We Need The Clash Right Now

Where is the anti-fascist music of 2023 - why does popular music in this era ignore the greatest authoritarian threat in the United States and the west since the Great Depression?

Over the weekend, 82-year-old Bob Dylan joined the core of the Heartbreakers (Tom Petty’s old band) to play three songs at the annual fundraising music festival known as Farm Aid. Dylan, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, and Steve Ferrone and the other musicians played two explicitly anti-fascist songs from Dylan’s 60s catalog - Maggie's Farm and Ballad of a Thin Man - as well as Positively Fourth Street, an adjacent number.

Maggie’s Farm is a rejection of exploitation and the oppressive nature of work or societal norms. This sentiment aligns with the anti-fascist stance of opposing systems that subjugate individuals to serve the interests of a totalitarian regime. Thin Man demands resistance against the closed-mindedness and intolerance often associated with fascist ideologies.

But I was thinking, something is happening and we all know what it is. And where the hell are you, Mr. Jones?

Where is the anti-fascist music of 2023 - why does popular music in this era ignore the greatest authoritarian threat in the United States and the west since the Great Depression?

And I started to think about The Clash, and why they were unique, and how come nobody is rising to take up their banner right now.

Music has always been a powerful medium for dissent, resistance, and the expression of political beliefs. Historically, artists and bands have used their music as a tool to oppose oppressive regimes, tackle injustice, and challenge authoritarian ideologies. However, in recent years, there appears to be a conspicuous absence of popular music addressing pressing issues such as Putin's Russia, Trump's populism, the rise of white nationalism, the influence of xenophobic corporate figures like Elon Musk, and the looming specter of fascism. 

Who is our Clash today, and where is our Joe Strummer?

I’m not a 60s kid. I was a 70s adolescent. Generation Jones, that shoulder generation of punk rock with little tie-dyed connection to the summers of love when we were toddlers. A full generation along to people like me, The Clash remains a beacon of resistance, drawing inspiration from their specific songs and Joe Strummer's quotes. Furthermore, we will discuss the pressing need for music that opposes fascism, particularly in the context of contemporary challenges in the United States and around the world, including the divisive MAGA ideology. Powered by the anger and street poetry of Strummer, The Clash's music, lyrics, and activism provided a powerful antidote to fascism and extremist regimes. You felt - rather than knew intellectually - that these musicians stood against systemic oppression. And while their songs were topical and reflected headlines of the late 70s and early 80s, the band’s willingness to speak out was clear and anthemic. Strummer and Mick Jones wrote in Clampdown on 1979’s iconic London Calling record:

Let fury have the hour

Anger can be power

D'you know that you can use it?

In Straight to Hell, released as the B-side of Should I Stay or Should I Go in 1982, the band was more explicit:

You wanna kick out all the foreigners

You wanna kick out all the queers

Then the 'hippies' and the 'punks'

You wanna give us back our dreams

Who is writing popular music like this nowadays? Taylor Swift, to her credit, has registered tens of thousands of fans to vote and (very, very lightly) opposed fascist MAGA ideology. Beyonce Knowles (very, very lightly) supports opposition to Trump and support for candidates who oppose the hatred of the far right. Neither has written about it explicitly in their lyrics, and they’re the two biggest stars out on the road and making records. Nashville harbors scores of liberal musicians, but very few country acts who will take an active stance against fascism. Even hip hop, once the very leading edge of opposition to entrenched power, doesn’t focus on the existential battle in front of us.

I think we’ve lost something in the deep commercialization and vast production conglomerates - the writing machines - we have these days. Not only don’t we have the anthems of the 60s, we don’t have Public Enemy’s Fight The Power or Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name. These songs are three decades old. Today, it’s all programmed.

My own view is that music can fuel opposition, and that popular music can make a difference. Yet just the other day, there was Stephen Stills - former anti-fascist songwriter - at an RFK Jr. fash-friendly fundraiser with anti-vax conspiracy theory pal Eric Clapton. It’s depressing.

Yeah, we need The Clash right now. There’s too much fear, and too little courage - too much conservatism in material and musical style, too little willingness to step out front. In 1978, The Clash headlined yhe UK’s Carnival Against the Nazis and supported Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League. They put it on the map.

We need The Clash.

We've got Tommy guns

You can come if you want to

You'd better come along, 'cause we're gonna get it on right now