paul,

where does one draw the line really. at what point do you require "artists" to censor themselves and become merely "entertainers"?  where do these consumer "rights" come from?  who dictates what is expected or unexpected in a public performance situation? is the content of a performance situation the province of the artist or the spectator? 

i tend towards the belief that  it is the perogative of the artist to express themselves however they wish. after all, its they who are putting themselves out there. every thing they do on stage is a risk far greater than the money i paid and after all didnt i pay to watch them to express themselves while i stood by (or maybe danced)  in the shadows.

i myself would be very disappointed if the cultural workers i admire reduced themselves to bland singing and dancing marionettes in order to avoid offending the passive consumer with thier freedom of expression.

surprise me. give me some passion, some spirit, some commitment, some "artistry",  even if sometimes i dont agree with it, rather than "entertainment" by focus group.

at this very moment i'm listening to johnny cash, now i dont agree with the mans religious conviction but it would of been a sad sorry thing if he'd not recorded, released or performed his gospel material because he risked offending me.

bringing this back to the jamms/klf. looking at the ouvre chronologically. from the very first releases back in 1987, the content in the lyrics was overtly political. listen again to "all you need is love" and tell me thats not a political song.

xe

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Message: 7
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 15:02:55 EDT
From: TheMgnt@aol.com
Subject: Re: [KLF] Re: "missing the point"
To: klf@mailman.xmission.com
Message-ID: <7b.19243d8c.2c98b85f@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> you want discussion, Dan?   there's 6 things for you to discuss right there

Are you really that daft that you couldn't understand his point? That you
took the term "Take" literally instead of figuratively? Or, as usual, are you
just trolling for a fight?

He was referring to paying to go to a Dixie Chicks concert then hearing the
lead singer stand there and make commentary on the president. He's talking
about going to a McCartney concert and being "treated" to a short film of animals
getting tortured when really all you wanted was to hear him sing "I Saw Her
Standing There."

If you buy a Zappa album you can fully expect songs bashing everything from
religion to politics. But, usually you buy an artist's records because you
like their music. Surely you like the KLF for tracks other than America No More,
K Cera Cera, and All You Need is Love, right?. You like their style.
There's no political message behind What Time Is Love or Last Train. You are
entertained by the music so you buy it. And you don't necessarily have to agree
with an artists political viewpoint to like the music. But when they cram it
down your throat unexpectedly (like at a concert) you have the right to be
annoyed.

-paul