Jan 06 2009
Commodifying Revolution! Che anti-flag 2
A band like Rage Against the Machine or Anti-Flag fool themselves through excessive justification into believing that they are beyond “the System” and capable of making a difference which is ironic being that at the turn of the 20th century, anti-capitalist awareness was more abundant then than now, all without the “benefits” of “working within the System.” “Being with RCA gives us the opportunity to be taken serious in the world of politics.”[1] Now, it can be believed that they truly believe this, but it is hard to justify as they sing about the wasteful spending by governments and the uselessness of commodified goods (does a CD not hold little to no use-value?) on their major label release For Blood and Empire, while they themselves were paid a rumored $500,000 for a couple weeks of “work.” Or the fact that a video was made for their song “1 Trillion Dollar$” to help understand and clear-up the complexities of the songs content and lyrics,[2] just one of four videos made to promote and market their album on a mass level to potential consumers.
[1] Ibid.
[2] Bobby Gorman, “Interview with Pat Thetic,” Thepunksite.com, January 25, 2007, http://www.thepunksite. com/interviews.php?page=antiflag2 (accessed May, 2007).
One trillion dollars, could buy a lot of bling/ One trillion dollars, could buy most anything/ One trillion dollars, buying bullets! Buying guns!/ One trillion dollars, in the hands of killers! Thugs!/ Fuck the world, a lot of people gotta die tonight…/ Fuck the world! Kill ‘em all!
One trillion dollars, in Africa, Iraq/ One trillion dollars, and it’s never coming back/ One trillion dollars, could buy some bad ass drugs/ One trillion dollars, makes me wanna kill myself!/ Fuck the world, a lot of people gotta die tonight. . ./ Fuck the world! (YEAH, YEAH) Kill ‘em all!/ Until the sun burns from the sky/ Until the sun burns so bright/ This world is no more!/ The sun burns from the sky/ And all people are just dust on the ground…
One trillion dollars, could buy a heart! a soul!/ One trillion dollars, buying nations, all the world/ One trillion dollars, could make the fat lady sing/ One trillion dollars, what a bullshit useless thing!/ Fuck the world, a lot of people gotta die tonight…/ Fuck the world, a lot of people gotta die tonight!/ Shit loads of money spent/ Will show us wrong from right/ Fuck the world, Kill ‘em all… Anti-Flag, For Blood and Empire, “1 Trillion Dollar$,” 2006 RCA.
