Every week, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 39-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Being a regular user of social media, it was hard to avoid learning that Taylor Swift’s songs are about past relationships and she’s supposedly good at this, but I can’t get past the blandness of the mainstream music.
I’m ceaselessly surprised that lyricists don’t write more about important issues with any sort of visionary notions of being useful in some way. Sleaford Mods come to mind as an example of a band that intends to illuminate social concerns, as does David Lester’s own Horde Of Two, which created a musical sketch of the life of anti-fascist Spanish rebel Durruti.
A casual google search of “bands that have political lyrics” brings me to a list that includes Midnight Oil, the Clash and U2. Wow. OK, Pussy Riot and Sleater-Kinney are on it to represent the 21st century. Great.
“Every Wrong Word” from The Family Swan (Kill Rock Stars, 2002) (download):
