Howard Stern, who was recently censored from Clear Channel, supposedly due to his anti-Bush material, has been raising hell by slamming the Bush family's ties to the radio aggregate. Stern's fury reached Salon.com which then sent a warning to Republicans that Howard Stern's Schwing Voters are the Left's "sleeping giant."
On another front, popular rock band KoRn has produced a video and song titled "Y'all Want a Single" that addresses artist frustration with pressure to produce formulaic drivel. The music industry was obviously unhappy with this commentary and so it has used its business connections to censor KoRn.
Howard Stern, now the new posterboy in anti-censorship, has risen to their defense with a remix of KoRn's song...
The mp3 is available as a BitTorrent here or alternatively on Philosophistry's server here. You can also preview the song by clicking on the word "sTeRn" at the top of this site.
Personal opinion: the remix is addictive. However, I suspect that anti-music industry ranting reflects a common internal-conflict of artists: an irresolution between their yearning for popularity and their aversion to "selling out." This is ironic since rock is largely the product of a music industry keen in the '50s, capitalizing on a fresh market for the uncultured ear and growing youth culture.
Combine this angst with the populist hatred of Big Business and the pervasiveness of "illegal" file-sharing and you've got a mass movement of hate toward the industry. I'm not a sympathizer for the music industry though, largely for the same aforementioned motivations.
Thanks, Peter!
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