What do pop stars know about the world?

"Pop and rock stars are nowadays as influential in government circles as they are among their teenage fans. Is this necessarily a good thing? There has always been a little bit of politics - as Ben Elton might say - in pop and rock music. Ever since a wild-haired Bob Dylan sang The Times They Are A-Changin' in 1963 - in which he warned senators and congressmen that "There's a battle outside and it's raging" - popular singers have ventured, with varying degrees of success, into the world of political protest and dissent. Some 40 years later, the times really have a-changed. Politically inclined pop stars no longer strum their frustrations in catchy three-minute tunes; they have become global statesmen instead. They no longer only play political songs but have become real political players. "