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Jan 14, 2025 | 
popmatters.com | Iain Ellis
When considering the nature of Christian popular music over the last decade, one might ask: Is it time for CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) and CWM (Christian Worship Music) to be joined by a new acronym for the genre: TWP, or Trump Worship Music?
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Oct 21, 2024 | 
popmatters.com | Iain Ellis
Born in the U.S.A.ColumbiaOne thing we have learned from the 2024 US presidential race is that pop music is the new gold dust – sought, treasured, and valued for the excitement, voters, and appeals it can generate for a party’s political brand. The recent Democratic National Convention at times appeared more like a music festival than a gathering of the party faithful.
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Aug 19, 2024 | 
popmatters.com | Iain Ellis
Pre-1960s, country music culture in America saw domestic politics through the lens of social class, within which its sympathies usually lay with the common man while deferring to the leadership decisions of those above—be it God or government—that represented him. By the early ‘60s, that order was disrupted as criteria of race and generation came to the forefront, forcing popular music cultures—and the nation at large—to answer the question: which side are you on?
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Jun 17, 2024 | 
popmatters.com | Iain Ellis
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist PunkHarperCollinsKathleen Hanna has long aligned herself with punk, expressing her allegiance in explicit ways. From the song “The Punk Singer” under the pseudonym Julie Ruin in 1998 to Sini Anderson’s filmic biography about her with the same title in 2013, Hanna has affirmed that she and her work are fundamentally rooted in the aesthetics and attitudes of punk.
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Apr 17, 2024 | 
popmatters.com | Iain Ellis
Recent reactions to hip-hop culture from far-right factions provide a portal into understanding their changing political strategies. Less overtly condemnatory than a generation ago, the right has increasingly exploited the political and financial benefits of co-opting from this multi-billion dollar industry. Rappers, long excluded from the corridors of power, are increasingly stepping onto that welcome mat, practicing a form of entryism aimed at empowering themselves.
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Feb 20, 2024 | 
popmatters.com | Iain Ellis
American folk music cohered and consolidated after World War Two when, in December of 1945, the People’s Songs musical collective, partially funded by trade unions and the Communist Party, was established to create, promote, and distribute labor songs. Although short-lived, the group was active enough to alert and alarm right-wing watchdogs, who reported members to the US Congress, claiming them to be part and participants of a communist front.
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Jan 10, 2024 | 
popmatters.com | Iain Ellis
As evangelical Christianity became a face of the far right in 1950s America, its expanding reach and authority used against enemies internal and external, rock ‘n’ roll was singled out as a primary danger, a threat to the moral fabric of the nation. It is thus ironic that this music held responsible for disrupting the norms of race, gender, and politics largely emanated from the gospel music performed every Sunday in churches, especially the Pentecostal and Charismatic ones.
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Nov 16, 2023 | 
newcivilengineer.com | Iain Ellis |Rob Hakimian
Reliance on the railways is likely to continue to grow throughout the 21st century, but we must be careful not to bake in problems that stem from the past when we plan rail renewals to meet this future demand. It is essential that we thoroughly consider the appropriateness of a ‘like for like’ methodology when it comes to upgrades and think more intelligently about how we approach the question of what’s needed.
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Aug 16, 2023 | 
popmatters.com | Iain Ellis
Like most designations on the political spectrum, “far right” is an elastic term stretchable according to the beholder. A consensus on what that far right is also differs across times and locations. Yet, while recognizing the flaws of inevitable generalizations, common far-right traits can be traced between movements as disparate as Germany’s National Socialist Party and America’s Ku Klux Klan.
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Jun 20, 2023 | 
popmatters.com | Iain Ellis
Richard B. Spencer, president of the National Policy Institute think tank, does not look like your stereotypical right-wing extremist. With his slicked-back hair (long on top, buzzed at the sides) and suave suits, the man who coined the term “alt-right” in 2008 appears more like a corporate executive or a model from GQ. Yet, we have seen this look before in another time and place. Did not Adolf Hitler wear expensive tailored suits and his hair greased back and cropped, too?
