Anybody who knows us knows we do our share of topical songs. I don’t mean the kind of tunes you spread on your skin as a moisturizer – I mean songs about shit happening in the world. You know – the kind that get you pegged as a commie or a freak or something. Yeah, we do those.
I guess you could say that our latest single Against It is one such number. It’s a little ditty about the genocide in Gaza and how American politicians try to cover their asses over their support for the Israeli campaign in that unfortunate imprisoned enclave. Just the sort of song that might have put some noses out of joint five or ten years ago, though less so now. I’m guessing it’s gotten us added to somebody’s list, though likely we were already on it.
Welcome To It
Of course, Against It is not our first foray into this particular area of international political controversy. Our 2008 album International House closed with a song called Taxidermist Zoo, which was about the occupied territories during the Sharon-era crackdown against the second Intifada. (The title comes from a kind of bloodless New York Times article at that time describing a zoo comprised of stuffed animals in the West Bank, made from the carcasses of the creatures formerly on display who died as a result of the ongoing Israeli attack on Palestinian society.)
In fact, International House was almost entirely made up of topical songs, from the opener Welcome To It (about the Washington consensus and global domination), to Enter The Mind (rendering prisoners and torture), to For Your Majesty’s Amusement (people powered revolutions), and so on. Then there’s, well, Volcano Man, which is about … I don’t know … something.
Cousin Rick’s Contribution
I suppose you could say our most overtly political album was Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick, if only because it focused exclusively on former Texas governor Rick Perry and his exploits in the 2012 presidential election. That said, it was also our silliest album by far, made up of songs culled from our podcast, THIS IS BIG GREEN, in which we took delight in roasting Rick and other strange public figures in the political space. (Cousin Rick was such a rich vein for that sort of thing – the songs practically wrote themselves.)
Some of the songs on 2000 Years to Christmas had some political shadings, but that was not the driving theme by any means. Our most recent album, In Retrograde, however, has no overt politics, just stuff about love and angst and loss and wanting shit to happen – you know, the usual stuff pop songs are made of. Took kind of a hard turn on that one. I mean, typically even our topical songs contain a little bit of honey, but that sucker was the whole hive and then some.
We’re Number One!
Can’t remember who said, come up with a category no one ever heard of and be the best at it. Well, I can’t make that claim for Big Green, but what I can say is that we are the single least commercially successful band of our generation. That’s a superlative we totally own. No one who has written and released as much material as we have has sold fewer units …. no-body. Hey – somebody had to do it!
