“CD For The Troops” Is Exactly That…
In an article by John Ondrasik (pictured), lead singer for Five for Fighting, for Billboard, he talks about his e-mail connections with our troops in Iraq and Aghanistan and especially those at Waler Reed (who “all had iPods”) how music is one of the few topics that really seems to reach past everything and get to the reality of the person.
The completely misguided efforts of idiots like DePalma and his generation of filmmakers who seem to think that Iraq is Vietnam all over again, and so therefore want to fill their Iraq film projects (most of which are trash that trash America and the troops) with nostalgic songs from the Vietnam era that were so prevalent in the Vietnam war films that followed, are way off the mark.
You don’t put Bob Dylan singing “Like a Rolling Stone” in a film about Iraq.
Most of the guys in Iraq and Afghanistan wouldn’t even recognize Bob Dylan if he walked into the room, much less be able to name two songs of his. The Iraq/Afghanistan Troops and Vets are listening to the music of their generation, not their parents’ generation.
The music is a big aspect of Pat’s “Young Americans” which is why he is taking extra care, time, and money, to be sure that the music used in the series, reflects the generation of the Marines portrayed, and their experience.
Ondrasik says “This experience is why I’m proud of the 12 artists, labels and publishers who have joined me in producing the CD “For the Troops.” This project is a collection of songs exclusively for our military. There were 200,000 hard copies pressed, and the individual downloads, many major copyrights, are available for free to more than 1.5 million active service members at aafes.com.”
Bands contributing to this project include: Five for Fighting, Billy Joel, Brooks & Dunn, the Goo Goo Dolls, Jewel, Josh Groban, Los Lonely Boys, Melissa Etheridge, the Neville Brothers, Sarah McLachlan, the Lt. Dan Band, Montgomery Gentry, and The Fray. -Bash
A little more from the Billboard article:
It’s easy to get depressed about the record business. Be you songwriter or product manager, record producer or company chairman, an already tough gig is proving more daunting with every spin, every cycle. You’ve heard it before, but frankly I need to remind myself. Whether it was for fortune, fame or love of the game, we are here because a song, a singer, a band or an ideal within moved our souls and changed our lives. It’s at times hard to recognize, but music still matters.
I learned this personally watching the Who at Madison Square Garden. It was the Concert for New York. In an arena of emergency workers and grieving family members, a screaming vocal, a cranked guitar and a brilliant song triggered the release of buried emotion among an audience who had spent a month digging through the wreckage of our country’s heart.
Music does that. It transcends in a way unique to itself.
I’ve continued to be educated to such fact by a unique group of Americans whose job skills don’t engender meet-and-greets. They are members of the United States military. In e-mails from soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq during the last few years, personal exchanges would often center on music. I learned of songs soldiers listened to before going on missions or upon return. Songs that inspired, motivated, provided avenues of reflection or simply distracted from a reality few of us could ever imagine. At times it was the same song that provided such varying emotional necessity, as songs can do.
Read the whole article here.
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Kudos for all those involved in this project.
I wish the project well.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:24 pmSupporting the troops and their mission is just the right thing to do… Bravo Zulu folks.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pmexcellent!
January 11th, 2008 at 1:09 pmMy music group had the great, great honor of playing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for the troops and their families back in late October and we’ll be doing that annually. Two weeks later we played at Ripken Stadium for the “Welcome Home Maryland Veterans” event on November 10th, the Marines birthday, and as a Marine vet, that was very, very special! Our main goal is to go to Iraq to play for the troops there, but those two events were literally the very next best thing to actually playing in Iraq as these kids were just back from the war. A great, great honor!
On to Iraq next hopefully!
January 11th, 2008 at 2:29 pm@The music is a big aspect of Pat’s “Young Americans” which is why he is taking extra care, time, and money, to be sure that the music used in the series, reflects the generation of the Marines portrayed, and their experience.
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THIS is why, when Pat opens up that “Music Suggestion” can-o-worms again real soon here we ALL need to ask the “troops” we personally know exactly what they and the others are “into” … Assume nothing.
January 11th, 2008 at 2:50 pmOh, BTW … The fact DePalma and these other pukes are using `nam era music is more proof … They are telling “their” story … not the troops’ story.
January 11th, 2008 at 2:52 pmI lost a lot of respect for Ondrasik if he really thinks Americans are idiots for opposing this reckless and stupid war.
January 11th, 2008 at 4:05 pmHooah!
January 11th, 2008 at 4:07 pm@Samir:
Hello muti.
January 11th, 2008 at 5:54 pmFinally, some artists step forward.
January 12th, 2008 at 1:41 am