February 20, 2021
We take you from being informed of what's going on in the world to being involved in making it better.
Morning, team. Texas turning into an ice cube and Ted Cruz abandoning his state for micheladas has us feeling like we’re in 2020: The Sequel. Though, when we stop and think about the good parts of 2020, the positive changes that actually moved us forward, we picture the summer of protest.
Some of us took Sharpies to cardboard for the first time, found our voices as community organizers, and questioned societal values while watching uprisings in real time on our phone screens. Whether we were conscious of it or not, these revolutionary events had a soundtrack. The playlist wasn’t all new. In fact, it’s been growing for centuries, acting as a melodic timeline of our country’s civic unrest and political upheaval, chronicling our nation’s desperate desire for change.
Let’s take a look at some of those key moments.
Down the Rabble Hole: The Music Behind the Movements.
The original protest songs were the songs of slaves, who used music as a means of communication and empowerment. The hymns they sang were a conscious and purposeful portrayal of America’s unjust systems. In 1939, Billie Holiday brought that message to everyone when she released "Strange Fruit," a song about southern lynchings that was designed to make the country listen and reflect. Not surprisingly, "Strange Fruit" was banned from almost every radio station, leaving word of mouth its sole publicity. This was still strong enough foundation for Billie to carry us into an epic era of protest music: the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement.
The ’60s and ’70s period of anti-war, anti-traditional-American values shook the country hard, and as protesters took over the streets, protest songs took over pop culture. Folk legend Bob Dylan pushed out songs like "Blowin’ in the Wind" and "Times They Are a Changin’." Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released "Ohio," an ode to the four students killed at Kent University while protesting the expansion of the war in Cambodia. As these artists got down with their tambos and banjos, soul music took off with "freedom songs," which, according to UC Berkeley ethnomusicologist Tamara Roberts, were distinctly powerful because of their roots in the Black church tradition. These artists created music to express the hopes and frustrations of the Black community, like Nina Simone’s "Mississippi Goddam" and Marvin Gaye’s "What’s Goin’ On."
As the decades went on, emerging genres of music proved to be new vehicles for protest hymns. N.W.A. revolutionized the industry with "Fuck Tha Police" in 1988, and in 2004 Green Day slammed George Bush and the Iraq War with "American Idiot." Still, the musical push-back toward relentless police brutality and war didn’t compare to the output of the Vietnam era. That is, until Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016.
Almost immediately after his election, A Tribe Called Quest made their return to music with "We the People…," which they performed at the 2017 Grammys with a message that could not have been clearer: Resist. Artist Zolita released "Fight Like A Girl" as a middle finger to the president who not only treated sexual assault like a joke, but was accused of it himself on multiple occasions. Anderson .Paak debuted "6 Summers," with a nod to Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 classic, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." And Kendrick Lamar’s "Alright" from his album To Pimp A Butterfly became an anthem at protests for Black lives since its release.
Then came 2020. The year when the names George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Jacob Blake rang from every street corner of every city in America; the year when the Black Lives Matter movement exploded and anti-racism became a rallying cry; the year when protest music, once again, dominated the mainstream with tracks like Trey Songz’ "How Many Times" and Run the Jewels’ "Walking in the Snow."
While it’s clear that social revolutions move us enough to create music, does that music actually amplify the movement? Some researchers claim that music has a legitimate psychological effect on us. When we hear a song, we notice the emotion portrayed, and then we mimic that expression internally. When we have an emotional response like this, it facilitates social interaction, which ultimately leads to conversation. Music also captures people's attention and creates a bonding effect through cooperative activity. That’s right, Ryan Gosling—if you’re a music lover, I’m a music lover, and there’s nothing quite like screaming a song in public to make you bond with a stranger.
Sociologically, music allows us to share our values, and that can fuel uprisings that help to make real change happen. In addition, music plays a key role in passing down stories, which is why we’re still here, telling the tales of Vietnam protests and civil rights marches that we weren't even alive for, and it’s why, decades from now, people will still be bumping Beyonce’s "Freedom."
Does that mean protest music holds power? We don’t know about you, but popping champagne in the streets signing "FDT" in November felt pretty damn powerful. And as long as we keep giving this music purpose by singing it, playing it, talking about it, and valuing it for its intended motivation, that power can continue to propel us forward to achieving equality.
—By Sabrina Hunt