Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind, said Bruce Lee. Our baker's dozen of artists firmly believe in the opposite and insist that life requires dispute.
Foo Fighters kick off this week's roster of refusal with their Monkey Wrench. "Now and then I'll try to bend under pressure, wind up snapping in the end," they say, adding "I'd rather leave than suffer this."
Lauryn Hill not only concurs she takes it one step further. I Find It Hard To Say that everything is alright, she sings and implores: "What I gotta say is rebel, while today is still today."
Punk rockers Cock Sparrer are even more direct in Watch Your Back. "We don't wanna fight because you tell us to," they inform the world and add the dire warning, "watch your back for we might just turn on you"
There are unseen outcomes of being a rebel, points out shock rock specialist Alice Cooper. After having been a sweet guy who used to open doors for little old ladies and helped the blind, he now faces a dilemma. Since he's turned mean, his dog bites him, the cat claws his eyes and when he sneaks into church, even the pastor punches him in the nose, saying "No More Mister Nice Guy, you're sick, you're obscene."
Rebellion need not only be for the youth nor on a grand scale. The Beautiful South tell us how in When I'm 84, conjuring up an old man getting his jollies from making the postman wait, tripping up kids, dropping the litter and smoking weed.
Once in a while the result of not saying no hits home pretty hard as Otis Gibbs learns. With A Gun In My Hand tells the story of a 14 year old being torn between wanting to be by his father’s side in the woods when he went hunting and the fact that he hated the idea of killing animals for sport.
It's often said sausages are like laws and we shouldn't see how either of them are made. Youth Of Today make up a grisly compilation of images in No More to convince us that eating meat doesn't make for a more conscious society.
Rock music legend and a musician who influenced many, many more, Lou Reed swears to Keep Away from everything that's good, from dignity and pride, from abstracts and keep it all inside so that "I'll fry in my own juices an' I'll become somebody else."
However, points out Buffy Sainte-Marie, The Big Ones Get Away. "Love junkies wanna change the world, though it stays the same. Money junkies hire all the smart ones and power junkies run the game," she says. Words that Alexis Tspirias and Greece are bound to ponder and fume upon in the days come.
Enough to make one sympathise with Ska-P when they rage in A La Mierda - "National pride, virtual patriot, military hero, xenophobia demented puppet, mental paralysis, scum of the brain - to hell with it all. I don't give a damn about everything you yap on about."
You follow the rules, or at least as much as you can and to, what in your mind, the best of your ability. But what do you do when God Says No. Monster Magnet gives us a hint, slyly adding that it's good to be bad and it's the best time you'll ever have.
The rebel has fought the good fight and has run the race. And Diego Moreno honours him with his rendition of Bella Ciao, a song that envelops the fallen hero's memories like a graceful benediction. This is the flower of the partisan, who died for freedom, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, he croons.
Ay-no. No-ay, for nothing I must be, said Richard II, at least according to The Bard. Centuries later The Fugs find how correct he was. They find Nothing on each day of the week, in each month and each decade. They find nothing in different languages, in books, philosophers and leaders ranging from Mill to Stalin - in whom they find a little less than nothing. What are they left with? Not a goddamn thing.
