The Coming Culture Wars Under Donald Trump
The next four (eight?) years under Donald Trump are going to be interesting. In my public conversation with Maynard James Keenan at the U of T on Monday night, we talked about how art and artists will fill an important role under an America led by The Orange One. It’ll be up to art to balance things out. I truly believe that music is going to get better (despite what some people might say.)
And I’m not alone. Check out this article from The Ringer.
On the upside, punk rock is gonna be pretty baller for the next 4 years
— Geoff J (@geoffjentry) November 9, 2016
“Punk rock thrives under Republicans” is a historically fun idea with a thorny 21st-century track record. In the aftermath of the 2000 Bush-Gore debacle, Fat Mike — he of L.A. pop-punk legends NOFX, they of gleefully puerile records like 1996’s Heavy Petting Zoo — started the activist organization Punkvoter. His reasoning: “I felt that if I had spoken out to my fanbase more and tried to tell them how I felt politically, it might have made a difference, especially because NOFX has sold 50,000 records in Florida.”
That quote has stuck with me — the audacity of hope in that logic, that it’s a math equation, that all this requires is identifying those faithful to your art and converting some modest percentage of those people to your politics. It made sense in theory; it still does. Punkvoter registered thousands of voters and shepherded two Rock Against Bush compilations; NOFX named their 2003 record The War on Errorism. Bush won reelection anyway, and by 2012 Fat Mike had thrown up his hands and disbanded the organization.
