I happened upon an ’80s German pop music group called Propaganda that really interested me, because a couple of their songs seemed to describe in a vague sort of way the world I feel I live in. Looking over some of the songs, I saw that the group broke up, but some of the artists went on to other collaborations, with other names.
Their lyrics are a bit hard to understand, I think because of the audio quality. I’ll include lyric videos, or links to the lyrics.
“P-Machinery” Propaganda (from 1985)
This one in particular seemed to relate well to our present society, talking about “machines calling out for followers,” “In joyless lanes, we walk in lines,” and “accompanied by loud commands, our strength is running low.”
This next one is from one of the collaborations, called “Act”.
“Snobbery and Decay” Act (from 1987)
This seemed intended to predict the future, because it goes,
Lifestyles of the rich and famous
Look at them, who can blame us
Lessons in the subject of decay
Come tomorrow, the dream might blow away
Guilt and sorrow, the price you have to pay
It caught my attention, because it goes along with an idea I’ve had that the growth of wealth in society has a social downside, not in the sense of inequality, but what wealth does to those who have it, not in the sense of giving them something to complain about, but what it tends to do to people psychologically, and how that makes them look at the rest of society. It seems to relate well to a post I wrote on my Tekkie blog, Our political pathology and its consequences.
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