Pete Seeger: The Power of Song focused on Pete Seeger's life and how his career, social, and political life interacted and intertwined. The movie observes how Seeger's music influenced the political climate on topics such as war and racial prejudices; the documentary went over Seeger's blacklisting, his relationship to the communist movement, his interaction with political leaders and activists such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The documentary emphasized how Pete Seeger used his music to inspire people to improve themselves and their community, we saw this when the documentary provided information on the story of Pete Seeger's plan to clean up the Hudson River. The movie explained how Pete's encouragement, music and presence promoted the idea …show more content…
This can be explained through a variety of reasons such as bad publicity, high imprisoning rates and criminalization of protesters, propaganda demonizing protesters and glorifying the 'victims' of the protests, and so on. The explanation of why there has been so much of a stigma placed on protesting is important, but not the topic of the documentary. The documentary can be seen as more of a solution to the problem. Pete Seeger held political festivals, and musical rallies, and brought media attention to social problems, which in turn encouraged people to become involved and be politically active in their community and to fight for social change. Political expression and revolution via music makes it harder to stigmatize a social revolution or protest. If your protest consists of people coming together and singing topical songs and collectively opposing something your movement is much harder to stigmatize than a movement whose rallies consist of marching on the streets yelling your ideals and demanding justice. Pete Seeger created festivals in the name of political revolution while activists in contemporary society create Facebook groups that turn into events and protests there is a much more negative tone. Another advantage of musical protest is the legal standing of it. It is much harder to find reasons to arrest someone for attending a music festival than it is to arrest someone protesting, holding picket signs and disturbing the peace and vandalizing government property with sidewalk chalk (this is in reference to the occupy Orlando movement where protesters were arrested for drawing on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk). Another advantage of musical based protest is that with media attention it is easy to demonize protesters holding picket signs than it is to demonize protesters attending a music festival.
Music can be traced back into human history to prehistoric eras. To this day archeologists uncover fragments of ancient instruments as well as tablets with carved lyrics buried alongside prominent leaders and highly influential people. This serves as a testament to the importance and power of music, as well as its influence in society. Over its many years of existence, music’s powerful invocation of feelings has allowed it to evolve and serve many purposes, one being inspiring change. American journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel.” This fuel is the very things that powers the influence of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society, that author Glenn C. Altschuler writes about in his book, “All Shook Up – How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America.” Between 1945 and 1965 Rock ‘n’ Roll transformed American society and culture by helping to ease racial integration and launch a sexual revolution while most importantly developing an intergenerational identity.
In the summer of 1969, a music festival called, “Woodstock”, took place for three straight days in Upstate, New York, with thirty-two musical acts playing, and 500,000 people from around the world coming to join this musical, peaceful movement. Woodstock started out being a small concert, created to locally promote peace in the world, by the power of music and its lyrics. Now, Woodstock is still being celebrated over 40 years later. The chaotic political climate that the ‘baby boomers’ were growing up in is most likely the reason for this event becoming of such an importance to the world. The violence of the Vietnam War, protests at Kent State and the Democratic Convention, and the assassinations contributed to an ‘out of control’ world. The fact that so many people came to Woodstock and were able to latch onto the ideals of peace, love, and community became a wonderful, joyous symbol to this generation. This three day music festival represented the ideal for baby boomers during a chaotic political time.
Imagine one were charged with a quest to compose a catalog of the greatest and most influential lyricists of the rock and roll genre. Such a roster would inevitably include names like John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and Elton John; however, if one were to scroll a little farther down the list they would come across a man named Pete Townshend. Townshend ascended to fame as the lead guitarist and principle songwriter for a rock band called The Who. Through his work with The Who as well as the compositions of his solo career Pete Townshend has come to be known as a tremendously respected figure in the musical world as well as one of the must influential members of the unique ideological movements he touched.
Throughout time, music has been an influential part of society. As a form of entertainment and expression, its impact has always been felt both economically and emotionally. During the Vietnam war, music evolved into more a form of expression rather than pure entertainment. Emotionally charged songs became a method to oppose the war, and vent frustrations. While many songs opposed the war, numerous others focused on peace and happiness. They provided a positive perspective in an otherwise depressing time. Along with incorporating passion into music, cultural diversity increased in music greatly. Black artists became progressively more popular and accepted in the musical scene. This respect carried over to society slowly but surely. During the Vietnam war, music played a crucial role in the societal evolution into a state where emotions fueled actions, more emphasis was put on equality, all opinions counted.
In 1969 at Bethel, New York, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was 3 day event that was all about peace, love, music, and partying. It was a historic event that changed what was known back then as the “hippie movement”. At Woodstock there were many influential artists that performed at this huge event. It was a popular festival that led the later generations to embrace the sentiment and mood of what Woodstock came to represent. People didn’t realize (until later) how historic Woodstock really was. Woodstock was actually supposed to be a simple small event that would have around a only expected to have 5,000 people attend. It surpassed all expectations by having nearly 500,000 people attend. In the end it actually become a
Have you ever wondered about how did Woodstock change how we look at a concert?Well i am going to tell you a little about how it did. Drug usage at Woodstock changed how we look at concerts. First, “every concert that people go to some people try to sneak in drugs.”Therefore, People try to do drugs outside and inside the concert.. Also, when people here that there is a concert they always think that they are going to bring drugs there. “According to History.com people sold drugs and smoked drugs all the way throughout the concert.” To explain, the people at Woodstock basically got to do whatever they wanted there. The people were happy that they could get
During the 1960s America was involved and distracted with different problems. One of these conflicts had to do with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., where riots began in cities across the country. Also, America was deeply involved during the continuing military conflict in Vietnam. As President Nixon continued drafting boys to Vietnam, riots were ongoing, including many campus protest movements. During these movements, people marched for peace and burned draft cards (“Did Woodstock Change America?”). Both of these conflicts brought a culture of public demonstration, where people would show what they were feeling peacefully and violently. “People were also judged and punished because of what they did. Some people were arrested, had left home, or got expelled from school just because of their choices in style”(Young and Lang 100). The Woodstock festival was a chance to support the music and style they liked and peacefully p...
The goal of protest music is to promote freedom through music. Bob Marley expresses his belief that music is a message and route to freedom in the song “Trench Town”.... ... middle of paper ... ...of a syllable.
Protest is not always in the form of picketing outside a private property. There can be many forms of protest. Some include picketing, rioting, mass gatherings, strikes, and petitions. The difference between this and using music as a form of protest, aside from violence, is that music can be done in a way that almost everyone can appreciate. Music does not hurt anybody. In fact, music is something that almost every human being in the world likes. The style of music changes throughout each person but the core of music is similar in everybody. Music is something that brings everybody together and using it as a way of protest, for necessary reasons, is a great idea compared to the other forms of protest such as picketing, rioting, etc.
Music was used as a critical instrument in the early 20th century in mobilizing and inspiring the civil rights movement by giving them more voice to bring out their grievances. According to Kerk (2007, p.18) Martin Luther king was the most prolific figure who utilized music to sensitize society, “we believe that freedom songs play a big and vital part in the struggle that we are going through” this words were also echoed by the Albany movement “music keeps us a live, it gives us a sense of unity, new courage every dawn, hope to move on that the future still holds something in our most daring and dreadful hours”
“Music is uniquely wonderful. It is incapable of being touched yet it touches everyone who is capable of hear sounds. It can seemingly evoke any emotion; we instinctively respond to happy tunes, mournful songs, beautiful melodies, inspiring anthems, stirring hymns, and majestic orchestrations.” (Doolan, Robert. 1985) There is no question that music is great part of society; it has been at civilization’s side whether it be the lyres and flutes of the ancient Greeks or how it calms or excites emotions and keeps armies in order during battle. Within society, there has also been social unrest and the desire for change. Protesting is the expression of a society’s concerns on current events of which they feel affected by whether it be through public rallies, picketing, riots or even bombings. Protest through music is one powerful medium for engaging people. Amidst what life throws at individuals, music has comforted the soul, provoked individualistic thought and opinion, and music draws people together through groups alike who have the same attachment or concerns with their surroundings. Whether it be rock, jazz, blues, rap, hip hop, dance, spiritual, or world, music has inspired artists to spill out their expression and views of society. Music is a universally effective tool of protest in generating social change and unrest as it continues to unite those with like ideas.
The Effects of Media on the Public's Opinion Mass media - have you ever taken the time to consider two articles about the same thing? Some may be more bias against a group or idea, while others keep a strict, non bias view. The way the media portrays events may change or even corrupt people's thoughts on certain public matters. This paper will dissect four articles on the Woodstock riots and show the relationships and differences between them. On a Sunday night, near the closing song of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, there were a few bonfires were reported. The firefighters, feeling they were under control, let these bonfires burn. Then Limp Bizkit came on, another hard-core band. In their song Breakstuff, the audience climbed a television camera tower and began ripping equipment and other electrical devices off of them. After Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine, another hard-core band, played hard-core music that could have easily incited violence. When the smoke cleared away Monday afternoon, not only were thirty-seven people arrested, out of a countless number; there was also hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damaged equipment. In the articles, They Must Have Run Out of Drugs and
Have you ever thought what the world would be like without music? In my opinion, simply boring. Now imagine a movie in a dramatic scene without that instrumental song that makes us want to know what’s going to happen. It wouldn’t be the same. The reality is that we have the privilege to incorporate music into our lives and make our days happier by listening to the music we love. There’s also been important artists who involved social issues to their songs or even racism issues and for me that’s amazing how they had the courage to express their opinions and feelings towards those issues with music. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, John Lennon, Frank Sinatra and Pete Seeger.
The song that I choose to do this assignment on is Fight the Power by Public Enemy. Fight the Power was written in 1989 and quickly became a street anthem for millions of youths. It reflects with issues dealing with both the Civil Rights Movement and to remind everyone that they too have Constitutional Rights. This particular song is about empowerment but also fighting the abuse of power that is given to the law enforcement agencies. It gave citizens of the U.S a more modern outlook on the many struggles that not only the African American community is up against but the other minority groups as well. The song’s message was eventually supposed to bring people together and make the world a better place, even though some teens saw it as a way
Days after the concert was over, new about the concert hit mainstream media hard. It was on the radio, in the paper, on television. Everyone around the globe was hearing about the concert and its efforts. One of the main focuses of the media on this concert was how peaceful it had been. A lot of concerts have violence due to drug and or alcohol use. When you combine that with political differences and possible arrogance, trouble is easily foreseen. To everyone’s surprise the Concert for Bangladesh was very peaceful. There had been on issue, a group of people who did not have tickets, charged the fences and broke them down. Ironically Harrison and Shankar did not allow any police to work their show. So, when the people tore down the fence and it was handled peacefully, this was shocking to the world. Farida Majid, a historian for Bangladesh had mentioned that the concert was so warm felt, that the issues in Bangladesh echoed around the world. Everyone knew about Bangladesh and the ones who knew already knew, now had a deeper understanding. Due to the awareness that the concert had brought to the world, it then led to people volunteering to help the effort. It had also led to multiple private donations around the world. Something else that had happened after the concert is, the creation of the live album of the concert. The album was created and sold multiple copies world-wide and a piece of the profit was donated to the effort. Another thing that had been made was a film about the concert and live video feed. Again, like the album, many of these were sold and a piece of the profit was donated to the effort. What had started out as just a conversation between two friends had ended up becoming a world-wide effort to support the refuges of Bangladesh. The aftermath was not something that anyone could have ever