While these are all of the obviously more well-known artists, I thought the following ed. from the Rocky Mountain News made some good observations about the group of artists who will be touring for Vote for Change:

Brown: Musicians sing praises, protests to attract voters

August 7, 2004

Driving into work this week, there's Steve Earle live on Bret Saunders' morning show on KBCO, previewing two new songs: The Revolution Starts Here and Rich Man's War.

At virtually the same time, Mike Mills from R.E.M. is on TV, talking about the Vote For Change tour in October, when his band will hit swing states with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Dave Matthews, James Taylor, Pearl Jam, the Dixie Chicks, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and more, in an attempt to vote George W. Bush out of office.
        
Meanwhile, Fogerty has released a new antiwar single, Déjà vu (All Over Again) that's getting airplay. Prince has more quietly released, through his Web site, The United States of Division, which joins previously released antiwar songs by the Beastie Boys, R.E.M., Mellencamp, Ani DiFranco and more.

Whatever your views on the election, it's fascinating to watch music begin to have a social relevance again. Never have so many artists on both sides of an issue spoken out so fervently.

This sort of social activism through music is nothing new, in one sense. There have been plenty of big benefits over the years. Many of the names popping up this time have been involved in the No Nukes concerts, Live Aid, Farm Aid, Neil Young's Bridge School benefits and more.

Yet this time around the stakes are different; these artists now risk alienating a large portion of their fan base. Compared with the current election, those other benefits are uncontroversial. Who is going to lose a significant number of fans for taking a stance against nuclear power, against world hunger, or in favor of family farms and specialized schools for the handicapped?

This election is a flashpoint for emotion. The day the tour was announced, the official Springsteen chatboards went ballistic with invective, with some fans vowing a lifetime boycott.

Yet despite the controversy, an unprecedented number of artists have raised their voices. Elvis Costello pointedly played the Dixie Chicks before his concerts last year to support their controversial remarks about the president. He also makes pointed references to the Bush administration in the liner notes to his just-released reissue of Goodbye Cruel World. Neil Young allowed Michael Moore to use Keep On Rockin' in the Free World in the closing segment of Fahrenheit 9/11.

We've all heard about Linda Ronstadt by now, of course. After that Las Vegas incident, the Eagles' Don Henley began dedicating Desperado to her in his shows, with the ensuing cheers and boos. It's a different stance than he took just a year ago, when he told the News there was no point in speaking out against the war because "until the hysteria dies down and the jingoism and xenophobia all die down, there's not much point in saying anything."

It's not just the old guard speaking out. Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2, is coming out next week with tracks from Yellowcard, No Doubt, Green Day, Bad Religion, Foo Fighters, Rancid and 22 more bands. Radiohead struck one of the first blows last year, naming its album Hail to the Thief, a commentary on the Florida voting controversy.

NOFX jumped in early as well, with a pointed, satirical song and video titled Idiot Son of An (expletive).

With all the songs out there, will commercial radio play them - especially considering the message sent by the FCC crackdown on indecency earlier this year? The Fogerty song has gotten limited airplay, but the rest are, for all intents and purposes, MIA.

Instead, it's the songs considered pro-Bush that have been hits: Darryl Worley's Have You Forgotten and Toby Keith's Courtesy of The Red White And Blue (The Angry American) among them.

The Vote For Change tour is sure to spur a response from the numerous artists who are Bush supporters - Worley, Keith, Ted Nugent, Britney Spears, Martina McBride, Sara Evans and the like. Nugent visited Iraq earlier this year, and artists such as Kid Rock have done the same. Tim McGraw gave our troops at Fort Carson a free concert last year. It'll be interesting to see if any of that coalesces as strongly as the antiwar side seems to have.

For now, it's a fascinating but potentially explosive ride, where freedom of speech, artistic license, commerce, patriotism and politics are getting a historic workout.

The sounds of war

Antiwar songs have far outnumbered songs written in support of President Bush's policies. Many country singers have released a number of patriotic songs, but they aren't overtly about the war or Bush. Other recent antiwar songs recor- ded in response to the war in Iraq include:

• Beastie Boys: In a World Gone Mad

• Billy Bragg: The Price of Oil

• Paula Cole: My Hero, Mr. President

• Zach de la Rocha: March of Death

• Ani DiFranco: Self Evident

• Michael Franti and Spearhead: Bomb the World

• Lenny Kravitz: We Want Peace

• Live: What Are We Fighting For?

• John Mellencamp: To Washington

• Willie Nelson: Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth

• R.E.M.: The Final Straw

• Cat Stevens: Peace Train

In response, there are some pro-Bush songs:

• Toby Keith: Courtesy of the Red White and Blue (The Angry American)

• Clint Black: Iraq and Roll

• Darryl Worley: Have You Forgotten

• Warren Brothers: Hey Mr. President

• Toby Keith: American Soldier