Five years ago I decided that I needed to come up with a unique and creative way to reach people with the vegan message, and I knew that somehow I would use ‘80s music to help the suffering animals.
Five years ago, I decided that I needed to come up with a unique and
creative way to reach people with the vegan message, and I knew that somehow
I would use ‘80s music to help the suffering animals. I had been very
unsuccessful in my personal life reaching friends and family with the vegan
message. The people I cared about the most didn’t care about all of the pain
and suffering and violence that they cause. I thought... if I could come up
with something fun and interesting, making ‘80s music a part of it, then
maybe people would be more open to the vegan message.
I’ve always loved ‘80s music. And I knew that Bryan Adams was vegan, and of
course Morrissey. Then I found out that Def Leppard’s guitarist Phil Collen
was vegan. These three world-famous musicians whose music I loved as a
teenager were speaking publicly about the animals and being vegan! And
people love rock stars! I started searching for other ‘80s artists who were
vegan. Richard Marx was vegan! Poison’s drummer Rikki Rockett was vegan!
Stevie Wonder was vegan! I found many vegan quotes from all of these guys.
And I knew that I had something.
I started a do-it-yourself website, having no experience and no idea what I
was doing. I decided that I wouldn’t try to sell anything, or use any
advertisements, or ask for any money because it had to be all about the
animals. I came up with “80s pop animals” because it was the only succinct
phrase I could think of that incorporated the animals and ‘80s music. I
started writing about every vegan topic I could think of... while gathering
data to compile a list of the best songs from the ‘80s. Everyone I knew
loved ‘80s music. If I could come up with a definitive list of the top 500
pop songs of the ‘80s, maybe people would be interested in that, and then I
could create images of the ‘80s artists and their quotes, and post them on
Facebook, and hope that people would come to my website to learn about the
animals and veganism. I had to try something, and I had always heard “follow
your passion,” so that’s what I did.
I gathered lots of data to compile the Top 500 Pop Songs of the ‘80s. It
took forever. But I knew that it had to be perfect if I were to have any
credibility with a list like this. I put the list on my website along with
lots of images and essays. Friends with technical skills helped me with
logos and other graphics. I created a Facebook page and hoped that I would
have 100 followers. I posted the songs and the images, and hoped for the
best.
When I started my little vegan project masquerading as an ‘80s music
project, I knew of only six vegan ‘80s music artists, and now that number
has doubled, as you can see in this image. Now, an average of 121 unique
visitors come to my website (www.80spopanimals.com) every day. My Facebook
page (80spopanimals.com) now has 4,287 followers. These may seem like insignificant numbers, but
for me and my
“small potatoes” project, these numbers are astronomical. People visit my
website, and I can see that they look at the pages about the animals in
addition to the music pages. Some of my posts on Facebook get hundreds of
shares, and a few have even gotten thousands of shares. I have received
dozens of messages from people who have gone vegan because of what they
learned on my website or in my social media posts. This project is a success
for the animals.
Regarding the ‘80s music artists in this image... Bryan Adams, Richard Marx,
Phil Collen (Def Leppard), Morrissey (The Smiths), Stevie Wonder, Rikki
Rockett (Poison), Grace Slick (Starship), Terri Nunn (Berlin), Annabella
Lwin (Bow Wow Wow), Rick Allen (Def Leppard), Brian May (Queen), and Tom
Bailey (Thompson Twins)...
I know that we have been disappointed over and over again by fake vegan
celebrities who were never vegan, but I feel very confident that we can
trust this wonderful dozen. The only ones I am not 100% confident about are
Stevie Wonder, Grace Slick, and Rick Allen, because they aren’t as vocal
about the animals when speaking about being vegan. But the other nine are
very committed to veganism and the animals. And of all celebrities—even
athletes and actors—people listen to musicians the most.
Unfortunately, way back at the beginning of this project, I thought that
there were eight vegan ‘80s musicians. I had included two who were not
vegan, which was my mistake for misunderstanding their actual quotations,
and trusting specious sources. I assumed that people who claim to love all
animals, who speak emphatically against factory farms, and who are
proclaimed vegan by vegan organizations and publications...are actually
vegan! I was wrong. Those two are Joan Jett and Chrissie Hynde (The
Pretenders). I apologize to the vegan community, and more importantly, to
the animals, for promoting them as vegans. I fervently cling to the hope
that they will go vegan soon.
Of course, there are other ‘80s music artists who “ain’t quite vegan,” but
know that they should be. We have the world’s most famous vegetarian, Paul
McCartney. And those who claim to know about the horrible suffering and
violence, but can’t seem to make the connection (or admit publicly that they
are vegan): Belinda Carlisle, Howard Jones, Mick Jones (The Clash), Tom
Scholz (Boston), and Kate Bush. Chaka Khan went plant-based for health
reasons to lose weight. Then there are the dead guys who were plant-based
for a while, and called it vegan: Prince and John Lennon. And finally, the
lying Boy George, who claims to be both vegan and not vegan. I do have all
of these artists (except Boy George) on my website because their quotes for
the animals and veganism are important and influential, even if they can’t
seem to stop exploiting, harming, and killing animals.
I have made hundreds of wonderful vegan friends during the past five years
while working on this project on Facebook. Many of you have supported this
project from the beginning. I couldn’t possibly tag everyone I should, or
thank any of you enough for supporting my vegan ‘80s music project. We have
made a difference. Who would have thought that ‘80s music could help spread
the vegan message and help the animals? It's happening.
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