Slowthais severed Boris head is doing what music has always done – be political

By Deputy Chief EditorSeptember 20, 2019

134 3 minutes read

Any fan of punk knows his performance is not going to lose him any fans (Picture: BBC)

In a febrile political scene its easy to cause offence at the moment.

But Slowthai seems to have really gone for it. Politically, the Northampton rapper has skipped the usual dinner party Brexit row and gone straight to waving a model of Boris Johnson s severed head during a performance of Doorman at the Mercury Music Prize.

There will be outrage of course – there often is at the sharp end of artists freedom of expression – but it isnt a particularly risky situation for Slowthai.

Any fan of punk knows his performance is not going to lose him any fans. It will simply solidify the fan base he has who see him as a performer who backs up his lyrics in his actions – and screw what the media thinks. And thats a key point to be made about music and politics: its about authenticity.

That immense topic of political music is of course impossible to adequately chart here (Id fall foul of some irate music historians if I tried) but its fair to say the state of the world and how we exist in relation to those with power is a subject matter stretching back beyond the blues to slave plantations.

Depending on your vintage, political music conjures up Chuck D railing against the injustice of white America in Public Enemy, or Bob Dylan imploring action from Senators and Congressmen in Times They Are A-changin.

And for every example like Tori Amos highlighting Native American rights there is a more intimate folk tradition of local songs charting battles against corrupt land removal or forced migration.

So with a topic this vast my interest has always been in the big picture – if politics and music is a constant, how do various artists tackle the subject, and prove their motivations are authentic?

I made a documentary for Radio 4 Art of Now entitled Band Politics, and I was cautious in my approach. I love music, its my life, its my job, but Im not an academic. This was a personal challenge to look at music deemed political and see if I could come up with a contemporary take on what artists were doing now – and perhaps consider how this ancient link between performance and power has evolved.

I think I did spot a bit of a trend – and it might be one that draws us back to the exploits of Slowthai during his Mercury Prize performance.

These artists are operating in a markedly different financial musical landscape – at the time I interviewed him, Joe from Idles worked in the NHS.

Music fans will recognise the big statement popular political performance. Witness Chris Martin of Coldplay in front of a crowd of tens of thousands with Make Trade Fair written on his hand, or Bono blasting out U2s tribute to Martin Luther King, Pride (In the Name of Love), in a packed stadium.

Its a quieter song, but another massive stadium act of the 80s, Sting, also reflected vast international political issues with songs such as They Dance Alone – highlighting the abuses of the Pinochet regime.

These artists, absolutely well intentioned as they there, operated on a big scale. Global tours, global issues. Big tours, big political themes. The trend included legendary political figures, such as Peter Gabriels anthem Biko. Fantastic as they are, they are in a sense political broadcasts, rather than the politics of personal experience.

Not so with many newer bands.

In meeting acts like Idles, I got to talk about tracks like Mother. Its a searing attack on NHS underfunding which lead singer Joe blames for the death of his mother. In the song he sings: The best way to scare a Tory is to read and get rich.

The Hull band Lifes track In Your Hands details effective ways to shop for a bargain. And Nadine Shahs devastating Holiday Destination charts with journalistic precision the minutiae of the migrant crisis, of fatalities in the water as tourists complain of their holiday being disrupted. It is appalling, and mesmerising.

I think theres a link here. These artists are operating in a markedly different financial musical landscape – at the time I interviewed him, Joe from Idles worked in the NHS. The lead singer of Life worked in a youth centre. No jumbo jets for them, no drivers.

Their experience of the world struck me as unfiltered, and direct. The Greater Manchester band Cabbage are entitled to sing about the failures of Northern Rail in their song A Network Betrayal – because they use it all the time and its making them late.