Angry Anderson's fascinating political evolution

A lot of people are having a good laugh about the fact that Angry Anderson is keen to get into politics and run for the Nationals. The idea appears kind of comical, as well as unlikely. And it does seem like it'll be a real uphill battle for him if he does get a shot at a seat. If he was as much of a "bad boy" as his rock persona suggests, then his foes will have quite a bit of mud to hurl in his direction.

But you never know, if he does run, this might not end up doing him that much harm -- even in the context of him representing the Nats. Rock stars are expected to behave like that, after all. Hell, a "colourful past" might even work in his favour a little.

In any case, the fact that Anderson is making serious plans to become a politician (and they are being taken seriously by the powers that be) is certainly a sign of the times. I mean, here's an iconic bogan who was about as anti-establishment as you could get in his youth. Also, he was in the music industry, which as we all know is chockas with sneering lefties and preening greenie fops and tossers.

Sure, we know that most people become more conservative as they get older. And rock stars in particular do tend to mellow if they do actually make it to middle age and beyond. Even those who stay left do tend to head towards the centre. Take Peter Garrett, for example. (Although he is quite unusual in some aspects and has pulled off a remarkable double. He's now twice as annoying after becoming half as extreme politically. Considering what a pompous tool he was to start with, that's quite an impressive achievement.)

But back to Angry: His gravitation towards the Nats is remarkable not just because of his socially rebellious persona -- there was actually a specifically green aspect to it as well. Although he was mostly into heavy metal he did have a brief fling with what could be loosely described as tree (or rather sea) huggery. It came in the form of a memorable song about the joy of cetaceans, shown below. 

So, when it comes to environmentalism, Angry's been there, sung that, waaay before it was fashionable. The more zealous pro-carbon tax musos should ponder his surprising journey and have a little think about how they may end up seeing things two decades hence. Could be very scary for them, I think.