Since the first time a caveman picked up a mammoth bone and started banging it on a rock in a vaguely rhythmic manner, the political song has been part of our lives, writes Will Blake.
From the ancient Greeks singing Homer’s epics, laden with not-so-subtle racial propaganda, and bards in mediaeval Europe playing tunes which celebrated the feats of the noble Knights of the day.
And let’s not overlook “God Save the Queen” or “Rule Britannia,” songs which drill into us a sense of patriotism and subservience to crown and country.
In the second half of the 20th century, a new breed of political song against the injustices of the day emerged, striking fear in the hearts of all fascists and advocates of the Vietnam War. Many were written by Bob Dylan.
Particularly on his early records, Dylan sang about the warmongerers of the time. Never could there be an angrier and more overtly political song than Masters of War where Dylan sings: “You hide in your mansion, while the young people’s blood, flows out of their bodies and is buried in the mud”.
But who is today’s Dylan ? The first thought would be no one, and if this is the case then why? Some may argue that there is no great injustice, such as the Vietnam War, around which everyone can rally.
This is simply not true. Look at the unpopularity of George Bush and the Iraq War among today’s young people. So which bands or political singer-songwriters enjoy success on a wide scale today?
The most obvious might be the pop-punk giants Green Day. Their last album went multi-platinum, due to the bouncy pseudo-political hits such as American Idiot. There lyric material is filled with anti-Bush anti-war sentiments but they just don’t seem to cut it.
I think it’s to do with our preconceptions as to what a protest singer should be. The image of someone who dons a guitar, a harmonica and a packet of Marlboro Lights (with the voice of a 25-year-long chain smoker) seems to be needed for someone’s political views to be taken seriously.
Last year 19-year-old Willy Mason released Where the Humans Eat, an incredibly mature folk-blues album with sharp observational lyrics ranging from war to mental illness to his pet dog. The single Oxygen has quickly become a protest anthem for the new generation of young song writers, setting him apart from the James Blunts of this world.
"We can be richer than industry, as long as we know that they’re things that we don’t really need” sings Mason with his astoundingly mature voice for a 19 year old.
He certainly fits the picture I painted of a protest signer. His songs are very low key, centred around folk/blues guitar with the occasional tambourine as accompaniment and his voice does sound like he’s worked his way through a fair few packs of B&H.
System of a Down seem to break the folksinger mould. Singer Serj Tankian has informed, clever lyrics about a wide range of issues, although mainly focusing on American foreign policy. He has also set up the “Axis off Justice” movement with former Rage against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.
They have put on a number of successful charity gigs and raised thousands for worthy causes. So is action outside music more important than simply singing about the world’s troubles? Chris Martin seems to think so. He has done as much as anyone of late for environmental causes, but no more than about three Coldplay songs have any political leanings. Does he feel that politics and music don’t mix? Perhaps Martin feels that with love songs such as Trouble he can reach more people than he would if he wrote a scathing ballad about the meat industry.
But political music is still with us. Maybe not at the forefront of popularity, but always there to be found lingering in the background. After all, everyone has heard Chris Martin go on about fair trade; his message has reached millions of people. As long as there is a starving child or an impoverished Mexican worker there will be musicians twitching to solve the world’s wrongs through music.
All together now “Feed the world; let them know it's Christmas time.”
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