protest & music in the 21st century

An unpopular president, an unpopular war, a restless young generation eager for change — all the elements of a mass protest culture would seem to be present in this election year

But one thing is missing: a mass culture.
The Vietnam era produced an entire genre of anti-war and cultural protest songs, the best-known of which became anthems of the age

Iraq and the Bush presidency have inspired lots of music in this tradition, but nothing that has gained a large popular audience or is vying to be a generational anthem
Music, is just one manifestation of a more fundamental trend. Opposition to the Iraq war, which commands strong majorities in the polls, has not produced mass marches on the Pentagon or shut down college campuses.

Im not comparing the times- obviously things change

The reasons are varied, including the lack of a military draft and much lower casualty figures than were suffered in Southeast Asia 40 years ago. But another big factor is the fragmented nature of how Americans live and communicate — with no clearer example than how we listen to music.
Now, I may be a bit older, but I do see the outrage at this incompetent administration- I just dont feel the energy for the need of change. I think music plays a big role in this.
Help me out here people, what is the mass culture listening to?- who are the voices of this generation?:
Just wondering,
Jack :hat:

 

i also see many similarities between our era and the vietnam era...most importantly a war that most people do not want to be in. I am an activist, but i wasn't until recently and I did not become an activist until I left the US...now that I am back i am maintaining my activism. well, to some degree because i do have to keep my future in mind.

However I have a lot of friends that hold firm beliefs about various things including the war, darfur, and even things solely dealing with the US such as immigration and things of this sort. The only problem is they are all talk and no action. I go to a pretty damn good school and most of my friends are smart, but what are they doing? they are only talking...they relate to the vietnam era solely by taking drugs. It is so frustrating.

Perhaps the reason activism isn't as big in our generation is because there is no mass culture. Our generation, this era, is so varied and diverse, that people have their hands in too many things...

i have more in my head, its just really difficult to get out...i'll add more later if i can

but i do want to add that Michael Franti and Spearhead produces great anti-war and peace provoking music. Fanti is one of my heroes...check out the album "Yell Fire"

 

Actually there is a mass media culture, it just doesn't promote any thing worthwhile, let alone promoting peace.

Ironically the only thing today's culture promotes is itslelf, and nothing outside the box, leading to a endless vicious circle.

Althought I'm only talking of what you see on TV (damn telescreen). Thankfully today's culture is much more diverse than what TV let's us know, there is much more...

But the variety cannot be to blame. Variety is always good. An intelligence person is able to reach out for another's idea, even if he is of a totally different culture.

We must not fear the different...

 

I just heard an excellent solo song from the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/#

Lyrics:
http://artists.letssingit.com/nightwatchman-the-lyrics-the-road-i-must-travel-8w3t3hp
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vohUk1ydFYc


x

 

x-
WoW- Great stuff-
Its shit like this that should wake people up. Thanks for the flashback
JJack

 

I've got a list of new millenium protest tunes that do it for me, but some of them are kind of mainstream... Like the new Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette songs most recently... ehhh, it was better in 2002...
And I think there are plenty of sub-culture goings-on. It's just not on the news and such because it's all been done before. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's hardly news.

 

Tom Morello AKA the Nightwatchman Rock on

 

I heard that song of his on public radio this morning (I have a hip public radio station) and was blown away by it.

Glad to share.



x

 

We should start gathering people. We have to take it to the streets.

 

Just thought of another song.

Kan'Nal-Gypsy.

Listen to it here:http://www.last.fm/music/Kan'Nal/_/Gypsy?autostart


x

 

unplug and do it on the streets
UNPLUG ! make the LIVING SOUND
even if it's just the spark of two rocks
rapping tat-tat . what people will really hear is
a crashing thunder of
revolution intention

music is that much power

today i gathered with
a crow . seemed tho nobody was
all that impressed that i was
playing the drum to/with a talking crow .
people just passed by down the street
stone-faced and i played on kinda mostly
looking up in the tree . the crow
was funny . sometimes it mimic-ed
a cat's meow , and then did various other
specie bird calls too . and then it had one rhythmic sound
like a drum - we played together for at least
an hour .

 

I'm hoping a revolution happens soon, the only band I really know of that is talking a lot about the war is the Flobots and their song Handlebars is getting pretty popular. But from the lyrics you can't really tell it's about peace but once you watch their music video you get it. So I've been posting the video around myspace and things to try to get more people watching it and listening to their stuff. I don't listen to much of today's music so there may be more but I know Flobots is spreading the word. I've also heard covers of Imagine and Come Together around lately but I don't know who they're by but I know they're pretty new.

 

God I love that song, and I think the message is pretty clear without the video, myself:

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rapper
even when the paths're all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atom of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die in exasperation
Have'em all healed into lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command, because
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Kind of unsettling how it goes from innocent to terrifying so quickly...

 

I know I love that song too...have you ever seen the video though? It's amazing. I knew the song meant something I just didn't know that it was about a revolution till I saw the video.

 

You should really check out all of Flobots songs. They all have intense meaning. I too have been looking for bands to have a message and protest. This is the first band that has truly impressed me.

 

Yeah, I've heard a lot of their songs now, I love how every one of their songs has a meaning. It's so much better then Snoop Dogg and The Game or whatever their names are.

 

I've thought about this before and arrived at the conclusion that the rebellion of today's youth is more in sync with the hip-hop culture. There is anti-establishment sentiment in this crowd as well, yet it is muted and whitewashed with the glorification of the material and pleasures of the body. If you've noticed a great deal of the videos feature women, hot tubs, mansions and bling. Of course there are other popular countercultures as well, but hip-hop culture has dominated this era for the youth...thoughout many countries.
I think the government is happy to have the focus of the youth on this particular music. In fact, I think the government has learned that it can suppress and sedate the youth through movies and music (popular media) and that is part of the reason that you see the 'dumbing down' of hollywood movies and radio.

Of course I could be wrong. This is all just conjecture on my part. :willy_nilly:

p.s. My favorite rebel music is Steel Pulse. With songs like "We Don't Want No Weapons (Of Mass Destruction)" and "The Real Terrorist".

 

Until you all unplug with what your networth will be five or ten years on, nothing you protest means anything, because you are open to caving in order to promote your future. My generation wasn't going to alive beyond 35, we didn't have a future, but some of us have lingered on. And believe me it's hard for us hard core old hippies. And watching your lives be manipulated by corporations is a hard pill to swallow. Afterall you are our children and our grandchildren, you deserved better. We fought for environmental improvements, and now you are being sold nuclear power plants and off shore drilling as solutions...they aren't.

We dropped the ball by protecting you and your parents from what could happen. We didn't let you play with war toys, we educated you on the environment, or thought we did, but you seem to have chosen financial return over societal good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5M_Ttstbgs

I see young people choosing their professions not by what their creative passions are but how much they can make. How satisfied are you ever going to be if you give it up for something that might make you more money today, but has no guarrantee and nothing has a guarrantee that will do anything for you tomorrow?

I think in a lot of ways my generation had it over today's, we didn't worry about tommorrow, we were trying to fix today. We didn't buy into our parents solutions, we changed the world. Can you?

I hope you can because us old hippies are old and tired, this is your time.

 

I write, sing and perform protest music

 

Thanks for posting this