Apple Music wasted no time in trying to capitalize on Spotify's slip. They immediately posted ads bragging that Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who left Spotify (to protest their super spreading of COVID disinformation via their podcast The Joe Rogan Experience), were both proudly available on Apple Music.
Other musicians quickly offered their support for Young and Mitchell, most notably guitarist Nils Lofgren, best known for playing in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and a new member of Neil Young's band Crazy Horse (replacing the retired guitarist Frank "Pancho" Sampedro).
Lofgren's move put pressure on Springsteen to follow suit. Rumors flew that Spotify would soon lose Springsteen, Pearl Jam, The Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney and others.
Lofgren, along with Young and Mitchell, were attacked online by British rocker Ian Brown, of The Stone Roses, an anti-vaxxer, who spit out the old punk line first popularized by the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten: "Never trust a hippie!"
Lofgren answered "Get vaccinated, Ian". Brown soon deleted his original tweet, which simultaneously blasted the "hippies" for criticizing Spotify and criticized Spotify itself for having removed a COVID conspiracy theory song Brown released last year.
The song, "Little Seed Big Tree", released in September 2020, was removed from Spotify for COVID disinformation but still available on Apple and elsewhere. It sounds exactly like every other song Brown has done lately, except with COVID conspiracy theory lyrics. Brown goes waaaay back, to the Masonic conspiracies of the Middle Ages, and lands up claiming the vaccine is a way to implant "microchips" to control us all.
Standing on its own, thriving all alone
Just a little seed, makes a big tree
Grows so high, gonna touch the sky
Just a little seed, makes a big tree
Spreads roots deep, branches far and wide
Masonic lockdown, can you hear me now?
From the top down, soul shot down
State shakedown, mass breakdown
Get behind your doors for the new world order
Doctor Evil and his needle
Doctor Evil with a masterplan
They'll plant a microchip, every woman, child and man
They plan to chip us all to have complete control
The land, the sky, your soul
Free to do exactly as your told
Obey, consume and die
And up to heaven for your pie up in the sky
You best believe your lying eyes
Making more than patterns in the skies
Beamed to Earth from space by satellites
Trying to tell me two and two is five
Mass mind manipulation, psychological operation
The general population, hypnotised, right in front of your eyes
Drama and lies, look into my eyes
Standing on its own, thriving all alone
Just a little seed, makes a big tree
Grows so high, gonna touch the sky
Just a little seed, makes a big tree
Spreads roots deep, branches far and wide
Masonic lockdown, can you feel me now?
Masonic lockdown, soul shot down
State shakedown, a mass breakdown
Get behind your doors 'cause living here is drastic
Doctor Evil and his needle
Doctor Evil with a masterplan
They'll plant a microchip, every woman, child and man
They plan to chip us all to have complete control
The land, the sky, your soul
Na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na
It's a ridiculous song and a terrible besmirchment of Brown's legacy. In 1989, his band The Stone Roses exploded. Many said their debut LP was the best British rock album for years. I loved it. I happened to be in England in 1990 when the mania over The Stone Roses was in full bloom. The Manchester band's unique take on psychedelia swiftly captured the imagination of the British music scene.
There were record company issues and the second album didn't come out until 1994 and was widely disliked.
Ian did a number of solo albums, most notably 2007's The World Is Yours, featuring the searing political anthem "Illegal Attacks", a duet between Brown and Sinead O'Connor.
The Stone Roses reunion of 2012-2013 surprised many. The reunited band headlined California's Coachella Festival, although many younger Americans had no idea who they were.
They released new music, which no one liked, and broke up again.
Ian's released Ripples in 2019, breaking no new ground, and containing a rather lame reggae song "Break Down The Walls", with Brown singing in full "Blackface" patois.
He's made a number of statements against COVID vaccines, masks, and lockdowns.
Until yesterday, I hadn't heard he had gone full nutter on the anti-vaxx issue (there's even a recent embarrassing video of Brown practicing with nunchucks where's he presents like an adolescent tweaker on a three-day bender. Actually I would like to blame the whole thing on meth and/or mental illness, but that's letting Brown off the hook, innit?
Then I found out British rocker Richard Ashcroft of The Verve, whom I have long admired, is also an anti-vaxx nut. So are the Oasis brothers, but I've never cared about them.
But losing Ian Brown and Richard Ashcroft to the dark side really hurts.
It seems with a lot of musicians, like Van Morrison, their major beef with COVID and COVID restrictions is not being able to play gigs, which is one of their main sources of income. So they have a financial interest in seeing COVID restrictions to end quickly; even if it's not safe yet.
Artists want to be seen as "cutting edge" and "daring rebels" who "pro-freedom". It is disturbing that artists such as Morrissey, Joseph Arthur, Ian Brown, and Richard Ashcroft think that being anti-vaxx is being radical. They appear to care less about taking responsibility for their actions and considering the effects of their words and actions on others.
We want the artists we love to be cool, heroic, insightful, inspirational, dreamers, weirdos, risk takers... It is disappointing when a great artist we previously admired does things that are far from admirable.
Related Articles:
ThisSmallPlanet.com Calls On All Artists & Subscribers To Leave Spotify To Protest Joe Rogan Super Spreading COVID Disinformation
UPDATE:
India Arie is also leaving Spotify:
As is Graham Nash:
Having heard the Covid disinformation spread by Joe Rogan on Spotify, I completely agree with and support my friend, Neil Young and I am requesting that my solo recordings be removed from the service.
There is a difference between being open to varying viewpoints on a matter and knowingly spreading false information which some 270 medical professionals have derided as not only false but dangerous. Likewise, there is a difference between misinformation in which one is unaware that what is being said is false, versus disinformation which is knowingly false and intended to mislead and sway public opinion. The opinions publicized by Joe Rogan are so dishonest and unsupported by solid facts that Spotify becomes an enabler in a way that costs people their lives.
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