Rock Against Bush was a project mobilizing punk and alternative musicians against the 2004 U.S. Presidential re-election campaign of George W. Bush. At its core was the idea of using music to create a vibe of anti-war and pro-peace sentiment, similar to counterculture music movements of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Woodstock.
The effort was initiated by Fat Mike (Michael Burkett) of the band NOFX, inspired by the Rock Against Reagan campaign of the early 1980s. It has included live concerts, a series of compilation albums, and is associated with the Punkvoter website. Its goal was to encourage people, especially punk fans, to register to vote and to oppose Bush. The album proceeds were used to support a 2004 concert tour and an associated voter registration drive, emphasizing the swing states. The effort did not achieve its goal, as George W. Bush went on to win the election. The albums have been issued by the Fat Wreck Chords label, which focuses on skate and pop punk artists, so most of the songs are by similar themed bands. Both a CD and a DVD were included, the latter containing documentaries critical of Bush, music videos, and comedy. T-shirts were also printed, depicting Fat Mike with the text "Not My Political Advisor", as a parody of the "Not My President" shirts that depicted Bush, issued by Fat Mike. Fat Mike himself stated he found this to be "pretty funny".
The effort inspired Australian punk bands to start Rock Against Howard.
Read more about Rock Against Bush: Performers, Criticisms, Discography
Famous quotes containing the words rock and/or bush:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“I will keep America moving forward, always forward—for a better America, for an endless enduring dream and a thousand points of light.”
—George Bush (b. 1924)