Music
Protest Music
What is protest music?
Music can be composed to promote ideas in opposition to dominate beliefs in society. Protest Music is comprised of songs that work to deconstruct harmful social constructions, such as race class and gender. These songs offer a significant and coherent message that can incite action and revolution. In his book, Popular Music in Theory, Keith Negus employs the observations of a cultural theorist, Lawrence Grossberg, to identify music as an important method in promoting change. Both Negus and Grossberg agree that “music operates ‘at the intersection of the body and emotions,’ and can create ‘affective alliances’ between people, which in turn can create the energy for social change that may have a direct impact on politics and culture” (p. 220). Music can be used by marginalized groups to create powerful coalitions and voice opinions. These two important functions of protest music are used to classify songs into two distinct categories, which R. Serg Deisoff (1969) labels as magnetic songs and rhetorical songs. A magnetic song “appeals to the listener and attracts him to a specific movement or ideology within the ranks of adherents by creating solidarity in terms of the goals expressed in the song. […] The other type of song persuasion is the rhetorical which points to some social condition […]. The essence of this type of song is a statement of individualistic discontent” (pp. 438-438). Both forms of protest music are successful in challenging oppressive beliefs.
Why is music an important medium to incite change?
Music can never be eliminated. Books can be burned. Paintings and sculptures can be destroyed, but the voice is eternal. Just as other forms of art are vulnerable to the destruction of the dominate class, they can also be elitist. Music continues to be an accessible form of protest for any individual. In the nineteenth century, songs were a main contribution of strength for the African slaves, greatly aiding their emancipation. Though they were denied the ability to read and write, they were able to overcome these impositions through song. They transformed religious hymns into protest music, using a familiar tune to incite hope and gather a supportive community. This successful tactic has been imitated; “Songbooks popular with both religious and political movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries generally printed only the lyrics, assuming that the tune was known to both the membership and potential converts” (Denisoff, 1969, p.428). Power is created within familiar musical tones, as individuals associate them with previously established feelings. As theorist Gordon W. Allport (year) states, “[W]hat is familiar tends to become a value” (p. 86).
Changing the future through history
Music serves as a record of history, since it captures individual experiences within specific social contexts. History works to preserve social constructions by making them appear inherent and natural. Theorist John Tosh recognizes how history can be used to perpetuate oppression. He argues that history can serve as a “collective memory, the storehouse of experience through which people develop a sense of their social identity and future prospects” (cited in Negus, 1996, p. 137). Because the dominate class has influence over the history is recorded in academic textbooks, biased accounts of the past continue to be reinforced. The ongoing hardships of marginalized individuals are downplayed. “Better than most mediums, songs can bring back a feeling for the past. This is especially true for those American cultures that were relatively inarticulate” (Rodnitzky, 1974, p. 504). Music allows for multiple forms of expression. “The dance of the body, the movements of the voice, the sounds of instruments are like colours, forms and patterns, means of transmitting our experience in so powerful a way that the experience can literally be lived by others” (Williams, 1965, p. 40). Music allows its listeners, regardless of their race, class or gender, to undergo the degradation of oppressive social constructions.
Today's Protest Music
Modern technology has allowed music to become even more powerful. Radio and television offer a vast audience and bring new components to music composition. Music that was once confined to specific regions can now be heard all over the world. Musical performances and music videos that are shown on television create a new dimension for protest music. Artists are able to manipulate visual symbols and change their constructed meaning. Music videos also allow artists to choose their audience’s view point. Radio and television serve as primary sources for public information; however, the media has constructed programs to influence their beliefs and reinforce oppressive ideals. Protest music has infiltrated these channels, offering views that conflict with dominate ideology. Because both radio and television attract the attention of so many adolescences, youths become key receivers of today’s protest music. As young individuals use music to form ideas about themselves and others, they construct the mores and values that will be implemented in the future society. Adolescent individuals are powerful advocates of change, since they will one day control our society’s economic, political and social structures. “As rocker Frank Zappa has noted, many youths today are not loyal to the flag, country, or doctrine, but only to music. Never before in history has music meant so much to a generation. The new music, and the records and tapes that disseminate it, have become the real alternate media, as opposed to the underground press” ( Rodnitzky, 1974, p. 509).
