#musictalk

Art is inherently political, music especially.

The alternative band The Strokes, most known for their revival of NYC rock in the early 2000s, has just announced a new album after six years. Reality Awaits, teasing Going Shopping. What makes this song so good, and why aren’t people understanding it? 

Going Shopping has received widespread criticism for its different composition and style that diverts from their usual sound. Through the use of auto tune and lyrics seeming almost half-thought-out, the song has been disregarded as a subproject of The Voidz.

Before we dive into the lyrics of going shopping, we can shift our attention to the overall album rollout. Reality Awaits was announced April 6th, featuring the album cover and one released song which they debuted at the bill graham civic auditorium in San Francisco, CA.

The new album's cover image itself has been criticized for feeling out of place among their discography, many fans believing it to be an AI generated image. Opposingly, the cowboy is an image from Richard Prince’s series of untitled, rephotographed images, where he reframes or recontextualizes advertisements, specifically from Marlboro cigarettes. Beginning in the early 50’s, the “Marlboro man” was used in these cigarette campaigns in order to shift their demographics. The cowboy is used to represent masculinity, or the ideal man, used here in support of consumerism. Prince takes these advertisements, removing any text or ties to the company, reframing the cowboy, and shifting the narrative to a new perspective.

Prince is considered a controversial photographer for his practices of utilizing the work of other artists, but he wasn’t the first to do this. Artists like andy warhol have also famously applied currently existing art to their work, so why is Prince criticized?

Earlier this month, The Strokes performed at Coachella, playing the mainstage and opening for Justin Bieber. Weekend one, I saw a negative perception of their stage presence online, many people viewing Julian Casablancas as rude or unappreciative, under the assumption the band is upset having to open for Justin Bieber and his crowd. I think The Strokes used this as an opportunity to spread a message to a larger audience. Julian Casablancas can be seen sporting the amazon prime logo as “crime”, calling out mandatory draft. The audience cheers this statement, taking it as a joke rather than the truth. Lastly, we can see Fab’s drumhead displaying Palestinian and Ukrainian flag colors, which is something I personally missed while watching.

Weekend 2, the strokes closed with Oblivius, to my knowledge, this song hasn’t been played live in 10 years which makes this message so much stronger. While Julian sings “what side are you standing on”, the stage visualizers display various world leaders that were removed for challenging American interest. Mohammad Mossadegh Prime Minister of Iran, Patrice Lumumba Prime Minister of Congo, Juan Torres President of Bolivia, and Martin Luther King jr. all overthrown by the CIA, by the US. Before listing more world leaders that were overthrown or suspectedly assassinated by the CIA, images of colonization, Fredrick Douglas, slavery, integration, and the Black Lives Matter movement take the screen. Followed by Omar Torrijos President of Panama, Jacob Arbenz President of Guatemala, Salvador Allende President of Chile, and Jaime Rondos President of Ecuador. The set ends by calling out the 30 destroyed universities in Iran and showing the audience the destruction of the last university in Gaza.

Now after understanding their current message, we can dive into the lyrics of The Strokes’ Going Shopping

Like a tiger they will chase you down - They are the media, the critics, the public in general.

The worse reality gets, the less you wanna hear about it - Calls out our ignorance. Can also be calling out ignorance to this song, considering people are taking the lyrics at face value.

Solidarity can be difficult when you got cool stuff to lose - Calls out privilege, calls out the people with platforms that choose security in their place over standing with the people against current issues.

I wanna be a 7-foot zombie, the pay is low but I gotta do somethin' - Zombies are used to represent dead ideas, dead policies, while the second half addresses our system.

We've been expanding on our greatness - At face value, you believe this is in reference to the band after announcing a new album and tour. This is calling out the "Make America Great Again" campaign, the republican party.

I wanna be a 7-foot starfish - The starfish has been used as a political metaphor for leaderless, decentralized organizations, such as the Boston Tea party. Protest groups without one specific leader. Obama has used the starfish metaphor to explain the importance of individualism within public service.

Above the law a political puppet - Describes the leaders of our world as propaganda funded puppets, that are displayed as being in charge. These public figures are expected to be “all knowing" or "all powerful”, but are instead used to portray a specific image, used as puppets for political gain.

The election is a puppet show with financial giants in control. Our “leaders” aren’t the ones with the power. 

Art is political. Music is political.

Thank you so much! I'm so happy you love it!