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AcTIVIST SPOTLIGHT


The Mekons: Natural

A post-punk rock band from Leeds has a cult following and a new album out that’s green and green and green all over.

British rockers the Mekons are a Center inspiration. Without a song by Mekons Jon Langford and Sally Timms called “Watching the Horizon,” about global warming, says Center lawyer Brendan Cummings — a bona fide Mekons expert — “there probably wouldn't have been the polar bear petition when we did it.” Center editor Lydia Millet, also a longtime fan, has authored several essays on the Mekons, which you can read here and here.

The Mekons have a long history of singing about protecting the weak from the strong, from songs like “Shanty” from the album Edge of the World to “The Old Fox” on the band’s new green-themed album, Natural, which is replete with songs about the desert burning and metaphors of falling through melting ice. There's also a kids' album called Animal Crackers, by Mekons spinoff band Wee Hairy Beasties, which celebrates the animal world with panache, including odes to critters as great and small as monkeys, squirrels, cuttlefish, turtles and glowworms. Get this one to sweeten those long roadtrips with the kids squirming in the backseat.

Says Mekons helmsman and freelance genius Jon Langford of Natural: “It is, of course, just one tiny part of our multi-pronged offensive against free-market capitalism, which we find offensive and dangerous to the planet....”

Check out Natural at Touch and Go Records.

Want to share your story in our Activist Spotlight?
A sea change can begin with a post-punk rock band — or maybe, it can begin with you. If you or someone you know has found a creative way to turn concern for the planet — and for endangered plants and animals — into change for the better, we'd like to share your story with the world. Send us your spotlight idea here.

And check out other activists we've honored here.

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