Ive said it before and I will say it again, there is a song for absolutely everything. There are songs for every emotion, action and reaction possible and politics are in no way exempt from this. Over the years there have been hundreds of thousands of songs with political undertones to them and thousands with blatant political messages. Artists like Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, Woodie Guthrie and bands like US, The Who and The Clash are famous for putting out numerous political pieces over the years. More recently, artists like Pink and Toby Keith and bands such as The Black Eyed Peas and The Dixie Chicks(among MANY others) have made their political opinions known through song. The first few songs that came to mind when thinking of political expression through song all differ in style and audience. They are as follows:
The Black Eyed Peas : Where Is The Love
Toby Keith: The Angry American
Pink: Dear Mr. President
The Dixie Chicks: Not Ready To Make Nice
In my opinion, the most outright political statement is Dear Mr. President by Pink. I tried to find songs from different genres of music to represent that the nature of political music exists in every form. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have a problem with political expression via song or do you appreciate it?
I absolutely root for any type of musical expression. I think you could argue that mainstream political songs created by bands are of a left-leaning nature. I find no problem with this. People like what they like. This may be due to the gatekeepers who get these bands so main-stream. This may also be due to the fact that many liberals are very talented entertainers. (RHCP, Pink, Black-eyed Peas, Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen *cringes*, The Beatles, etc.)
ReplyDeleteI enjoy country music quite a bit. I consider myself a conservative libertarian. I understand that Toby Keith is a 'conservative' also - singing about blind patriotism. But I also tend to think Toby Keith is a no-talent ass-clown.
Music and politics definitely go together. Musicians are so influential and so its only right that they would make songs about politics to make their fans more aware about politics. I also love musical expression and I especially liked some of the songs you chose like Black Eyed Peas, the Dixie Chicks and Pink!
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