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Those Musicheads -- You Know, the Presidential Candidates

Posted at 1:42 PM on September 18, 2008 by Steve Seel (1 Comments)

As I mentioned in the 1pm hour today, just one of the many ridiculous distractions from real substance we get in presidential elections these days -- and there seem to be thousands of them -- is the ritual revealing of the candidates "Top 10 Favorite Songs." One can only imagine that these things became completely bogus, elaborately-vetted P.R. exercises just like everything else long ago (I suppose they could be real, of course -- it seems highly unlikely in this cynical age, but they could also be a kind of mutant hybrid of the candidates' real tastes and a large degree of buffing-and-tweaking done by their campaign staffs). Either way they're still fascinating. First, because it's just so weird to see how the candidates attempts to win votes manifest themselves in such a self-consciously Roland Barthes-esque way. But second, it kinda gets you thinking: doesn't everybody's list of Top 10 favorite songs amount to a sort of succinct sales pitch, at least a little, for who they are?

Anyway, here's the particular Blender article I referenced on the air that features the songs that are supposedly the "top 10" on the candidates respective iPods. You can find this all over the internets of course, but this article in particular has some snarky comments from Randy Newman and Girl Talk at the end (comments that amazingly refrain from making the easy joke about McCain and technology -- although Newman does plop a giant Godwin at the end, sadly).

But here's the thing. Assuming that these lists are either real, crass attempts to reinforce the "brand" their respective candidates, or some combination of both ... what's up with two ABBA songs on McCain's list?

(Update: I forgot to add, if you like musing on this kind of stuff like I do, you might enjoy the conversation that I had on "pop music in politics" recently on Midmorning, along with Eric Danton, Music Critic of the Hartford Courant).

Comments (1)

McCain's actually strikes me as a genuine sampling of what he likes in music. Obama's read like a list of his campaign theme songs.

I was disappointed by the title of this post. I was hoping this post would be an effort to match Current DJs up with their respective counterparts in the 2008 presidential race.

Posted by Mac Wilson | September 18, 2008 5:14 PM

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Those Musicheads -- You Know, the Presidential Candidates

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