The Legacy Of Music
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So I am sorry if I can't always see a justifiable reason for any wellknown musician wanting to use their fame to start voicing their political / environmental / social / etc. opinion, considering what they did in the first place (make music and spread that across the globe) seems so much BETTER than whatever it is they aspire to do instead of or in addition to their main occupation of being a musician.
Disagree with me if you like, but seriously, MUSIC must be the best and most beautiful legacy one can leave on this planet, and looking at history, a lot of music from the past is better remembered than most politics from the same eras.
True, music itself can be used as a means of drawing attention to a certain matter of importance, but unfortunately that principle has been milked so much since Live Aid in 1985 that most of it may have lost its value (even the most sincere 'activist' musicians may now be considered to be doing it for the marketing/PR value to themselves rather than to whatever the 'cause' is they support).
Musicians talking politics may just end up finding themselves being mocked for it (just think of the quirky 'Make Bono History' campaign) or have whatever it was they supported being backfired onto them (remember those British musicians going pro-Blair in the 90s?).
In my opinion, if musicians want to aid any efforts towards ending third-world poverty, perhaps they could get their record and management companies to - for instance - really globalize their operations (creating jobs and infrastructure everywhere rather than just in their country of origin; employing local staff may even benefit the environment because less air travel will be involved) and make an end to policies that allow for unjust price differences between different countries for the same music products.
If musicians want to aid any efforts towards a cleaner environment, perhaps they could - further to employing local staff rather than travel with huge entourages as already mentioned - apply more efficient tour schedules (eliminating unnesessary travel between locations / continents), reconsider how much materials etc. to take along on their tours (does Pete Townsend really need over 70 guitars with him at all time?), reconsider the fuel type and fuel efficiency of tour trucks, buses etc., and perhaps deploy solar panels at openair gigs to generate some of the electricity required. (Measures as such may actually turn out more cost-efficient as well, leaving them with more profit.)
And if musicians really want to aid any efforts towards achieving global peace, perhaps they should simply continue to do what they do best: make music! Millions of people worldwide are united by their taste in music, and at most gigs I go to the audiences are made up of people of all ages, races, cultural backgrounds etc. And you never know, maybe if political summits were preceded by pleasant musical performances, perhaps political opponents would come to enjoy things together, and be able to really work things out together towards a better future.
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