NIGHT RANGER’S JACK BLADES SAYS “THERE’S NOTHING WORSE…THAN A MUSICIAN GETTING UP ON A SOAPBOX AND STARTING TO LECTURE PEOPLE”
Night Ranger bassist/vocalist Jack Blades recently spoke with Classic Rewind 949 JackFM. A few excerpts from the interview appear below (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net).
On whether he ever hopes to convey a certain “message” with lyrics to his songs:
“There’s nothing worse to me than a musician getting up on a soapbox and starting to lecture people. As far as I’m concerned, anybody who actually listens to a musician for their life’s guidance is an idiot. Musicians are not known for being the most straight-ahead, I’ve-got-my-s–t-together-type of person, so it’s kind of funny. What does strike me is that [with] Night Ranger, there has always been a positive sort of vibe. I think that’s a reflection, and definitely a function of the way my outlook on life is, and what I got from my parents, my family. For me, the cup is always half full.”
On what to expect from the band in 2019:
Jack: “We’re putting together a whole acoustic tour. Night Ranger never did an MTV “Unplugged,” so we’re going to put together a string of dates — a Night Ranger “Unplugged” string of dates, so we can just sit there with acoustic guitars and talk about the songs and tell stories and tell lies and bag on each other. It’s going to be fun… Of course, there will be some new music next year. We’re always going to be creating, because we believe when you stop creating, you start dying inside, so we’re going to keep creating and creating and creating.”
Night Ranger released their latest album, Don’t Let Up, on March 24th, 2018.
. On whether he ever hopes ... )
Blades is right – just shut up and sing.
And if they want others to be politically active – tell them to review the candidates and vote.
Boggles the mind to think I would cast my vote because of some celebrity…..the dumbing down of America continues.
Ridiculous Crap that was shut down in part because of activist musicians.
Totally agree with Jack on this. Musicians need to keep their politics out of their music. I don’t need some musician to tell me what to believe or not to believe. I consider myself an intelligent human being who can figure out what to believe all by myself. In my opinion, for a musician (or any celebrity for that matter) to feel that their political views are so important that they need to preach to me through their art that they are trying to sell to me, is the height of hubris. What makes them think that their political opinions are more valid than mine? When I buy music (or watch TV, movies, etc.), I do so to be entertained. Especially in my case, the political views of most “artists” are going to be diametrically opposed to my own. I don’t presume that these artists want me to try and persuade them to my way of thinking, and I don’t judge them for their views. I don’t care about their views, and I assume that they don’t care about mine. But I expect them to show me the same courtesy.
Keith,
I agree with everything you just wrote.
D 🙂
Thanks, Dana. I always knew you were a smart cookie!
LOL!!! Awww, shucks.
I agree with Mr. Blades. Ironic though and I wonder how former band mate Uncle Ted would say about this??
Doug,
Good point! Uncle Ted has lost a lot of fans due to his political views (most of which I agree with). He has made the choice to express his views, and take the consequences that come with it. To be fair, he mostly keeps that stuff separate from his music, which I appreciate. I’ve seen him live numerous times, and he doesn’t pontificate during the show. So, if you are a fan of his music, but not his politics, you can still enjoy his “art” without being preached to. I just don’t understand artists that want to rile up half of their potential customer base. As a business person, you should want to maximize your potential customer base, in order to sell the most product. When you enter the political realm, you are inevitably going to tick off a large group of people. Why would you want to do that, when you are trying to sell your “art” to the masses?
Doug makes a GREAT point! No one spouts off their political opinions more than The Nuge – to the point where he sabotages his own music!