An Artist’s Duty

No Halloween season feels complete without the annual screening of the campy cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, Montreal’s Rialto Theatre came to life with the traditional pre-show chaos and shadow-cast antics. The film’s themes of sexual liberation, gender ambiguity, and fearless self-expression still echo across generations.

No matter how many times I have seen it, one lyric continues to resonate;

“Don’t dream it, be it.”

That reminder lingered through the rest of the weekend (though perhaps not for a certain MLB team!) as I visited Montreal’s Arsenal Museum for an immersive virtual reality exhibit of the Impressionists. Renoir, Monet, Degas and others in the group were radical in their own right, defying convention through their art. And female artists such as Berthe Morisot challenged patriarchal boundaries by demanding equality in a world that often denied it.

At many points in history, simply choosing to live as an artist has been an act of defiance.

However, perhaps no artistic expression captures protest more powerfully than music.

On Saturday night, Tom Morello brought his “A Night of Music & Stories” tour to Montreal’s Beanfield Theatre. Or, perhaps more aptly, his “One Man Revolution” – as that is exactly what reverberated through the sold-out concert hall; the sound of revolution igniting.

Through politically-powered riffs and straight-up, stand-up storytelling, Morello reminded us that – in the right hands – music can be a weapon, a rallying cry, and a fist in the face of repression. In doing so, he stands on the shoulders of giants – most prominently his mother, Mary Morello (look her up) – as well as the spirits of Woody Guthrie, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Joe Strummer, John Lennon, and many others.

In recent years, the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Bob Geldof, Roger Waters, Annie Lennox, U2, Peter Gabriel, and Sting have been outspoken in their political perspectives, but Tom Morello may be the greatest living embodiment of artistic duty.

Among his many messages, one resonated loud and clear:

Music can change the world – or at the very least – stir up a shitload of trouble.

It is up to us. As artists and as people, we have a responsibility to not censor ourselves and solely to speak our truth.

Or, as Morello shared Martin Luther King Jr.’s words on Saturday night, “The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”

So, be the change you wish to see in the world.

Stand up for your rights – and the rights of others.

Speak for those who have been silenced.

An artist’s duty is to reflect the times, and – when necessary – to betray them.

Don’t dream it. Be it.