Sunday, 14 March 2010

Can Pop Music Achieve Genuine Political Change?

Street claims pop music is "a symbolic force, it deploys the power of language to create visions, articulate ideas and form bonds." If true, there is no doubt it could be used to voice political ideals.

Popular music genres have sometimes been related to political ideals (for example Punk/Anarchy) due to their connotations and artists have used their music to promote their beliefs, Bob Dylan for example, but whether they actually achieve political change is a different matter.

The musicians Red Wedge movement, promoting Labour in the 1987 elections, was a failure in that Labour lost the election. It could be argued that Bob Marley’s promotion of the beliefs of Rastafarians in his music is flawed as he goes against his anti-capitalist beliefs by mass-producing his records.

However, popular music can make a difference, for example Band-aid raised vast sums of money for African charities through songs and concerts.

1 comment:

  1. There is a lot covered here, you have done a reasonable job of it but maybe you might have been more successful by focussing on one or two specific points.

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