Please Stop & Think : Underrated Political Songs by Julian Casablancas

''Whether It’s Music Or Politics, Right Now We’re Mired In Whoever’s Propaganda Is Loudest''

‘‘I really believed that the internet’s capacity to let people access the best of the best of music — from underground stuff to music from all over the world — would’ve been a positive influence, that music would’ve evolved like never before. Instead music has been co-opted by some kind of capitalist profit game. I thought the internet would help balance the relationship between quality and the mainstream, but it’s gone the opposite way. Quality is being sucked out of music. One Direction will have 4 billion views and the best artists of today will only see a fraction of that attention. I’ve talked about this before, but there’s an exact parallel between music and politics.’’ - Julian Casablancas (Marchese, 2018)

Julian Casablancas is the musician which current and future musicologist, music historians and protest music fans will write about. After a few decades have passed or 100 years, his musical influence and political ideas will be evaluated in the same seriousness as those of Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan or Kurt Cobain.

Talking about grunge, Their music producer Gordon Raphael remarked that here is a grunge influence on The Strokes and they love Pearl Jam. Casablancas said that Pearl Jam’s "Yellow Ledbetter... hit me in a bizarre and deep way, and I understood the dark mystery and power of music in that weird instant"(Spin, 2021). Not only has Eddie Vedder influenced him but both singers alongside Josh Homme recorded a cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘‘Mercy Mercy Me’’.

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The Strokes fans might not associate the band with protest music, if one considers the biggest hits ‘‘Last Night’’, ‘‘Reptilia’’ or ‘‘You Only Live Once’’. However, the lead singer has always expressed his political views outside of his music.

Vulture’s ‘‘In Conversation: Julian Casablancas’’(2018) became one of the most controversial and criticised interviews of The Strokes frontman. However, in my opinion this is one of the best interviews as it demonstrates not only that there is a political consciousness in the artists work, but that modern musicians are aware of the political power that music has. Music is being used strategically as a weapon of truth and to bring awareness to the masses. Casablancas discusses that:

1. Capitalism has decreased the quality of music and so has technology and algorithms which have erased truth. ‘‘We don’t live in a world where Transformers is nominated for Best Picture, so why do we live in a dimension where the music equivalent of that is nominated for Grammys?’’ he asks.

2. We are brainwashed into thinking Ed Sheeran is better than Ariel Pink. When the interviewer didn’t know who would be more popular in 30 years time, Casablancas didn’t believe him and asked ‘‘Don’t you, though? Let go of your conditioning’’

3. When the interviewer didn't see the connection between music and politics, Sheeran and Pink, he called him out, ‘‘everything you’re saying sounds 100 percent like cultural brainwashing’’

4. We don’t live in a democracy, ‘‘we’re essentially at war, a modern war against a calculator’’

5. Casablancas explains that ''whether it’s music or politics, right now we’re mired in whoever’s propaganda is loudest'' (Marchese, 2018).

Casablancas has taken political responsibility and his influence seriously over the years. He has done video interviews on Rolling Stone with intellectuals Noam Chomsky, Henry Giroux, Richard D. Wolff, Chris Hedges, Andrew Yang and Amy Goodman. All these interviews discuss democracy reforms, history curriculum and universities, capitalism, economy, the importance of independent media (which is something Casablancas is especially passionate about) and media.

Henry Giroux was impressed by Casablancas’ political consciousness and other people in the cultural realm, who make a change. For example, those who reject homophobia, racism and talk about the need for a new kind of music. Those who define artists as public intellectuals and try to figure out how to use their talents to make the world a better place. Giroux also explained that there is a moment in history which is enormously oppressive and doesn’t serve the artists interests. Casablancas explained that ‘‘people don’t understand the burden…that’s the struggle - whether or not you understand that there is a struggle going on’’. He has said in other interviews like the Virtue one that people are really unaware of everything.

Taking a protest against the 2 party political system he refused to vote in the Presidential election (2024), explaining in a now deleted Instagram posts that the 2 parties are a joke and Americans are actually are voting for military and oil companies and banks. Both candidates are puppets and independent candidates and media must rise. As everyone showed off their ‘‘I Voted’’ badges on Instagram, the singer opted for a ‘‘I Protested’’ one with a Minor Threat song in the background. He is one of the most responsible and determined alternative voices agitating for independent thinking, politics and candidates in the music world. His music is a political force against the corrupt, homogeneous political system which is concerned with maintaining a cultural hegemony and kills off creativity. Such system does not desire one to think independently.

Whilst, the interviewer in the Virtue article did not agree with Casablancas that art is objective and made it sound as if he is being super subjective, all art is not subjective. Musicologist and philosopher Theodor W. Adorno states that: ‘‘all music, even the stylistically most individualistic, takes on a collective content: every single sound speaks in the plural’’. Freedom of choice is an illusion, as we are conditioned from the first days of our life by external environments, thus music cannot be subjective as external influences have shaped it.

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Life Is Simple In The Moonlight (2011)

‘‘Life Is Simple In The Moonlight’’ - the 10th and last track off of The Strokes Angles (2011) is one of the most remarkable from the band. Not only does it sound beautiful, tranquil, soothing and collected with the clean guitar tones, but there is a perfect juxtaposition with the vocals. Casablancas’ voice provides stylish nonchalant aggression to the whole song, guiding all attention to the lyrics. He closes the song with some thoughts about American today changing the first impression of the song completely, innocence is a crime and they are making fools out of the best of us.

‘‘He is coming from a part of hell
Where lightning blue eyes don't go down well
He can tell that we're oblivious
It's addiction of routine as well
Making fools out of the best of us
Making robots of the rest of us
Innocence itself in America today
Is a crime just like Cornel West might say’’

The song mentions Philosopher Cornel West who also encourages independent thinking. Similarly, as Casablancas believes about the last presidential election, West argues that :‘‘Donald Trump and the Republicans are a much more blatant example of the push towards fascism while Kamala Harris provides the American people a friendly face who in reality will defend the interests of the country’s most powerful elites.’’(Hedges, 2024)

Dismantling the American Empire (w/ Cornel West) | The Chris Hedges Report

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Blue Demon (2025)

Okay, The Voidz are not The Strokes. However, it is fronted by Julian Casablancas, so 1/5 of The Strokes. The Voids most recent song ‘‘Blue Demon’’(2025) (released yesterday) follows their album Like All Before You (2024). The Voids again encourage their listeners to think independently. The song is a riddle, packed with lyrical messages about society and politics, and even the current wars.

‘‘Just a flesh wound, I’m ok
Uncle Walter died today
Stopping by just saying “hey
You’re happy then I’m happy”
People that we’rе told to love
Time to launch a new campaign
Lеad our forces on the ground
Grab yourself a nice champagne

And in the name of our lord and saviour
We fight each other like two brothers
Father forgive me, intifada
Too many babies dead like their mothers’’

Uncle Walter ? Are they talking about American journalist Walter Cronkite (CBS Evening News)? The man who reported World War II, the Nuremberg trials, Vietnam War and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and John Lennon? The man who was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" ?

Or are they referencing "Uncle Walter", a song from Ben Folds Five? The song which talks about the drunk uncle who tells fake stories and complains about the youth. The uncle, ‘‘last night he flew to Baghdad in his magical armchair, cigarettes and a six pack, he just got back, now the spit's flying everywhere’’.

Nevertheless, both references are linked with war mentions. Casablancas mentions the murder of children in war just as in ‘‘Think Before You Drink’’ with the lyrical line: ‘‘Too many babies dead like their mothers’’. Despite both songs being released 7 years a part, themes and events reoccur. What does it say about history and society? Perhaps music is the glue to society which through coded language not only brings pleasure but reveals the truth, at least from the author. It grants the author of such music freedom of speech although only through coded language in the contemporary order.

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Think Before You Drink (2018)

This song is not written by Casablancas but by Michael Cassidy (1978). Unlike the original song which is upbeat with saxophones, The Voidz version is the opposite. This cover of the song is the best because it really highlights the urgency of the messages.

Under the melancholic, classical guitar arrangement of ‘‘Think Before You Drink’’ (2018), the song encourages the listener to ‘‘please stop and think’’. The song talks about capitalist brainwashing which occurs at schools. Casablancas sings that ‘‘the teachers gave me poison and I drank it like a fool’’, whilst they patriotically justified the murders of children in wars. Casablancas sings as if he is on his last straw, full of pain and fatigue, yet composed, whilst demonstrating a vocal performance which is reminiscent of Frank Sinatra.

He concludes the song explaining that whilst teachers can guide and give you information, they cannot make you accept it. Please stop and think as ‘‘you can lead a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink’’. Think independently.

‘‘We took pride in our past
What our leaders said they'd fight for
To justify the murders
Of the children in the war

Is said that our mother nature
Couldn't give us what we need
And that explained the factories
And the pollution in the street

They gave us all the facts
Explaining economic war
And like a fool I listened
But I won't listen anymore’’

Here are some other worthy examples where Casablancas makes a political statement:

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Out Of The Blue (2009)

‘‘Take all your fears, pretend they're all true
Take all your plans, pretend they fell through
But that's what it's like

That's what it's like for most people in this world
The rich or the poor oh
Muslims or Jews oh
When roles are reversed oh
Opinions are too
No, oh oh

That's all I'm gonna say now
Before they come knocking on my door now’’

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ALieNNatioN (2018)

‘‘How could they say
Murder in the name of national security
Yo no sé
They say murder in the name of national security

And the silence in the way
And the silence in the way

Evidence, it's no use
This is just the life that's been chosen for me

I've been sipping on the blood of sweet success
Before history punishes us for it
You wanna see what, people are really like?
Watch them light a torch
Understanding ends this game

If I was batting I'd be right behind ya
It's not the first time, that I've been lied to
All words are made up before I was born
My friend the walls say only they'll keep me warm

You know it, lies are comforting
Bye bye bye bye

You know it, obliviousness
I'll leave it in my dreams, my dreams’’

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Ize of the Word (2006)

‘‘I think I know what you mean, but watch what you say
'Cause they'll be trying to knock you down in some way
Sometimes it feels like the world is falling asleep
How do you wake someone up from inside a dream?

A desk to organize
A product to advertise
A market to monopolize
Movie stars to idolize
Leaders to scandalize
Enemies to neutralize
No time to apologize
Fury to tranquilize!
Weapons to synchronize
Cities to vapori–’’

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The End Has No End (2003)

‘‘One by one, ticking time bombs won
It's not the secrets of the government
That's keeping you dumb
Oh, it's the other way around’’

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New York City Cops (2001)

‘‘I would say it was two things. One, “New York City Cops” was an overtly political song that came out of the news of Amadou Diallo and police brutality. But when it was taken off the album after 9/11, the political element got removed from the band’s narrative.’’ explains Casablancas (Marchese, 2018).

‘‘Well, kill me now 'cause I let you down
I swear one day I'm gonna leave this town
Stop
Yes, I'm leaving, 'cause it just won't work
And they act like Romans, but they dress like Turks
Some time in your prime
See me, I like the summertime but, hey’’

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What’s your favourite The Strokes song ?

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Bibliography:

Marchese, D. 2018. ‘‘In Conversation: Julian Casablancas’’ (online) Virtue. Available at:<https://www.vulture.com/2018/03/julian-casablancas-in-conversation.html>[Accessed 4 March 2025]