I heard something interesting in a podcast the other day. They said most musicians are liberals. I play a bit of music and the vast majority of my music friends are HARD liberals. I have a few right leaning musical friends as well but I had never thought about the obvious elephant liberal in the room before.
I think there are a few factors at play here (no pun intended, lol):
Location and background of the musicians
The genre of music
The amount of success the musician has had.
I studied music in college, and at my small school, the music students were mostly conservative, with the most conservative being the students who were also working full time jobs outside of school and/or the Latin American exchange students (many of whom were from Venezuela, so they weren't fans of socialism to say the least). On the other hand, the musicians who went from music school to working musician tended towards liberal, and most of them didn't have a lot of real world experience outside of the music/theater bubble. Take that as you will.
As far as successful musicians being liberals, the music industry is much like Hollywood - apart from some exceptions such as Ted Nugent or John Rich, the music industry rewards those who toe the line and squawk out the correct political talking points.
Sorry for the long answer, but I hope that makes sense.
I literally just had a talk with a friend about that Oliver Anthony song, Rich men North of Richmond. It finally hit me why it hit the way it did. I‘m simplifying but his almost crying emotional voice couple with the lyrics and all our unaddressed pain, really hit a nerve in (most) of us, even in some liberals. He says he‘s a politcal centrist. The shivers and energy flowing through me went on for weeks from that song and the reaction videos.
Nice to break through that barrier and funny to see it at #1 on the Billboard 100. LOL
Very good point. Also most artists are a little crazy. Doesn't matter if they are musicians, painters, writers, artists, athletes, thrill seekers etc. Crazy might not be the correct word. They seem to take chances the average person wouldn't dream of.
Really good musicians are not well connected with reality.
I heard something interesting in a podcast the other day. They said most musicians are liberals. I play a bit of music and the vast majority of my music friends are HARD liberals. I have a few right leaning musical friends as well but I had never thought about the obvious elephant liberal in the room before.
I think there are a few factors at play here (no pun intended, lol):
I studied music in college, and at my small school, the music students were mostly conservative, with the most conservative being the students who were also working full time jobs outside of school and/or the Latin American exchange students (many of whom were from Venezuela, so they weren't fans of socialism to say the least). On the other hand, the musicians who went from music school to working musician tended towards liberal, and most of them didn't have a lot of real world experience outside of the music/theater bubble. Take that as you will.
As far as successful musicians being liberals, the music industry is much like Hollywood - apart from some exceptions such as Ted Nugent or John Rich, the music industry rewards those who toe the line and squawk out the correct political talking points.
Sorry for the long answer, but I hope that makes sense.
Nice to have more of the picture. Thank you.
I literally just had a talk with a friend about that Oliver Anthony song, Rich men North of Richmond. It finally hit me why it hit the way it did. I‘m simplifying but his almost crying emotional voice couple with the lyrics and all our unaddressed pain, really hit a nerve in (most) of us, even in some liberals. He says he‘s a politcal centrist. The shivers and energy flowing through me went on for weeks from that song and the reaction videos.
Nice to break through that barrier and funny to see it at #1 on the Billboard 100. LOL
Very good point. Also most artists are a little crazy. Doesn't matter if they are musicians, painters, writers, artists, athletes, thrill seekers etc. Crazy might not be the correct word. They seem to take chances the average person wouldn't dream of.