The scene was bizarre, with spectators and police far outnumbering the nascent occupation. That ratio has since flipped, but this was a quiet moment on a wonderfully warm and sunny spring day.
You can see a man playing guitar while seated in some sort of rolling PA system. Something between a rickshaw and a parade float. And this man was playing guitar and singing a folk song. His song was about the Exxon Valdez. Not exactly sure what that had to do with NATO, but it got me thinking about music in protest.
Here's one kraut's opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-njxKF8CkoU
The Valdez song was about as far from consumable or commoditized as music can be. So Adorno's barking up the wrong tree with this one.
Tom Morello, front-man emeritus of Rage Against the Machine, spoke at the inaugural rally on Friday May 18. Though Rage was always derisive of, well... the Machine, I'm pretty sure Adorno's critique perfectly applies to them. He even worked in a plug for his music in his speech:
"I'd like to make a suggestion to President Obama, if he doesn't have the courage to close Guantanamo Bay, how about he takes some of those Wall Street criminals? Throw them in there, lock the door, throw away the key and blast Rage Against the Machine 24 hours a day!"
Read more about Morello here: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-morello-gets-fired-up-at-chicago-nurses-rally-20120518#ixzz1vL9SXAOt
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