The hip and the not-as-hip notes that struck a chord with US heads of state
The White House, in August, released a playlist curated by US President Barack Obama, featuring a slew of songs from such sonically, stylistically and linguistically diverse artists as Manu Chao, Charles Mingus, Fiona Apple, Chance the Rapper, The Beach Boys and Caetano Veloso. The two-CD selection, divided into Daytime and Nighttime offerings, and titled President Obama’s Summer Playlist, was released on Spotify, the digital streaming service that alternative rock band Radiohead’s Thom Yorke once called “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse”. (Yorke & Co have obviously reconsidered their opinion, given that their latest album A Moon Shaped Pool, is available on the once flatulent near-cadaver.)
The recently-released President Obama’s Summer Playlist, curated by the president himself, is available on Spotify
But politicians as tastemakers? It doesn’t seem kosher, let alone cool. But then, we’re talking about perhaps the coolest national leader in at least the last couple of centuries (yes, my Canadian friends, Justin Trudeau is cool too, but I’ll bet he can’t move like Obama). Obama’s cultural opinion likely carries as much cred as a collegian music nerd. The outgoing US commander-in-chief’s musical preferences were first experienced in 2008 during the run-up to his presidency as well as his retention of the throne for a second term. Songs play a significant role in American presidential campaigns and the nation’s first black president’s campaign comprised a kickass bunch of tunes, astutely chosen as much to reflect his coolness as to rouse his followers. Heard on the trail were such multi-genre hitmakers as will.i.am, Ben Harper, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Brooks & Dunn and U2.
After Ronnie’s two-term reign, George HW Bush employed great irony (unwittingly, no doubt) when his campaign trail resounded to the strains of ‘This Land Is Your Land’. Folk icon Woody Guthrie, who’d been dead since 1967, must have been chortling while simultaneously turning in his grave at the thought of such a dyed-in-the-wool, lucre-loving capitalist choosing a ‘commie’ anthem for his march to victory. Bush’s Democratic opponent also recruited a wonderful song, but Neil Diamond’s ‘America’ couldn’t gain Michael Dukakis the sweetest seat in the Oval Office.
(This story appears in the Sep-Oct 2016 issue of ForbesLife India. To visit our Archives, click here.)