Van Zandt and Springsteen were on tour in Germany during the 1980s when Van Zandt’s political awakening began.
“When we first started out Stevie was no politics, no politics. That’s not the way to go about it, that’s wrong. Then he became all politics,” Springsteen noted.
“I felt if I could shine a light on some of these things, maybe I could stimulate some thought which would stimulate some conversation, which would stimulate some action. We’re supposed to be the heroes of democracy and freedom and we weren’t,” Van Zandt said.
His activism hit its height when violence in South Africa left anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dead in police custody. “I hear this song ‘Biko’ by Peter Gabriel. The song was amazing. It really led to my engagement in with activism in general and specifically the apartheid regime of South Africa.”
Van Zandt would visit segregated, violent areas in South Africa to tell people on the ground that he would “win the war on TV.” He came back to America to begin his mission to record the political song “Sun City.” The song and EP would unite rockers, rappers, musicians and many different artists to fight as a group called Artists United Against Apartheid.
“There’s a certain political element in rock and roll anyway. It is you saying ‘I’m doing this no matter what people think.’ But when he started to actually do things and say things about politics, he politized rock and roll,” Johnny Lyons said.