JOHN STREET zyxwv Red Wedge: another strange story of pop’s politics The sight of Neil Kinnock, leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, on z Saturday Swap zyxwvu Shop in early 1987, sharing the limelight with the lead singer of zyxwvuts Dr and the Medics and marking rock videos out of 20, might have surprised even the most cynical observer. But then Kinnock’s performance on prime-time children’s television was the logical culmination of a career which had seen his cameo role in a Tracey Ullman video and his appearance as the guest presenter at the British Phonographic Industry awards. It is not long before the initial sense of surprise gives way to a knowing nod: of course, you remark sagely, the natural career move for any self-respecting politician. But as we slip, hardly blinking, into a world in which politicians court pop’s glossy images, we are also thrown back into an older world. While some politicians strike alliances with rock performers, others strike more familiar postures of moral outrage. In both the USA and UK, the political establishment has warned of the moral threats posed by rock music. In the USA, there have been Congressionalhearings at which rock stars have been called as witnesses to the depraving effect of Prince and Sheena Easton; British MPs have complained of the dangers of listening to records by Crass or The zyxwvu Blow Monkeys; and one (best-selling) academic has blamed rock ’n’ roll for ‘closing the American mind’.’ Then, just as we have adjusted to the idea of pop stars as the embodiment of degeneracy, they are awarded honorary knighthoods, help promote z safe sex, fight drug abuse, and raise money for the victims of famine, ferry disasters or AIDS. Rock performers are there playing for the US farmer, Amnesty International, the Terence Higgins Trust, the Prince’s Trust, Nelson Mandela. These contradictory patterns are symptoms of more fundamental (and more important) changes in the structure and form of the culture industries that have forced pop and politics together. The growing political and economic importance of the pop industry is a function of developments in satellite technology, and information technology generally. These have created a global market in communications which, in turn, has allowed for the emergence of monopolies that rival the power of national governments. At the same time, these governments are expected to regulate copyright and deregulate broadcasting. Furthermore, in this new political order, there is an