Song Analysis Of Social Protest
Hemant Sah
FRC-14M
Analysis of Social Protest
The era is of static and contraband where bombs are louder than voices and feels like silence will echo through eternity. The generation we live in is midst of panic, fake promises, and fake prosperity, and therefore, people should be given hope and motivation. The song that I’m going to analyze is the title song of the album by name “21st century breakdown” by Green day, released in 2009. It’s a very negative and depressing song despite the poppy, diverse sound. The song is written for open interpretation and most of can relate ourselves to all or parts of it. I advocate justice and I want to be very clear that justice and equality are not the same thing. The song demonstrates this idea very nicely and that’s why it’s epic to me. As the name indicates, Billie Joe Armstrong(vocalist, Green Day) has described the album as “the snapshot of the era in which we live as we question and try to make sense of the selfish manipulation going on around us, whether it be the government, religion, media or frankly any form of authority.” Faith and politics are definitely called into question in the meat of the album and the song, and questioning them doesn’t negate American ideals or their influence in the world. It’s blind patriotism and faith that are taken to trial by fire in this song. Armstrong is trying to capture the feeling of a generation. The band is not anti-American and they don’t …show more content…
want to destroy the country, rather make it better.
All that the song wants is what the people were promised- an authority that caress about people, does what is in the best interest of the population, and allows
Americans to have life, liberty, and pursue happiness.
I would like to put light into Armstrong’s childhood and Nixon’s administration to justify his hatred for the authority and purpose behind the song. The Nixon administration marked the end of America 's long period of post-World War II prosperity and the onset of a period of high inflation and unemployment-"stagflation." Unemployment was unusually low when Nixon took office in January 1969 (3.3 percent), but inflation was rising. Nixon adopted a policy of monetary restraint to cool what his advisers saw as an overheating economy. "Gradualism," as it was called, placed its hopes in restricting the growth of the money supply to rein in the economic boom. But gradualism, as its name implied, did not produce quick results. The economy continued to deteriorate. By the middle of 1971, unemployment reached 6.2 percent while inflation raged unchecked. Connally, Treasury Secretary in Nixon’s staff, made sweeping statements about the President 's intentions: "Number one, he is not going to initiate a wage-price board. Number two, he is not going to impose mandatory price and wage controls. Number three, he is not going to ask Congress for any tax relief. And number four, he is not going to increase federal spending." However, the Treasury Secretary and the President, in August 1971, emerged with a New Economic Policy. The NEP violated most of Nixon 's long-held economic principles, but he was never one to let principle stand in the way of politics, and his dramatic turnaround on economic issues was immediately and enormously popular. The downturn resumed, however, in 1973. Expansive fiscal and monetary policies combined with a shortage of food (aggravated by massive Soviet purchases of American wheat) to fuel inflation. And then came the oil shock. Oil prices were rising even before the onset of the Arab oil boycott in October of 1973. Ultimately, inflation climbed to 12.1 percent in 1974 and help push the economy into recession. When Nixon left office, the economy was in the tank, with rising unemployment and inflation, lengthening gas lines, and a crashing stock market. Armstrong was born in 1972 when his parents along with other working class people were facing the heat of the consequences brought by Nixon’s policies. His childhood was miserable; his education was expensive; his parents were wage workers; pollution of all kinds around his town. Therefore, he is protesting Nixon’s regulation because those changes did not yield anything for him or his family or the common working class people which is explained in the first verse of the song as,
“Born into Nixon, I was raised in Hell
A welfare child where the teamsters dwelled
The last one born, and the first one to run
My town was blind from refinery sun”
He lived a sub-par life as a child and his life is synonymous to the quality of life the working class in the time-period. The industrial companies sucked their labor and blood, and the people were forced to work 14-15 hours to afford inflated utilities for a day. So, their ultimate dream and aspiration was to survive for that day and hence, they could not get out the daily burden of utilities. Even after doing after so much hustle, and all they could do is take in pride working hard and show the remains scars and callosities and an eventual death which is explained in the lines,
“I’m a nation, A worker of pride
My debt to the status quo
The scars on my hands
And the means to an end
Is all the that I have to show”
This leads us into the pre-chorus of the song, “My generation is zero, I never made it to the working class hero”. In the music video, an anonymous figure of a president who throws a child into flaming chimney of a factory. Also, a scene in which a worker is seen beating iron and in the background there are multiple image of him doing the same thing. There is a different scene in which a teenager is seen running away from the missiles, firing chimneys and sinking ships. Then, there is a scene of the same teenager, running forward but neither his appearance/ posture nor his height increase. In evolutionary biology, similar diagram is used to suggest changes in generation and gradual development observed in any species. Since, the teenager does not make any progress, he metaphorically represents the generation zero that has not changed which is true for working class population as their debt is status quo.
Why is their status quo? The answer leads us into current time and how we live in our world. We have human rights, citizen’s rights, and many other rights but our the liberty to dream and hope has been seized and captivated in every movement made for civilizing human and living humanely. The song goes on to loath the political and religious beliefs that form human. I’m an atheist and I firmly believe that principles of any religion are based on a person or group of people’s ideology of how they wanted their successors to live in the world. For example, Buddhism is based on what Buddha learned from his experiences in life. Initial followers of Christianity were a group of pastors, living in small farms, who needed workers to continue agriculture and raising cattle. Therefore, I believe they modified Christianity to disapprove same sex marriage. It’s more like the Bible believing Christian rather than the other way around in today’s world. Preachers of Hinduism, too, present their view of how to live in the world which is imposed on the followers in the name of God. If there ever was a God, he would want his creation to be prosperous and excel, and not form manipulated biasness and discriminate. And I believe all the discrepancies in the world is caused because of this this flawed beliefs and principles created by those people who were/are in command. Our leaders are politically corrupt and immoral; their only motive is to remain in power. Here I would like to bring back Nixon to present an example. His Family Assistance Program was bold, innovative-even radical-and, apparently, insincere. "About Family Assistance Plan," Haldeman (Nixon’s official) wrote in his diary, the President "wants to be sure it 's killed by Democrats and that we make big play for it, but don 't let it pass, can 't afford it." Political concerns would play an overriding role in the economic decisions of Nixon and that’s why Armstrong wrote,
“Born in the era of humility,
We are the desperate in decline
Raised By the bastards of 1969”
And still today, political concern is what drives politicians. If they have any care for people, it’s scanty. We, civilians, are declining from our morality because we are desperate and we are sure to become like those corrupt and shrewd politicians because there is no other way out. Due to all these skewed political and religious biasness, our only freedom is the “liberty to obey” as explained in the lyrics,
“I swallowed my pride, And I choked on my faith
I’ve given my heart and soul, I’ve broken my fingers
And lied through my teeth, The pillar of damage control…
I praise liberty, The freedom to obey
It’s the song that strangles me
Well don’t cross the line”
The way we live in the world leads us into the chorus of the song. Hatred to all these misled ideals, biased reality, broken trust and unmet aspirations of civilians flow as poison along with blood in their our body. And the 21st century is becoming enlightened in many ways with age- socially, intellectually, politically but are not realizing that the government and religion that are idolized are incredibly corrupt and are basically, “cons” to society. And Armstrong sees no way out of this and getting paranoid about not being able to do anything therefore, he wrote,
“21st century breakdown, I once was lost and never was found
I think I’m losing what’s left of my mind, to the 20th century deadline
I was made of poison and blood, Condemnation is what I understood…”
The last verse of the song, is fascinating and sums up the entire song. The black & white music video becomes multi-color and the music comes crashing down and Armstrong sings, “Dream America dream”, which is hope for change. Then it shifts to “Scream America Scream” which works two ways. First, dreams are merely dream that do not become reality. Once the dreams are over, and morning hits, Americans must wake up and meet with grim reality of the state of the country. Second is Armstrong’s appeal to the new generation of 21st century to stand for themselves and make smart choices. He wants us to see through the reforming and deforming forces of the present society and the world and believe what is true and makes sense, and not idealize any form of command. He is calling the Americans to dream for redemption bring back the land that was once of promise, prosperity and not panic.
References:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1604950/we-preview-green-days-21st-century-breakdown.jhtml http://www.bluntmag.com.au/interviews/green-day-21st-century-breakdown http://millercenter.org/president/nixon/essays/biography/4
FRC-14M
Analysis of Social Protest
The era is of static and contraband where bombs are louder than voices and feels like silence will echo through eternity. The generation we live in is midst of panic, fake promises, and fake prosperity, and therefore, people should be given hope and motivation. The song that I’m going to analyze is the title song of the album by name “21st century breakdown” by Green day, released in 2009. It’s a very negative and depressing song despite the poppy, diverse sound. The song is written for open interpretation and most of can relate ourselves to all or parts of it. I advocate justice and I want to be very clear that justice and equality are not the same thing. The song demonstrates this idea very nicely and that’s why it’s epic to me. As the name indicates, Billie Joe Armstrong(vocalist, Green Day) has described the album as “the snapshot of the era in which we live as we question and try to make sense of the selfish manipulation going on around us, whether it be the government, religion, media or frankly any form of authority.” Faith and politics are definitely called into question in the meat of the album and the song, and questioning them doesn’t negate American ideals or their influence in the world. It’s blind patriotism and faith that are taken to trial by fire in this song. Armstrong is trying to capture the feeling of a generation. The band is not anti-American and they don’t …show more content…
want to destroy the country, rather make it better.
All that the song wants is what the people were promised- an authority that caress about people, does what is in the best interest of the population, and allows
Americans to have life, liberty, and pursue happiness.
I would like to put light into Armstrong’s childhood and Nixon’s administration to justify his hatred for the authority and purpose behind the song. The Nixon administration marked the end of America 's long period of post-World War II prosperity and the onset of a period of high inflation and unemployment-"stagflation." Unemployment was unusually low when Nixon took office in January 1969 (3.3 percent), but inflation was rising. Nixon adopted a policy of monetary restraint to cool what his advisers saw as an overheating economy. "Gradualism," as it was called, placed its hopes in restricting the growth of the money supply to rein in the economic boom. But gradualism, as its name implied, did not produce quick results. The economy continued to deteriorate. By the middle of 1971, unemployment reached 6.2 percent while inflation raged unchecked. Connally, Treasury Secretary in Nixon’s staff, made sweeping statements about the President 's intentions: "Number one, he is not going to initiate a wage-price board. Number two, he is not going to impose mandatory price and wage controls. Number three, he is not going to ask Congress for any tax relief. And number four, he is not going to increase federal spending." However, the Treasury Secretary and the President, in August 1971, emerged with a New Economic Policy. The NEP violated most of Nixon 's long-held economic principles, but he was never one to let principle stand in the way of politics, and his dramatic turnaround on economic issues was immediately and enormously popular. The downturn resumed, however, in 1973. Expansive fiscal and monetary policies combined with a shortage of food (aggravated by massive Soviet purchases of American wheat) to fuel inflation. And then came the oil shock. Oil prices were rising even before the onset of the Arab oil boycott in October of 1973. Ultimately, inflation climbed to 12.1 percent in 1974 and help push the economy into recession. When Nixon left office, the economy was in the tank, with rising unemployment and inflation, lengthening gas lines, and a crashing stock market. Armstrong was born in 1972 when his parents along with other working class people were facing the heat of the consequences brought by Nixon’s policies. His childhood was miserable; his education was expensive; his parents were wage workers; pollution of all kinds around his town. Therefore, he is protesting Nixon’s regulation because those changes did not yield anything for him or his family or the common working class people which is explained in the first verse of the song as,
“Born into Nixon, I was raised in Hell
A welfare child where the teamsters dwelled
The last one born, and the first one to run
My town was blind from refinery sun”
He lived a sub-par life as a child and his life is synonymous to the quality of life the working class in the time-period. The industrial companies sucked their labor and blood, and the people were forced to work 14-15 hours to afford inflated utilities for a day. So, their ultimate dream and aspiration was to survive for that day and hence, they could not get out the daily burden of utilities. Even after doing after so much hustle, and all they could do is take in pride working hard and show the remains scars and callosities and an eventual death which is explained in the lines,
“I’m a nation, A worker of pride
My debt to the status quo
The scars on my hands
And the means to an end
Is all the that I have to show”
This leads us into the pre-chorus of the song, “My generation is zero, I never made it to the working class hero”. In the music video, an anonymous figure of a president who throws a child into flaming chimney of a factory. Also, a scene in which a worker is seen beating iron and in the background there are multiple image of him doing the same thing. There is a different scene in which a teenager is seen running away from the missiles, firing chimneys and sinking ships. Then, there is a scene of the same teenager, running forward but neither his appearance/ posture nor his height increase. In evolutionary biology, similar diagram is used to suggest changes in generation and gradual development observed in any species. Since, the teenager does not make any progress, he metaphorically represents the generation zero that has not changed which is true for working class population as their debt is status quo.
Why is their status quo? The answer leads us into current time and how we live in our world. We have human rights, citizen’s rights, and many other rights but our the liberty to dream and hope has been seized and captivated in every movement made for civilizing human and living humanely. The song goes on to loath the political and religious beliefs that form human. I’m an atheist and I firmly believe that principles of any religion are based on a person or group of people’s ideology of how they wanted their successors to live in the world. For example, Buddhism is based on what Buddha learned from his experiences in life. Initial followers of Christianity were a group of pastors, living in small farms, who needed workers to continue agriculture and raising cattle. Therefore, I believe they modified Christianity to disapprove same sex marriage. It’s more like the Bible believing Christian rather than the other way around in today’s world. Preachers of Hinduism, too, present their view of how to live in the world which is imposed on the followers in the name of God. If there ever was a God, he would want his creation to be prosperous and excel, and not form manipulated biasness and discriminate. And I believe all the discrepancies in the world is caused because of this this flawed beliefs and principles created by those people who were/are in command. Our leaders are politically corrupt and immoral; their only motive is to remain in power. Here I would like to bring back Nixon to present an example. His Family Assistance Program was bold, innovative-even radical-and, apparently, insincere. "About Family Assistance Plan," Haldeman (Nixon’s official) wrote in his diary, the President "wants to be sure it 's killed by Democrats and that we make big play for it, but don 't let it pass, can 't afford it." Political concerns would play an overriding role in the economic decisions of Nixon and that’s why Armstrong wrote,
“Born in the era of humility,
We are the desperate in decline
Raised By the bastards of 1969”
And still today, political concern is what drives politicians. If they have any care for people, it’s scanty. We, civilians, are declining from our morality because we are desperate and we are sure to become like those corrupt and shrewd politicians because there is no other way out. Due to all these skewed political and religious biasness, our only freedom is the “liberty to obey” as explained in the lyrics,
“I swallowed my pride, And I choked on my faith
I’ve given my heart and soul, I’ve broken my fingers
And lied through my teeth, The pillar of damage control…
I praise liberty, The freedom to obey
It’s the song that strangles me
Well don’t cross the line”
The way we live in the world leads us into the chorus of the song. Hatred to all these misled ideals, biased reality, broken trust and unmet aspirations of civilians flow as poison along with blood in their our body. And the 21st century is becoming enlightened in many ways with age- socially, intellectually, politically but are not realizing that the government and religion that are idolized are incredibly corrupt and are basically, “cons” to society. And Armstrong sees no way out of this and getting paranoid about not being able to do anything therefore, he wrote,
“21st century breakdown, I once was lost and never was found
I think I’m losing what’s left of my mind, to the 20th century deadline
I was made of poison and blood, Condemnation is what I understood…”
The last verse of the song, is fascinating and sums up the entire song. The black & white music video becomes multi-color and the music comes crashing down and Armstrong sings, “Dream America dream”, which is hope for change. Then it shifts to “Scream America Scream” which works two ways. First, dreams are merely dream that do not become reality. Once the dreams are over, and morning hits, Americans must wake up and meet with grim reality of the state of the country. Second is Armstrong’s appeal to the new generation of 21st century to stand for themselves and make smart choices. He wants us to see through the reforming and deforming forces of the present society and the world and believe what is true and makes sense, and not idealize any form of command. He is calling the Americans to dream for redemption bring back the land that was once of promise, prosperity and not panic.
References:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1604950/we-preview-green-days-21st-century-breakdown.jhtml http://www.bluntmag.com.au/interviews/green-day-21st-century-breakdown http://millercenter.org/president/nixon/essays/biography/4