“The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out”- Oliver Holmes, Jr.

Even before the regnant commercialization of music began in the 1950s, politics had always maintained an intrinsic nexus with music. Whether it be in the sublime “Masters of War” where Bob Dylan iterated his desire for “your death’ll (sic) come soon” which would later go on to inspire the dissident anti-Vietnam war student protestors of Berkeley or Kurt Cobain’s acerbic call to arms against the deadpan conservative administrations of the years past in 1991’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, a disaffected adolescence always seemed to embrace it despite the piqued sniffs of disapproval from the establishment.

Yet in the early days of the post 911 era, when United States President George W. Bush still enjoyed the sky high ratings of a commander-in-chief yet untainted by the opprobrium that arose from the scandals of Gitmo Bay and Abu Gharib, Dixie Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maine’s admission of shame, on foreign soil of all places, that Bush hailed from her home state of Texas led to widespread condemnation from almost all quarters of American media. In retrospect it seems almost asinine to blast one for the utilization of her first amendment aside from the belief which prevailed in those days not too long ago, that she lacked what many assumed to be an inalienable unrelenting allegiance to the man, just because she hailed off a group whose music was once considered too country to appeal to even the most ardent of rednecks.

And what a full circle pop music has turned since those heydays for the Republican executive in the White House. In late May, the Chicks were propelled to the top of the Billboard 200 pop music charts on the success of the lead single of their new album, the aptly titled “Not Ready To Make Nice” which refuted Maine’s early apology to Bush when she proclaimed herself “mad as hell”. Despite the Associated Press reporting that certain country radio stations refusing to give the single airtime, on the strength of an audience annoyed by Dubya’s antics, the Chicks managed to ship a commendable 550,000 copies on their debut week. In fact, so assured were they of popular acceptance of their new record that on May 21, just before “Taking The Long Way” hit stores, Maines appeared to retract her mea culpa to Dubya with her (now) no-longer incendiary animadversions that Bush deserved “no respect whatsoever”.

The Texan group isn’t even the first band to have a big payday just because of the blunderings of that particular man in power. According to Rolling Stone’s latest rich list, Californian menagerie Green Day had a $31 million cheque issued in their name following the gravy train that superseded from the success of 2004’s pyromanical “American Idiot” whose eponym single vexed lyrical of W. by tainting him as a homophobe as well as a hick puppet, and that’s not even counting chart-topper “Holiday” which front man Billie Joe Armstrong introduced to a rambunctious reception at Milton Keynes National Bowl as a “big “f-ck you” to all the politicians.” Armstrong even went as far as to emulate Maines by roaring at a 200,000 strong crowd in Berlin to not let these “bastards dictate your life and tell you what to do”. His punk rock opera was duly guerdoned by a Grammy award as well as more than five million copies flying off shelves.

Rapper Kanye West provoked excessive controversy, though hardly anything on the Maines scale, when he blasted Bush for not caring “about black people” in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. That week, his sophomore album “Late Registration” sold 906,000 copies and debuted on #1. Even veteran warhorses Neil Young and Mick Jagger got back into the act. Young, with his no-holds barred protest record “Living With War” by renewing his animosity with his old nemesis the Bush family (a feud encapsulated in his 1989 song “Rockin’ In The Free World”). “Living With War” went to sale riding on great critical acclaim and on the back of a provocative call for Dubya to step down. Jagger swaggered and avoided falling off a tree (no offence intended) with the mellifluous “Sweet Neo Con” (“You say you are a patriot/ I think you are a crock of shit”) off an album hailed by many as the finest off the Stones in more than a decade.

To be fair to the Republican administration, it is hardly representative to just look at the musical scene and thus condemn. Chart toppers are, with the exception of perhaps Toby Keith, associated with being tree hugging, bleeding heart liberals. Take for example, Eddie Vedder of alternative rock act Pearl Jam, who has seen his group’s recent self-titled album rise to #2 on charts, told Rolling Stone journalist Brian Hiatt of a recent heckling by a Republican supporter in its latest cover story, thanks to his endorsement and work for defeated Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 elections.

Yet, what exactly was the stimulant of this sudden outpour of pique upon the establishment? It is essential to keep in mind of course, Dubya’s trifling opinion ratings (which this week rose to 40% on the back of the death of Al-Qaeda’s Al-Zarqawi) since music is after all, merely a microcosm of the issues that pervade society. Despite the fact that West has a penchant for Gucci suites no doubt unavailable to those in the ghetto, the likes of Armstrong, who still struts his humble beginnings from a working class Californian family, are still among the most accurate manifestations of those deemed unworthy of having their concerns voiced on the covers of national magazines. As for the uncanny marketing men over in New York or Burbank pouring over listener trends off Top 40 radio, the unexpected sales of the flood of recent political record provided a welcome reprieve from payola and spy-ware scandals as well the re-emergence of a market that for the years following the likes of Baez and Dylan was dominated by underground punk rock singles flogged in dinghy night clubs.

Regardless of whatever concerns about the lack of patriotism from the leftist crowd, this can only bode well for those who unequivocally believe in democracy. The unique ability to utilize the first amendment to criticize even your commander in chief remains tantamount in a society whose civil liberties have been curtailed in a bid to maximize national security by a man whom the late Hunter S. Thompson termed in his biography mere months before his death as a “whore-beast”. Despite whatever laments of the brutality of capitalism, it is portraying its more democratic and unabashed face these days when it comes to pop music at the very least.

But more importantly what are the trends that such best-selling records impregnate? It shows that society is beginning to comprehend and accept the counter-culture revolution in the ‘60s in America as well as the emergence of punk in Great Britain in the late 1970s. With baby boomers no longer craving for LSD nor Johnny Rotten sailing past Parliament House and punk now showing a more commercialized face that is littered with eye-liner and huge emo glasses, it has become socially tolerable to protest or show an affinity for records which call for the impeachment of the President. Last September, The Economist Newspaper ran an article asking where have all the flowers gone? The conclusion from its respected Lexington column showed that while over 95% tolerated the civil rights revolution, a majority still thought that counter culture went too far. Suburban America may forgive, yet it still does not condone the Texan Trio yet.

What’s next? One can barely envisage Britney Spears leading a protest against W. with Sean Preston on her lap and hopefully Kanye West won’t have to appear on television anymore. Oon August 29^th, the man who was accredited with starting it all releaseed his forty-fourth album “Modern Times”. With the times a-changin’ led to Robert Zimmerman has put out something with aplomb again.

Kristiano Ang writes for Vainquer Magazine (www.vainquer.net) on music and culture and has interviewed the likes of Slipknot and the Black Eyed Peas.