The Dixie Chicks nearly lost their careers after bad-mouthing President Bush on the eve of the war in Iraq, but today brings a surge in protest songs by popular artists.
And they’re not just penned by the people you’d expect to be topical, such as Neil Young, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam or Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.
Songs with anti-war sentiments are popping up from some unlikely places in the pop music marketplace, from artists like John Mayer and John Legend.
The difference between the protest songs of the 1960s — think “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire or Edwin Starr’s “War” — and today’s is that these newer messages tend to come in more subtle musical packages. And they can be so hummable that people may mouth the words and never know they’re dissing the president.
“Particularly in the ’60s, artists tended to just come out with much stronger messages with less fear of upsetting anybody,” says Lee Abrams, the chief creative officer for XM satellite radio. “Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan didn’t give a damn. When the Dixie Chicks came out with their Bush statement, a lot of country radio stations stopped playing them. A lot of record companies don’t want anything over the top. It’s symbolic of the era we’re in.”
Norah Jones’ piano and breathy vocals are so soothing that the music could be a theme for Bed Bath & Beyond. But at the piano stool, the singer is taking a stand against the current political state in “My Dear Country.”
Some artists say they do a balancing act. Linkin Park’s latest album, for example, features a detour into politics with “Hands Held High.”
“We’re not a band that wants to be political or preach to fans,” says Linkin Park drummer Rob Bourdon. “All of us are very involved in all of the lyrics, especially critiquing them, and were very aware that it didn’t come off that we had a political agenda or were preaching. We don’t like that ourselves when we’re listening to music.”
The rock band has sold millions of records with songs about self-loathing and inner angst, but “Hands Held High” wouldn’t play so well in the red states:
“Like this war’s really just a different brand of war
“Like it doesn’t cater the rich and abandon poor …
“For a leader so nervous in an obvious way
“Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay.”
All Top 40 music with a message depends on a common denominator: a tune that sticks in your head. Minus the scathing lyrics, Pink’s “Dear Mr. President” sounds like a campfire song. The song is built on strummy acoustic guitars and harmony vocals from the Indigo Girls. Think of it as “Kumbaya” for the anti-Bush set.
“The best protest songs have melodies that are simple enough to be sung by almost anyone,” says Christopher Reynolds, a music professor at the University of California, Davis. “ ‘We Shall Overcome’ is probably best in this regard. But in some cases the tune is why the song survives. The popularity of the Christmas carol ‘It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,’ which almost no one realizes originated as an anti-war song, is the reason why that song is still sung.”
Politically minded songs such as “Hands Held High” and “Dear Mr. President” tend not to be released as singles. These tracks are usually buried in the middle of an album — or in the case of John Legend’s “Coming Home,” at the very end.
“A pop star is trying to play to the greatest amount of people all of the time,” says Dan Mason, program director and station manager of Sacramento’s Top 40 radio station KDND. “They’d segment the audience by being too in-your-face. Artists might not mind that, but the record label will want to play it more conservatively. A song like (‘Dear Mr. President’) is also one that plays differently in Sacramento than the Midwest or the heartland. You’ve got to sell those concert dates in California, but you’ve got to play in Kansas, too.”
More overt protest anthems may be coming soon. After the umpteenth song about partying and summer love — and with approval ratings for the Iraq war continuing to tank — the pop music landscape is primed for an even bigger swell of anti-war tunes.
“I do think we’re about to get into a period of time where we’ll see the messages getting stronger,” Abrams said. “The political conditions are certainly right.”
sorce: http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/256044-p2.html
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