As Waylon Jennings once sang, ladies love outlaws, and judging by the enduring appeal of the outlaw trope in pop culture—especially in music—ladies aren’t the only ones. Rock ‘n’ roll and its many offshoots glorify the highwayman, the gunslinger, the lone warrior. In hip-hop and heavy metal alike, fans love to hear good songs about bad people, or about good people who’ve made bad decisions—and Riot Fest provides plenty of opportunities. This year you can run downrange of gleeful provocateurs such as the Dwarves and Iggy Pop, raise your fist to protest songs by reggae pioneers Jimmy Cliff and Lee “Scratch” Perry, and surrender to the primal gospel of drugs, booze, sex, and violence with the lifers in Motorhead. Rebellion and rock ‘n’ roll go hand in hand—but how many of your favorite bands have robbed a roadhouse or done three years in San Quentin?
Today Haggard is an icon, an elder statesman, a reminder of a bygone age—but he’s far from ready to go gently into that good night. The old boy has got plenty of piss and vinegar left in him yet: this spring, shortly after his 78th birthday, he released a love song to marijuana called “It’s All Going to Pot” with his old pal and Pancho & Lefty partner Willie Nelson. Most mainstream country artists have settled safely into red-state platitudes, ceding the market for revolutionary music to punk rock, heavy metal, and hip-hop, but until the Hag puts down his guitar he’ll give those genres plenty of competition. “I’ve never been a guy that can do what people told me,” he told the New York Times in 1990. “It’s always been my nature to fight the system.” Spoken like a true outlaw. v
