Matt Johnson
The music genres Rock and Roll and Hip Hop captured the attention of their audiences through their rich, relatable lyrics about societal events occurring when the songs were written. The Rolling Stones rose to popularity during the Vietnam war and their songs embodied the tragedy from the war. In the article “How Rock and Roll Became White”, Jack Hamilton included lyrics from the Stones’ song “Gimme Shelter”: “War, children/ It’s just a shot away/ it’s just a shot away” (Hamilton paragraph 18). Hamilton says that “The chorus’s utilization of “children” carries a double edge, invoking both the gospel tradition of referring to one’s audience as “children” and late-1960s images of Vietnamese children slaughtered in villages and fleeing napalm strikes: children as victims of war, children as ourselves” (Hamilton paragraph 18). In these lyrics, the Stones are drawing upon the horrific violence happening in Vietnam to show their audience that these people losing their lives are just like them. In an interview conducted by Theresa Riley titled “Still Fighting the Power'', Jeff Chang said “Hip hop’s breakthrough during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s coincided with the rise of a new generation and what we have called the war on youth...You have songs like NWA’s “F the Police,” you have songs like Boogie Down Productions...That come out and galvanize people into protest, and express this new rage at these new conditions” (Chang question 3). The war on youth incarcerated a large number of young people of color, and the Hip Hop songs being released during this time included lyrics about the racial injustices happening with these arrests. These social issues created a deep personal connection for listeners of Hip Hop and sparked the rise in popularity of the genre. As seen in the above quotes, a common thread between two popular genres, Rock and Roll and Hip Hop, is the ability of lyrics to express feelings about current societal issues..
P!nk - What About Us
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
The songs “What About Us” by P!nk and “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron connect to the readings from this week because the artists discuss current societal struggles through their music. At the beginning of the music video of P!nk’s song “What About Us”, you can hear political speeches and protests. P!nk and the other actors in the music video dance and stare at police cars around them singing the main lyric “What about us?” P!nk is trying to convey that her and the larger public feels like politicians aren’t taking care of them, that their needs are being ignored. This connects to the lyrics in the Stones’ song “Gimme Shelter” that brought attention to the modern issue of children dying in the Vietnam War because P!nk is trying to bring to light another modern issue of politicians making false promises to their constituents. In the other song I chose, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, Gil Scott-Heron implores people to not be passive in the US Civil Rights Movement, but actively take part in the movement. Scott-Heron’s main line in the song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is an attack on people who want to change civil rights in the US but sit back and expect someone else to do it. This song connects to the statement by Chang that Hip Hop was created by singing about the injustices of the war on youth because Scott-Heron’s lyrics discuss another social issue, the need of the US Civil Rights movement to have full participation if it is to be successful. Scott-Heron is calling people, despite their race, to take action and help change the current state of Civil Rights in the US. The readings from this week highlighted that different genres of music have lyrics involving societal issues, and the songs “What About Us” by P!nk and “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron are examples of songs that discuss societal problems.
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