Music With a Message. Protest Songs

Transcription

1 Music With a Message Protest Songs

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4 As long as there have been social injustices, there have been people who protest these injustices. Music has long been an expression of freedom, peace and justice. Throughout American history, songs have cried out against inequality, poverty, and in support of workers civil and human rights.

5 How does contemporary music reflect the voice of the people? Protest songs: help to challenge pre-established views. provide space for social movements, political expression, and a way of joining people together for a common cause. are instruments of progressive form that throughout the century have built on one another to implement social change. songs and music have served as catalysts for thought, action and even social change.

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7 What is a protest song? A song to protest current economic, political or social problems. A protest song highlights popular struggles against an idea, group or individual figurehead. These songs are associated with all styles and genres of music, though they have historically been found in folk music. Songs often tackle issues of social or economic justice, antiwar sentiment.

8 Important Events that Inspired Protest ( s) Labor movements WWI & WWII The Great Depression & Dust Bowl Nuclear proliferation

9 Woody Guthrie Dust Bowl Troubadour Born: July 14, 1912 in Oklahoma Music provides a snapshot of American social and political life in the 30s and 40s. Songs dealt with social injustice, economic inequality, disillusionment with capitalism Inspiration/mentor to Bob Dylan

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11 This Land is Your Land Written in 1940, melody inspired by gospel songs Original title was God Bless America for Me, written as a protest against Irving Berlin s God Bless America Main idea: wealth should be made available to everyone (communist ideals) Lyrics changed between the first version and second

12 We Shall Overcome, Charles Tindley The greatest protest song of all time was born during a strike in Charleston, South Carolina. Taking their text from a 1900 gospel song by Charles Tindley ( I ll Overcome ), workers of the Negro Food and Tobacco Unions sang, We Shall Overcome. The song would go on to become the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement and beyond.

13 Protest Songs: 1960s Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, equal rights campaigns, etc.

14 How many roads most a man walk down Before you call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly Before they're forever banned? The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind. Blowin in the Wind, Bob Dylan Yes, how many years can a mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, how many times can a man turn his head Pretending he just doesn't see? The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind. Yes, how many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died? The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind.

15 Eve of Destruction

16 Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fortunate Son

17 Protest Songs: 1970s By the late 1960s, rockers used their music to explore the cultural and political divides of the era. Rock became louder, angrier, and darker than it had been earlier in the decade. Rock gave voice to all of the fury and frenzy of a society in breakdown. Aretha Franklin (Respect) Jim Morrison (Waiting for the Sun, The Unknown Soldier) Jimi Hendrix (lighting guitar on fire at Monterey Pop Festival)

18 In response to anti-war protestors at Kent State who were gunned down by the National Guard, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young were inspired to write Ohio. 67 Ohio National Guardsmen fired on protestors wounding 9 and killing 4 unarmed students Memorialized in a song by the same name, Tin soldiers and Nixon coming We re finally on our own This summer I hear the drumming Four Dead in Ohio Buffalo Springfield wrote about the same incident: You step out of line, the man come and take you away. Protest Songs: 1970s

19 Protest Songs: 1970s Soul music overtakes folk music: Marvin Gaye, What s Going On? Gil Scott Heron, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Women s rights make an appearance: Helen Reddy, I Am Woman (anthem for the women s liberation movement)

20 Protest Songs: 1980s In the 80s, two new forms grabbed the mike of protest. The Punk movement combined anger, alienation and politics in songs. Rap also emerged as a protest genre. Anti-establishment theme continues. Protest songs focused on continuing racism, economic disparity and Reagan s social/economic policies

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22 Grandmaster Flash s The Message I can t take the smell, I can t take the noise Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice Rats in the front room, roaches in the back Junkie s in the alley with a baseball bat I tried to get away, but I couldn t get far Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed my car Don t push me, cause I m close to the edge I m trying not to lose my head It s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder How I keep from going under.

23 Billy Joel, Allentown

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