Political activism in music - are we doing our duty

~~The Unfan~~ · 06-26-2007, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sound Devastation

A recent survey of my university showed that the majority of students would vote conservative. Our generation doesnt care - doesnt care about politics OR music and certainly doesnt care about the relationship between the two.. they just want a comfy easy life with some catchy background music to listen to.

This part of your post intrigues me. Can you give more information about this survey? Also, what do you do (if anything) to try and help political and musical awareness?

Sound Devastation · 06-26-2007, 03:22 AM

It was a general student survey on the political views of my uni... i took part, and received a few statistics.. dunno any more about it. It just shocked me, as i always thought the student population were generally more liberal, and expected our generation at least to be more green.

i will admit i dont do enough to promote political awareness - i dont even know enough to know where to start, i just have my own opinions which i try to spread around a bit. If i had enough time i'd join the young greens.. but i spend all my time on my record label, which brings me to musical awareness... My record label releases bands, distributes and promotes all across the UK an we have strong contacts in europe and the states.. we also buy in wholesale from other labels to make obscure but brilliant releases easier for our fans to get hold of... i do the best i possibly can in this field!

Moon Pix · 06-26-2007, 02:34 PM

I very recently finished reading a book called Arguments for Socialism. It was written by the British left wing politician Tony Benn in 1979 and focuses on issues such as Trade Unionism, the European Union and the lack of accountability in government. In all of these examples he lays out how socialism could be implemented to get the United kingdom out of the rut it was in going into the 1980s.

The point Im making is that Tony Benn, a highly articulate politician and in my opinion one of the great champions of socialism, decided that to properly lay out a precise theory and to properly explain his take on socialism in a comprehensive way he needed to write a book, in this case a book that just under 200 pages long. A 4 minute pop song cannot even begin to present such a refined and in depth study of any political issue because of its sheer brevity. Because of this pop musicians attempts at presenting a political message have never amounted to more than sloganeering and rhetoric and thats goes for Woody Guthrie and John Lennon too. Writing "This Machine Kills Faschists" on your guitar doesnt mean you actually understand the machinations of a facism or communist government. Similarly RATM can say smash the state in 4 minutes. What they cant explain in 4 minutes is how you go about smashing the state, what you replace it with and how you go about doing that.

The pop musicians approach to politics amounts to nothing because there isnt the political theory behind it and political theory cant be explained in 4 minutes or by wearing a Che Guevarra T shirt.

Alexander the Grape · 06-26-2007, 04:10 PM

Good lyrics should be like good poetry in that they say more than just what's on the surface. Of course you probably won't find such lyrics in pop music. Pop music isn't the only music out there, and its obviously the worst choice if you're looking for genuinely politically aware lyrics.

One political song doesn't have to fully elaborate on every aspect of a musician's political ideology. Musicians who are truly passionate about politics write more than one political song anyways. For example, Propagandhi is a great political band. None of their songs could be considered a catch-all manifesto for their political views, but I own all of their CDs and listening to their songs you get a good idea of their beliefs. They certainly know what they are talking about. Each song tackles a different topic, and they are fairly in depth, especially the newer stuff.

Plus I believe that the purpose of political music is to inspire in the listener the desire to become more politically aware and active, not to be the only source of political information for a person. Obviously you shouldn't just take all of your political beliefs from music, but it can lead you to look into politics and find out for yourself. In this way it serves as a sort of primer or catalyst, and therefore it can have an impact and aid in bringing about change.... hopefully. I'm still skeptical.

joyboyo53 · 06-26-2007, 04:36 PM

seeing as how the trend to write really long post for this thread im gonna break out of the ordinary cycle and just say i disagree. hows that for originality?

TheBig3 · 06-28-2007, 12:06 AM

Does it take a rocket scientist to realize their appealing to the liberal fan base because their coountry fan base is shot?

06-26-2007, 03:22 AM	#22 (permalink)
Sound Devastation Music Addict Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 728	It was a general student survey on the political views of my uni... i took part, and received a few statistics.. dunno any more about it. It just shocked me, as i always thought the student population were generally more liberal, and expected our generation at least to be more green. i will admit i dont do enough to promote political awareness - i dont even know enough to know where to start, i just have my own opinions which i try to spread around a bit. If i had enough time i'd join the young greens.. but i spend all my time on my record label, which brings me to musical awareness... My record label releases bands, distributes and promotes all across the UK an we have strong contacts in europe and the states.. we also buy in wholesale from other labels to make obscure but brilliant releases easier for our fans to get hold of... i do the best i possibly can in this field! __________________ Out soon... AMENRA - Mass III 2xLP [stunning vinyl release of the belgian sludgecore giants epic 06 album] FALL OF EFRAFA - Owsla & Elil CD&LP [British crust/doom/post-metal band Fall of Efrafa deliver part two (Elil) on their dark conceptual trilogy. Part one (Owsla) will also be re-released for the first time in the UK] *** visit... Sound Devastation Records website**

06-26-2007, 02:34 PM	#23 (permalink)
Moon Pix In a very sad sad zoo Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: "Out on tour with Smashing Pumpkins, nature kids, they don't have no function" Posts: 363	I very recently finished reading a book called Arguments for Socialism. It was written by the British left wing politician Tony Benn in 1979 and focuses on issues such as Trade Unionism, the European Union and the lack of accountability in government. In all of these examples he lays out how socialism could be implemented to get the United kingdom out of the rut it was in going into the 1980s. The point Im making is that Tony Benn, a highly articulate politician and in my opinion one of the great champions of socialism, decided that to properly lay out a precise theory and to properly explain his take on socialism in a comprehensive way he needed to write a book, in this case a book that just under 200 pages long. A 4 minute pop song cannot even begin to present such a refined and in depth study of any political issue because of its sheer brevity. Because of this pop musicians attempts at presenting a political message have never amounted to more than sloganeering and rhetoric and thats goes for Woody Guthrie and John Lennon too. Writing "This Machine Kills Faschists" on your guitar doesnt mean you actually understand the machinations of a facism or communist government. Similarly RATM can say smash the state in 4 minutes. What they cant explain in 4 minutes is how you go about smashing the state, what you replace it with and how you go about doing that. The pop musicians approach to politics amounts to nothing because there isnt the political theory behind it and political theory cant be explained in 4 minutes or by wearing a Che Guevarra T shirt. __________________ There’s a dream that I see, I pray it can be Look 'cross the land, shake this land - "Maybe Not", C. Marshall

06-26-2007, 04:10 PM	#24 (permalink)
Alexander the Grape Un****withable Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Wyoming Posts: 196	Good lyrics should be like good poetry in that they say more than just what's on the surface. Of course you probably won't find such lyrics in pop music. Pop music isn't the only music out there, and its obviously the worst choice if you're looking for genuinely politically aware lyrics. One political song doesn't have to fully elaborate on every aspect of a musician's political ideology. Musicians who are truly passionate about politics write more than one political song anyways. For example, Propagandhi is a great political band. None of their songs could be considered a catch-all manifesto for their political views, but I own all of their CDs and listening to their songs you get a good idea of their beliefs. They certainly know what they are talking about. Each song tackles a different topic, and they are fairly in depth, especially the newer stuff. Plus I believe that the purpose of political music is to inspire in the listener the desire to become more politically aware and active, not to be the only source of political information for a person. Obviously you shouldn't just take all of your political beliefs from music, but it can lead you to look into politics and find out for yourself. In this way it serves as a sort of primer or catalyst, and therefore it can have an impact and aid in bringing about change.... hopefully. I'm still skeptical. __________________ I'm back like JC lol.

06-28-2007, 12:06 AM	#26 (permalink)
TheBig3 killedmyraindog Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 11,172	Does it take a rocket scientist to realize their appealing to the liberal fan base because their coountry fan base is shot? __________________ I've moved to a new address

06-26-2007, 04:36 PM	#25 (permalink)
joyboyo53 down the rabbit hole Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: the mountain called monkey Posts: 764	seeing as how the trend to write really long post for this thread im gonna break out of the ordinary cycle and just say i disagree. hows that for originality?