Word: braggs
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...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...
Likewise, Bragg's groupies tend to be young earnest types who know Billy will give them a decent and friendly talking-to about socialism, imperialism, and even mundane matters like marriage...
June's General Election was, of course, a major blow to the Red Wedge ideal--and apparently all of the journalists over here have asked Bragg to explain "what went wrong." He maintains that "it's still the effort that matters...
...here in the Americas, Bragg is invited to folk festivals--in Vancouver, Toronto, Newport, and "by way of Dictatorship Airlines," in Managua, at the Festival Internacional del Libro Nicaragua...