OT: Hagar Cool With McCain using Right Now

[Barb]

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/08/hag ... -with.html


Van Halen, the band, may not be happy that John McCain used its song "Right Now" during a recent speech. But Sammy Hagar, who wrote the lyrics to the song, not only approves but he's already revised the track, and iconic video, for a new tune called "Cosmic Universal Fashion."

Talk about seizing the day.

"When I wrote the lyrics to 'Right Now' I intended them to inspire people to not sit around and wait for something they believed in but to go out and get it," Hagar explained in a statement. "Whether it was McCain who used the song or if Obama had chosen to use the song, with the current political climate, the lyrics still have the same meaning, and we all need to do something to make a difference, every action counts."

Hagar grabbed the moment to upgrade "Right Now" for the Bush era: "Cosmic Universal Fashion" filters the same visual tropes from "Right Now" through the prism of the War on Terror. Which is humorous when you realize that he's donated money to both George W. Bush and Dana Rohrbacher.


Most hilariously, it also includes shots of ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony looking at the ground, or up at the sky in wonder. Favorite shot? Anthony cradling his bass while the title flashes "Right Now...Michael is thinking about a solo project." Then there is the sequence that says "Right Now...YouTube is the new BoobTube." In a YouTube video. Priceless!

Hagar wrote "Cosmic Universal Fashion" with, as he explains in his statement, "a young Iraqi musician in an attempt to motivate a new generation to the same [sic] affect." His choice of words, or lack thereof, is instructive. For example, if Hagar's team-up with an Iraqi musician is supposed to bridge some sort of geopolitical divide, why didn't Hagar explain who he was? What, dude doesn't have a name?

And then there is the Freudian slip of "affect," which usually involves pretense, and the video has plenty of that, as did its "Right Now" precedent. Topping off the marketing maneuver is the song itself, which is the opposite of the type of rock Hagar and Van Halen are known for. It's digital dance music, filled with brain-teasing juxtaposition, that in the end doesn't really take a stand on anything at all.

[Voyager]

Good for Sammy for taking the high road.

Either way I am glad.... because Right Now.... Dick & Bush are on their way out the door.

Either McCain or Obama would be better than Dick & Bush, and Sammy obviously realizes that.

[Since 78]

Right Now we need a shot of Tequila

[scarygirl]

Sammy is my man!!!

[stevew2]

Chuga lug