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My Investigation of Political Music.
This is an essay I did for school recently, i passed it too :P
Research Report: The Language of Political Music.
For my language topic I decided to take a look into the world of political language merging with music, and its effects. I wanted to find out, how music becomes political and how different tragedies, and important events, effect the music. As well as how governments can harness music as a tool of political gain.
How does a song or piece of music become political?
In order for a piece of music to have political content, the writer or lyricist of the song must have some kind of political influence that has given them inspiration. Usually a political song is a song of discontentment over a current government, or political decision. In a discussion from Wikipedia.com, we see that, “the style of music was often used as an anti-establishment or protest theme, although pro-establishment ideas are also used, for example in national anthems, and in the 70’s, folk music had a tradition of political discontent, with songs sung to commemorate popular uprisings and strikes, and to protest against injustice and social inequity.” Thus we see that people have been inspired to add political input into all types of music, from “national anthems, to folk music”, for years. The input has not always been political issues either, but social issues as well. Now looking back in time further we see that even Beethoven, the obvious pioneer in classic music, had some political motives, because he “removed a dedication to Napoleon from his Third Symphony to protest against Napoleon crowning himself Emperor.” So in Beethoven’s case, political protests are not necessarily outward, verbal, protests. They can also be discreet and silent, yet contain the same powerful message.
Since 9/11 how has political music changed its direction?
Since the well known terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, and Americas’ instigation of the War on Iraq, it seems that my generation of political music has changed forever, because most songs that you now hear on the radio are about our current struggle with the Middle East or the condemnation of George W. Bush. One example of this extremity in political music was when the three piece country/pop band, the Dixie Chicks, were, “boycotted and had albums destroyed by radio stations following remarks that were critical of President George W. Bush” said a report on “Censored Musicians”, from Wikipedia.com. So since 9/11, it seems that every artist, and musician, is trying to get on the political bandwagon regardless if they are based as a political musician or not, because, before the Dixie Chicks released their “controversial” album no one had really heard of them at all. Another example of this change is the punk-rock band Green Day, who were catapulted to a household name with their 6th album called “American Idiot” which contained the song of the same name. The lyrics for the song “American Idiot” were highly offensive to some people and to the Bush administration. Some of the lyrics were, “Don't wanna be an American idiot / I'm not a part of a redneck agenda/The subliminal mind****, America.” So when it was released, it was obviously targeted, by many people, for being overly brash and immature, which recently has been followed up by being accused of containing “calculated Anti-Americanism.” So as these quotes suggest, Green Day, have given this song a political message because of the intense disagreement toward the Bush Administration, and its current allies. But if we notice all of the negative signs, it seems that all Green Day’s message does is harness attention from President Bush’s high media coverage to simply increase their own popularity, which is not the correct motive for political music at all.
How has music been used as a political tool?
When a president, or certain government leader or party, goes into an election battle or some kind political debate, they often carry along with them a famous song or a song enjoyed by either of the candidates. In modern times for example, the New Zealand National party chose a Neil Diamond song, but this stratagem is basically harmless fun. But what happens when governments use music in their advantage in order to gain control, or some kind of political ground?
Looking deeper into this question, we find that music-influenced political tools became in use rather early as showed by the National Socialist Party of Germany (the Nazi party) in the 1940’s. “The music of the German masters (Beethoven primary among them) was pushed hard by the NS Cultural Community (NS Kulturgemeinde) in an effort to associate those composers with the Nazi party. The Nazified hero image of Beethoven was so strong, that his music eventually became a part of the rituals and practices of the Third Reich.” This example shows us that music influenced with a political image, eg: The Nazified Beethoven, can be a very overwhelming and powerful tool in convincing or capturing the attention of the public eye when in a political battle.
Another example, of a music-influenced political tool, is in Korea, who are currently at odds with Japan over the history these two countries share. “They (Korea) have stoked a political fire by preventing the import of all Japanese artistic materials. Chief among these is music, preferably Japanese pop music, colloquially known as J-Pop. But why is it that J-Pop is being so stringently denied to South Korean citizens? Well South Korea's deep resentment stems from their colonization by Japan from 1910-1945 and the brutal treatment they received therein. Basically, Korea does not like how Japan treated them and since Japan has not made an effort to apologize, Korea wants nothing to do with them.” So obviously Korea does not want Japanese music to enter their country because of Japans previous political influences. Basically “J-pop” or anything of Japanese art is being used as a political tool, and if the Korean people buy the Japanese products, they would be supporting their political enemies.
Conclusion
Overall in this investigation, I have seen how the language of political music is conceived, how it can change over time, as well as how it can be used for governmental power. Judging by my findings I have noticed how divided opinions are when it concerns political motivated artists, and the propaganda surrounding them. And in one last word of advice, I found this report concerning political artists being judged, from a Jonsworld.com. “Politically motivated music is here to stay and no-one ought to criticize the music of one activist in the light that "this has been done before". As with all things, the real measure of its content is the logical end result of its message, if that is evil in nature then that musician is most to be shunned.”
Bibliography:
“Politics in Music”, from Wikipedia.com
“Censorship in Music”, from Wikipedia.com
“Music as political weaponry”, from Everything2.com
“Criticizing Political Music”, from Jonsworld.com
Lyrics from Green Day - “American Idiot”
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