Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

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Hype
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Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#1 Post by Hype » Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:15 am

A couple of other recent threads got me thinking about the role of music in communicating political and social realities. There are some bands/singers that are too obvious: the union songwriters of the 1930s, Bob Dylan, RATM, lots of blues and punk. And there are some famous songs. But what about other less well known (to North Americans, anyway) stuff?

Here's a classic Caribbean song about racial issues:


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guysmiley
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#2 Post by guysmiley » Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:00 am

A few


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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#3 Post by guysmiley » Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:06 am


Somehow always took most of there music as political.

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Artemis
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#4 Post by Artemis » Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:03 am

Army Dreamers by Kate Bush
The 1980 single Army Dreamers proves that BUSH was not afraid to discuss delicate political issues. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of the UK. The Iron Lady ruined the living conditions of the lower class and many young men tried to escape unemployment by joining the army. In the song a mother weeps over her son, who was killed in the army.


Army Dreamers reflects war’s brutality and emotional devastation from a Mother’s perspective for her deceased son, who had served in the British army. Army Dreamers emphasised emotions experienced by losing a loved one to war, why it can be a heartbreaking experience. Army Dreamers was released in late 1980, it coincidentally coincided with events leading up to the Falklands War, a conflict between Britain and Argentina over territorial occupation of the Falkland Islands. As a result the BBC, Britain’s leading radio and television broadcaster, banned songs with anti-war sentiments including Army Dreamers. It has been argued Army Dreamers’ themes were ‘poignant and imaginative in its evocation of utter waste’ [4]. This is a description which lends itself to the argument of Bush’s music containing a storytelling quality, where listeners become absorbed into the song as it explores anti-war themes:

Mourning in the aerodrome,
The weather warmer, he is colder.
Four men in uniform
To carry home my little soldier.


Bush allows listeners to engage the Mother’s grieving thought process. The Mother is so entrenched in grief that she analyses surroundings in relation to her deceased son, such as the warm weather containing a better condition than her deceased son’s corpse. This description reflects Army Dreamers containing a storytelling quality, as the lyrics place listeners subjectively within the Mother’s distress. The Mother’s nurturing instinct was conveyed in Army Dreamers‘ video by representing the decreased son as a young boy. Since Army Dreamers is from the Mother’s perspective, the deceased solider being seen as a young boy lets listeners experience the Mother’s emotional reflectivity. This is repeated in Army Dreamers’ chorus:

Should have been a rock star.
But he didn’t have the money for a guitar.
What could he do?
Should have been a politician.
But he never had a proper education.
What could he do?
Should have been a father.
But he never even made it to his twenties.
What a waste —
Army dreamers.


Army Dreamers‘ chorus reflects the Mother’s ambitions for her decreased son. He could have been successful yet circumstances played against him. These tragic repercussions play out in the video as a motif, where the Mother sees her deceased son hiding behind a tree in army uniform. The Mother runs to her deceased son, yet when reaching the tree he has disappeared, representing his death as well as opportunities he could have had. The emotional devastation of this motif enhances Army Dreamers’ storytelling quality as it lingers beyond its video. This lingering effect underlines Army Dreamers’ storytelling qualities because its themes could engage listeners beyond its lyrics and video by understanding the Mother’s emotions in context of war.

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mockbee
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#5 Post by mockbee » Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:47 am



Choas! Where did your post go........? I thought I saw this earlier.




"Talkin' Bout A Revolution"

Don't you know
They're talkin' bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Don't you know
They're talkin' about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper

While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion

Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take what's theirs

Don't you know
You better run, run, run...
Oh I said you better Run, run, run...
Finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin' bout a revolution
:worship:


Perfect segue to some Killing Joke...... :hehe: (most of their content I would call socially/politically motivated)



:rockon:

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chaos
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#6 Post by chaos » Wed Mar 25, 2015 8:22 am

mockbee wrote:

Choas! Where did your post go........? I thought I saw this earlier.
Yeah, I took it down since I initially misread Hype's post: he asked for "lesser known" songs.

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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#7 Post by mockbee » Wed Mar 25, 2015 9:52 am

Well, I'd say this thread isn't bursting at the seams to warrant the congé of Tracy Chapman...... :wink:

:cool:

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Hype
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#8 Post by Hype » Wed Mar 25, 2015 10:58 am

Good stuff.

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Artemis
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#9 Post by Artemis » Wed Mar 25, 2015 10:59 am

This is a pretty powerful and moving song.


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Essence_Smith
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#10 Post by Essence_Smith » Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:49 pm




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Hype
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#11 Post by Hype » Wed Mar 25, 2015 2:54 pm

Essence_Smith wrote:

Dude, I know you've got some less well-known stuff up your sleeve. :wink:

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Artemis
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#12 Post by Artemis » Wed Mar 25, 2015 4:52 pm

Yip Harburg and Jay Gorney’s parable about the human indiginity of hardship may have come out of the American Depression of the 1930s, but it’s a telling soundtrack for any era of economic suffering. The gorgeous tune and the crooner’s effortless art enhance the bewilderment of someone grappling with shattered pride, but the song’s underlying bitterness is there in the opening line: “They used to tell me I was building a dream…”

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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#13 Post by Essence_Smith » Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:27 pm

Adurentibus Spina wrote:Dude, I know you've got some less well-known stuff up your sleeve. :wink:
:noclue:
You asked for it...

I don't know if this is what was intended for this thread, but whether you agree with what he's trying to do, this is one of the most powerful uses of the medium of rap imho...this is what it could actually be used for, but of course it will NEVER go back to those days...

Lyrics here: http://genius.com/Ras-kass-nature-of-the-threat-lyrics


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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#14 Post by perkana » Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:45 am

I love this Argentinian troupe called Les Luthiers. They are famous in all Latinamerican. This is one of my favorite pieces or acts of them, about how we were 'discovered'. It has subtitles.


This song is also very important to us. When Spain wanted to make a big celebration about the discovery of the Americas back in 1992. We opted out as well as other Latinamerican countries.

There are more composers that I like like Chava Flores. But their songs are in Spanish.

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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#15 Post by erotic cheeses » Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:31 pm

Artemis wrote:Army Dreamers by Kate Bush
The 1980 single Army Dreamers proves that BUSH was not afraid to discuss delicate political issues. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of the UK. The Iron Lady ruined the living conditions of the lower class and many young men tried to escape unemployment by joining the army. In the song a mother weeps over her son, who was killed in the army.


Army Dreamers reflects war’s brutality and emotional devastation from a Mother’s perspective for her deceased son, who had served in the British army. Army Dreamers emphasised emotions experienced by losing a loved one to war, why it can be a heartbreaking experience. Army Dreamers was released in late 1980, it coincidentally coincided with events leading up to the Falklands War, a conflict between Britain and Argentina over territorial occupation of the Falkland Islands. As a result the BBC, Britain’s leading radio and television broadcaster, banned songs with anti-war sentiments including Army Dreamers. It has been argued Army Dreamers’ themes were ‘poignant and imaginative in its evocation of utter waste’ [4]. This is a description which lends itself to the argument of Bush’s music containing a storytelling quality, where listeners become absorbed into the song as it explores anti-war themes:

Mourning in the aerodrome,
The weather warmer, he is colder.
Four men in uniform
To carry home my little soldier.


Bush allows listeners to engage the Mother’s grieving thought process. The Mother is so entrenched in grief that she analyses surroundings in relation to her deceased son, such as the warm weather containing a better condition than her deceased son’s corpse. This description reflects Army Dreamers containing a storytelling quality, as the lyrics place listeners subjectively within the Mother’s distress. The Mother’s nurturing instinct was conveyed in Army Dreamers‘ video by representing the decreased son as a young boy. Since Army Dreamers is from the Mother’s perspective, the deceased solider being seen as a young boy lets listeners experience the Mother’s emotional reflectivity. This is repeated in Army Dreamers’ chorus:

Should have been a rock star.
But he didn’t have the money for a guitar.
What could he do?
Should have been a politician.
But he never had a proper education.
What could he do?
Should have been a father.
But he never even made it to his twenties.
What a waste —
Army dreamers.


Army Dreamers‘ chorus reflects the Mother’s ambitions for her decreased son. He could have been successful yet circumstances played against him. These tragic repercussions play out in the video as a motif, where the Mother sees her deceased son hiding behind a tree in army uniform. The Mother runs to her deceased son, yet when reaching the tree he has disappeared, representing his death as well as opportunities he could have had. The emotional devastation of this motif enhances Army Dreamers’ storytelling quality as it lingers beyond its video. This lingering effect underlines Army Dreamers’ storytelling qualities because its themes could engage listeners beyond its lyrics and video by understanding the Mother’s emotions in context of war.

Nice one art gotta love army dreamers

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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#16 Post by Pandemonium » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:50 pm

I could fill pages with clips from Killing Joke, so I'll abstain and leave that to Mockbee. So here's a few clips from other favorites of mine:




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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#17 Post by mockbee » Sun Apr 05, 2015 9:27 pm

Pandemonium wrote:I could fill pages with clips from Killing Joke, so I'll abstain and leave that to Mockbee.
Okay! :wave:

I wouldn't say this song has an explicit political/social motive, but i'd say it obviously spurs feelings of collective struggle due to the oppression we inflict on ourselves.....which I guess is at the heart of it all.





Slow the procession that moves down
The road as they mourn
Hearts that are heavy
No burden unloaded
No resolution
No retribution
The madness must stop now
No No
Whisper the dead to the living
They can't hear it's cold

But in the sadness that pierces my heart
Seeds we sow
And in the end all we have is each other
Zennon (x4)

Molded by computer archetypes
Killing is fun
Nervous the young boy his first job
He lifts up his gun
Victims of circumstance
Products of what we've begun
Wide open mouths as the killer
He knows what he's done

:banana: :scared:

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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#18 Post by mockbee » Sun Apr 05, 2015 9:30 pm

Artemis wrote:This is a pretty powerful and moving song.

love this.

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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#19 Post by clickie » Mon Apr 06, 2015 4:48 am

Wasnt Midnight Oil a band that sorta had a message in their music. A more recent band I can think of is System of a Down.

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Artemis
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#20 Post by Artemis » Mon Sep 28, 2015 6:18 pm

Blue Rodeo just released a protest song.

A MODERN DAY PROTEST SONG AND VIDEO
“I didn’t want to talk about it, so I wrote a song about it.”
Greg Keelor

Compelled to add their voice to the chorus of voices protesting Prime Minister Harper’s Conservative government, Blue Rodeo has written the modern day protest song “Stealin’ All My Dreams”.

Recorded and filmed on September 9, 2015, the song and video chronicle the failings of the current government and asks the question, “Have you forgotten that you work for me?”

“Blue Rodeo does not always speak with one voice. However we feel collectively that the current administration in Canada has taken us down the wrong path. We do not seem to be the compassionate and environmentally conscious nation we once were. As respectful as we are of the variety of opinions held by our audience, ‎we felt it was time to speak up and add our voice to the conversation.”
Jim Cuddy


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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#21 Post by Romeo » Wed Sep 30, 2015 8:54 am



Strange Fruit
Song by Billie Holiday

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop

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Artemis
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Re: Music with Social and Political Motives/Messages

#22 Post by Artemis » Sat Jun 15, 2019 7:18 am

Donald Trump-themed protest song sung to the tune of 'Jane Says'


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