Naive to think music can change the world: Neil Young

[Esau.]

Canadian rocker Neil Young, in Berlin with his new concert movie, says music cannot change the world.

"I think that the time when music could change the world is past," the 62-year-old musician told a news conference on Friday.

Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, in Berlin to promote his concert movie 'CSNY Déjà vu,' says the goal of the film 'was to stimulate debate among people.'

(Markus Schreiber/Associated Press) "I think it would be very naive to think that in this day and age."

Young is at the Berlin International Film Festival with CSNY Déjà vu, shot during the 2006 Freedom of Speech tour by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

"It's time for science and physics and spirituality to make a difference in this world and to try to save the planet."

Young said despite his pessimistic view of the power of music, he wanted the tour to be a force for change.

He called his fellow band members before the tour and told them: "This is all I'm going to do: I won't be doing anything else and I don't want to sing any ... pretty songs; we can only sing about war and politics and the human condition."

Iraq war same as Vietnam War

CSNY Déjà vu weaves footage from the tour, which included performances from Young's Living With War album, with archive and television news material.

"The goal was to stimulate debate among people, and I hope that to some degree the film succeeds in doing that."

Young is a staunch critic of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. According to him, the war in Iraq is the same as the U.S. war in Vietnam.

"It's a wrong way to solve a problem.... We just don't have to go and spread democracy around the world."

Young did have one good thing to say about U.S. President George W. Bush: "He is a very good physical specimen."

The iconic rocker, who directed the film under the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, included interviews with critics and soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and who do not support Young's view.

"Otherwise, I thought it would just feel like a bunch of old hippies. And nobody would care. I would not."

CSNY Déjà vu is screening in the Berlinale Special section of the film festival, which includes Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones concert movie Shine a Light as well as Madonna's directorial debut, Filth and Wisdom.

The 58th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival ends Feb. 17.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2008/02/08/young-concert-film.html

[jayr]

Funny, I just read that while watching the last scene in Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure with my daughter where Rufus informs them that the Wyld Stalyns music will end war and hunger on Earth. Now I'm just completely confused.........

Edited February 8, 2008 by Guest

[boiler]

This is what I was saying in that 12 song album game theme about the protest songs. They hardly exist anymore.

[DevO]

Obviously Neil hasn't heard Hamster Dance.

[Birdy]

I think that the time when music could change the world is past

I don't think a time ever existed.

[Rob Not Bob]

I think that the time when music could change the world is past

I don't think a time ever existed.

Call my naive' date=' but I think in some way the Beatles changed the world. Anyhow, there was at least a time when some people could reasonably [b']think music would change the world.

[DevO]

Well its an ambiguous statement to begin with. Music changes the world for me.

[bradm]

While I admit that the creation of a song does, in and of itself, constitute a change in/to the world, I think it's naive to believe that it will result in a problem in the world being solved*. If you want a society-wide problem to be solved, it requires people to change their behaviour, either to start doing something they're not doing or to stop doing something they're doing. A song may point out to some people that a problem exists, but if it doesn't result in them behaving differently, the problem will remain.

Aloha,

Brad

* Western democracies also naively believe that merely passing a law will solve a problem.

[DevO]

While I admit that the creation of a song does, in and of itself, constitute a change in/to the world, I think it's naive to believe that it will result in a problem in the world being solved*. If you want a society-wide problem to be solved, it requires people to change their behaviour, either to start doing something they're not doing or to stop doing something they're doing. A song may point out to some people that a problem exists, but if it doesn't result in them behaving differently, the problem will remain.

Aloha,

Brad

* Western democracies also naively believe that merely passing a law will solve a problem.

Exactly Brad.. It can contribute towards seeing a macro-level change, but cannot be held accountable for accomplishing that change to the highest (impact) level.

[The Chameleon]

I think Neil is on the money.

Music is a key factor in change, but it is not capable of change on it own. Further it never was...it was on the nievty of times previous that made people believe that. Real change takes many conspiring factors to work.

[boiler]

Art is a reflection of what's going on in society, not the other way around. What was it that Bob Dylan said, something like "I'm not a revolutionary, I just write about what's happening."

Collectively though music has changed the world in it's way. Imagine a world that has never heard a single musical note?

[DevO]

But it was Bertolt Brecht who said: "Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it."

[Davey Boy 2.0]

I think the larger point here is the diminishing role of the arts in shaping peoples' mindset.

[MarcO]

While I love Neil, he does drop his share of dopey comments from time to time and I think this is one of them:

"It's time for science and physics and spirituality to make a difference in this world and to try to save the planet."

I am sure the world's legions of scientists, physicists and (Jebus help us all) spiritual leaders have all just been sitting idly on their hands waiting for the likes of Stephen Stills to put the crackpipe down and bestow the responsibilities of globl transformation upon them.

Neil may wear a plaid shirt like a working man but he's just an old rich, spoiled hippie like the rest of them.

[phorbesie]

old and rich, yeah. but i don't think neil is "like the rest of them" at all.

[boiler]

I think Neil just likes to drop comments and run anyway, then just sits back and watch what unfolds.

What he really wants to say is "Rock is Dead!, everybody should now get into buying model trains as a past time. Lionel Rules!"

[Dr. J]

Music, in and of itself, cannot bring about change, but in the hands of certain people it can be a very powerful tool. We saw that in the sixties and we see it still today. Neil may not think so anymore, but I bet this guy would beg to differ.

[wavinginthewind]

I think Neils music lost its ability to change the world when he started selling concert tickets of $200+ and tour shirts for $60.

[phorbesie]

I think Neils music lost its ability to change the world when he started selling concert tickets of $200+ and tour shirts for $60.

what's the correlation?

[Dr. J]

I think Neil's comments are as much a reflection of his own state of mind (and frustration at the lack of reaction on the CSNY tour) as they are about the state of music.

I'm sure Neil remembers a time when the Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" was the rally cry for a whole generation seeking change. But the fact of the matter was that For What it's Worth spoke to the young ("something's happening here/what it is ain't exactly clear"). The older you were, the less inclined you were to feel a part of the "happening." So in a sense, wavinginthewind is correct. A call to change is going to have little impact on the folks who can afford that kind of ticket price....or who are even of an age to want to be at a CSNY show.

Change of any great measure is in the hands of the young. Always has been.

The big question facing the candidacy of Barack Obama was whether he could rally the under 30's - a group that over the past number of years has been become more and more politically dissatisfied and disenfranchised. At first, it appeared doubtful. It now appears that using music (and the internet) he is making progress. Gonna make things interesting.

I believe music can still move people, but you have to know your audience and you have to know how to reach them.....something Neil may not have considered with the CSNY tour. It's all right to say you're only going to play political songs, but if that's not what your audience is there to hear, it ain't going to make much difference. People hear only what they want to hear.

[DevO]

Well put Dr. J!

[phorbesie]

Well put Dr. J!

agreed just to be clear though, i went to that tour for 65$ - average ticket price today.(the 200$ tix waving was referring to are for a different tour which had nothing to do with that tour, which in turn had nothing to do with "change" of any kind.)

you're right though, the wrong age group (for this purpose) likes CSNY. though i wouldn't count us out completely

[larry_llama]

Music will always reach people that other media just can't reach. And it will always reach people in ways that other media never could. In this sense, simply "reflecting reality" is all music needs to do in order to "change the world" because it has the ability to reach the otherwise unreachable.

He's just grumpy.

[DevO]

[Rob Not Bob]

He's just grumpy.

Neil Young? Grumpy? I don't believe it.