Word: bragg
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...unexpectedly, Bragg spoke most effusively about his three shows in Managua and about socialism. But he also deigned to answer questions about his music, his fans and his heroes...
...nearly 30, Bragg grew up listening to music rather than to politicos--and everything from country and western to soul to pop can still be traced in his own songs. He found the most solace, however, in songs by Smokey Robinson, clever songs that showed love wasn't the perfect world of flowers and fireworks every other songwriter promised it would be. Even now, Bragg holds that "Nine times out of 10, it's like being hit with a sledge hammer...and it's not always a nice kind of hangover...
...Bragg was also mightily affected by "the whole punk thing" that started in 1977, and especially by people like Elvis Costello and The Clash. Their inspiration started him off writing and performing...
...short while, Bragg had a punk band of his own called Riff-Raff. But the most influential individual in his life probably has been Margaret Thatcher, whose divisive social policies and battles with coalminers have given him something to sing out against...
Still, he says that the biggest enemy is not Thatcher but apathy. In an effort to combat indifference in the U.K., Bragg helped form Red Wedge, a loose coalition of various music-makers and comics that has toured Great Britain in support of the Labour Party. Along with groups like the Housemartins, Style Council and the Blow Monkeys, Bragg traveled in the Red Wedge Battle Bus doing benefit shows, press conferences and general rabble-rousing in order to stir up the youth vote. Not quite the entourage of your typical rock star...