re: When bands go all political on their fans and music?

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The corporate and government powers want you to be apolitical. They don't want you to invoke political and social ideals. It's a threat to the order, which clearly benefits the people on top of it. The "shut up and sing" crowd is making an explicit political argument, and that is that we shouldn't be political. The very foundation of our democracy is that every citizen should be engaged in the body politic, yet we explicitly want our entertainment to simply pacify us.

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Don't know if I agree with this. Me saying "shut up and sing" is not intended to limit your rights to speak freely in a broad sense.

I'm saying -- You're here doing what you love, in front of thousands of people, and making tons of money, because of music. We, the crowd/audience, are the ones who helped put you there. You, the artist, are probably no better than your average fan when it comes to knowledge of politics, world events or other controversial topics. So don't disrespect our loyalty by using the pulpit given to you for art to go on political rants, which are often fairly banal and poorly reasoned.

In truth, I don't care if someone slips in a passing political statement in a concert, and obviously if you're upset because of what the music stands for, you shouldn't go to the concert.

But don't switcheroo on your audience. Next time I take a meeting with a new client who came to me because I'm good at what I do, I'm gonna go "well now that I've got you here for a consultation, let me tell you about how much I hate the current administration." Of course, they can do that, but there is nothing wrong with fans telling them to frick off in response.