[j p niven]

Unearthed an old index card scribbled with this passage & 
bibliographical info - thought it was interesting if somewhat 
depressing:

Liberal democracy is liberal only for those with the power. Those 
with unpopular or unacceptable tastes which are of course 
unmarketable, are given their ghettos in which they can participate 
without the threat of upsetting the real activities of the marketing 
and advertising departments. CBS would not continue to arrange 
contracts with Midnight Oil who sing about nuclear war and the role 
of the CIA in Australia, if the Oils failed to sell records. An 
American based company like CBS must be making money that can then be 
used to destroy the worthy ideas that Midnight Oil sings about. 
Clearly the songs of Midnight Oil are no real threat, otherwise they 
would have been asked to go elsewhere with their subversion.

p 214-5, "Rock Journalism: betrayal of the impulse" by Marcus Breen, 
from _Missing In Action: Australian Popular Music in Perspective_, 
Verbal Graphics Pty Ltd., Victoria, Australia 1987.