Cash Still Rules: Wu-Tang Clan

[Thomas Eckhardt]

>Rare moments when popular musicians, firmly entrenched in the star 
>system or aspiring to be, have consciously used their power for 
>subversion in any meaningful way.  

Bruce Springsteen, a rock star if there ever was one, consciously uses his
power and his gift as a songwriter to attack aspects of US-American
politics. Listen to his album "The Ghost of Tom Joad" ("Shelter lines
stretchin' round the corner/Welcome to the New World Order", from the title
track) or to "41 Shots", his song about the Diallo murder. This may not be
the most innovative music ever recorded, but as social commentary it
fulfills an important function of popular music, and I respect him for using
his influence on people's minds in this way. Springsteen is also the guy
who, according to Greil Marcus, kissed his black saxophon player Clarence
Clemons "square on the lips", thus eradicating two boundary lines in one
second of musical bliss. 

Thomas