There are two sorts of songs, songs that express personal, intimate feelings, and explore the artist’s inner world, and songs that are put out there in an attempt to change the world… These recent events about the Russian punk band Pussy Riot remind that us too well, these women tried to change their part of the world and got two years in jail. I just attended an Outernational’s show, and there is absolutely no doubt that these guys think they can change the world too, this precise idea fuels their energy and music. But can music really change the world, or is it another one of these numerous delusions shared by the human species and basically a waste of time?
Of course pessimists will always criticize and make fun of such a thing, but past actions have always shown that music can truly make a difference. In the US, we tend to have forgotten about this, popular music has mostly turned into entertainment for youth and can be summed up by herds of teenager girls in heat calling themselves ‘Beliebers’ and spoiled teenager boys admiring grown-up men rapping about rolex and Lamborghinis.
According to a study done by the SUNY Albany Department of Psychology, over 90% of the songs on the Billboard Top 100 charts in 2009, were focused on relationships and sex… This is not a good thing, music has lost one of its essential function, and four years ago, Neil Young was already been all disappointed about it, declaring at the Berlin film festival that he was attending:
‘I think that the time when music could change the world is past, I think it would be very naive to think that in this day and age.’
Naïve? really Neil Young? I wonder what he thinks about Pussy Riot now, true they have not overthrown Putin by their action, but they have managed to put more light on Putin’s terrible action, his radical intolerance, and his close ties with the Russian Orthodox Church whose leader ‘has likened Putin's 12 years in power to a "miracle of God". These brave women are not living in the US, but have show us it still can be done.
There are so many examples among the rich pool of African musicians, I mean probably all African musicians mix politics and music and perceive music as an weapon, from Fela Kuti to Baaba Maal. The connections between music and politics in South Africa or West Africa are interesting, and there is no doubt music played and is still playing an important role there. For example, Thomas Mapfumo’s music was banned from his native Zimbabwe and he now lives in political exile in the US, after receiving repeated menacing phone calls, a definitive proof that music can really be a threat for oppressive governments.
But, who is there in the US? Ironically, if you google ‘music can change the world’, the first thing you get is a quote from Bono,… and I am not going to go there. I know there was an album recorded for the Occupy movement with numerous artists, but honestly, it didn’t start a riot. Music can truly change things, but the Western world has lost touch with this idea, and the Woodstock-era protest music is long gone. Tom Morello urged musicians to join him in the May Day Occupy Wall Street march in Manhattan, and Das racist and Dan Deacon came,… but honestly, for one Tom Morello you have a million Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and One Direction… What happened? The world definitively needs more Pussy Riot.