Me:
It mystifies me (sort of) that protest music
doesn’t exist here. Yes, it was different Back Then. Labels didn't charge
artists for use of their facilities. Radio stations were privately owned and
could do a lot of independent programming. They may not have been the greatest
examples of American music, but we learned the songs, we sang them during
protests and in coffee houses and "our" bars. Hell, one of the
protest songwriters got a Nobel Prize for Literature this year...50 years late,
but at least he was recognized. I don't get it.
I don't blame young people, really. I just
don't understand why, if the anger is there, if the dissatisfaction is there,
why isn't the music there? Or do I just not hear it?
AaronD12:
You're absolutely right, and I didn't even
think about it. There were all kinds of protest songs in the '60s and '70s...
then nothing. Sure, there were some deep tracks on some LPs (like Prince's
"Ronnie Talk to Russia"), but they never got any airplay. Why is
that?
Me:
The airplay is easy...St. Ronnie opened the can of worms that is
currently known as broadcasting. There is hardly a radio or TV station that
isn't part of a conglomerate. I cannot think of an independent radio or TV
station that's on-air today. Even most of the Jeebus stations are owned by Jeebus
companies. He did away with the Fairness Doctrine, so broadcasters no longer
had to present both sides (or, god forbid, ALL sides) of an issue. Jeebus
stations could have been challenged by different sects. No more. Talk radio
exists because they don't have to be responsible to the public, to air all
viewpoints. Big companies tend not to like to ruffle feathers, so no protest.
But Joan Baez didn't live in a vacuum. She, Dylan, Nina Simone,
Phil Ochs, and other protest singers made an impact underground. We knew where
to look in record stores. Major labels discovered there was more than pop,
jazz, country, and Jeebus. Independent stations built formats around folk
music. Their signals made it out to the country, where those of us who were
ripe for rebellion could hear, too. Singers at coffee houses sang about civil
rights and the war. Sometimes the protest music got out of the shadows. Just as
white singers tamed black rock and roll, nice guys (Peter, Paul, and Mary, for
example) took the edge off protest...didn't necessary change the lyric, but
didn't sound as angry or threatening. And the likes of Simon and Garfunkel
could be heard on pop radio. Good, responsible people didn't listen to FM radio
except for elevator music, so programmers got smart and decided they could
continue to make money off their AM stations while programming for "the
kids" on FM.
The Civil Rights Act and the end of the Vietnam War greatly
reduced the need for pop protest music. Radio got a little less nasty, but they
were still responsible for political content. Then St. Ronnie came along, waved
his magic wand, and suddenly it was OK to own more than 7 stations nationwide,
and he knew that broadcasters would be socially responsible and continue to
present both sides of an issue, so he did away with ruling and conglomerate
broadcasters showed how socially responsible they could be.
To me, the radical,
racist anti-Constitutional America ammosexuals are deeply, fundamentally worthy
of protest and protest songs. We are worthy of having protest songs sung to us,
to have protest theater onstage and on the streets. Young people hate old
people, which is fine by me...I did the same when I was young (when the hell
are you guys gonna die off?). Can't that passion become music? Can't the Bernie folks continue his ideas
onstage? Music delivers opinion its own special way, and I don't understand why
protest music, street theater, independent papers, the college campus circuit,
or even pirate radio stations don't exist.
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