When musicians get political this usually means flying the flag of liberty, railing against social injustice, or promoting peace and equality. So we have The Clash; Asian Dub Foundation; The Style Council; Rage Against the Machine. Rock is revolution! Rock is left-wing.
This is so much a given, that I always get a bit of a frisson of excitement, and smile when I hear something that is blatantly taking a more reactionary line - even though I don't personally have much time for conservative politics.
The criteria for this list? Taking a hard stance on law and order; having a strong patriotic tone; OR a expressing a profound skepticism that government is the answer to societies' ills. And it has to be a very good song (otherwise it's not a very interesting exercise - you could just list 100s of hate-songs by neo-nazis of the sort that Louis Theroux always interviews). The best 10, IMO, are, in reverse order:
Righteous broadside against corruption and the violent disintegration of civil society in Jamaica. Lyrically, it's sheer 'why-oh-why' Daily Mail stuff: "All the crimes committed day by day // No one try to stop it in any way!". Sung, like all Murvin's output, in a slightly creepy falsetto which he never comes down from. Apocalyptical.
Surprisingly stand-offish - even rather reactionary - response to 60s student radicalism: "when you talk about destruction // don't you know that you can count me out?". The line about "carrying pictures of Chairman Mao" sort of pre-empts Mark from Peep Show's bewilderment at trendy people's "ironic veneration of tyrants".
Witheringly contemptuous analysis of the vacuity of libertine drug-taking yoof culture. Like most of the artists on this list, Jarvis is usually associated with liberal attitudes. But he's a little more complex than that, I reckon.
Raucous rockability hate-fest against serially spawning single mothers. Escapes being pure bile (just) by being very funny indeed: "We'd all do the same as you // if ever we had the nerve to".
Probably not intentionally rightwing, but the opening lyric "What will happen in the morning when the world, it gets // so crowded that you can't look out the window in the morning?" sounds like something that the nutters at Migrationwatch might say. Really lovely song, though.
Probably the only rock song whose main message is the need for strong national security. Bo Diddley says he wants to join up for the US army and give the Soviet leader what for. Best bit: "J.F.K. can't do it by his self // Come on fellas, let's give a little help." Backed by a drill sergeant with silly syncopation: "Hup 2 ... 3, 4!". Brilliant.
4 'God don't like it' - Blind Willie McTell
Fun little blues duet about how folk who drink moonshine whisky are wicked. The Blind Willie McTell track dates from 1935, so I assume it's a cover of an older song, since Prohibition ended in 1933.
Morrisey did have a fairly consistent reactionary-streak in his song-writing, so it's fair that he makes this list twice. A hilarious song, sung at breakneck-speed, about a tearful juvenile delinquent who promises to "never, never do it again // at least, not until the next time..."
Weirdly, for the band that invented peace and love, the Beatles made quite a few somewhat left-critical tracks (I could have also probably included 'Back in the USSR' as well). This is George Harrison being incandescent with rage that he should be asked to contribute to the public finances. "Don't ask me what I want it for // If you don't want to pay some more!". Great riff - and great, WS Gilbert-esque lyrics.
One of my favourite songs. If you are always seeing 1960s concrete tower blocks and thinking "What the fuck??" - if you find yourself sick with homicidal hatred for the goons who designed and approved these nightmare developments - this is a soothing balm. The lyrics are Paul Weller imagining the crazed mindset of the civil servants and government-sponsored developers : "They were going to build communities // It was going to be pie in the sky". I know that you don't have to be rightwing to detest UK-brutalist architecture, but this song definitely deserves its place on this list because it places the blame squarely on the bureaucrats - the people with "money to squander" who thought brave new designs could revolutionise society.
"If people were meant to live in boxes // God would have have given them string // To tie around themselves at bedtime // To stop their dreams falling through the ceiling."
