Before you're too quick to dismiss this phenomenon as just a bunch of liberal hippies supporting another liberal hippie, let's actually take a closer look. Sure, guys like Billy Bragg have always voiced their left-leaning opinions whether in music or otherwise and he's bound to be a Bernie Sanders supporter, but take his other supporters like Killer Mike, Vampire Weekend, Henry Rollins and more who have never voiced support for a presidential candidate before. We see this not just with musicians, but with regular people, too. People are supporting Sanders who have never really considered themselves interested in politics before or who have never voted before.
Sanders has had many musicians perform concerts in support of his campaign like The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Young The Giant, Grizzly Bear and more and he even had his own festival named after him, Berniechella. Also, weirdly, Sanders recorded a folk album while he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont. You can even get the album on iTunes here. So, the fact is: Bernie loves music and music loves him back.
If we go even further back into time, we see an even bigger picture here. Musicians (apart from country musicians) have been largely left-wing, but where does this come from? Folk and rock music especially has always been associated with liberalism and socialism, but what gives? For starters, folk and rock musicians have a similar ethos in that they almost always have been the voice of the average, blue-collar, working class heroes. They've also traditionally been anti-war, anti-politician, anti-authority, pro-environment, for the decriminalization of marijuana and most importantly, they try to be a leading voice for unity and peace between all people.
Rock music, especially, was founded on the idea of rebellion and making a statement. Also, rock songs often incorporate the themes of rejecting of what the mainstream culture, media, and government try to spoon feed people. All of these ideas mirror the exact values of Sen. Sanders. Sanders' campaign is about demanding better than the status quo and about trying to unite people to make the country better for ourselves and future generations.
So, musicians were asked, specifically, what it is about Sanders that they really love and here's what some of them had to say. Julian Casablancas, lead singer of The Strokes, tweeted, "Bernie Sanders, c'mon y'all. He's the only one fighting for good (just in case you were wondering.)" Roger Waters of Pink Floyd has said in an interview with Rolling Stone, "He's the only person in the race that I see with any credibility. He seems to speak the truth, far as one can tell at this point. He seems prepared to stand up against big money and the banks and stand up for the predicaments of minorities, the middle class and the working class in this country." Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, who's done several concerts in support of Sanders with his band, has said on Instagram, "Imagine you're an independent voter alienated by both parties - which major candidate has more potential to speak to you than Bernie? He is the only candidate who comes from outside the two-party system. He can win."
Here's a long list that I compiled of musicians who are supporting Bernie Sanders (But believe me, there's more. These are just some notable ones):
- Julian Casablancas (The Strokes)
- Slaves (who are both pictured above with the Bernie 2016 sticker)
- Grizzly Bear
- Vampire Weekend
- Michael Stipe (REM)
- Henry Rollins (Black Flag)
- Billy Bragg
- Killer Mike (Run The Jewels)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Best Coast
- Cat Power
- Dave Matthews
- Lil B
- Diplo
- Miley Cyrus
- Nas
- Steve Aoki
- Art Garfunkel (Simon and Garfunkel)
- Jeff Tweedy (Wilco)
- Roger Waters (Pink Floyd)
- Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)
- Neil Young (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)
- David Crosby (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)
- Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth)
- Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr.)
- John Densmore (The Doors)
- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
- Young The Giant
- Matt Nathanson
- Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs)
- Ben Folds
- Mike Gordon (Phish)
- John Fishman (Phish)
- Wayne Kramer (MC5)
- Will Noon (Fun.)
- Nate Ruess (Fun.)
- JR JR
- Bonnie Raitt
- Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters)
- Serj Tankian (System of a Down)
- The Summer Set
- 3OH!3
- Space Raft
- Mike Watt (The Stooges)
- Dusty Watson (The Sonics)
- Hans Zimmer
- Billy Gould (Faith No More)
- Belinda Carlisle (the Go-Go’s)
- Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys)
- Jackson Browne
- Gabe Saporta (Cobra Starship)
- Steve Earle
- Bassnectar
- Paul Oakenfold
- Fantastic Negrito
- Big Data
- The Indomitable Soul Band