Where are the great political responses to the state of the world from the musical community?
In the past there was the rise of Punk with the likes of the Clash and the Sex Pistols protesting against the "ruling classes".
Given the state of the political landscape in the recent past.
Brexit, Putin, Trump, Bolsonaro, Boris etc etc.
I've not heard a similar response to modern times.
The last great political album I can think of is Gallows- Grey Britain. A vitriolic response to the pre-Brexit UK landscape.
Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place & this sentiment is being expressed in Grime or another genre I don't listen to.
What are the greatest musical political statements past and present?
Comments
5 years old and still rings true, only the names have changed.
Maybe my songs were just shit, as the "anti leftist/Marxist/woke" crowd seem to give Lennon's Imagine a free pass.
So now I keep my politics to myself and just take the pee out of whoever is in number ten and eleven with passive aggressive jokes
I shall not link to it, for it contains what many consider the worst swear word.
Still astonishingly, uncomfortably accurate more than 35 years after it was written. "This is the land where nothing changes", indeed...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Protest commentary is probably still making its way into song, but I'd caveat that by saying that- with popular music and especially chart music no longer occupying a central position in people's lives as they once did- there isn't that natural platform for spreading the message. i.e. the charts and music generally held the attention of a lot of people in one place at the same time. It's not that way now.
I think also that those with a mind to say something have other opportunities to spread their message- social media etc etc etc.
I'm not saying that people shouldn't try to express their views in song, or that it's invalid. But with the decline in the importance of popular music as unified/ unifying means of cultural expression, other things take its place.
For instance, it does make me wonder if, had they been born in a different decade, those young people currently engaged in climate activism might have formed a punk band. Somehow- and chucking soup over works of art aside- I tend to think that political activism is a better bet for the long term. But just as punks used the means available to them at the time, so these younger activists are using the means available to them. In this 2022 context, the 'protest song' has far less power to capture attention and win followers than the 'act of protest' which can then go viral and be viewed online.