41:02
Michael Franti
01:12:45:04
I, I, I, I, I say,
I say we say want peace
(cheering)
But nobody wants to
change their own mind.
I don't want to
change my own mind.
Let me hear you all
put your hands together
So it goes on and on
and on and on and on
(clapping, cheering)
And it goes on and on
and on and on and on.
Let me hear you all
And it goes on and on
and on and on it goes.
The main thing that's shaped me politically
that, ah...I was given up for adoption......at
birth. The reason I was given up for adoption
is because my mother is white and my father is
black and...they never married and my mom felt
like her family was too racist to be able to
embrace me coming into their world. That led me
to lookout side of my family, to create a
structure, you know, of friends and coaches and
teachers and other parents and from that,
um...I grew this affinity with others who were
the underdog. So my political views have always
been ones that, that speak out for those who
don't have a voice.
01:13:34:16
(clapping to guitar)
SUPER
01:13:40:03
ROB BOWMAN, PhD
Ethnomusicologist
01:13:40:03
We have probably more politicized artists in
the 21st century than we had in the 1960's,
there is an incredible amount of grassroots
activity by artists who are willing to make
statements that suggest that they find problems
with the way the world is currently operating
and being run. The problem is...many of those
artists, are on small labels, many of those
artistsdo not get radio play, except on college
stations, uh... many of those artists don't
have great distribution so the majority of
those recordings reach virtually no one.
01:14:12:04 §§§
Rob Bowman
01:14:20:24
In the 1960's, you had artists with major label
contracts who wrote material, and performed
material that was...conscious raising. You've
got major labels, all promoting records that
had...um...dissident voices speaking
alternative viewpoints.
01:14:41:14 §§§
Narrator
01:14:43:12
From Detroit to Montgomery, Odetta's song,
"O'Freedom" gave strength and hope to the Civil
Rights Movement. While Pete Seeger's "We Shall
Over Come", led the march on Washington.
01:14:56:04 §§§
Narrator
01:15:00:04
A few years later, Barry McGuire's "Eve of
Destruction" articulated a generation's anger
over the war and the draft.
SUPER
01:15:10:03
WAYNE KRAMER
MC5
01:15:10:03
This was a time in America where there was an
agreement amongst all young people Um...that
the direction the country was going in was
terribly, terribly wrong.
01:15:21:02
1,2,3,4..we don't want your fucking war.
Narrator
01:15:25:09
By 1970, students across the country were
clashing regularly with police. Violence
erupted at Kent State on May 4th. 4 students
were shot dead. Neil Young captured the moment
forever with his song, OHIO.
SUPER
01:15:45:01
DAVID CROSBY
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
01:15:45:01
We were at a friend's house, he had that
magazine, I guess it was Life with that picture
of the girl kneeling over the dead kid on the
ground and the pool of blood and her looking up
at you with that expression of why.
01:15:55:03
David Crosby
01:15:57:04
01:16:02:14
01:16:16:14
01:16:27:00
Neil and I looked at it, he picked up his
guitar and, ah... started writing.
He wrote it right in front of me. I called
Nash...and I said, "Nash we need a studio now."
He said, "Well I can get one in a couple of
days." I said, "Nash, we need a studio
tonight," ..."Now."
He got Stephen and we met at the studio.
Recorded it. Put 'find the cost of freedom' on
the back of it, and we had it out in a week. On
the streets, on the radio, in a week.
The reaction was pretty strong, cuz I mean, we
were...It was a pretty strong song, it named
names and pointed fingers. You know, "Tin
soldiers and Nixon coming." And it
was...powerful how we did it. We
were...enraged.
01:16:43:03 §§§
01:16:47:04
Narrator
01:16:53:05
David Crosby
01:17:11:07
SUPER
01:17:23:02
(ambulance siren)
The music of the 60's and 70's inspired
millions of people...and made millions of
dollars! Multinationals smelled big profits and
began to buy up record labels. Today 4 major
labels own over 80% of the global market.
I don't think you could do anything like what
we did now. Now you have guys who say, "We
moved 40 thousand pieces outof Dallas this
week." And they got no idea pieces of what,
they have no idea, none, they wouldn't know
music if it bit them in the nose.
ALAN CROSS
The ongoing history of new music
01:17:23:02
01:17:29:15
You have to understand that major labels
are in the business of selling millions,
upon millions, upon millions of records.
They are like department stores, they want to
offer something for as many people as often as
possible, for as long as possible.
Lies, Lies, Lies (Subtitles)
01:17:37:10
I’m on a mission to dig up the truth. You think
we’re stupid and there’s no proof.
SUPER
01:17:43:07
Al JOURGENSEN
Ministry
01:17:43:07
The record industry is like an annoying
mosquito around me that eventually will be
swatted.
SUPER
01:17:48:00
LIES, LIES, LIES
Ministry
2004
Al Jourgensen
01:17:54:01
01:18:04:14
It's gotten so greedy and so not about the art
aspect and all about bean counting that it's
made an entire generation that's growing up in
mediocrity.
There is no artist development program in the
labels anymore; it's all bottom line. We'll
sign you for 5 billion dollars and so you gotta
sell 5 billion records. "Oh you only sold 3
billion records, well you're a failure, you'll
never work again, that's it, done, bye". End of
career 2 years later. What is that?
01:18:23:22 §§§
David Crosby
01:18:28:05
SUPER
LYRICS
01:18:42:12
01:18:44:21
01:18:46:01
01:18:48:19
01:18:50:14
01:18:52:12
01:18:53:22
The corporate consciousness is about money,
solely, completely, perfectly, totally polished
up, complete, beautiful, contained...Money.
Period.
ONE TIME FO’YA MIND
Paris
Damn, it's a trip how
them devil-ass labels
put everything they
got into that shit
But they never push anything
real for the
good of the community
It should be
plain to see,
fucking over
you and me
Half the time I bring the
mother fucking facts
01:18:56:14
01:18:59:00
01:19:00:10 §§§
Narrator
01:19:03:03
Paris
01:19:24:09
Narrator
01:19:55:01
Paris
01:20:06:01
SUPER
01:20:11:08
01:20:11:08
Narrator
01:20:19:13
Cop Killer (Subtitles)
01:20:29:04
I'm coming pro Black,
understand where I'm at
and take a listen to the...
By the end of the 80's, hip hop artists began
to ramp up the message of the 60's civil rights
movement. They wrote about the world they
knew...poverty in inner cities, widespread
unemployment, and escalating police violence
against racial minorities.
Record sales took off.
I got signed on Tommy Boy in 1990, and I was
just coming out of college. I put my first
record out, which did about 300,000 copies. It
was called, 'The Devil Made Me Do It'. The
second album was called, 'Sleeping with the
Enemy,'which had a couple of songs on it, one
was called 'Bush Killer' about assassinating
President Bush's father, who was then
President…and then there was another one
called, 'Coffee, Donuts and Death,' which
was...a revenge fantasy for...racist, sexist
police.
When Rodney King was brutally beaten by 4 L.A.
policemen, the city erupted in violence. Paris
and many other musicians were outraged.
Ice T was going through a bunch of drama with a
song called, "Cop Killer" at the time.
ICE-T
Los Angeles
1991
Cause this is bigger than me y'all. This s--is about all of us getting together and
fighting the motherf------ power.
Ice T said he was an artist exercising his
first amendment rights, that his song, "Cop
Killer" was a warning that the white community
needed to hear.
…I’m ‘bout to bust some shots off I’m bout to
dust some cops off…”
SUPER
01:20:35:09
ICE-T
Musician/Actor
01:20:35:09
You have the right to say anything but you
don't have the right to say something. You can
say anything, but if you say something, they
gonna kill you.
Paris
01:20:44:04
There was, you know, a huge shareholder revolt
at Warner Music and, um...Charlton Heston was
speaking out and Dan Quayle who was Vice
President at the time was speaking out against
it and it was just this huge political movement
to squash dissent.
01:21:00:03
Narrator
01:21:02:24
Rob Bowman
01:21:12:16
Political heavy weights, police groups, and
company shareholders demanded that Warner Music
dump artists like Paris and Ice T.
Ice T's career's was over as a result of that
song. His career just went from...
SUPER
01:21:16:23
Rob Bowman, PhD
Ethnomusicologist
01:21:16:23
being a cutting edge, extremely successful,
money-making artist well on his was to being a
multimillionaire, his career ended in about 10
seconds.
Paris
01:21:24:19
I got let go from Tommy Boy, then Cool G Rap,
Ice T, a bunch of other people who were on
Warner Music affiliated labels
that...had...incendiary content. I don't think
there were any records that dealt with black on
black violence. That got the boot. I think it
was all political shit. So you can make a note
of that.
SUPER
01:21:45:03
Davey D
Hip Hop Historian
01:21:45:03
When you see somebody like Paris, who
understands the game, you can see point blank,
very clear as day, they will close that door. I
know he wants to reach those folks and I know
he has the media understanding and the saavyness to do it.
But at the end of the day, it comes down to
power. There's a very clear understanding,
you're trying to usurp power and these folks
are like, "No, don't let, don't let that guy in
here".
01:22:01:16
SUPER
01:22:11:15
LYRICS
01:22:11:15
01:22:14:20
01:22:15:03
01:22:18:00
THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT
Paris
This is a warning
another cut to move on
Another beat
that's so strong
Hold on and I get
wicked in this song
Stir up shit as
01:22:20:07
01:22:22:02
01:22:24:14
01:22:26:07
the wit gets wisdom
They spit on your
flag and government
Cause help the black
was a concept never meant
Nigger please,
food stamps and free cheese
Can't be the cure
for a sick disease
01:22:28:14 §§§
Paris
01:22:34:18
LYRICS
01:23:00:15
01:23:02:14
01:23:04:13
01:23:06:13
01:23:08:15
01:23:11:07
01:23:12:24 §§§
Narrator
01:23:17:01
Then I dealt with Tommy Boy and you know, I
said, you know, basically I'm going to sue you
all...behind this shit, um..Because you are
impacting my livelihood. I think I might have
been maybe 20 years-old at the time. And they
cut me a settlement check and I started my
first label, which was Scarface Records. And I
put that album out and it did...480...or
something, it did a lot of units, you know, and
it... It set the stage for everything
afterwards.
I can't get fucked around
or muffed around §
I can't be held down,
check the sound §
And keep in tuned,
on point on target §
The revolution
won't be thwarted §
A set back, cause my man
it's plain to see §
Lost in a white supremacy §
Today many artists own their own labels, but
back in the early 90's it was unheard of to
walk away from a contract with the majors.
These guys were willing to risk everything in
order to speak the truth without fear of
reprisal.
01:23:32:08 §§§
01:23:35:21
Welcome to Fat Wreck Chords.
01:23:37:03 §§§
Fat Mike
01:23:40:00
SUPER
01:23:46:09
I started Fat Wreck Chords because...in 91
there were no major labels interested in any
punk band.
FAT MIKE
Founder of Fat Wreck Chords
01:23:46:09
01:23:52:23
We were approached by a few majors and after
our first meeting, they made me
feel so bad about myself.
If you want your band to be a product, you
might get really big, but you're a product,
they don't care about you, you are a product to
them.
TEXT
01:24:01:12
Bands signed on Fat Wreck Chords:
Against Me!, Avail, Bad Astronaut, Consumed,
Dead To Me, The Dickies, Dilinger Four, The
Flatliners, Leftover Crack, Love Equals Death,
me first and the Gimme Gimmes, NOFX, No Use for
a Name, Propagandhi, The sainte Catherines,
Screeching Weasel, Strung Out, Subhumans,
Western Addiction
01:24:01:12
You go to an independent label such as Fat
Wreck Chords, very honest, treat bands fairly
because I'm in a band, so I know...how to treat
other bands.
One of the best things about this business
is...I love having relationships with bands, I
will have relationships for the rest of my
life, I've made friends for the rest of my
lives. Not lives, I'm only going to have one
life.
01:24:10:03
01:24:22:03
01:24:26:06
01:24:29:18
01:24:32:02
Resist what they tell you,
resist what they say
Cause they don't
want to know you
If you don't
play their game.
01:24:36:19 §§§
Natalie Pa’apa’a
01:24:42:02
As an independent artist it's definitely
important to connect with every audience
member out there because... it's, there's
not...
SUPER
01:24:48:04
NATALIE PA’APA’A
Co-founder of Roots level Records
01:24:48:04
obviously, you know, as an independent you
don't have this, this big corporation or
business behind you sort of paying the way,
paying it for you.
For us it's always been that way because we
started off as street performers so that is the
epitome of independence, you gotta make a show,
and you...You gotta find a spot, find a venue,
make the show, you've got to be entertaining
enough to make people stop and watch and then
you gotta to be charming enough to make them
01:24:59:04
pay you.
01:25:20:02 §§§
01:25:27:11
01:25:30:14
Making us love you
So I'm singing this song
01:25:32:14 §§§
SUPER
01:25:34:01
MICHAEl FRANTI
Founder of Boo Boo Wax Records
01:25:34:01
What we did with our label is try to um, you
know, change the business model, we do that
through doing releases of live shows, and doing
releases of spoken word albums of acoustic
albums of all different types of music that we
could put out that doesn't cost a lot of money
to release and that we can sell over the web
and that we can sell at our live shows.
Narrator
01:25:56:23
Michael Franti
01:26:11:04
LYRICS
01:26:29:03
01:26:31:12
01:26:33:10
t
01:26:35:13 §§§
Michael Franti
01:26:39:04
01:26:50:10 §§§
Paris
01:26:55:03
01:27:11:00
As indie artists struggled to control what they
produced, they were forced to work much harder
to build their fan base from the ground up.
Just to break even, they are constantly on the
road, often booking over 200 dates a year.
I'm in Belgium, sorry if I sound a little bit
tired but I just flew from Regina, Canada to
Calgary, Canada to Chicago from Chicago to
Amsterdam got in a car from Amsterdam and drove
3 hours to Belgium, just woke up from a little
nap and I'm about to go do a TV show.
I'll be back all
around the way
It seems like
everywhere I go
The more I see
he less I know
We're not looking at making millions of
dollars, we're looking at having the same
income that a teacher has and if we ever made
as much as cops, we'd be filthy rich.
There are fewer and fewer entities by which
people can come out and be heard if your not
going along with the standard shake your booty,
you know...sell dope, black men killing each
other format that white corporate America tends
to glorify.
Commercialism is how we, how we have fallen
from grace and the corporate dictation of
01:27:24:22
01:27:51:09
01:28:05:19 §§§
LYRICS
01:28:07:20
01:28:10:19
01:28:13:20
01:28:17:12
01:28:19:00
01:28:22:10
Paris
01:28:25:14
LYRICS
01:28:39:17
01:28:41:23
01:28:44:01
01:28:47:09
Paris
01:28:49:05
01:28:59:14
01:29:11:02
Narrator
01:29:22:04
street culture and hip-hop to um, to the world
has basically been the demise of hip-hop.
You know, there was a time in hip hop when
these kind of artists flourished right
alongside mainstream artists, you know so you
could have a...a "Fight the Power" next to, you
know,any commercial act and through the process
of elimination everyone of the artists that I
have mentioned has for whatever reason fallen
out of favor with major labels even though they
have huge followings,even though they,they
still make...world class, cutting edge music.
I've been down the major label route 4 or 5
times now, and ah...it never pans out, This
message is oil and water, with, with
ah...corporate interests.
Attention Wal-Mart customers,
Right now in our
giant music department,
You will find low prices
on your favorite music
For the entire world.
Nice uniforms,
and a real nice smile
Wal-Mart is issuing a decree saying they are
not going to sell any CD over $9.99. My
wholesale price is like 12 dollars. This is the
carrot at the end of their stick to get
consumers to come in; oh we'll come in and buy
our music cheap.
Hey
you
Hey
Why
Wal-Mart,
don't even know me
Wal-Mart,
don't you blow me?
Wal-Mart however censors their music, they have
an internal standards board that determines
what is and what is not... acceptable.
They don't sell content with a parental
advisory sticker on it. But I mean, you know,
if I come out and I put edited for content per
Wal-Mart's direction on it, they won't order
it.
But what are you going to do? You got- you have
to be in the store. Do you want to be out of
this many households and not be heard from
ever? Or do you want to make this music
available?
Although music downloads are on the rise, CD's
still represent the bulk of music sales and Big
Box stores dominate the retail market.
Paris
01:29:32:04
Justin Sane
01:29:44:20
01:29:56:20
01:30:15:21 §§§
Justin Sane
01:30:20:24
01:30:37:23
We lose all of our independent voice. We end up
being in all of these different places that we
wouldn't otherwise be in, but it's with
sanitized content.
The cover caused controversy because there is a
little girl on it holding a gun. And the
statement we were simply making is that
when...a society is so geared towards
militarism, it affects everybody.
It's incredible because there are certainly so
many images in B--- B—that promote people
shooting guns, and militarism, ah...but for
some reason they had a problem with this
because it was a little girl, um...and I think,
just it was a provocative statement.
So they said, "If Anti-Flag doesn't change
their cover, we'll pull the entire catalogue."
It's interesting because B--- B--- now is
becoming a censor of what people can and can
not see and what the American public can and
can not discuss because, you know, if they
censor our art and people, ah, don't see that
art, they can't discuss the issue that the art
is bringing to light.
You know we felt that, that was certainly
something that, ah...was wrong, um...but rather
than not have our records in the store we
simply just made the record cover black and
then on the inside of the record cover talked
about that censorship and informed people what
they can do to talk to the store and say to
them, change this policy, or we are not going
to shop at your store.
TEXT (Scrolling text)
01:30:59:02 §§§
There is some confusion about the censorship of
the artwork on our new CD, “The Terror State”.
We want to clear up the confusion. Most stores
that care about artistic freedom will be
carrying the original artwork (the girl on the
cover). However, there are some larger chain
stores that simply do not like the original
cover and who do nt care about artistic
freedom. They censored our artwork and as a
result will be carrying a censored version of
the CD. If you can’t find any stores in your
area carrying the original artwork, you can
print it out here.
We strongly urge you to buy the record from
your local indie record stores or directly from
Fat Wreck Chords, who both support artistic
freedom and freedom of speech.
TEXT
01:31:17:13
LYRICS
01:31:17:13
01:31:21:02
01:31:23:04 §§§
01:31:25:20
01:31:27:02
INNOCENCE IS THE FIRST CASUALTY
Violence brings one thing
More and more the same
Military madness
The smell of flesh
and burning pain
01:31:31:09 §§§
Narrator
01:31:33:06
01:31:48:17 §§§
01:31:50:17
LYRICS
01:31:54:04
01:31:56:14
01:31:58:12
01:32:01:07
While musicians found creative ways to side
step censorship, the world around them
exploded. Now they felt an even greater sense
of urgency to give voice to the millions around
the globe who opposed US policies.
But corporate radio had a different plan.
Bring them to their knees
We can...
bomb the world into pieces
but we can't bomb
it into peace
01:32:04:00 §§§
Rob Bowman
01:32:06:10
LYRICS
01:32:18:07
01:32:20:04
01:32:22:07
Rob Bowman
01:32:25:19
When Iraq was attacked there was an amazing
proliferation of songs against the US invasion
of Iraq. And Spearhead put out one called "Bomb
the World".
But can we bomb the
world to peace?
And I sing...
Power to the people.
I have students who hear Bob Dylan records that
were made sometimes before their parents were
born and... it starts getting them angry about
things. It starts getting them to relate those
messages to things happening in a contemporary
sense. And, you know, Will "Bomb the World"
have that impact? Not because it's not as good
of a song as wh-things Dylan wrote, I think
it's an amazing song but I haven't heard
anybody play it since then.
01:32:50:04 §§§
LYRICS
01:32:52:20
01:32:55:04 §§§
We may even find a solution
01:32:58:01
01:33:01:23
01:33:03:24
01:33:08:04
01:33:12:00
Davey D
01:33:17:22
01:33:36:02
Tom Morello
01:33:37:04
01:33:56:02
Narrator
01:34:18:23
David Crosby
01:34:33:15
Narrator
01:34:50:04
01:35:17:16
To hunger and disease
We can...
bomb the world into pieces
But somebody tell me,
if we can...
Bomb the world
into peace.
Who makes the decisions at the radio station?
Michael Franti had 40,000 people at Golden Gate
Park in San Francisco on 9/11, 40,000 people!
There's 12 radio stations that Clear Channel
owns, who makes the decision not to play his
record?
That's where the real battle is.
In the aftermath of 9/11, ah...Clear Channel
which is a, a corporation, which owns most of
the radio stations in the United States, they
also own venues and management companies and a
lot of other things too, um...but this
monolithic corporation decided there were
certain songs that, um...were inappropriate to
hear on the radio in the aftermath of 9/11.
They included such songs as "You dropped a bomb
on me" by the Gap band, "Walk like an Egyptian"
by the Bangles, and John Lennon's, "Imagine"
were all songs which were apparently too
frightening for the American people to hear.
Only 1 band was singled out, ah their entire
catalogue to not be played and that was my
band, 'Rage Against the Machine', which we kind
of wear as a badge of honor, it's like the 1
band declared too hot for Clear Channel.
A statement released by Clear Channel said,
that the list was created by 1 station manager
and that it was not a list of banned songs, but
a list of titles that should be played only
after great thought.
The corporate culture...doesn't want us
bringing up uncomfortable ideas. They don't
want those kinds of...dissident ideas out
there. Whereas...we think it's our job.
In the past this wouldn't have been an issue
since corporations could own only 2 stations in
any 1 market and no more than 28 nationwide.
But, in 1996 a change to the Telecommunications
Act removed those restrictions. By 2003, Clear
Channel owned 1200 stations nation wide.
Cumulous, their closest competitor...owned 303.
The consequences for freedom of expression,
were major.
SUPER
01:35:21:20
AMY GOODMAN
Democracy Now
01:35:21:20
Over the past 4 years scores of popular
musicians have spoken out against the war in
Iraq and the Bush administration.
But perhaps no musical act has paid a bigger
price for speaking out against the war, than
the Dixie Chicks. The group's lead singer,
Natalie Maines told an audience in London the
group was against the war and ashamed that the
President, President Bush is from Texas.
01:35:28:01
01:35:44:01 §§§
Amy Goodman
01:35:52:07
If you tuned into many country radio stations
today you won't hear the Dixie Chick's music.
They've been largely blacklisted.
LYRICS
01:36:00:02
01:36:03:03
01:36:06:01
01:36:08:14
Forgive,
sounds good
Forget,
I'm not sure I could
SUPER
01:36:10:19
MARTIE MAGUIRE
The Dixie Chicks
01:36:10:19
What was wrong with what was happening, was...
it was coming from the top, down the chain
letter to all their stations, you are not
allowed to play the Dixie Chicks and DJ's were
fired for playing us.
SUPER
01:36:24:18
SIMON RENSHAW
Dixie Chicks Manager
01:36:24:18
Even the perception of a radio network using
power in this way clearly demonstrates the
potential danger of a system of unchecked
consolidation that ultimately undermines
artistic freedom, cultural enlightenment, and
political discourse.
Narrator
01:36:37:04
LYRICS
01:36:54:09
01:36:57:05
01:37:00:10
01:37:03:00
01:37:05:22
There was an upside to this attempt at
censorship. The Dixie Chicks became politicized
for the first time. They began to advocate for
1st amendment rights as well as publicly
supporting organizations like the ACLU.
I'm not ready to make nice.
I'm not ready to back down.
I'm still mad as hell
and I don't have time
to go round
and round and round.
It's too late
to make it right.
01:37:08:04
01:37:11:23
01:37:15:02
01:37:20:20
I probably wouldn't
if I could.
'Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do
what it is
you think I should
What it is you
think I should
01:37:26:04 §§§
SUPER
01:37:28:09
STEPHEN MARSHALL
Guerrilla News Network
01:37:28:09
The Dixie Chicks are popular enough that it
didn't affect them because the public demand
brought them back on the airwaves but these are
the risks that artists face. Clear Channel
isn't just a radio station, it's also a concert
booking agency, and an advertising company.
So...
When you run afoul with a major
Republican...donating, media company, you can
also find your, your ability to distribute your
product diminished and artists are very
sensitive to that.
01:37:40:11
Michael Franti
01:37:51:02
Paris
01:38:10:09
01:38:22:01
LYRICS
01:38:23:04
01:38:26:09
01:38:28:03
01:38:31:16
01:38:34:04
01:38:36:20
01:38:38:04
01:38:41:03
Paris
01:38:45:13
You know, unlike ah...groups like the Dixie
Chicks or other people who...have not been
political artists who suddenly speak out, they
have a lot of fear in losing their audience,
you know. That is never been a question for me
because I've always been so underground that
it, it doesn't matter.
You know if the Dixie Chicks get banned after
selling zillions of records and being on videos
all over the place then... What, what real
opportunity do independent artists have?
What would you do if you
Knew all of
the things we knew
Would you stand
up for truth?
Or would you turn away too?
And then what if you saw,
all of the things
that's wrong?
Would you stand
tall and strong?
Or would you turn
and walk away?
I had to through a lot of drama to get that
record out. And I actually had to go with an
overseas distributor and make it available as
an import here. Because everybody was so on the
page of...having a knee jerk response to...what
the official party line of the events of
September 11th were.
01:39:05:16 §§§
Paris
01:39:27:22
01:39:39:19 §§§
LYRICS
01:40:10:23
You know, if you take it at face value it looks
as though it's something that's just done to
capitalize on tragedy And really, my rebuttal
to that would be...this government is
capitalizing on tragedy.
What would you do if you
01:40:13:08
The whole objective of this was to put out a
project that represented...a point of view that
has gone unheard in the mainstream media.
SUPER
01:40:21:19
BOOTS RILEY
The Coup/Streetsweeper
01:40:21:19
It's a traditional song and it became something
that, ah...During the days of underground
railroad, they would sing when thinking of the
slave master. It's called, '5 million ways to
kill a CEO'.
Let's do it.
(cheering)
01:40:34:03
01:40:36:03
01:40:38:07 §§§
Boots Riley
01:40:42:01
01:40:48:19
LYRICS
01:40:59:05
01:41:01:00
01:41:04:14
01:41:07:01
Boots Riley
01:41:09:24
01:41:30:01
Our publicist tried to get us...On this
popular, late night television show
and... you know, they said, "Okay, what are you
going to do?" I said, " Well, our single is, '5
Million Ways to kill a CEO'." They were like,
"There's no way we're letting you do that."
We've got 5 million
ways to kill a CEO §
Slap him up and shake
him up and then you know §
Let him off the flo' then
bait him with the dough §
You can do it funk
or do it disco §
They're like, "Um, well can you change it?" And
I said, "What do you mean?" "Can you change the
lyrics so it says something else?" And I said,
"No!", you know, "I can't do that." And... I
said, "Just beep it and nobody'll know what it
says." And they said, "Well we don't want to
look like we're censoring you."
So... There you go.
01:41:33:03 §§§
Narrator
01:41:36:07
In the post 9/11 world, corporate censorship
was just one of many problems musicians faced.
01:41:42:04 §§§
Michael Franti
01:41:49:04
One of our band members has a sister who is in
the military and his mother was visited by 2
military intelligence officers who...had
information about Spearhead, they had um,
photos of us performing at rallies, they
had...lyrics from songs. They had the banking
records of our band member. Basically they were
just making themselves known that they're aware
of our actions.
SUPER
01:42:15:22
STEVE EARLE
Singer/Songwriter
01:42:15:22
There is a new form of censorship and a new
form of blacklist that's much more subtle and
therefore much more dangerous because it's
not...it's not like, ah...it's not gonna just
go away, they can legally continue to do it and
they've managed intimidate citizens and artists
and...from the beginning of this.
Michael Franti
01:42:33:18
News Announcer
01:42:42:18
Wayne Kramer
01:42:51:03
01:43:04:14
People say, "Well do you feel like it's
dangerous to be speaking out?" And...my answer
is that I feel like it's more dangerous to not
to be speaking out.
All day on the nation's only all terror
network, All Terror, all the time. FOXSNBCNN.
At the run up to the war, millions of people
took to the streets. We were in London when a
million people protested the run up to the war,
but we didn't hear about that in America.
We don't see these photographs of...flag draped
coffins. We don't see photographs of atrocities
in Iraq and Afghanistan. They've become
brilliant at censoring the news. They've
learned their lesson since Vietnam.
PRESS CORPSE (Subtitles)
01:43:20:03 §§§
They
talk
They
Wave
01:43:28:19
01:43:31:04 §§§
don't want to... talk talk talk talk talk
about it
wanna tiptoe, walk around it
the flag and cowardly salute.
Woa! Woa! §
They don’t want to talk about it. They wanna
tietoe walk around it.
Wave the flag in cowardly salute.
01:43:39:00
01:43:42:19
Justin Sane
01:43:44:13
Woooo, Woooo! §
If the media can't be trusted to tell people
what is really going on in the world then it is
up to artists, and it is up to people who have
a voice, who can reach, who can reach a huge
audience and let them know what's truly going
on in the world.
01:43:57:12 §§§
News Announcer
01:44:03:04
LYRICS
01:44:25:02
01:44:28:21 §§§
01:44:31:09
01:44:34:09
01:44:36:15 §§§
Michael Franti
01:44:38:00
LYRICS
01:44:52:14
01:44:55:21
01:44:57:00
01:45:02:06
01:45:04:13 §§§
Michael Franti
01:45:06:04
01:45:29:14
Every once in awhile, someone comes along with
a personal mission to make the world...a better
place. Michael Franti an American poet,
musician and activist for peace and justice,
decided to visit some of the hot spots of the
Middle East to see for himself what was going
on. With a guitar and a video camera, he went
to Iraq, the West Bank, Gaza and Israel to
investigate the human cost of war.
If I told you
what I'd seen,
would you believe me?
Or leave me alone?
I went to Iraq because I got tired of listening
to generals and politicians telling me...every
night on the news about the economic cost and
the political cost of war without ever
mentioning the human cost of war.
Hello.
Hello.
Does anybody need
a place to go?
To call your own.
I could have never prepared for, um...coming
out of the airport in Baghdad and driving down
the first road we were on and seeing...2 cars
blown up with bodies hanging out on fire and
people trying to put the fire out. And I could
have never prepared myself for walking into a
hospital and seeing kids with their legs blown
off.
And I could have never prepared for coming face
to face with, with US soldiers who...had done
those things, but were living in their own
fear...and...and, um...you know, keeping my
heart open to...embracing...this peculiar
situation that they're in; that they don't want
to be in.
01:45:55:12
Narrator
01:45:58:20
01:46:08:16
Michael Franti
01:46:16:08
Franti came back home to San Francisco to
perform at his annual Power to the Peaceful
Festival on the anniversary of 9/11.
He was determined to share his experience in
the Middle East and try to articulate what he
had learned.
I was never more...afraid of an audience in my
life than when I played for US soldiers in
their bar while they were off duty and I walked
into this room and there's guys with M16's in
one hand and a... a beer in the other hand,
01:46:34:03
(crowd laughing)
01:46:36:04
this is a tough audience, man.
01:46:38:04
(cheering, laughing)
01:46:40:04
I was thinking man, should I censor my lyrics?
Here I come walking in, "Hi, Guys." With my
wooden folk guitar.
01:46:45:19
Yeah!
01:46:48:04
Then I remembered this day out here in the park
last year and seeing all of y'all's faces and I
said, "I came all the way to Baghdad, I'm gonna
let it rip."
01:46:57:01
(cheering, applause)
01:47:01:07
But every one of those soldiers told me the
same thing at the end, they all said that more
than anything else, they wanted to go home.
LYRICS
01:47:09:01
01:47:11:01 §§§
01:47:14:07
01:47:18:08
01:47:22:16
01:47:26:11
01:47:28:08
01:47:32:10
01:47:36:13
01:47:40:11
Michael Franti
01:47:44:23
It's time to go home,
time to go home
It's time to go home,
it's time to go home
and I say,
whoo-whoo-ooo,
whoo-whoo-ooo,
whoo-whoo-oo,
whoo-whoo-oo,
The Power to the Peaceful Festival is about
bringing 50,000 people together in a park on 1
day to say... we don't want to remember
01:47:58:22
01:48:11:21 §§§
LYRICS
01:48:13:07
01:48:15:04
01:48:18:13
01:48:20:13 §§§
01:48:23:11
September 11th as a day to go kill other people.
We wanna remember it for the grief that it
brought us.
The festival is about making that statement
that, that we believe that September 11th should
be remembered as a day of peace and nonviolence, as opposed to a day of vengeance.
Don't take our
boys away, no
Don't' take our
girls away, no
Don't take our
boys away, no
01:49:06:08
How many people
were they running from?
And how many people
never saw it come?
How many people
never heard the warning?
How many people
never stayed at home?
How many people
never heard the calling?
How many people
never saw it all?
How many people
did they spend it on?
And how many people
got to sing this song?
And how many people
never heard the cry?
How many people
gotten pushed aside?
How many people never
saw the doves fly?
How many people
never said goodbye?
How many people
never saw the fallen?
How many people
till we end it all?
And how many people
never saw the wrong?
And how many people
did they drop the bomb on?
Boom!
01:49:09:08
(cheering)
01:48:25:04
01:48:28:21
01:48:31:20
01:48:34:01
01:48:36:04
01:48:39:20
01:48:41:03
01:48:44:20
01:48:47:12
01:48:50:00
01:48:52:04
01:48:55:10
01:48:58:13
01:49:00:23
01:49:03:12
Narrator
01:49:11:07
The war continued to escalate, making the need
to speak out even more urgent. In 2004, when
George W. Bush announced he would run for a
second term, the floodgate opened.
Tom Morello
01:49:23:24
There's been ah...tremendous, ah... wellspring
of activism among musicians and the reason is
clear. This Bush administration is the worst in
memory, and maybe one of the worst ever in the
history of our country, and people are pissed
off. The growing gulf between rich and poor,
the lack of health care, the degradation of the
environment and this horrible, illicit, immoral
war that's going on has really activated a lot
of people. Musicians are not immune from that.
01:49:46:14
Fat Mike
01:49:49:14
We started doing interviews politically because
there were people who were listening and... I,
I thought it was everyone's responsibility to
speak out. But... some bands are scared. A lot
of bands who are, you know, going down hill and
they don't want to...l-loose even more fans. A
band like NOFX, we ah, we've been going down
hill for a long time and we don't really care.
IDIOT SON OF AN ASSHOLE (Subtitles)
01:50:09:16 §§§
He’s not smart, a C-student
And that’s after buying his way into school
Beady eyes, and he’s kinda dyslexic
Can he read? No one’s really quite sure
He signs stuff and he executes people
Maybe that’s why, he doesn’t have many friends
Cocaine and a little drunk driving
Don’t matter, when dad’s the Commander in
Chief.
Idiot son of an asshole
He’s the idiot son of an asshole
The idiot son of an asshole
He’s the idiot son of an asshole
Fat Mike
01:50:50:14
Some people call us... you know, ah...Traitors
or... not being patriotic And we ARE patripatriotic. This is patriotism. It's not saying
we're the best, it's saying, let's try to make
our country better because we're... you know,
talking so much shit about our president,
people think that's a bad thing when it's a
good thing. It's dissent, it's natural, it's
what the United States is about, or what it
used to be about.
LYRICS
01:51:16:24
Idiot son of an asshole,
01:51:19:12
The idiot son of an asshole.
01:51:22:23
The idiot son of an asshole,
01:51:25:06
He's the idiot son
of an asshole.
SUPER
01:51:28:21
CHRIS #2
Anti-Flag
01:51:28:21
If you had to ask me, um..."What's 1 positive
thing that George Bush has done?" I would say
being the most protested a taste of activism
and that's something that sticks with people.
LYRICS
01:51:43:11
01:51:46:21 §§§
He's our president
SUPER
01:51:49:08
HENRY ROLLINS
Actor/Musician
01:51:49:08
I toured through the Reagan years. Reagan
pissed off a lot of punk rock, indie, anarchist
types... Like, horribly. And all you saw was
like, I hate Reagan songs about it, you know,
but you never, you didn't see on the scale that
you see now, people getting together, okay, we
don't like the president, so instead of writing
a song about it, let's do a benefit about it,
let's, let's....contribute some money, let's
set up a website.
Justin Sane
01:52:14:07
01:52:36:03
Chris #2
01:52:54:00
Justin Sane
01:53:16:19
We started Military Free Zone because a friend
of ours had brought it to our attention that
part of the No Child Left Behind Act, which was
supposed to be an education bill, part of that
Act ah, called for any school with federal
funding has to give out students' personal
information without their knowledge and that
information was to be given to the US military
for recruitment purposes.
It's incredible the number of kids that we meet
who... join the military not because they, ah,
wanted to go fight in Iraq, but these poor kids
signed up for health care; they signed up for a
chance to go to college. So what we're talking
about is poverty draft.
This song is about each and every single one of
you here today. You are too smart to fight. You
are too smart to die... In any war over oil, in
any war that only benefits corporations. And in
any war, period. You are... a new kind of army.
When you have young kids, and they're coming to
you saying "I ship out for Iraq in 2 months."
And we need someone to represent us, and stand
up for us. That, that had a profound impact on
us.
NEW KIND OF ARMY (Subtitles)
01:53:29:15 §§§
We’re looking to start a new army,
that’s too smart to fight,
too smart to die.
We’re looking to start a new army,
That’s too smart to fight,
Too smart to kill.
01:53:45:12
01:53:47:13
Narrator
01:53:50:04
For you.
Hup,2,3,4.
Hup,2,3,4.
Hup,2,3,4.
Hup,2,3,4.
This new kind of army began to use every means
necessary to prevent a second term for George
W. Bush.
01:53:57:00
Fat Mike
01:53:59:04
01:54:14:11 §§§
Vox Pop
01:54:19:00
Punk Voter is an organization of a... few
hundred punk bands, some punk record labels and
hundreds of thousands of punk kids. We're
uniting to ah, just be a lobby force, such as
the AARP or the NRA. We want hundreds of
thousands of kids to have a voice in
Washington.
It's so easy for people, like especially people
of our... age group, of our... subculture, I
guess you could call it, to be ignored bypeople
in politics, Democrats and Republicans, you
know, punks don't really associate with either
one of them so we need our own little thing to
get us out there and I think that's what
they're doing here and I like that.
SUPER
01:54:36:01
BRIAN BAKER
Bad Religion
01:54:36:01
This is a political action committee, this is
real.
Fat Mike
01:54:38:21
01:54:49:03 §§§
LYRICS
01:54:52:01
Vox Pop
01:54:55:01
Vox pop
01:54:58:20
Fat Mike
01:55:04:17
You can't go out there and tell kids to vote...
Vote! No, you gotta to say, "You vote or else
you're going to get drafted, you're not going
to get an abortion, you know, you're not going
to have health care." There's reasons why you
should care about politics.
Why don't we put this on the kids?
Punkvoter has registered like thousands of
people.
I saw a whole lot of kids signing up to
register and like I've never seen that at a
show. And I think that's awesome.
These kids are really starting to care and I
just feel bad that I hadn't done something like
this in 1999 or 2000.
01:55:10:04 §§§
Chris #2 (Subtitles)
01:55:12:13
01:55:36:10 §§§
LYRICS
01:55:41:07
01:55:43:04
01:55:46:19
01:55:49:11
Tom Morello
01:55:53:06
Justin Sane
01:56:04:08
Ani DiFranco
01:56:09:13
Vox pop
01:56:12:08
Vox pop
01:56:14:08
Vox pop
01:56:15:10
Vox pop
01:56:16:14
Dave Matthews
01:56:17:16
Henry Rollins
01:56:18:24
LYRICS
01:56:24:23
01:56:27:19
01:56:31:16
01:56:33:05
This song is for every politician around the
world, who will look you in the eye and say
that the youth are the death of a nation. Well,
I think we can finally agree with motherfuckers
like George W. Bush in saying that all of us
here across the globe are the death of the
George Bush nation.
The people
will never
The people
will never
The people
will never
The people
will never
united
be defeated!
united
be defeated!
united
be defeated!
united
be defeated!
Whether it's via Axis of Justice, Punkvoter,
The Vote For Change Tour, you've seen them
banding together; some artists who are long
time activists and others who are for their
first time ever speaking out on important
political issues.
Everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Anti-flag,
is involved in this movement.
And it seems to be the subject on a lot of
people's lips
This is Ani Difranco's, Vote Damnit Tour!
Vote damnit!
Vote damnit!
Vote damnit!
Do this country a favor.
This can't happen. Not another 4 years. Please
young men, you with Mohawk, come here. You
gotta vote this time.
The people united will never be defeated!
The people united
will never be defeated!
(cheering)
01:56:46:01 §§§
Fat Mike
01:56:49:22
01:56:51:22
01:56:55:04
01:56:57:15
01:57:00:03
01:57:02:04
01:57:06:22
01:57:13:00
01:57:29:10
Narrator
01:57:38:14
Fat Mike
01:57:51:18
TEXT
01:57:57:09 §§§
TEXT
We're gonna get hat guy out of office.
Oh, sorry...
We tried.
He can't win again, right?
Hey! He can't win again!
For what it's worth, a bunch of punk kids can
get organized and... make a difference.
One kid was 17, he came up to me on the Warped
Tour, and said, he ah, got the Rock Against
Bush CD. And watched the DVD and it really
inspired him. And he worked at Kentucky Fired
Chicken, and even though he couldn't vote, he
got... I think 15 people of his co-workers to
all register and vote.
We did get enough kids organized to where they
will be political probably for the rest of
their lives And... That's important.
20 million Americans under 30 voted in the 2004
presidential election. This was the largest
turn out since 1972, when Congress lowered the
voting age to 18.
I think we made a huge impact, but we lost. So
ah, the world' a more dangerous place now.
September 2, 2008
Republican National Convention
Minneapolis, Minnesota
TEXT
Protests, rallies and concerts are scheduled
throughout the day.
TEXT
Rage Against the Machine are scheduled to make
a rare appearance.
TEXT
Without explanation the police shut down the
concert.
01:58:25:02
Justin Sane
01:58:28:23
Police officer
01:58:31:19
Body guard
01:58:33:14
Crowd chant (Subtitle)
01:58:35:24
(crowd shouting in protest)
The cops don't, the cops don't want to let Rage
Against the Machine go on.
They don't have the permit.
The permit is not for Rage
Against the Machine
Music’s not a crime
Justin Sane
01:58:39:13
I think the people feel, feel otherwise.
Crowd Chanting
01:58:41:01
Let them play! let them play!
01:58:43:14
Let them play!
Man in crowd
01:58:45:15
There'll be a riot if they don't let them.
Crowd Chanting
01:58:47:02
01:58:49:04
01:58:51:02
Free speech! Free speech!
Free speech! Free speech!
Free speech! Free speech!
Man in crowd
01:58:53:01
They turned the generator off and padlocked it.
01:58:55:01
Crowd singing National Anthem
01:58:56:21
Gave proof
through the night
01:59:00:08
that our flag
was still there.
01:59:04:09
Oh, say does that
star-spangled
01:59:08:03
banner yet wave
01:59:14:11
O'er the land of the free...
01:59:18:06
Pat Thetic
01:59:30:20
Crowd Chanting
01:59:34:16
01:59:36:02
Tom Morello
01:59:40:04
(whistling, shouting)
They wouldn't let them on stage so now they're
going in front of the stage.
Let them play! let them play!
Let them play! Let them play!
Okay, I've got, I've got one thing everybody,
I've got a message, I've got a message for the
police who kept us from the stage tonight. Now
I suspect that some of the police, may actually
even be fans of Rage Against the Machine.
01:59:50:02
Tom Morello
01:59:52:08
(cheering, shouting)
01:59:59:13
Tom Morello
02:00:03:14
(cheering)
I suspect that the cops here today have much
more in common with this band, with you people
than the people in the RNC across the-
So before this weekend is over, they may turn
their batons, and their tear gas, and their
rubber bullets against us, but it's my hope
that they realize that we all have something in
common and 1 day very soon, they turn those
batons, and tear gas and rubber bullets against
those jackasses over at the RNC.
02:00:19:03
Tom Morello
02:00:26:00
(cheering)
02:00:27:18
02:00:31:20
LYRICS
02:00:40:24
(cheering)
(band and crowd sing together)
02:00:43:16
02:00:46:09
02:00:48:01
02:00:51:16
02:00:54:04
02:00:56:21
02:00:59:09
02:01:02:01
02:01:04:22
Zach De La Rocha
02:01:07:11
This song's called, "Killing in the name of."
Fuck you I won't do
what you tell me!
Fuck you I won't
do what you tell me!
Fuck you I won't
do what you tell me!
Fuck you I won't
do what you tell me!
Fuck you I won't
do what you tell me!
Fuck you I won't
do what you tell me!
Fuck you I won't
do what you tell me!
Fuck you I won't
do what you tell me!
Fuck you I won't
do what you tell me!
Fuck you I won't
do what you tell me!
Please, please, please
leave peacefully!
02:01:09:23
Chris #2
02:01:17:02
(cheering)
02:01:27:02
Narrator
02:01:31:02
(cheering)
LYRICS
02:01:48:17
02:01:50:08
02:01:51:14
It's never about a band or it's never about a
song, or a record or a t-shirt. It's always
about this, the relationships that we build
and... the community and our strength.
Cell phones, camcorders...all kinds of new
technology has empowered artists to build
communities with unprecedented ease. At
concerts and rallies, fans share information in
less than a heartbeat, with friends and family
around the world.
This is the
dawning of our time.
I'll say it 1 more time,
to emphasize the meaning
02:01:53:11
02:01:55:11
02:01:57:17
02:01:59:05
02:02:01:01
Stephen Marshall
02:02:02:12
02:02:16:08
Michael Franti
02:02:21:03
Natalie Pa’apa’a
02:02:35:20
of my rhyme.
To rise above all
the dirt and grime.
Add the right spice
at the right time.
F--- the constitution!
Are we part of the solution?
Or are we part
of the pollution?
This generation, this, this sort of 15 to 25
year-old generation that we're talking about
now are going to be the future leaders of the
world. They're like a militant, um, future
army, you know, who will, in fact, reclaim the
streets and the land and the airwaves from
their parents.
And the only way they're going to do that is
with a weaponry. With a toolbox full of
information and techniques.
The Internet has been very exciting for me as
an artist, because we ... can keep direct
contact with our fan base. And we can extend
our fan base through... enabling people who
like our music, our fans, to... spread the
word.
Many people we found come through our...
through the social networking sites, which are
massive, obviously MySpace, Facebook We find
ourselves in places like Japan. And people are
singing along to our music and we've never been
there before. And we're like, Wow! You know,
these guys don't even speak English as a first
language.
LYRICS
02:02:55:11
02:02:56:17
02:02:57:01 §§§
Bomb! Bomb!
Rock the nation
SUPER
02:03:04:22
ALAN CROSS
The Ongoing History of New Music
02:03:04:22
One of the things that we're seeing in the
early 21st century is a bit of a power shift
away from the 4 major labels, to the world at
large. In 2002, there were about 50,000 to
60,000 albums that were released in the world.
In 2007 there were 750,000 albums released. Not
all of them by any means came through the major
labels, it came through a proliferation of...
Independent labels and Do-It-Yourself labels.
Wayne Kramer
02:03:30:21
Listen these guys in the record business, these
men and women that ran the record business,
they got away with murder for 40 years, you
know... 50 years. They controlled the only way
you could get music on these plastic discs,
and... It had to change.
Alan Cross
02:03:48:17
News Announcer
02:03:58:08
Paris
02:04:15:24
Narrator
02:04:25:04
And this is creating an entire revolution, not
only amongst consumers, but amongst the people
who are providing us music and the people who
are creating music.
I'm Streta Van Gustan FOXSNBCNN News in New
York and you're looking at live television
pictures from San Francisco, California of
Homeland security forces currently in pursuit
of Paris, member of the growing resistance of
artists and activists, known... as Hard Truth
Soldiers.
Instead of being in a position where we
complain about why we can't come out through
somebody else's channels, many of us are now
creating our own channels.
Activist musicians are now using their web
sites to provide information about a wide
variety of social issues- educating and
politicizing their fans.
02:04:35:19
Tom Morello
02:04:37:19
02:04:47:13
Paris
02:04:53:01
02:05:06:03
Natalie Pa’apa’a
02:05:22:06
Axis of Justice is ah...multi-pronged attack
that brings together, concerned muscians, fans
of music, and grassroots, political
organizations to fight for social justice
together.
Ah, we've got a website, which is, ah... which
answers the question that kids have been asking
me for years, "How do I get involved?"
Go to it, it's Guerrilla, there's a ton of
information on there, um... that, you know,
directly refutes a lot of what's been given as
a standard party line, by the corporate media.
But it does it in a way that's palatable . to
the hip-hop audience.
People can go, feel like they're a part of a
community, feel like... " Yes,"..."There is
somebody else that's out there that feels the
way that I feel". That is representing things
that I believe need to be represented. And...
That is making a difference.
We are really about self education, people
educating themselves because so many of these,
these topics and issues that we sing about like
the nuclear industry, like the uranium mining,
um... you know, environmental issues thankfully
is becoming more and more mainstream, sort of,
topic. But, you know, there, there's so much
underlying stuff that doesn't get talked about
and that's why we need to educate ourselves AND
each other, which is what we do through our
site.
Justin Sane
02:05:47:00
Tom Morello
02:05:57:01
Natalie Pa’apa’a
02:06:17:07
LYRICS
02:06:57:12
02:06:58:02
02:07:01:03
02:07:03:12 §§§
02:07:05:00
02:07:06:24
02:07:08:07
02:07:11:04
02:07:15:22
02:07:17:22
Narrator
02:07:24:04
TEXT
And when you hit them with these ideas, it
almost, it's incredible when kids come up to
you and they're like, "Wow, you guys blew my
mind. I didn't, I didn't realize that we even
could make a difference".
When people begin organizing, when people begin
standing up for themselves, their lives change,
their community changes, and the world changes,
and that's so true. Alone we're consumers, and
TV watchers and video game players, but when we
come together, and we organize, and when we
learn what words like solidarity mean, then we
can change the world.
And I think it's important that you know that
this movement is real. And this movement is
coming into existence through us. So we need
not feel alone because even on the other side
of the world, there are people just like you
and just like me, feeling the same way, and
thinking the same way. So we say, you know take
the strength and courage of your youth, or the
wisdom of your years, and take charge in this
battle of a future versus oblivion, because
this time on earth right now, right here, right
now, this is our moment of truth y'all, this is
our moment of truth.
Don't stop the movement!
Don't stop it,
don't stop it
(Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan)
Something is WRONG!
Wrong with the government
in which we live
Wrong with the leaders
that lead us
Wrong with us...
and the way we respond,
to our enemy and each other
The energy and commitment of activist musicians
and the communities they have inspired, has
caused a major shift in the political
landscape... a kind of revolution, with more
and more young people finally waking up,
speaking out and taking action.
02:07:42:05
Michael Franti
02:07:58:15
02:08:24:06
Wayne Kramer
02:08:38:00
02:09:03:02 §§§
LYRICS
02:09:07:11
02:09:11:03
02:09:13:10 §§§
02:09:15:10
02:09:19:01
02:09:23:00
02:09:26:22
02:09:30:19
02:09:34:07
02:09:36:04
02:09:41:20
02:09:44:21
02:09:48:18
02:09:52:05
02:09:57:13
02:09:59:03
02:10:03:02
In 2008, 23 million Americans under the age of
30 voted, many for the first time.
During the last 8 years there has been a lot of
times when I felt, ah... really frustrated and
scared. And I was really wondering how... it
was gonna get, ah...turned around, so... I feel
super happy right now to see that ah, that
voice has risen up in this country and to see
so many young people getting out to vote this
year was really incredible.
Let's keep the spirit alive, let's keep it
going. Let's make sure that even with Obama in
office that we make sure that we hold him and
his accountable and make sure that we keep
going forward to... protecting our planet and
protecting every person on it.
You struggle and you fight and you lose. And
you fight, and you lose. And you fight, and you
lose. And then you fight and you lose....And
then you win one. And then you fight and you
lose. And you fight and you lose. Th-th-the
struggle is ongoing. Doesn't start with me,
doesn't end with me. Doesn't start with the
60's doesn't end with the 60's. Didn't start
today, and can end today.
Please tell me the reason.
Behind the colors
that you fly.
Love just one nation
and the whole
world we divide
You say you're sorry,
there is no other choice.
But god bless
the people them, no...
who cannot
raise their voice
we can chase down
all our enemies
bring them to their knees
we can bomb
the world to pieces,
but we can't bomb
it into peace.
Woh, we may even find
the solution
to hunger and disease
We can bomb the world
to pieces
but we can't bomb it
into peace
Tom Morello
02:10:09:05
LYRICS
02:10:23:15
02:10:26:02
02:10:29:24
LYRICS
02:10:31:12
02:10:34:21
02:10:37:19
02:10:42:13
PARIS
02:10:44:02
LYRICS
02:11:02:18
History is not made by presidents and popes and
congress and the Supreme Court, history is made
by average, ordinary people standing up in
their place of work, in their school, in their
country for what's right.
So I sing out
to the masses
scream out if
you're still sane!
(cheering)
To all of us gone crazy
I sing this one refrain
We can chase down
all our enemies
bring them
to their knees
I'm really riding for the truth. I'm riding for
the people who... are interested in seeing the
truth be heard and interested in seeing there
be a change, not only in just in hip hop, but
in...popular media in general. And...Shit, man.
We're doing it.
02:11:33:04
Bomb the world
into pieces
but we can't
bomb it into peace!
Put your peace
signs high!
Power to the peaceful.
Love to the
peaceful, y'all
I say...
power to the peaceful
love to the
peaceful, y'all
power to
the peaceful
love to the
peaceful, y'all
All we need is love
02:11:35:10
(cheering)
Michael Franti
02:11:37:12
Power to the peaceful!
02:11:39:24
(cheering)
02:11:05:14
02:11:08:03
02:11:09:01
02:11:14:14
02:11:17:23
02:11:22:02
02:11:27:00
02:11:31:02
TEXT
02:11:44:06
Thank you to the musicians who inspired this
film, and to all those whose kindness,
generosity and goodwill made it possible.
02:11:49:09 §§§
Fat Mike
02:13:49:24
02:14:02:08 §§§
Paris
02:14:32:05
02:14:41:02 §§§
Al Jourgensen
02:14:56:24
02:15:04:08 §§§
Anti-Flag
02:15:34:05
02:15:54:03 §§§
02:15:59:04
The next NOFX album, ah...We're not going to be
attacking George Bush so much, we're just going
to be attacking...Christians mostly. And...and
God. Not a big fan.
You know I saw, I saw a bumper
sticker not too long ago that said,
"real musicians have day jobs." That pretty
much says it all. You know, have a plan b.
I'm too old for this shit. My bones are aching.
Somebody's gotta do it. That's why I live in
Texas. Somebody's gotta sleep behind enemy
lines, right?
Ah, I would rather have the next record be
called War sucks, let's party. There'd be a
whole bunch of songs about partying, but I
don't see that happening, you know. It's
unfortunate, but... that's why we write the
songs to eventually, one day... One day we will
get to right that record. Exactly. War sucks,
let's party. Anti-flag, peace out.