[R-G] On Grammy's Eve - British Pop Acts Raise Anti

[DavidMcR at aol.com]

 Los Angeles Times
 February 22, 2003 
 
 British pop acts raise the anti  
 
 Celebrity dissent grows during U.K.'s music awards, as Coldplay's singer and 
Ms Dynamite protest an Iraq war.
 
 The Grammys Awards will be presented February 23 in New
 York.
 
 By Phil Sutcliffe, Special to The Times
 
 LONDON -- Coldplay's Chris Martin broke away from the
 usual thank you speech Thursday at the Brit Awards, the
 local equivalent of the U.S. Grammys, to declare,
 "Awards are essentially nonsense, but we're all going
 to die when George Bush has his way -- it's good to go
 out with a bang."
 
 The critically admired rock band's lead singer, who
 left the stage at Earl's Court Arena to the usual
 screech of applause from admiring young fans, had never
 before spoken publicly about the Iraq issue.
 
 But the remark underscored the growing antiwar activism
 among British pop stars -- and perhaps signaled the
 possibility of similar comments at the Grammy Awards,
 which will be held Sunday night at Madison Square
 Garden in New York.
 
 On Friday, a Coldplay spokesman did not know whether
 Martin planned to say anything further at the Grammys.
 The group, which won two Brits, goes into Sunday's
 ceremony with two nominations, including best
 alternative music album for "A Rush of Blood to the
 Head."
 
 A Grammy representative said Friday that Coldplay will
 perform as scheduled Sunday, and that there will be no
 attempt to put limits on comments that Martin or any
 other Grammy winner may want to make at the podium.
 
 Martin's seemingly spontaneous comment immediately
 followed a protest performance by Ms Dynamite, a new
 British hip-hop star, in a duet with George Michael.
 
 Together they rewrote Michael's 1987 hit "Faith" to
 include lines such as "I don't wanna see children die
 no more" and "A wise man wars with words, my daddy
 says."
 
 While Ms Dynamite, 21, sang live on stage, Michael
 appeared only on video screens behind her. A message
 from his camp suggested he "didn't want to steal her
 thunder."
 
 Ms Dynamite, who won best British female solo artist
 and best British urban act awards Thursday, finished
 with a shout of "Peace!" She then told a backstage
 press conference, "It's easier not to say anything
 controversial. But I have an opportunity to make my
 voice heard. I don't want to bring a child into a world
 of war."
 
 A week ago, at an antiwar rally attended by at least 1
 million people here, the recording artist established
 herself as British rock and pop's most prominent voice
 opposing war on Iraq. Sharing a platform with a host of
 political figures, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson,
 she read a "poem" to Prime Minister Tony Blair that
 included the line, "How long will you lie and deceive
 this country and speak so many words but very few
 truths? ... He who preaches war is the devil's
 chaplain."
 
 The Brit Awards telecast drew an estimated 7.3 million
 viewers. While the odd four-letter word from Pink (who
 won for international female solo artist) and Eminem
 (best international male solo artist and best
 international album) was bleeped, the war protests went
 unedited.
 
 Top-selling tabloids the Sun and the Daily Mirror
 represented polar opposites in their coverage of the
 Brits protest on Friday.
 
 The Sun, which supports Blair's aggressive line on
 Iraq, gave its entire front page to a picture of Justin
 Timberlake fondling Kylie Minogue's behind during a
 dance routine. It did not report Martin's statement and
 mentioned Ms Dynamite's version of "Faith" only in the
 final two paragraphs of its main story, disparaging it
 as "the biggest flop of the evening."
 
 Conversely, the Daily Mirror is running an antiwar
 campaign called "Not in Our Name." Its headline
 alongside the same Timberlake-Minogue picture was
 "Brits Stars Blitz Blair: PM's War Plans Slammed," and
 it printed the rewritten "Faith" lyric in full.
 
 Until this month, the antiwar movement had attracted
 little response from British pop stars. But then Damon
 Albarn of Blur and Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack
 began campaigning in support of the Feb. 15 march. The
 three remaining members of the Clash -- the British
 punk band that will be inducted in the Rock and Roll
 Hall of Fame next month in New York -- also spoke out
 at music magazine NME's awards, and a petition
 organized by No War on Iraq Liaison, published in the
 Guardian, carried the signatures of Phil Collins, Craig
 David, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Travis
 and Robert Wyatt.