In this month's issue of Paste Magazine, there's a very brief interview with John Fogerty on how to write a good protest song.
In the interview, Fogerty has this observation of the power of protest music: "For years, I've said that if any one person stopped the Vietnam War, it was Bob Dylan. In the '60s, millions of kids began to hear his songs and discuss their meanings...Eventually that evolved into a great big protest movement."
Fogerty, of course, had something to do with ending the Vietnam War as well, since his songs with Creedence Clearwater Revival certainly revealed the disdain and social unrest of the day.
Earlier this year, Fogerty released Revival, a true return to form. Fogerty sings of his dissatisfaction with the Bush Administration and the Iraq War. But his music is not overly preachy; in "I Can't Take it No More," for example, Fogerty sings: "you know you lied about WMD's / You know you lied about the detainees...I can't take it no more." It's his most direct lyrics in a long time, but it reflects a general feeling of dissatisfaction Americans share with Fogerty today.
Fogerty is only one example of a musician that realizes the power of protest music, and uses it when the time is right. But Fogerty represents the old school of protest musicians, and although other artists (such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan) still write music with reflected social commentary, what can be said of new musicians doing the same thing?
Thinking of it in this way, I see a new wave of protest music coming out, and it has the same freshness as Dylan had in the '60s. And it's not just because there are a couple of popular bands that happen to be politically minded, it's because most of America is upset and confused with the state of the world.
Bands like Arcade Fire, Iron & Wine, and Stars have released albums this year that deal directly with issues like war, religious ambiguity, and societal change without reverting back to cliché's and political division.
Last night, I watched a recording of Arcade Fire's performance on PBS's Austin City Limits. The concert revealed a band at their artistic height with their latest album Neon Bible, an album that many critics have compared to Springsteen because of its culturally minded lyrics that show the confusion and division in America.
The band played with an energy that brought the crowd closer, with fists pumping in the air as if they are yelling "End the War!" When they played "(Antichrist Television Blues)," singer Win Butler sang of the fear and uncertainty among Americans today: "I don't know what I'm gonna do / 'Cause the planes keep crashing always two by two / Don't wanna work in a building downtown / No, I don't wanna see it when the planes hit the ground."
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Great piece Kevin.
-Glen
2 - Rich
Enjoyed this. I am noticing that every second album I am receiving for review has negative songs about the war. While I applaud this in principal - at least the feelings of frustrated Americans are finally being shared as a cultural experience, I am still hurt by how much artists ignored the call from us at the beginning of this so called "war".
We were begging for artists to speak out when Powell first announced at the UN that we were going to invade Iraq with or without UN support. Yes, it's great that artists are finally speaking out. Just sad that they had to wait until the polls showed the majority of Americans agreed with them. Makes me question if it's art or commerce.
3 - Kevin Eagan
Rich, thanks for the comment. I think people were afraid to speak up back in the day, which is sad. The only "protest" song I can remember until recently was Green Day's god-awful "American Idiot," which made the concept of protest look like a bunch of punk yelling slogans than actually starting a dialogue. And you bring up an interesting point about it being driven by commerce. It almost seems that protest is more commercially viable than it once was. I remember back in 2002, it was just me and one other friend of mine who would argue against the buildup for war in Iraq. Now, every single one of my friends agrees that the war was a mistake, even if they still hold conservative values. I never thought that would happen, but my predictions of war (and eventual protest) came true. Go figure, eh?
4 - gonzo marx
"the thin line is everywhere"....
nuff said!
Excelsior?
5 - Kevin Eagan
Gonzo,
you're right, Rage Against the Machine was a great protest band. But their stuff was popularized in a pre-9/11 world, and I guess I was referring to post-9/11, anti-Iraq war protest. Also, because of Rage's timing in the music world, they didn't have the same profound effect on society, and I remember them being tagged as extreme liberals (sad, I know). If they had just released "Killing in the Name" this year, they would be HUGE right now.
6 - Dovid
I've composed a 'protest song' on behalf of the people living in the Israeli city of Sderot. You can read the lyrics and listen (no charge) to it at my website.
May we soon see a time when we won't need protest songs!