The Beginnings of Protest Music in the U.K.
The Beginnings of Protest Music in the U.K.
Back in the Philippines I have attended several classes and seminars regarding protest art, and being a big fan of Bob Dylan and John Lennon I’ve always been interested in music as a vehicle for protest against authority and war, and how it shapes not only the perspectives of musicians and the listeners, but also the dynamics of the ever-shifting socio-political sphere.
First of all, before rock and roll certain music in England also contained political or social messages, mostly through folk and wartime big ballad music. However, it was during the 60s when the political involvement of American civilians increased, and this movement also spilled over to the rest of the world, including the U.K. “It wasn't until the sixties that the notion of "protest" entered the mainstream of the American vocabulary. That was the moment when songs with political messages began to make their way out of the coffee houses and hootenannies and onto the airwaves” (Nunberg, 2002). The American public’s discontent with the government and large corporations, along with a newly heightened awareness of civil rights and the rest of the world, affected all aspects of living and ways of expression: from film, visual art, and of course to music. Rock was, and still is, perceived as the best genre for protest because of its defiant qualities and unique history - it had African-beat inspired roots (for the West, it was the music of the Other), and was considered to be scandalous and hedonistic. Yet exactly because of these qualities rock has secured its role as an instrument for opposition and as an expression of the youth. It was only during the 60s when protest music began leaving the “subculture” scene and entering the mainstream, with the help of acts like Bob Dylan, who was a key figurehead in the protest against the Vietnam War, racial discrimination, and other local injustices. With songs like The Times They Are A-changing protest music was gaining prominence and the rock groups of the U.K. were inspired by this rising movement.
According to Colin Irwin of The Observer however, a certain earlier event in British history also paved way for the U.K. protest movement: the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament held its first meeting in February 1958 and less than two months later several hundred people - estimates vary erratically between 600 and 6,000 depending on who you ask - gathered in Trafalgar Square for its first major operation, a 53-mile protest march to Aldermaston.” He stressed “That 1958 march marked Britain's first postwar expression of mass protest.” Soon folk musicians like Ewan MacColl and The London Youth Choir sang several songs opposing the hydrogen bomb testings, and surprisingly some of them, especially MacColl’s The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh, were calls for socialism.
By the time the 60s rolled by and the so-called British Invasion was in full force, more and more anti-establishment themes would develop in U.K. rock and roll. At first singers like Donovan copied Bob Dylan’s folk-rock political commentary style; and they were not so much a protest against the government than a reflection of dissatisfaction with everyday life (also a marked openness with sexual themes). Observing the Rolling Stone’s (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, for example, “the chorus (then) turns into a stream-of-consciousness catalog of complaints about the irritations of modern life, touring, the media, and (of course) getting laid”, reviews Richard Unterberger of AllMusic.com. The Beatles’ Please Please Me also voiced concerns with its sexual undertones, an early phase of the sexual revolution found in music. As the leading British musical act during the 60s, in their later years the Beatles’ lyrics also grew more thematically complex in nature. While they did not protest “head-on”, they responded to the growing political divide with songs such as Revolution 1, which made “the New Left and countercultural press likewise offended…meanwhile, Time magazine devoted an article to the song, approving of its exhilarating criticism of radical activists, while American rightwingers argued on the contrary that The Beatles were merely middle-of-the-road subversives warning the Maoists not to ‘blow’ the revolution too hard” (Macdonald, 1994). The Beatles’ call for a peaceful, nonviolent revolution would continue even after the break-up as John Lennon engaged in many protest performances. “When John and Yoko got married in 1969, they staged a weeklong ‘bed-in for peace’ in an Amsterdam hotel…and at the Montreal bed-in, John recorded the song Give Peace a Chance for the first time. The repeated refrain was soon being sung at antiwar demonstrations, which is exactly what Lennon intended” (Alan Maass, 2006). Most of Lennon’s songs during the post-Beatles period were heavily-laden with political ideology: Imagine, Happy Xmas (War is Over), etc. became popular pacifist anthems.
By the early 70s British rock still contained social commentary every now and then but mostly went back to medieval, fantasy roots and/or an embracement of technology and the modern world. In the meantime, according to an article by the BBC news “the punk movement was brewing on both sides of the Atlantic, fuelled by a generation of disaffected young people who wanted the world to wake up. They were sick of being ignored and fed up with the post war complacency” (2006). As a response Punk Rock of the late 70s came out, significantly more brazen and hard-hitting on issues than its predecessors. Not only was it against the excesses of Prog and Glam rock, it also rejected the political idealism of the flower-power, Hippie Movement of the 60s. The movement originated from the Ramones in New York, but when Punk arrived in Britain it transformed into a movement that distinctly fought the British establishment. They key emotions were anger and empowerment: “most of its (Punk Rock) significance lies within the barriers of language and expression that were broken down. It was a breakthrough in free speech for underclass youth who rarely have a voice, neither culturally nor politically…Punk gives the message that no one has to be a genius to do it him/herself” (Van Dorston, 1990).
Eventually Punk rock gave way to Post-punk, Alternative, and other emerging genres, but its legacy of protest and remains until this day, and there have been attempts at reviving protest music (usually by remaking already established protest songs). However, with the popular line “Punk is Dead” in mind, critics are saying there is no room for real protest music in the U.K. in recent times. Andrew Collins, former editor of Q magazine, says: "This movement is so big there's no unity to it except the feeling. It makes it a formidable force but it is also very difficult to supply the soundtrack to" (Duffy, 2003).
References
Websites:
Duffy, Jonathan. (2003, February). Where Have All The Protest Songs Gone? From BBC UK News Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2788263.stm
Irwin, Colin. (2008 August). Power to the People. From The Observer Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/aug/10/folk.politicsandthearts
Maass, Alan. (2006, October). John Lennon’s Revolution: The Pop Star the FBI declared a “threat”. Retrieved from The SocialistWorker December 9, 2009: http://socialistworker.org/2006-2/604/604_13_Lennon.shtml
McLaren, Malcolm. (2006, August). Punk rock: 30 years of subversion. From BBC News Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5263364.stm
Nunberg, Geoffrey. (2002, March). The Syntax of Resistance. Retrieved from UC Berkley School of Information Website: http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/protest.html
Unterberger, Richie. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction Song Review. Retrieved from Allmusic.com December 9, 2009. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:eju06oa471t0
Van Dorston, A.S. (1990, February). A History of Punk. Retrieved December 9 2009. http://www.fastnbulbous.com/punk.htm#Punk
Book:
Macdonald, Ian. (1994). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties. London: Random House UK Limited.
Back in the Philippines I have attended several classes and seminars regarding protest art, and being a big fan of Bob Dylan and John Lennon I’ve always been interested in music as a vehicle for protest against authority and war, and how it shapes not only the perspectives of musicians and the listeners, but also the dynamics of the ever-shifting socio-political sphere.
First of all, before rock and roll certain music in England also contained political or social messages, mostly through folk and wartime big ballad music. However, it was during the 60s when the political involvement of American civilians increased, and this movement also spilled over to the rest of the world, including the U.K. “It wasn't until the sixties that the notion of "protest" entered the mainstream of the American vocabulary. That was the moment when songs with political messages began to make their way out of the coffee houses and hootenannies and onto the airwaves” (Nunberg, 2002). The American public’s discontent with the government and large corporations, along with a newly heightened awareness of civil rights and the rest of the world, affected all aspects of living and ways of expression: from film, visual art, and of course to music. Rock was, and still is, perceived as the best genre for protest because of its defiant qualities and unique history - it had African-beat inspired roots (for the West, it was the music of the Other), and was considered to be scandalous and hedonistic. Yet exactly because of these qualities rock has secured its role as an instrument for opposition and as an expression of the youth. It was only during the 60s when protest music began leaving the “subculture” scene and entering the mainstream, with the help of acts like Bob Dylan, who was a key figurehead in the protest against the Vietnam War, racial discrimination, and other local injustices. With songs like The Times They Are A-changing protest music was gaining prominence and the rock groups of the U.K. were inspired by this rising movement.
According to Colin Irwin of The Observer however, a certain earlier event in British history also paved way for the U.K. protest movement: the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament held its first meeting in February 1958 and less than two months later several hundred people - estimates vary erratically between 600 and 6,000 depending on who you ask - gathered in Trafalgar Square for its first major operation, a 53-mile protest march to Aldermaston.” He stressed “That 1958 march marked Britain's first postwar expression of mass protest.” Soon folk musicians like Ewan MacColl and The London Youth Choir sang several songs opposing the hydrogen bomb testings, and surprisingly some of them, especially MacColl’s The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh, were calls for socialism.
By the time the 60s rolled by and the so-called British Invasion was in full force, more and more anti-establishment themes would develop in U.K. rock and roll. At first singers like Donovan copied Bob Dylan’s folk-rock political commentary style; and they were not so much a protest against the government than a reflection of dissatisfaction with everyday life (also a marked openness with sexual themes). Observing the Rolling Stone’s (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, for example, “the chorus (then) turns into a stream-of-consciousness catalog of complaints about the irritations of modern life, touring, the media, and (of course) getting laid”, reviews Richard Unterberger of AllMusic.com. The Beatles’ Please Please Me also voiced concerns with its sexual undertones, an early phase of the sexual revolution found in music. As the leading British musical act during the 60s, in their later years the Beatles’ lyrics also grew more thematically complex in nature. While they did not protest “head-on”, they responded to the growing political divide with songs such as Revolution 1, which made “the New Left and countercultural press likewise offended…meanwhile, Time magazine devoted an article to the song, approving of its exhilarating criticism of radical activists, while American rightwingers argued on the contrary that The Beatles were merely middle-of-the-road subversives warning the Maoists not to ‘blow’ the revolution too hard” (Macdonald, 1994). The Beatles’ call for a peaceful, nonviolent revolution would continue even after the break-up as John Lennon engaged in many protest performances. “When John and Yoko got married in 1969, they staged a weeklong ‘bed-in for peace’ in an Amsterdam hotel…and at the Montreal bed-in, John recorded the song Give Peace a Chance for the first time. The repeated refrain was soon being sung at antiwar demonstrations, which is exactly what Lennon intended” (Alan Maass, 2006). Most of Lennon’s songs during the post-Beatles period were heavily-laden with political ideology: Imagine, Happy Xmas (War is Over), etc. became popular pacifist anthems.
By the early 70s British rock still contained social commentary every now and then but mostly went back to medieval, fantasy roots and/or an embracement of technology and the modern world. In the meantime, according to an article by the BBC news “the punk movement was brewing on both sides of the Atlantic, fuelled by a generation of disaffected young people who wanted the world to wake up. They were sick of being ignored and fed up with the post war complacency” (2006). As a response Punk Rock of the late 70s came out, significantly more brazen and hard-hitting on issues than its predecessors. Not only was it against the excesses of Prog and Glam rock, it also rejected the political idealism of the flower-power, Hippie Movement of the 60s. The movement originated from the Ramones in New York, but when Punk arrived in Britain it transformed into a movement that distinctly fought the British establishment. They key emotions were anger and empowerment: “most of its (Punk Rock) significance lies within the barriers of language and expression that were broken down. It was a breakthrough in free speech for underclass youth who rarely have a voice, neither culturally nor politically…Punk gives the message that no one has to be a genius to do it him/herself” (Van Dorston, 1990).
Eventually Punk rock gave way to Post-punk, Alternative, and other emerging genres, but its legacy of protest and remains until this day, and there have been attempts at reviving protest music (usually by remaking already established protest songs). However, with the popular line “Punk is Dead” in mind, critics are saying there is no room for real protest music in the U.K. in recent times. Andrew Collins, former editor of Q magazine, says: "This movement is so big there's no unity to it except the feeling. It makes it a formidable force but it is also very difficult to supply the soundtrack to" (Duffy, 2003).
References
Websites:
Duffy, Jonathan. (2003, February). Where Have All The Protest Songs Gone? From BBC UK News Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2788263.stm
Irwin, Colin. (2008 August). Power to the People. From The Observer Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/aug/10/folk.politicsandthearts
Maass, Alan. (2006, October). John Lennon’s Revolution: The Pop Star the FBI declared a “threat”. Retrieved from The SocialistWorker December 9, 2009: http://socialistworker.org/2006-2/604/604_13_Lennon.shtml
McLaren, Malcolm. (2006, August). Punk rock: 30 years of subversion. From BBC News Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5263364.stm
Nunberg, Geoffrey. (2002, March). The Syntax of Resistance. Retrieved from UC Berkley School of Information Website: http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/protest.html
Unterberger, Richie. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction Song Review. Retrieved from Allmusic.com December 9, 2009. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:eju06oa471t0
Van Dorston, A.S. (1990, February). A History of Punk. Retrieved December 9 2009. http://www.fastnbulbous.com/punk.htm#Punk
Book:
Macdonald, Ian. (1994). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties. London: Random House UK Limited.