Barracking Obama
- Jan 27, 2009
Hooray! America has a new president and the supposed leaders of the free world picked a candidate who everyone fell in love with. Well, that's unless you're a member of the Republican Party.
To me, music and politics don't really go together. It's kind of like substituting concrete for butter when making a sandwich. Every four years when one of the most important jobs in the world becomes available for the taking, you can be guaranteed that various musicians will scurry out from under the floorboards to show some support.
But why is this? What gives someone like Bono the right to start telling us that someone like Barack Obama is the closest person we have to a real life superhero? All Obama literally has to do now is don a cape and burst through a window in the oval office to destroy the evil credit crunch monster. Though the general population of America and worldly onlookers seem to think he can do this anyway.
Musicians like Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z all had a song and dance for the 44th president of America when he was sworn in. Even non Americans were allowed to join in the celebrations as Arcade Fire and er...Shakira performed at a series gig which would have been a ticket tout's dream.
So does the ability to strum a guitar and skill of singing without the use of studio trickery give you the right to preach to people not possessing those abilities? Apparently so it seems as throughout the whole presidential campaign, we have been bombarded with pro Obama words from anyone musician who either wants:
A) Kudos amongst their peers and fans to show they are a kind and caring individual.
B) The chance to voice their opinion in a time when history can change for the better.
C) 41 extra album sales.
It has been rare to find negative words from any musician towards Barack Obama. Only the Republican Party seemed hell bent on damaging the man's name with petty attacks against his race and middle name. But we won't go in to that, as someone might cry and spill their milk. We have to wait until Obama messes up first before we can attack him and wish the old war veteran has been elected instead!
There has however been an exception to the rule with negative musical spin. It didn't come during his campaign or when the results of the election were announced. Instead, it came hours after his first speech when he was sworn in as president. I guess you could call them musical terrorists, as Brighton duo Cassetteboy took his initial words that filled the world full of hope and turned it in to a complete musical mockery.
If you aren't familiar with the works of Cassetteboy then it's time to raid the local record shop for albums or turn to their YouTube channel. People such as Jamie Oliver, Simon Cowell, Jeremy Clarkson and even Harry Potter have fallen fowl to some serious digital manipulation as prominent members of pop culture are reduced to hilarious messes.
Barack Obama is the latest victim to receive their treatment which makes everybody's favourite politician sound like a leader who the United States of America would fear and hide from. There is no doubt that this spoof won't make mainstream American TV & radio but for the long sufferers of the UK who have had to put up with the American election every single time they open a newspaper or switch on the news, it is some comic relief.
Well, until the UK general election starts.
watch Cassetteboy v The Times: Barack Obama sings 'We Are The World'
