Holy World War Will Come For You

I've never cared that deeply about politics. Well -- okay, that's not entirely true. I've never cared that deeply about politicians. Politics concerns me greatly, insofar as the state of the world concerns me greatly. But I became aware about the world, in a global sense, during the fall of Bill Clinton, and I came of age during the reign of W Bush. As such, I never really felt a powerful connection to the presidency; I felt more of a dull frustration, like an ache you've had for a couple days. You almost forget it's there. The general election in 2004 provided me my first real opportunity to vote for president. I was 20 and, vote in hand, I was prepared to help get Bush out of the Oval Office. Except I didn't really care about John Kerry. He didn't inspire me. He spoke flatly; he felt like a paper tiger, like the Democratic party said, "Oh shit, we need someone to run for president." So I fully expected to feel the same way about the 2008 elections. I figured it'd be some old gentleman kindly explaining that Republicans were wrong, we were right, and vote for him because he's not a Republican. Boring, partisan politics. But I'd rather a limp-wristed Democrat in there than a military-sponsored Republican, so all right let's do it, let's get fucking John Kerry in the White House. Except in 2006, there were hints that Barack Obama would run. My ears perked up; ever since his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, I had been a pretty ardent Obama supporter. In that election year, I didn't care about any of the candidates running for president, but I did care about one of the up-and-coming Democrats who gave a speech. I wanted him to run. I wanted to vote for Obama. Now, of course, I've gotten my chance. Unlike every politician in my lifetime, he gives me hope, and further, he makes me care about politics. For the first time, I find myself engaging in lively debates about which politician is better -- and I surprise myself by how much I mean what I say. For the first time, I care about a politician. In much the same way, my feelings towards music have been evolving to the point where I actually care about contemporary rock. For a long time, I didn't love this era of independent music so much as I hated this era of popular music. I liked the indie stuff but I didn't feel a need to champion it, to tell everyone about it. Either people knew about it and liked it already, or they wouldn't care either way. Like politics, everyone had already picked their sides, they were just voting the party line. But in 2004, I started to get really into punk and underground 80s stuff. Not just the Ramones and the Clash and Sonic Youth, but bands like (and I know I've mentioned them already but for the sake of rhetoric) Gang of Four, the Replacements, Wire, Superchunk. I started to care more about music. I wanted to play it for people, so I started making mix CDs. I imagine the same thing happening to my father, back in the mid-70s. I don't know this for sure, perhaps I should talk to him about it, but I can see him, in 1976, getting excited for Jimmy Carter and some cool music that was being played in New York City. A little band called the Ramones were recording that year, a record that would, unbeknownst to them or my father, drop a match in a powderkeg. As I find myself vocally supporting Obama, I also find myself telling everyone I can about some new bands. I am not only enjoying independant music, but I have found some that most people haven't heard -- and I am genuinely excited for it. Truly underground music that needs championing. And so I will. For as long as I keep finding music that genuinely excites me, I will spread the word. The day I find myself hyping bands that two hundred people have already hyped, that sound like easy listening with a slick drumbeat, (re: Vampire Weekend), that is the day I get out of it, get away from rock, and who knows, maybe I take one more step to becoming my father and start listening to Count Basie and Frank Sinatra. I don't know when that will happen, or if it will; John Peel rocked til he was dead, and he spent a good amount of time among the living. But there's nothing more respectable than realizing you're playing a game that the world stopped playing ages ago and getting out, no matter if the getting is good.