A real life event that had a deep influence on music in our day and age is the Middle Eastern attack of the U.S. twin towers and the subsequent US-Iraq War. After September 11, 2001, artists recorded songs relating to the human suffering that was taking place at the time. But what caused the most controversy and heightened response from various artists was President Bush’s decision to declare war on Iraq. After this declaration of war, many artists became political activists and used their positions as entertainers to reach out to the public. They recorded songs and made videos that condemned the war and promoted peace.
One of such war-denouncing groups is The Black Eyed Peas, who recorded a song titled “Where is the love?” The chorus of this song explicitly describes the situation at the time: “People killing, people dying, children hurt, and women crying…These people got me questioning, where is the love?” By recording this song not only did The Black Eyed Peas openly criticize the war, but they also tried to raise consciousness by posing an important question: What’s happening to the world?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJV9EMkv0u4
The famous punk-rock band Green Day also recorded several songs against the war. In fact, most of the songs in their album “American Idiot” criticize the war in one way or another. For instance, the video of the song “Wake Me Up When September Ends” shows a lot of war scenes and the song itself describes the war as a nightmare. This song is about a young man who goes off to fight in the war and leaves his girlfriend behind. In the song he basically states that he wants to go to sleep and not be woken up until the end of September (and its aftermath) because reality is just too harsh and he can’t face it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLSUdF2d_uI
From the examples above, it is evident that music continues to be an outlet for popular political discontent. However, the music itself also had an impact on society. This type of songs and their negative portrayal of the war influenced people’s opinion. Although they may not have been the sole reason to condemn the war, these songs definitely contributed to people’s disapproval of it.
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2 comments:
Your assignment was well written and you provide good supportive material. However, you were not explicit in your argument. Do you think music videos depicting criticisms of the war had a big impact on peoples' perceptions? Do you think these opposing voices are so dangerous that they need to be censored, or are they ultimately an exercise of the freedoms for which we are fighting?
I do think that music videos depicting criticisms of the war had a big impact on people's perceptions. The videos showed all the human suffering that was taking place, and thus touched people. Since the war was the cause of all this, some people turned against it. I also think that artists are just expressing their opinion so they shouldn't be silenced because freedom of speech is a right they have.
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