Popular Music and Politics
Topic: To what extent is popular music an effective medium of political discourse?
It is almost impossible to imagine a life without music. We listen to music for various reasons but most of us listen to it for one simple reason: entertainment. Rhythm and the melody give us great pleasure. Even sometimes we think that certain songs describes our lives and us. When we think deeper about music and its impacts in social life, we realize that music has more functions than entertaining people. Music has been used as an effective medium in political discourse the sense of increasing society’s awareness and drawing attention to the problems in the world. Some artists are aware the power of music in social life and they compose songs about wars, famines, poverty and lacks in administration. Some of them became successful thanks to the power of music in expressing thoughts and sharing with others. However, not all of them are that lucky. Due to the misunderstandings of lyrics and the lack of attention to political issues by audiences.
To clarify the relationship between music and politics, firstly we must know the concepts of popular music and political discourse. According to Wikipedia, popular music is commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting a relatively short, simple song utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes. Again according to Wikipedia, political discourse is a field of discourse analysis, which focuses on discourse in political forums (such as debates, speeches and hearings) as the phenomenon of interest. Since that we know what is a popular music and political discourse is, we can analyze the phenomenon of political music. Even though there isn’t much example at 21st century, political music and artist were a big deal at 60’s and 70’s. there were protest and patriotic songs all over the nation and festivals were held. One of the most successful festivals of
It is almost impossible to imagine a life without music. We listen to music for various reasons but most of us listen to it for one simple reason: entertainment. Rhythm and the melody give us great pleasure. Even sometimes we think that certain songs describes our lives and us. When we think deeper about music and its impacts in social life, we realize that music has more functions than entertaining people. Music has been used as an effective medium in political discourse the sense of increasing society’s awareness and drawing attention to the problems in the world. Some artists are aware the power of music in social life and they compose songs about wars, famines, poverty and lacks in administration. Some of them became successful thanks to the power of music in expressing thoughts and sharing with others. However, not all of them are that lucky. Due to the misunderstandings of lyrics and the lack of attention to political issues by audiences.
To clarify the relationship between music and politics, firstly we must know the concepts of popular music and political discourse. According to Wikipedia, popular music is commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting a relatively short, simple song utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes. Again according to Wikipedia, political discourse is a field of discourse analysis, which focuses on discourse in political forums (such as debates, speeches and hearings) as the phenomenon of interest. Since that we know what is a popular music and political discourse is, we can analyze the phenomenon of political music. Even though there isn’t much example at 21st century, political music and artist were a big deal at 60’s and 70’s. there were protest and patriotic songs all over the nation and festivals were held. One of the most successful festivals of
References: 1) Williams, R. (2009, April 10). Is Popular Music an Effective Vehicle for Political Discourse? [Blog post]. Retrieved on 22 March, 2010 from http://blogcritics.org/music/article/is-popular-music-an-effective-vehicle/ 2) Bennett, Andy (2004): Remembering Woodstock. Ashgate 3) Grossberg, L. (1992): "Is There A Fan In The House?: The Affective Study Of Fandom" in L. Lewis, The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media. Routledge