Ryan Fox
Singer-songwriter Ryan Fox wrote his song Allegation in 2022-23 after hearing about the alleged miscarriage of justice suffered by a fellow artist. The song relates a now-typical #MeToo era scenario of drunken sex, false allegations, third-party reporting and then ‘things getting out of control’, and resonates as an updated version of 60s protest songs in the vein of Neil Young, Warren Zevon or Bob Dylan.
The threat in Fox’s song writing isn’t so much state power - on Allegation anyway - as on the increasing threats to humanity of ever-intensifying ‘culture wars’, and in particular the ever-easy-to-exploit differences between males and females. While Fox travels around in style, from French-sounding chanson to 70s faux-glam rock (on Mothership), Allegation is a thoughtful, traditional acoustic ballad.
Many user of Meta social media platform Instagram appear to have disagreed with Ryan’s intention however, citing ‘nonce vibes’ and implying the authorities need to ‘check his hard drive’ etc. Far from Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax or The Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen being banned by the BBC of old, Instagram more ‘self-polices’ itself, no doubt by ‘trauma-informed’ users.
Rather than listening to Fox’s song in the spirit of nuanced storytelling in which it is sung, the febrile reaction is instant ad-hominem to an artist who dares to reflect a familiar scenario in the public sphere. Still, both Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg know that Oscar Wilde’s quote ‘there’s only one thing worse than being talked about, and that’s not being talked about’ is evergreen, and they’ve monetised it.
Thus, Allegation is storming up various charts, its algorithm buoyed by the fact that a million Amber Heard supporters are gobsmacked that a Kentish singer-songwriter would dare to write a non-judgmental ode to a once-very-human story.
Listen to Allegation here: https://open.spotify.com/track/3cF1XOsKfTSSZiQiR1huLP
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