James Blunt, live in Berlin in March 2020.
Photo: Redferns, Frank Hoensch. All rights reserved.
Pop music as psychological terror has a certain tradition. Around the end of December 1989, US marines sonicated the villa of villain Manuel Noriega in Panama City until the head of the military junta finally gave up in exasperation. What has gone down in recent history as “heavy metal torture” was, on closer inspection, a rather eclectic mix of Guns N’ Roses, Bruce Cockburn and Rick Astley; There is a playlist on Spotify.
Material for an up-to-date list is currently being prepared in Wellington, New Zealand. Here, the usual mix of anti-vaccination and anti-vaccination campaigners blocks central streets in the capital. Pandemic protests against New Zealand’s very strict rules are also mixed with general opposition to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s policies. Around 150 people have been arrested so far.
According to a BBC report, authorities initially tried water showers over lawn sprinklers installed in adjacent lawns. But instead of dissolving their blockade, the demonstrators cut the supply lines without further ado.
Give me a shout if this doesn’t work. @NZPolice https://t.co/AM2dZ6asMS
— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) February 12, 2022
The other arsenal of the law enforcement officers includes – as in Panama – loudly played pop music; in continuous rotation with information about Covid 19 vaccinations, for example, “Mandy” and “Could Be Magic” by Barry Manilow or the Hispanic garden party smasher “Macarena” can be heard.
An apparently underemployed James Blunt then offered his services to the local authorities. “Contact me if that doesn’t work @NZPolice,” he tweeted. Said and done. A few hours later, his “You’re Beautiful” ran over the PA system. The result so far: The protesters sang down the 2005 hit and instead danced in the rain, they sang Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”.
James Blunt’s action in Wellington, on the other hand, fits with his handling of boycott strategies. Knowing full well that his “Beautiful” song has a polarizing effect, he threatened to release new music on Spotify. As a humorous, subversive commentary on the boycott by Neil Young and colleagues. “If Spotify doesn’t remove Joe Rogan immediately, I will be releasing new music on the platform,” Blunt wrote at the time. His ambiguous hashtag was: “youwerebeautiful.”