It may only be rock 'n' roll, the music born of anti-establishment rebels,
but conservatives can like it too.
Sure, Neil Young just released "Let's Impeach the President" and Green Day
scored a huge hit with its 2004 "American Idiot" album, one track featuring the
anti-Bush lyric "Zieg Heil to the President Gasman."
"But some rock songs really are conservative -- and there are more of them
than you might think," political reporter John J. Miller wrote on the Web site
of the U.S. conservative magazine "National Review."
Starting with The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," deemed the number one
right-leaning rock anthem, Miller's list of "The 50 greatest conservative rock
songs will be published in the magazine's June 5 issue.
However the songs' authors might feel about their embrace by the right --
Miller notes that several of the musicians are outspoken liberals -- the
magazine says all of its choices convey conservative ideals or sentiments such
as skepticism about government or support for traditional values.
"Won't Get Fooled Again," could be the theme song of the disillusioned
revolutionaries who fill the conservative movement, Miller wrote. He cites
lyrics such as "Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss."
At No. 2, The Beatles' "Taxman" -- "If you drive a car, I'll tax the
street/If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat" -- was a list natural. Miller says
No. 3, The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil," attacks moral relativism
and notes Bolshevism's cruelties with "Killed the czar and his
ministers/Anastasia screamed in vain."
No. 4, Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama," praises the U.S. South, which
Miller calls "the region of America that liberals love to loathe."
Among songs espousing conservative social values are No. 5 The Beach Boys'
"Wouldn't It Be Nice," as "pro-abstinence and pro-marriage," Blink 182's "Stay
Together for the Kids," called a "eulogy for family values" at number 17 and No.
32 "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" by The Georgia Satellites.
No. 50, Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man," could be the most appealing tune
to many "National Review" readers because of its association with former first
lady and now senator Hillary Clinton, a favorite target of conservative ire.
Answering questions about her husband Bill's alleged infidelities as he ran
for president in the early 1990s, Clinton said in an interview that she "wasn't
some little woman 'standing by my man' like Tammy Wynette." Wynette demanded and
received an apology from Clinton.
"Hillary trashed it -- isn't that enough?" Miller asked.