Rock Music's Political Thump Turns to Thud

Maybe Van Halen killed it. Axl Rose's diva personality disorder certainly didn't help. Or, to get 99 percent of the readers on my side, maybe it was Nickelback that threw in the towel. The culprit is hard to pinpoint but the damage is done. Rock music as a genre is significantly less poignant in 2011 than it was decades prior -- and the real catalyst of the demise might relate more to capitalism and the digital revolution than the outrage any spandex outfit could instill.

Rocker Tom Morello and his acoustic guitar have done as much to spur this Fall's social critique as anyone. Morello's folksy twang, urging on the Occupy movement, is reminiscent of Dylan, and is eons away from his Marshall JCM 800 guitar tones of Rage Against the Machine. But he is tearing it up. His voice seems to ring louder without the amps -- and maybe that is the point. As Morello says "mic check" to a group of around 1,000 Occupy protesters in NYC, they engage in a collective recitation of his sentences that takes on a Pledge of Allegiance sort of tenor. Regardless of the lack of amplification and the cold conditions, the NYC corridor rumbles with the united human voice; that message doesn't run on 87 octane -- it burns rocket fuel.

The vibrancy of social critique was nearly synonymous with the 1960s counter-culture music. That was what frightened the parents -- the prominence of pot and LSD in a birth-controlled world didn't help -- but the main attention was on the rebellious musical messages toward the status quo. From venues like The Fillmore in San Francisco and The Grande Ballroom in Detroit, the rebel rousing statements often came sandwiched between distorted guitars. And people listened. And demonstrated.

John Sinclair, the well known manager of Detroit's MC5 and recipient of John Lennon's active demonstration to free him from a "10 years for two joints" sentencing, knows more about rock music and its inherent ability to incite activism than anyone on the planet. He also knows where the train line ends. Sinclair told me,

My interest in rock music kind of ends in the 1970s. I liked it when it was part of the fabric of life in the 1960s, something that came out of the way people lived. But then it just became a product. Woodstock was the signal that something else was going to happen that hadn't happened before. Over the next couple years the record companies just bought everything up and changed the concept of alternative expression, and [rock music] became commercialism.

Wayne Kramer, guitarist for the MC5, implied that perhaps modern rock is not as poignant because it has to compete, directly, with all the great bands of the past decades. Kramer told me, "All the music that ever existed exists right now. The Beatles to a 15-year-old on the Internet are a band right now; The Who is a band right now; The Sex Pistols is a band right now; The Clash is a band right now. It is an unforeseen side effect of the digital age."

Kramer continues to unpack the reasons that the MC5 have been such an enduring icon from rock music's golden era by saying,

The MC5 was caught in a moment in time. What you are always trying to capture in art is the instance of original joy -- when the muse visits, where the effort is caught. It is not that you achieved [artistic success], but you are trying for it. The Kick Out the Jams era of the MC5 was young, passionate and committed, and wholehearted about everything. We were convinced, we were certain and it was captured and caught and it remains frozen in amber so that anyone can tap into it at anytime. A reason that the MC5 is enduring may be that we never went on to be rich and famous. Kind of like we will never know James Dean as an old overweight balding fat man. He is always going to be that beautiful young man. Marilyn Monroe will always be that luscious, slightly damaged blond. And in a way the MC5 is kind of locked into that.

The MC5 undoubtedly were relevant and at the apex of rock music, addressing social problems such as racial inequalities or the war in Vietnam, and in a way that is an unfair playing field for a current band to have to compete against. But it doesn't have to be a direct competition; more up-and-coming rock bands need to draw inspiration from the era when the critique rang true. Tom Morello, with his Harvard degree and collection of Grammys is on point: he knows where good inspiration is. Morello speaks of his admiration toward the MC5 by telling Tony D'Annunzio, producer of Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story, "The MC5's music has been a huge influence on me. They were the original political punk band with an awesome stage show and a tremendous amount of energy." Morello continues and says, "It was in part [Wayne Kramer's] influence to make Nightwatchmen music and play and write and sing my own songs."

Stephan Jenkins, frontman of Third Eye Blind, also became one of a small handful of rock-based acts assessing the political climate. Two days ago Jenkins released "If There Ever Was A Time," a song spurring on the Occupy movement. Jenkins, the UC Berkeley valedictorian, over the two last days has had 21,000 plays and 3,000 downloads of the song off his Facebook page. Do you need prestigious accolades to realize the relevance of directing rock music to the people in 2011?

Hamada Ben Amor didn't have much to show for his 20 years on the planet in 2010. A shared bedroom with his brother, a few hundred dollars computer and a condenser microphone. But in a modern view, Amor may have had the biggest impact of any musician in the 21st century. Amor was a typical college student steeped in a Tupac and Biggie Smalls regime of honesty and 808 bass drums. Amor took the name El General and recorded tracks in his bedroom, drawing upon his idols. He uploaded tracks to Facebook with minimal pomp and circumstance. But on November 7, 2010, it changed. He hit on a nerve. He recorded, "Rais Lebled" which translates to "President of the Country." Tunisia had banned music with nearly any questionable critique of the status quo. A song critiquing the president was a guarantee for safety concerns. Regardless, El General hit "upload" and "Rais Lebled" went viral. Within weeks El General had risen as a leader in the Jasmine Revolution and the Tahrir Square protests in Cairo. His song and message was at the nexus for changing Tunisia and Egypt towards more democratic states. No million dollar tour busses, adorning fans or career trajectory visions: Just music becoming the soundtrack to revolutions.

Watching 1,000 Occupy camps on the planet dig their heels into the ground, and seeing 200 Patriotic Millionaires who want the government to tax them more march through Washington; it is hard not to draw parallels between 2011 and 1968. The apathy of the last decade seems to have lifted. And truth will emerge, the way it always has, through the murky waters of social critique. We need more leaders. We need more anthems. We need more people with the gumption to Kick Out The Jams.

 

 

 

Follow Jason Schmitt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jason_schmitt

Comments

[sclarke1957]

04:26 PM on 11/25/2011

Regarding an anthem for the Occupy movement, the band I'm in recorded a song about the 1% that's got a sing-along section. Check out "They're Playing You Like a Fiddle" at http://www.reverbnation.com/misterspring and become a fan or email it to others if you want to help spread it around.

We also put out a press release and blog post inviting other bands to submit Occupy anthems that we'll help publicize on subsequent blog posts. Check out http://misterspring.net/mister_spring_blog/2011/11/here-for-the-occupy-wall-st-anthem-challenge.html

Hoping this helps...

[Mark Cobb]

12:03 PM on 11/22/2011

I honestly don't know what to think anymore. There is no spokesperson or identifiable leader of this movement that you can put a face on. While the many have gone down to lend their support to the cause, there are just as many who have gone down more out of curiosity than solidarity. I don't know why someone isn't out there reading the famous Citibank memo or quoting some of the other famous flubs that have come out of the mouths of the 1% intended to shame the rest of us into succumbing to our roles as serfs and indentured servants to their despotism.

Deeds, not words...in this case the most needed deed is words. Well heeled, well thought out words that will ignite and inspire those that began this journey to forge on. Our elected politicians deserve no less a fate than this. "The growth of a nation cannot be achieved by keeping the downtrodden down" (Simply Red from the song: Turn It Up)

[headstrong]

08:55 AM on 11/21/2011

Unfortunately, there's no one left to write those songs any more. John Lennon's been dead a long time.

[libwingoflibwing]

05:05 PM on 11/20/2011

Sinclair's crititique of Rock music being commercialized in the 70s is pretty shallow. Commercialization was always there and Rock never fully surrendered. What was punk about anyway? What was grunge about?

Today there are regional bands across the country producing new rock music filled with the same vibrancy as these earlier periods. It might break out like it did in '67 from San Francisco or '77 from seedy Manhatten clubs and London or '91 from Seattle and then everyone will be talking about it. Or it might not. But make no mistake. Rock is NOT dead.

[Mike R Wood]

11:37 AM on 11/20/2011

How about this civil rights standard for an anthum?

We shall overcome, we shall overcome,
We shall overcome someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome someday.

The Lord will see us through, The Lord will see us through,
The Lord will see us through someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome someday.

We're on to victory, We're on to victory,
We're on to victory someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We're on to victory someday.

We'll walk hand in hand, we'll walk hand in hand,
We'll walk hand in hand someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We'll walk hand in hand someday.

We are not afraid, we are not afraid,
We are not afraid today;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We are not afraid today.

The truth shall make us free, the truth shall make us free,
The truth shall make us free someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
The truth shall make us free someday.

We shall live in peace, we shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall live in peace someday.

[jerabaub]

08:25 AM on 11/20/2011

Music is a form of art, and art comments on the human condition.

I applaud Tom Morello.

I became politically aware certainly by the time of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

But go way back, back to Billie Holiday's classic "Strange Fruit"(google its lyrics), and even before that.

Music has ALWAYS commented on the human condition...rightly expressing outrage at injustice.

Literature and film, examples of other art forms, also do it.

"Grapes of Wrath", and many other examples.

[JaiGuru]

03:52 AM on 11/20/2011

Seriously, if the old hippies had used successful methodologies in their movement in the 1960s, then the events that have lead our modern children to take to the streets would not have ever occurred. It strikes me that the last thing OWS needs in Joan Baez, Crosby, or any other aging baby boomer trying to relive their glory days amongst a protest against events they largely allowed to happen, and linking their nonsense to this struggling movement. The same goes for any othe rmore modern band trying to cash in some quick hipster cred, whether they believe in the cause genuinely or not. This is not the 60s. That is not a relevant way to push a statement now in the age of near omnipresent communication; and it can be easily argued by the outcome of the political agenda of the 1960's counter culture that it wasn't very effective then either, with respect to the obvious successes they had with the SOCIAL successes in their day).

You old rockers want to believe in something? Remember Bob Dylan. "Please get out of the way if you can't lend a hand, for the times they are a changin."

[globalcooperativeforum]

11:03 PM on 11/19/2011

see

We Are The Many
http://www.archive.org/details/WeAreTheMany-Makana

Song for the Movement
http://www.archive.org/details/SongsForTheMovement

[geezedout]

04:57 PM on 11/19/2011

"Watching 1,000 Occupy camps on the planet dig their heels into the ground, and seeing 200 Patriotic Millionaires who want the government to tax them more march through Washington; it is hard not to draw parallels between 2011 and 1968. The apathy of the last decade seems to have lifted. And truth will emerge, the way it always has, through the murky waters of social critique. We need more leaders. We need more anthems."

Not to get all Bob Dylan on you but... THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING.

[Skull splittrz good beer]

03:59 PM on 11/19/2011

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIDEEEEEEEEEEEN!

[Billk29]

02:50 PM on 11/19/2011

Whenever a musician gets involved with politics in America these days he seems to get nothing but scorn and derision from the populace.
Same thing when film makers dare to put a life message into film.
This isn't a Bob Dylan type world anymore.

[Jeff Hendren]

10:47 AM on 11/19/2011

Music is a medium, not a message. Technology has provided other ways to transmit information, the ubiquitous digital camera, the near instantaneous upload to Youtube or facebook.I guess I am questioning if the protest needs spandex clad narcissists and kilowatts of amplification to get their message across...

[anubiss2112]

01:34 PM on 11/20/2011

I don't know about the spandex, but I am kind of partial to kilowatts of amplification \m/ \m/

[Jeff Hendren]

03:10 AM on 11/21/2011

As am I, but it isn't required anymore.

[Dion Tillmon]

02:27 AM on 11/19/2011

The big reason is why you don't hear new political music(with the exception of Mumford & Sons) is three big reasons,
1. Record Labels aren't not promoting bands like them
2. Clear Channel owns almost all radio stations, so you're not going to hear protest songs(past or present)
3. MTV/VH-1 aren't playing music videos anymore. If they are, it's mostly Pop or Rap fluff

[larstein]

01:08 AM on 11/19/2011

Rock music was the music of the immediate present because some of the young people of that generation realized the implications of the new electronic culture and made a new and very loud sound. In these times Rock music must find a way to connect to the thread of history, to demonstrate a maturity it always rejected, to prove itself as viable and enduring a genre as jazz and country music. Dylan has done it, the Grateful Dead did it, and there are soon going to be new bands that show the potential for being more than mere entertainment.

I believe music will again possess the passion, melodic power, relevance and humor of the '60s. To me, right now, it is very much like 1961 with the Civil Rights/Free Speech/anti-war movement and the folk/protest music that helped make rock music intelligent and vital by 1965. I think another long strange trip is in the works in this decade. We have only just begun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRie3g0P0vE

[anubiss2112]

02:24 PM on 11/20/2011

Music's ability to critique society hasn't disappeared, it's just largely disappeared from mainstream rock music. The anti-establishment and counter-cultural sentiments that were prevalent in the rock music of the 60's are found in today's rap music, although couched in vastly different terms and presented from the point of view of today's urban underclass. Notable examples would be "Changes" by Tupac, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" by Kanye West, most of the work by Common. Socially conscious and often socially critical messages are also found in today's heavy metal. Aside from the obvious example of Rage Against the Machine, Stone Sour made a very pointed political statement with "Come What(ever) May", as did System of a Down with "BYOB", Black Sabbath with "War Pigs", and Rammstein's "Amerika". Two of the more politically aware groups that I have found recently, which have a more mainstream sound but get virtually no airplay, are the Flobots and Fort Minor. Fortunately, with the advent of services like Pandora and Spotify, underground music is more readily accessible and Clear Channel is becoming less and less influential in filtering what comes through to today's listeners. Music never lost the passion, melodic power, and relevance that it had in the 60's, it just change how those virtues were expressed.

[larstein]

05:43 PM on 11/21/2011

Everyone of the groups and rap entertainers you identify are examples of the problem I see in the music of today. It does not engage with the century long tradition of melody, especially folk melody that made the music of the 60's something that people could identify with and sing along with. Since there is no melody at all in rap, and since groups like Black Sabbath, Rage whatever, and most of the rock groups from the '90s onward don't have even a small degree of the melodic charm that made the music of previous decades enjoyable, I simply cannot agree with you at all. Most of the rock I've heard since the late 80's has been ugly, marginal, and weak or obscure in terms of content. Of course, there are the stalwarts like Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, and Tom Waits, but they aren't played on radio at all anymore, are they? For that matter, the only rock played on radio is classic rock, right? Why is that?