The Politics of Music
I find it interesting if you look throughout history two things that have caused much emotion are music and politics and often they go hand in hand. From the first day man made sound he began to make music, from the first day man could communicate unfortunately he also had politics. As the world has grown and particularly with the explosion of mass media we have a system which in both cases tries to keep the people it is supposed to serve down and in the dark.
Our politics, especially in the UK and the US, are touted as the model for a new wave of democracy across the globe, well if this is all they have to offer I for one would prefer to return to the days of the Roman Empire. With so many things currently affecting the world and everyone in it there seems to be a lack of hugely successful political music. What happened to the John Lennon’s, Bob Marley’s, Bob Dylan’s and even Johnny Cash’s of the world? Well people, nothing, they are still out there but unfortunately there’s no place for them on Radio 1 in between the new celebrity chat DJ’s and generic X Factor winners wailing out their latest pointless love song.
People will continue to write music inspired by what’s wrong with the world and the people running it, but sadly to influence and inspire a mass movement of people like racial equality activists or the anti Vietnam War protestors you would first need to be heard on a mass scale. You can’t reach the average person sitting in their front room unless you have money and power. With the advent of the Internet came the splintering of the music industry. The only music that sells now in the UK is in the pop or pop-indie genre that is bought through ’pester power’ and young children using their pocket money. Your average educated music listener has already downloaded their music straight to their MP3 from an online source and due to the lack of need to hear a track on the radio the story of that track is often lost in translation.
A rare modern day example of politically charged music was Eminem’s Mosh which was a direct criticism of George Bush. Netting the star millions through sales the track had no discernible impact on the election at all. While the intention to force change may have initially been there the only reason this got any kind of distribution is due to the star having already made a fortune before he thought about developing a social conscience and because of the greed of an industry always looking for a new angle to drive sales. There is no sentiment in business and the music industry execs are no fools when it comes to making huge profits from doing very little work. The artists break their backs making tracks and then the industry decides what should be successful. Success for the artist often comes down to knowing the right people or having the right look. The Beatles nowadays would have been dressed up in tank tops and told to dance around whilst playing and probably in all honesty not even signed due to their average looks.
Why you may ask do you never hear stories of songs being banned from radio or TV, well they say it’s due to the fact that the media has become more open to differing views and beliefs. This sadly is an exaggeration; the truth is that the most politically charged songs out there never get picked up. You don’t often hear a band that have managed to keep a hold of their ethics through the clouds of drugs, money, women and status. Not an easy task given that they are signed to a label for multi album deals rendering all their material mutable. Again you may find this frustrating and you may also want to do something about it, the only thing to do is to continue to try to bring change to the music industry through ignoring radio stations and record labels that try to strangle the talent in this country. Online music piracy is going a long way towards destroying the traditional music industry, however the days of revolutionary music against the politics of a specific country being accepted by the masses appear to be gone and if the Iraq war, economic global meltdown and atrocities of human rights abuses aren’t enough to pull us all together then what will be?
This article was written while listening to Dead Prez - Hip Hop, Tori Amos - God, Johnny Cash - San Quentin, Bob Dylan - These times they are a Changing and The Beatles - Revolution.
Written by Scottish Steve
[Home ] [About] [Contact] [Fans] [Site Map]
© 2008 Vinyl Puppet