As Marcia Brady on "The Brady Bunch," Maureen McCormick projected an image of the wholesome girl next door. But off camera, she spiraled downward into drug addiction and depression.
Now 52, McCormick writes about her struggles in a new memoir, "Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice," hitting stores Tuesday. She discusses her romance with TV sibling Barry Williams, her dates with Michael Jackson and Steve Martin, cocaine binges and parties at the Playboy Mansion and the home of Sammy Davis Jr., an unwanted pregnancy and trading sex for drugs.
McCormick was 14 when "The Brady Bunch" debuted on ABC, running from 1969 to 1974. Despite her role as a sunny Miss Perfect, she struggled privately with anxiety and insecurity, the youngest of four children born to a mercurial father who abused and cheated on their mother.
"As a teenager, I had no idea that few people are everything they present to the outside world," she writes in the book, published by William Morrow. "Yet there I was, hiding the reality of my life behind the unreal perfection of Marcia Brady. ... No one suspected the fear that gnawed at me even as I lent my voice to the chorus of Bradys singing, ..It's a Sunshine Day.'"
When "The Brady Bunch" ended, she took up a hard-partying lifestyle in Hollywood, using drugs including cocaine and Quaaludes. She struggled to regain her earlier success, landing some TV and movie roles, but developed a reputation for unreliability due to her addiction, even botching an interview with Steven Spielberg because she was high.
After interventions, stints in rehab and experimental therapies, McCormick began getting sober in 1985 when she married actor Michael Cummings, with whom she has a daughter, Natalie. She continued to fight depression through therapy, medication and the help of "Brady" cast mates.
McCormick, who is also a singer, starred on the Country Music Television reality series "Gone Country" and "Outsider's Inn." She also confronted her weight issues several years ago as the winning contestant on the VH1 reality show "Celebrity Fit Club."
As for her iconic role, "I'll always be struck by how much a part of people's lives Marcia is and always will be. But now I'm not bothered by the connection. It took most of my life, countless mistakes and decades of pain and suffering to reach this point of equanimity and acceptance," she says.
These are the first pictures of Jude Law as Dr. Watson, the sidekick to pipe-smoking sleuth Sherlock Holmes.
With his hair brushed forward, and wearing a huge handlebar moustache, Law unveiled the old school detective look for his role in Guy Ritchie's new film.
Wearing a white collarless shirt and black trousers, Law strutted onto to London set of the film.
Last week American actor Robert Downey Jnr was unveiled as Sherlock Holmes, and now Law has stepped into his braces and breeches to play the fictional doctor, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
While Downey's look in the film is reminiscent of his role as another British icon - Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 film Chaplin, for which he received an Oscar nomination. Kelly Ruth, who plays Watson's girlfriend Mary says his accent is spot on.
'At the cast read-through, Robert's British accent was so good as Sherlock I remember thinking: "He's got a Brit inside him, that man,"' she said.
Acclaimed Australian director Rowan Woods had to fight to keep Oscar winner Forest Whitaker in his new film Winged Creatures after a film company executive dismissed the actor as "ugly, black and unbankable." Despite having "the hottest ensemble cast in town", including Guy Pearce, Kate Beckinsale, Dakota Fanning, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Jennifer Hudson, Woods said the company who owned the script wouldn't accept Whitaker as a leading man.
"The initial finance fell through when I stuck with Forest Whitaker for the role of Charlie," Woods said.
"An executive told me straight: ..Even if he wins the Oscar he's ugly, he's black and he's unbankable.'"
Speaking at the Australian Directors Guild conference in Sydney this weekend, Woods said the company, which he wouldn't name for legal reasons, eventually let go of the script because of their disagreement over Whitaker.
The budget on Winged Creatures dropped from $US11 million to $US4.5 million because Woods wouldn't consider a Michael Douglas or an Al Pacino for Whitaker's role.
"The unbankable part of it was nearly right," he said.
"They wanted everyone but Forest Whitaker ... and this is one of the best actors on the planet.
"By the time we had stacked the cast around Forest the asking price for the movie had more than halved from its initial level."
Winged Creatures centres around a random shooting in a Los Angeles diner, and how it affects the lives of those who witness it.
It is Woods' third feature film after local productions Little Fish and The Boys.
He said he was instantly drawn to the multi-storyline drama by Roy Freirich.
"This wasn't the happy anecdote to my previous movies but it was too tempting," he said.
"There was a quiet ferocity to the screen play that confronted the hypocrisy of the US gun lobby without being overtly political."
Woods said his high profile cast was a pleasure to work with except for teenage starlet Dakota Fanning, who could be a diva on the set.
She initially refused to come out of her trailer on day one of shooting because her scene wasn't filmed first, and was "intensely jealous" of her young co-star Josh Hutcherson.
"Everyone was on their best behaviour on this film because they have got a ..really serious Australian director who is known for his ensemble work'," Woods laughed.
"(Fanning) was the only one who was naughty."
Woods said while he thinks Fanning is a fine actor, on this film she didn't hit the mark.
"She is a gorgeous girl ... but she was the disaster," he said.
"There was something about her presence that wasn't ringing true.
"Most of our work was cutting her scenes and a lot of her scenes were cut."
Winged Creatures is due for a March 2009 release in the US with Australia to follow shortly after. Source
'Bond' Stuff
Roger Moore Prefers Bond Villains To 007
Sir Roger Moore would rather have played a villain than James Bond because baddies have better lines.
And he revealed that he was worried he would do a Sean Connery impression when he said, "My name is Bond, James Bond," in his first 007 movie.
Sir Roger, 81 tomorrow, said: "I would have loved to have been a villain, they had wonderful speeches like, 'The end of the world is about to come'. Bond just listens but doesn't really get to say anything."
The actor, launching his autobiography My Word is My Bond at the Cheltenham literature festival, reckons Christopher Walken is the best villain because he is "off the wall".
Sir Roger said his good looks held him back. He added: "If you have even features it helps in getting leading parts but it is a hindrance when you come to be accepted as an actor."
Daniel Craig says Bond girls stand up for themselves
Bond girls have been transformed from 'giggly girls in bikini's' to strong women who stand up for themselves, according to the actor Daniel Craig.
Craig, the latest actor to play James Bond, said 007's modern-day love interests are not frightened to take a stand and put him in his place.
In Quantum of Solace, the forthcoming Bond film, Craig takes the lead role opposite Gemma Arterton, the actress who starred in the recent BBC One adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and Olga Kurylenko, the Ukrainian supermodel turned actress.
Craig said his leading ladies were forces to be reckoned with.
"I think Bond is as misogynistic as he always was. But the difference is that we try to cast great actresses playing strong women who, if he misbehaves, will tell him to f*** off," he said in an interview with the Radio Times.
"Instead of it being a giggling girl in a bikini - and there's nothing wrong with giggling girls in bikinis, sometimes it's quite nice - there are women who challenge him. And there were strong women in earlier films - Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg. We have to maintain that."
The 40-year-old actor, who has been described as the ideal 21st century Bond, said it was vital that the new 007 films were "part of the times we live in".
"And that's not to say that we can't honour that Bond tradition - with the locations, the big sets, wide camera angles and big shots - but that's all incorporated into a contemporary, fast-moving story," he said.
Josh Brolin grew up as the son of a famous man. He followed him into the family business and -- after some reversals and some hell-raising -- finally established himself and his own identity.
In "W," he plays the son of an even more famous man. One who followed his father into the family business and -- after some reversals and some hell-raising -- finally established himself and his own identity.
But, Brolin insists, the coincidences end there.
"It sounds good, but it's all fairly cosmetic," he says of the similarities to himself and George W. Bush, the subject of the controversial film that opens Friday. "We both had famous fathers, both grew up on ranches -- so yeah, you take the script and you see how you can parallel it. But acting's more about the imagination. I mean, I did 'No Country for Old Men,' too, and I never stole $2 million."
Brolin doesn't steal "W" though. It is bought and paid for with hard work and he absolutely owns it, from beginning to end, as he brings the president to life -- from his eager cheerleader days at Yale through his drunken youth, from his sudden rebirth as an evangelical Christian to his final ascent to the presidency.
And what may surprise audiences is that, although this is an Oliver Stone picture, it's not a simple polemic. It has no love for Bush's cabinet or his war policies, and it gleefully spotlights some of his malapropisms. But it never doubts Bush's love for his wife, or late-in-life rediscovery of religion.
"I think that's a very real part of him," Brolin, 40, says. "As a young man, he had some serious emotional problems, whether they were from the drinking or an inability to stop creating obstacles for himself. But he turned himself around. He focused on not drinking, and he deepened his relationship with Christ, and I respect that."
Brolin admits he had "lots of fear" about taking on the leading role -- a huge challenge after years of supporting parts, and one involving dead-on mimicry and guaranteed controversy. "There is an expectation for an Oliver Stone movie," says Brolin's wife, Diane Lane (who insists she "gasped" when she saw how her husband had "morphed into the character"). "The courageousness of doing this part," she says, "you know, you're really walking into the lion's den."
Yet the only thing Brolin wasn't scared about, he says, was working with Stone.
"Oliver's image -- I think that's more of a media creation than it is the reality," he says. "And it works for him. It gets people churning with the idea that they're going to be swatted with something, and stokes them up. But I think the reality of Oliver is that he's just hit by every emotion with great force, and gives it out with great force. And I loved that."
Brolin grew up in the industry, the son of actor James Brolin -- then about to hit TV stardom as the motorcycling young doctor on "Marcus Welby, M.D." And yet the last thing he wanted as a child was to become part of that industry.
"I couldn't imagine doing it," he says. "I looked at the profession back then and I was horrified by it. What my dad went through with his career -- having money, not having money, looking for work -- there was no way in hell that I was ever going to do that."
But then, like lots of young people, Brolin did a play in school. And another. He fell in love with "playing, improvising -- that was a drug for me, in the beginning." Finally, at 17, he made his movie debut in "The Goonies." And yet, although the film was a hit, turning it into a career wasn't easy.
"People were pretty mean," he says. "Having a relative in the business, sometimes it actually stops you from getting jobs -- every one of my peers had a brother, a father, an uncle in the business and a lot of them changed their names because of that. People made it tough. But that was great for me because it just gave me more incentive."
It was hard for a long time, picking up parts here and there, doing regional theater, trying indie films, auditioning for TV series.
"The Young Riders," a small-screen western, lasted a few seasons; two other shows, "Mister Sterling" and "Private Eye," lasted only a few episodes. A good part in something like "Flirting With Disaster" would be followed by paycheck roles in "The Mod Squad" and "Hollow Man." Brolin's career was, sadly, turning into just the sort of unpredictable, stress-filled chaos he'd seen his father go through, and had sworn he'd never put up with.
"It got to the point, four years ago, five years ago where I said, you know, if these are the jobs I'm going to get hired for, I'd rather not act," he says. "I'd rather find another avenue to make money, and just do plays when I can. So I sold the ranch, and I focused on investments. I did day trading, I went into real-estate rentals. I put myself in a position where I didn't have to say yes. And that's when all these wonderful jobs started happening. It's like, I created a hole in my little universe, and it was filled with gold."
It happened quickly. In 2004 he married Lane ("I can't imagine anyone else who'd put up with all this") and landed a part in Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda"; 2005 brought the miniseries "Into the West" and 2006 the well-regarded indie "The Dead Girl." And then, in 2007, a kind of home run -- strong supporting parts in Ridley Scott's "American Gangster" and Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," a campy comic turn in "Grindhouse" and finally his break-out part as the cowboy on the run in the Coen brothers' "No Country for Old Men."
But even that didn't come easily.
"The Coens weren't interested in me," he says flatly. "They didn't know who I was, didn't know my work -- although of course I loved them, loved their movies, loved the idea of working with them. But they didn't want me. Actually, I think they had already offered it to Heath Ledger, but he wanted to spend more time with his family, I think, or didn't want to do another Western so soon after 'Brokeback.'"
So Brolin persisted.
"I sent them an audition tape," he says. "Quentin (Tarantino) and Robert (Rodriguez) shot it for me on the set of 'Grindhouse.' The Coens didn't care. All they wanted to know was who had done the lighting. ... Finally they said, 'Okay, we're doing one more casting session. Tomorrow.' So I got the scenes faxed to me, like, 11 o'clock the night before. I worked on them that night, I got up at 7 the next morning, drove two hours, and read for them. And walked out of there thinking, well, obviously I'm not getting that part. And then they called my agent and offered it to me."
He's been getting more offers recently. The huge and unexpected success of "No Country" led to not only the call from Stone, but one from Gus Van Sant; next month, Brolin will appear opposite Sean Penn in another political biopic, "Milk," as Dan White, the "Twinkie defense" assassin of San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.
"There are major differences between Gus and Oliver, but they're both challenging, in their own ways," Brolin says. "And they're both obsessed with storytelling, which I am. We all try to be cool, but we're really just bunch of drama geeks who want to tell some new story we just thought up."
Geeks who, more and more these days, want Brolin to star in those stories.
"You know, I had a dinner recently," he says. "And I looked around -- and this is full-on name-dropping I know, but that's kind of the point -- and there's Gus Van Sant, there's Oliver Stone, there's Ridley Scott, there's Paul Haggis, all of who I'd just worked for. And I thought, holy s--, this is amazing."
There have been bumps along the way; as Brolin himself admits, he has a bit of a past. Police were called to the couple's home on a domestic disturbance complaint four years ago; a spokesperson later said it was a "misunderstanding." And while shooting "W" in Louisiana, Brolin and co-star Jeffrey Wright got into an altercation at a bar; Brolin was later charged with interfering with an arrest, and has a court date coming up.
But professionally, Brolin is on a roll. And both enjoying the higher profile -- "there are so many more people watching my work now, there's a lot more risk" -- and still trying to figure out what it all means.
"People say, 'Oh you must be so happy now that you've arrived,' he says. "And, in some ways, I sort of feel like I arrived a long time ago. And in some ways I sort of feel like I never will."
He might be 45, but Johnny Depp still rules ladies'' hearts, and a new survey justifies that.
According to a new poll, the Hollywood hunk has been voted as the world''s sexiest man.
The ''World''s Sexiest Men'' survey, headed by ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine has revealed that the heartthrob snatched the top spot leaving behind George Clooney to nab the second place - both in their 40''s.
However, following the third place was Jake Gyllenhaal, who''s just in his 27th year.
Daniel Craig and Brad Pitt, who are in their 40s took away the fourth and the fifth rank, respectively.
Interestingly, only three men in their 20 somethings made it to the Top 25 list, namely, ''Brokeback Mountain'' star Jake Gyllenhaal, British actor James McAvoy who came in No. 6 while singer Justin Timberlake at No. 7.
The survey featured singer-actor Will Smith bagging the 8th spot, followed by ace-footballer David Beckham and actor Wentworth Miller.
"Both George Clooney and Johnny Depp just keep getting better with age," the Daily Star quoted Lizzi Hosking of ''Cosmopolitan'' as saying.
Youtube.com once again has royally f**ked over Britney! First it was the unexplained removal of "Gimme More," & "Piece Of Me," and now this! YouTube has flagged Britney's music video for "Womanizer" as inappropriate, requiring users to first sign in with their youtube username and password, then confirming their birthday ensuring that they are mature enough for the content they are about to view: "This video or group may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube's user community," reports the site when attempting to view the video. This can have a severe impact on Britney's online presence, as YouTube is one of the most influential video sharing sites on the web.
According to Youtube.com's policies, Britney's new video was flagged because it was Suggestive, but without nudity:
"Suggestive" content refers to materials with sexual themes that do not necessarily depict sexual activity or nudity. Sexually suggestive content may not be suitable for all audiences and may include fetish-related content.
So they're OK with Britney-obsessed drag queens in pink underwear ranting on about how miserable their life is, but want users to sign in when they watch a Britney video? Censorship at its finest. LAME. Send your complaints to the address below; let's get this censorship removed!
PEOPLE Photo Special -- The Week's 10 Best Celeb Quotes
"Both small town girls . . . We both carry an AK-47." – Dolly Parton, pointing out what she has in common with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, to Extra
"What's up? I need some money." – 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan, on what he's going to say to Oprah Winfrey when she guest stars on his show, at VH1's Hip Hop Honors
"Loves it." – Martin Sheen, borrowing one of Paris Hilton's catchphrases for a spoof video with the heiress, on funnyordie.com
"I dress like a 30-year-old woman." – Sixteen-year-old Selena Gomez, on her sense of style, to TV Guide
"It's like The Bourne Identity. I'm starting to learn the ways of the ninja." – Zac Efron, on how he's learned to escape the paparazzi, to PEOPLE
"Don't be an ass." – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, sharing the advice she gave to graduates during a commencement address, on Ellen
"Being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I'll take it." – Halle Berry, on being named the sexiest woman alive by Esquire magazine
"Keep that clapping going. My ego needs it right now." – Madonna, warming up the crowd at Madison Square Garden during the New York City stop of her Sticky & Sweet tour
"I knew I was in trouble when the old guy with the oxygen tank passed me." – The Bourne Identity star Matt Damon, joking about his recent appearance in a Miami marathon, to the Miami Herald
"Look, don't even ask it. I will not be your vice president. I have to be on the top of the ticket." – Clint Eastwood, recalling what he told John McCain at a political event, to reporters at the Directors Guild of America
Here are the very first pictures of Robert Downey Jr. filming Sherlock Holmes on Friday, currently filming in Central London.
When asked what he could bring to a character portrayed countless times on film and television, RDJ has joked: "Clearly I'm going to do it better than it's ever been done. The more I read about it the more overwhelmed I was by the weight of it and the amount of people who will be watching to see if it's gotten right."
Check out the pictures below–it looks like RDJ and his stunt double are conferring with each other on how to jump off the building they're standing on. Also pictured: director Guy Ritchie.
Casting Bites: Goats, Fame, Ghostbusters, and Agent Crushes
She may have been Lost, but it looks like the redheaded Rebecca Mader has found a path and a sexy on-screen husband. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Mader is in final negotiations to play the lead female role in the super-wacky sounding Men Who Stare at Goats. That means she gets to play wife to Ewan McGregor's Bob Wilton -- a reporter in Iraq who meets a man (George Clooney) who says he's a "former secret U.S. military psychic soldier who was reactivated after 9/11." The plot is so very strange, and most likely destined to be awesome. But that's not all -- the film is also getting Stephen Lang, fresh off Avatar and Public Enemies.
In the what-if area of cinematic news: With a Ghostbusters sequel on the way, Bill Murray told MTV that he thinks a woman should be in on the action. That's not a bad idea at all, so the big question is: What funny woman out there can bring on the laughs AND kick ghostly ass? (Editor's interjection: Jenna Fischer.)
Meanwhile, the Famecast has now come together, according to THR. Unlike star Thomas Dekker, who has made a name for himself through Terminators and Heroes, this is a big cast of unknowns -- Kristy Flores, Paul Iacono, Paul McGill, Naturi Naughton, Kay Panabaker, Kherington Payne, Collins Pennie, Walter Perez and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle. You can hit the link to find out who they're going to play, and in the meantime, wonder who Debbie Allen will be this time around. Rumor has it that she'll pop up in the film, but not as Lydia.
And Danny Glover is getting rusty. THR posts that he's headed to the future and lending his voice to Agent Crush, which you can learn all about at the film's website. He'll be Major Rusty Gibbons. And finally, a last bit of little fluff: Jude Law is growing his 'stache in preparation for Sherlock Holmes!
A woman accused of stalking actor John Cusack will stand trial after a last-minute plea deal fell through late Wednesday afternoon. Emily Leatherman is accused of stalking actor John Cusack. Her trial begins Friday.
Emily Leatherman was moments away from accepting a deal that would have allowed her to avoid state prison. But after she indicated she wasn't entering into the deal freely, a judge rejected the bargain and ordered the 33-year-old woman to stand trial beginning Friday.
Leatherman was facing her first glimpse of freedom since March, when she was arrested outside Cusack's home. She indicated during the hearing that she felt jail was making her sick and that she wanted to leave.
She faces four years in state prison if convicted. Cusack, star of such films as "Being John Malkovich," "High Fidelity" and "Grace is Gone," is expected to testify during the trial. On Wednesday, Leatherman appeared in court and was subdued at first, answering a prosecutor's questions simply and politely.
Her demeanor was drastically different from an August court hearing, during which Leatherman berated Judge Susan M. Speer. The judge had just found her competent to stand trial, but not to act as her own attorney.
But during Wednesday's hearing she accused her attorney, Brent Merritt, of using scare tactics to get her to agree to the deal. Merritt, who was appointed against Leatherman's wishes, denied the allegation in court.
Leatherman seemed unsure of the agreement at times, prompting a prosecutor to ask repeatedly her whether she wanted to accept the deal. Her uncertainty led Speer to discard the deal and order jury selection to begin Friday morning, causing Leatherman to express a willingness to accept the plea deal. "I want to take it," Leatherman shouted before bailiffs led her off in handcuffs.
We analyzed the newsstand sales the six biggest celebrity weeklies--People, Star, US Weekly, In Touch Weekly, Life & Style and OK!--over a year-long period ending June 30, eliminating non-celebrity and "collage" covers as well as one-off cover subjects and special issues with exceptionally large rate bases. We then counted how many more--or fewer--issues the celebrity's cover sold as compared with the magazine's average newsstand sales. We also factored in the number of full covers a celebrity individually graced as well as his or her appeal, a measure provided by Los Angeles-based polling firm E-Poll Market Research. Stars were left off the list in rare cases when this "likability" data wasn't available.
10. Owen Wilson Like Ledger, Wilson covers--focused on his reported suicide attempt--benefited from their tragic news angle. Similarly working in his favor: fan adoration. The comedic actor placed third in likability.
9. Heidi Montag The Hills vixen may be lacking fans--the only cover subject less likable than Montag is Britney Spears--but she can push magazines. Her four solo covers landed her at No. 6 in the cover sales category.
8. Shiloh Jolie Pitt Though Shiloh has her kiddie rival Suri beat when it comes to likability, Brangelina's biological offspring was outranked in both her number of covers and cover sales.
7. Suri Cruise The adorable tot may not have much to say, but she's a master at selling magazines. At just 2-and-a-half years old, Cruise has snagged adoring fans and interested readers. In fact, she outperforms even her parents, A-listers Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, on the newsstand.
6. Jessica Simpson While she's hardly the fan favorite Jennifer Aniston is--in fact, the pop-star-turned-country-crooner ranks 14th in the likability category--Simpson ranked fourth in cover sales, thanks to the her tumultuous relationship with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo
5. Nicole Richie The pint-sized party-girl-turned-protective-mom has proved her prowess at the newsstand. Richie lands third in the cover sales category, behind Jamie Lynn Spears and Angelina Jolie. But much like the younger Spears sister, her low likability score drags her down.
4. Jamie Lynn Spears Though she was hardly a tabloid staple before announcing her pregnancy, a then 16-year-old Spears captivated the nation with her news. Her five covers landed her first in the cover sales category. Unfortunately, the Nickelodeon star lagged in the likability category, where she placed an unimpressive 16th.
3. Heath Ledger It was Ledger's mysterious and all-too-early death that made him front-cover news--something he hadn't been prior to his passing. And while male cover subjects traditionally sell fewer copies than female ones, due to their lack of relatability for the heavily female reader base (other cover subjects Brad Pitt and Matthew McConaughey didn't make the cut), the idea of a talent like Ledger dying so young left readers grasping for answers--and buying magazines in search of them.
2. Jennifer Aniston Aniston has once again proved highly appealing, this time landing second on our list (she topped it last year). In fact, with the exception of Heath Ledger, whose life was cut tragically short earlier this year, Aniston is the most-liked cover model of the year. And thanks to her ever-tumultuous love life, the former Friends star had eight covers all to herself during the year period.
1. Angelina Jolie Be it her humanitarian efforts or her ever-expanding brood, Jolie has little trouble garnering interest--and, for that matter, landing covers. In fact, she graced nearly 30 in the past year, ranking second behind Britney Spears in the cover category. She also places second in cover sales, this time behind another Spears: Britney's teenage sister, new mother Jamie Lynn.
Everybody seems to be talking politics these days.
So why is it, then, that nobody seems to be singing about them? Pop musicians, the people who have traditional offered up songs of commentary and criticism about the times in which we live, have clearly dropped the ball during this important election year.
Thus, in lieu of having a new batch of socially conscious anthems in 2008, we've decided to borrow from years past with a look at the 25 greatest political/protest songs of all time.
In compiling this list, we looked at several factors — the least significant of which, we should point out, was whether we agreed with the commentary. More important were a song's original impact on its audience and whether the tune is still worth listening to today.
Also, we didn't want to come up with a list of, say, 25 Bob Dylan tunes. Thus, we made the important restriction that each artist could appear only once on our tally.
25. "Clampdown," The Clash (1979): The band's third album, "London Calling," was filled with great protest anthems, including the famous title track. The most affecting in the bunch was "Clampdown," a tune that songwriters Joe Strummer and Mick Jones seemed to purposely leave open to interpretation. Some claimed the song addressed the neo-Nazi movement, while others cited the villain as capitalism run amok. What made the song truly special, however, was how well it worked as commentary on so many levels.
24. "Okie From Muskogee," Merle Haggard (1969): The Hag's original goal with this tribute to Muskogee, "a place where even squares can have a ball," was to create a humorous satire. Yet it was quickly adopted by millions of listeners as a rebuttal to the hippie movement. These days, however, the song is frequently enjoyed as Merle first intended, and it goes over equally well in San Antonio and San Francisco.
23. "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore," John Prine (1971): On his eponymous first album, the brilliant songwriter offered up a hilarious yet cutting song about the dangers of blind patriotism. The song is full of funny bits, but Prine doesn't mince his words when it comes to the situation in Vietnam: "Now Jesus don't like Killin'/No matter what the reasons for/And your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore."
22. "Ignoreland," R.E.M. (1992): The Georgia band made a tuneful case that its homeboy Jimmy Carter was a pretty fine president as vocalist Michael Stipe slammed the state of affairs under the leadership of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. The song struck a nerve with listeners and "Ignoreland," despite not being released as a single, became a hit song on the charts.
21. "Get Up, Stand Up," Bob Marley (1973): A religious protest song by nature, "Get Up, Stand Up" railed against mainstream Christianity and implored Rastafarians to uphold their own beliefs. That direct and specific message seems to have been lost on most ears, which heard the song simply as an anthem to "stand up for your rights." Marley might not have approved of that broader interpretation, but we're more than OK with it. Other worthy Marley contenders considered for this list included "Redemption Song" and "Buffalo Soldier."
20. "Volunteers," Jefferson Airplane (1969): The Bay Area was the epicenter for so many different political and social movements in the late '60s. It was also, somewhat arguably, the focal point of the musical universe during that period. Those two factors combined, with striking results, on the title track to the Airplane's sixth album. The storyline was fairly simple, detailing a changing of the guard between generations, but it was told with complete and absolute conviction.
19. "Revolution," the Beatles (1968): The Fab Four's first truly overt political anthem, originally released as the B-side on "Hey Jude," was a carefully constructed cry for change through peaceful measures, a theme that lyricist John Lennon would further mine with 1969's "Give Peace a Chance." The song still sounds revolutionary today, despite its dubious distinction as being the first Beatles cut to be used in an advertising campaign.
18. "Say It Loud — I'm Black and I'm Proud," James Brown (1968): Perhaps the most empowering anthem on this list, "Say It Loud" was a cry for self-reliance, not aggressive militant action, in the black community. The song is tremendously funky, thanks in large part to a horn section that included trombonist Fred Wesley and saxophonist Maceo Parker, but its real greatness comes from such unforgettable lyrics as "We'd rather die on our feet/Than be livin' on our knees."
17. "Sunday Bloody Sunday," U2 (1983): The Irish rock band's third studio album, "War," opens with this dramatic observation of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland. Vocalist Bono delivers an amazing amount of urgency in his lyrics, something that is reinforced by the Edge's razor-sharp guitar and the combative rhythm work from drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton.
16. "War," Edwin Starr (1970): One year after the Temptations originally recorded the tune, in a decidedly less-aggressive manner, "War" received its definitive rendering by Starr. The version became a No. 1 hit, Starr's signature song and, most significantly, an iconic anti-war anthem. Fifteen years later, a live recording of "War," its message still as relevant as ever, became a top 10 smash for Bruce Springsteen.
15. "The 'Fish' Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag," Country Joe and Fish (1967): Berkeley's Country Joe McDonald secured his place in pop-music history with this clever sing-along satire targeted at the Vietnam War. The best known performance of this song occurred at Woodstock, where the "Cheer" was famously altered from "Fish" to spell out, well, with a coupel of hundred-thousand singing along, it was more like a nuclear F-bomb.
14. "Fight the Power," Public Enemy (1989): Boasting "rhythm designed to bounce" and "rhymes designed to fill your mind," "Fight the Power" remains one of the greatest and most thought-provoking hip-hop songs of all time. Although militant in sound, the track promoted education and speaking out as the best offensive weapons ("What we need is awareness/We can't get careless," and "Our freedom of speech is freedom or death"). The song was featured prominently in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" and made its debut on the film's soundtrack.
13. "Masters of War," Bob Dylan (1963): Dylan was the voice of his generation, especially when he was singing about social issues and political unrest in the '60s. Several of his songs, including "The Times They Are a-Changin'" and "Blowin' in the Wind," were deeply considered in making this list. Yet, "Masters" was Dylan's best political anthem — a brutal, vivid damnation of the warmongers that profit from the death toll.
12. "Rain on the Scarecrow," John Mellencamp (1985): Mellencamp came to fame singing about the small-town American Dream. But with "Rain on the Scarecrow," he addressed a nightmare, the plight of the American farmer, and delivered one of the most convincing protest songs of the past 25 years.
11. "Think," Aretha Franklin (1968): The song was viewed as a powerful feminist anthem, but its message rang true to all. Indeed, Franklin said more in this tune by repeating one single word, "Freedom," than most artists do in entire careers. Aretha's version of Otis Redding's "Respect" could've also made this list.
10. "Ohio," Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970): Horrified by the shootings at Kent State in May 1970, Neil Young quickly wrote a reactionary piece and called up his three pals — Stills, Graham Nash and David Crosby — to record it. The resulting anthem was undeniably brave — taking President Richard Nixon to task for the killings — and it solidified Young's place next to Bob Dylan as one of the top political troubadours of the generation. The lyrics still carry weight today, and the song has been revisited by such modern acts as the Dandy Warhols and Rise Against.
9. "Big Yellow Taxi," Joni Mitchell (1970): The deceptively sweet "Big Yellow Taxi" was the rare environmental anthem that managed to appeal to both lumberjacks and tree-huggers. Chrissie Hynde, of the Pretenders, would revisit the topic on 1982's "My City Was Gone," which was another strong contender for this list.
8. "Anarchy in the UK," Sex Pistols (1976): One of true musical shots heard 'round the world, the Sex Pistols' first single was an angry, belligerent and totally awesome shout-out to solving the world's problems through anything but peace, love and understanding. Thirty-two years later, "Anarchy in the U.K." still stands as the definitive punk-rock song, a genre that has produced so many great political anthems (Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia," Black Flag's "Rise Above").
7. "Fortunate Son," Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969): John Fogerty spoke for the common man — the Regular Joe that was forced to become GI Joe during the Vietnam War draft — with this vicious commentary about the privileged few. The song questions the true price of patriotism and why it is that those with the most — the senators' and millionaires' sons "born silver spoon in hand" — often give the least.
6. "Killing in the Name," Rage Against the Machine (1992): As pure an adrenaline rush as anything ever produced in the hard rock/metal realm, "Killing in the Name" stands as the Godzilla of modern political anthems. Its message has been wrongly interpreted more often than not, as far too many fans took the song's signature chant, "(Expletive) you, I won't do what you tell me," as a free pass to act without regard for others. True listeners, however, realized that the song was an urgent wake-up call addressed to an overly content populace that blindly refused to question the state of world affairs.
5. "This Land Is Your Land," Woody Guthrie (1951): Guthrie reportedly didn't think much of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," so he wrote a response to it, which he originally titled "God Blessed America for Me." He recorded the now-familiar version in 1944, although it wasn't released until seven years later, and it would become the blueprint for the modern political folk song. Each verse is mesmerizing and, taken collectively, they form what Bruce Springsteen once rightfully called "one of the most beautiful songs ever written."
4. "Star Spangled Banner," Jimi Hendrix, performed at Woodstock (1969): At Woodstock, Hendrix did far more than just perform the national anthem — he turned the song into a searing commentary about the Vietnam War, using his otherworldly talents on the guitar to mimic the sounds of planes, explosions and screams. More significantly, he struck a claim that the song belonged as much to his generation as it did to the old guard.
3. "For What It's Worth," Buffalo Springfield (1967): Few people know this song by name, probably because the title appears nowhere in the lyrics, but everybody seems to recognize the chorus: "I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound / Everybody look what's going down." Stephen Stills reportedly wrote the song about the problems brewing between law enforcement and clubgoers in Hollywood, but it would quickly transcend that specific and become a versatile anthem, suitable in most cases of social unrest.
2. "What's Going On," Marvin Gaye (1971): Motown boss Berry Gordy Jr. wasn't wrong often, at least on a professional basis, but he missed the mark completely when he argued that "What's Going On" would flop as a single. The somber, introspective song, a heartfelt meditation on social troubles like black-on-black violence, was perfect for its time and it raced up the charts. These days, "What's Going On" is widely considered to be one of the greatest pop songs, of any type, ever recorded.
1. "Strange Fruit," Billie Holiday (1939): A work of awe-inspiring beauty and absolute horror, "Strange Fruit" stands as the greatest political/protest song of all time. It was written by Abel Meeropol, a high school instructor in the Bronx, about the 1930 lynching of two black men in Indiana. The true greatness of the song, ranking even beyond Holiday's exquisite delivery, is the contrasting imagery between the pastoral setting ("Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh") and the act of violence ("Then the sudden smell of burning flesh").
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