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Sunday, September 08, 2002

By Ed Masley, Post-Gazette Pop Music Critic

On Sept. 11, as he struggled with the harsh reality of terrorists attacking New York City and the Pentagon, local rocker Bill Deasy kept returning to the thought, "I will not hate." The next day, Deasy turned that thought into a song called "I Will Not," in which he cautions, "We won't stop the bleeding with a bandage of hate."

	Bruce Springsteen's new CD, "The Rising," has captured the imagination of post-Sept. 11 pop music fans. (AP photo)

That same day, Scott Blasey of the Clarks played a songwriters' circle at Club Cafe, where he and other Pittsburgh musicians debuted songs inspired by the events of the previous morning. Blasey's song, "Hey You," became the lead-off single from the Clarks' new album, with a hopeful chorus of "The pain will go away/In another year or two." The connection is subtle, though, to the extent that you could hear the song and never know it had a thing to do with anything more tragic than a breakup. Even Blasey says, "I don't think of it that way anymore, particularly when I play it live."

Most higher-profile pop-music responses to what happened Sept. 11 have been anything but subtle.

Paul McCartney debuted "Freedom," a simplistic would-be anthem, at the Concert for New York, one of numerous all-star benefits. Neil Young, who played a poignant cover of "Imagine" by John Lennon at the first such all-star benefit (a telethon that raised $150 million for the victims' families), would go on to write "Let's Roll," a jingoistic call to arms inspired by Todd Beamer's battle cry on board Flight 93.

Several country artists have responded to the day's events. The best -- or most reasoned, at least -- is Alan Jackson's "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," in which he wonders "Did you shout out in anger, in fear for your neighbor/Or did you just sit down and cry?"

Charlie Daniels tried his best to recapture the market he claimed with "In America" by writing another rally-round-the-flag-boys anthem, "The Last Fallen Hero." But nobody captured the mood of the modern American good ol' boy as pointedly as Toby Keith, who told the terrorists in "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," "We'll put a boot in your ass. It's the American way."

Steve Earle took a harder road, writing "John Walker's Blues" from the perspective of John Walker Lindh, a U.S. citizen who joined the Afghan army to defend the Taliban -- in other words, a traitor. Chances are, it will not get as many spins at country radio as Keith's hit.

In fact, it places Earle closer to the hip-hop camp.

A number of hip-hop artists have responded by expressing their concern that Sept. 11 and its aftermath could lull the country into blindly falling into step with everything our leaders tell us while ignoring other problems. J-Live's "Unsatisfied" shoots straight and from the hip about how little things have changed, while Mr. Lif attacks the Bush administration with a vengeance on his album "American Rations." On "Home of the Brave," he backs the conspiracy theory that the White House let what happened happen to rally support for what was, until then, an unpopular presidency and ends with "You can wear that piece of [expletive] flag if you dare/ but they killed us because we've been killin' 'em for years."

Rappers aren't the only ones adopting an anti-Bush response to Sept. 11. Justin Sane of Pittsburgh's Anti-Flag calls the president a terrorist on the group's new split-CD with Bouncing Souls, while #2 Chris shouts that if the heads of state want to end terrorism, "They should go ahead and kill themselves."

The most commercially successful response to date has oddly been the most ambitious, least simplistic and, frankly, the best -- Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising."

Springsteen hit the charts at No. 1 and held off Nelly for a second week while quickly exceeding a million CDs sold. And nearly every song was in some way inspired by Sept. 11 or spoke to it.

"My City of Ruins," the song that opened the "America: A Tribute to Heroes" telethon last September, was written before the attacks, but no song on the album better captures the mood of the country in the wake of said attacks.

On "Into the Fire," a prayer that the courage of those who fell when duty called will give us courage, he begins, "The sky was falling and streaked with blood/I heard you calling me/Then you disappeared into the dust."

He's not above wanting "a little revenge" in "Lonesome Day" or an "eye for an eye" in "Empty Sky," but ultimately, Springsteen's world view is captured best in "Worlds Apart" and "Let's Be Friends (Skin to Skin)," in which he turns the other cheek to make nice with the enemy.