Music and politics
[14] Many topical songwriters with social and political messages emerged from the folk music revival of the 1960s, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs,[15] Tom Paxton, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, and others.
[25] Nevertheless, the rhetoric of the United States government during the Cold War era was very powerful and in some ways overpowered the message of folk artists, such as in relation to public opinion regarding Communist-backed political causes.
[26] Leading figures in the American folk revival such as Seeger, Earl Robinson and Irwin Silber were or had been members of the Communist Party, while others such as Guthrie (who had written a column for CPUSA magazine New Masses), Lee Hays and Paul Robeson were considered fellow travellers.
Baez's 1974 Gracias a la Vida[30] album was a response to events in Chile and included versions of songs by Nueva Canción Chilena singer-songwriters Violeta Parra and Víctor Jara.
[36] Since the 1980s, a number of artists have blended folk protest with influences from punk and elsewhere to produce topical and political songs for a modern independent rock music audience, including Billy Bragg,[37] Attila the Stockbroker,[38] Robb Johnson,[39] Alistair Hulett,[40] The Men They Couldn't Hang,[41] TV Smith,[42] Chumbawamba[43] and more recently Chris T-T[44] and Grace Petrie.
[45] In Ireland, the Wolfe Tones is perhaps the best known band in the folk protest/rebel music tradition, recording political material since the late 1960s including songs by Dominic Behan on albums such as Let the People Sing and Rifles of the I.R.A.
[49] During the late twentieth century folk music was crucial in Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia as it allowed ethnicities to express their national identity in a time of political uncertainty and chaos.
[51] An example of folk music being used for conservative, rather than radical, political ends is shown by the cultural activities of Edward Lansdale, a CIA chief who dedicated part of his career to counter-insurgency in the Philippines and Vietnam.
Written by Communist Lewis Allan, and also recorded by Josh White and Nina Simone, it addressed Southern racism, specifically the lynching of African-Americans, and was performed as a protest song in New York venues, including Madison Square Gardens.
In the post-war era, J.B. Lenoir gained a reputation for political and social comment; his record label pulled the planned release of 1954 single "Eisenhower Blues" due to its title[54] and later material protested civil rights, racism and the Vietnam War.
[56] Paul Robeson, singer, actor, athlete, and civil rights activist, was investigated by the FBI and was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) for his outspoken political views.
In a symbolic act of defiance against the travel ban, labour unions in the U.S. and Canada organised a concert at the International Peace Arch on the border between Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia on May 18, 1952.
Meanwhile, structures of power within the jazz industry continuously placed pressures on this "new thing" so that it would assimilate in to normalized cultural standards, thus destroying its significance as a call for social and political change.
As economist and musician Sumangala Damodaran explains, lyrics intertwined with activism are shaping the vast region's political landscape, creating a repertoire of new genres, and inspiring new generations of artists to do the same.
Musical artists from across Latin America have contributed to the fight political issues occurring in their specific countries, like Bad Bunny for Puerto Rico and Los Tigres del Norte for Mexico.
In a Remezcla article, Julyssa Lopez discloses that the genre focused on socially and politically conscious lyrics, often addressing the oppression and inequality experienced by marginalized communities, especially the Indigenous culture.
[66] Global languages and cultures professor Robert Neustadt affirms that artists like Violeta Parra, Víctor Jara, and Inti-Ilimani used their music to speak out against censorship, state violence, and human rights abuses.
Each genre serves as a platform for various forms of activism, addressing issues such as gun violence, immigration, drug crime, governmental matters in Mexico and the United States, and corruption through their powerful lyrics.
Many rock artists, as varied as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young,[81] Bruce Springsteen,[82] Little Steven,[83] Rage Against the Machine,[84] Radiohead,[85] Manic Street Preachers,[86] Megadeth,[87] Enter Shikari,[88] Architects,[89] Muse, System of a Down,[90] Sonic Boom Six[91] and Drive-By Truckers[92] have had openly political messages in their music.
During the 1960s and early 1970s counterculture era, musicians such as John Lennon commonly expressed protest themes in their music,[94] for example on the Plastic Ono Band's 1969 single "Give Peace a Chance".
MC5 was the only band to perform a set before the August 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, as part of the Yippies' Festival of Life where an infamous riot subsequently broke out between police and students protesting the April assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Vietnam War.
Notable punk rock bands, such as Crass, Conflict, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Refused, American Standards, Discharge, MDC, Aus-Rotten, Billy Talent, Anti-Flag, and Leftöver Crack have used political and sometimes controversial lyrics that attack the establishment, sexism, capitalism, racism, speciesism, colonialism, and other phenomena they see as sources of social problems.
Many punk musicians, such as Vic Bondi (Articles of Faith), Joey Keithley (DOA), Tim McIlrath (Rise Against), The Crucifucks, Bad Religion, The Proletariat, Against All Authority, Dropkick Murphys and Crashdog have held and expressed left-wing views.
However, some punk bands have expressed more populist and conservative opinions, and an ambiguous form of patriotism, beginning in the U.S. with many of the groups associated with 1980s New York hardcore,[113] and prior to that in the UK with a small section of the Oi!
[119] This became a form of protest against the xenophobia that exists against the community in the US Lead singer of Rage Against the Machine, Zach De La Rocha is introduced by Los Tigres del Norte for their MTV Unplugged performance in 2011.
Zach De La Rocha has described being interested in "...spreading those ideas through art, because music has the power to cross borders, to break military sieges and to establish real dialogue.
[citation needed] Will Hermes, in his critique in Rolling Stone, commented: "It's probably not going to win any awards for songcraft and rapping, but in the wake of movies like Django Unchained and Lincoln, it shows how fraught racial dialogue remains in America.
"[172] In 2004 a neo-Nazi record company launched "Project Schoolyard" to distribute free CDs of the music into the hands of up to 100,000 teenagers throughout the U.S., their website stated, "We just don't entertain racist kids ... We create them.
Despite the opposition event highlighting human rights abuses regarding the military lockdown of Kashmir, the populist view of Modi as a purifier of corruption and defender of the Indian people persists among much of India.
In the United States, musicians including Neil Young, the Dropkick Murphys and Explosions in the Sky have taken issue with or action against such politicians as President Donald Trump, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
