"Silence is the enemy so give me give me REVOLUSHUN!!!"

Recent times seem to have seen an increase in political commentary and revolutionary sentiment in popular music. Of course there's always been political music, but I mean in properly popular music revolutionary attitudes and even advocacy of class war and socialism are more present than they were a few years ago. Its a good reflection of popular opinion..

For example we've had the communist RATM voted christmas number one in a mass peoples' power campaign of real revolutionary music (represented by RATM) against the heartlessness of the capitalist music industry (represented by the X Factor). We've seen Rihanna and Jay Z appear alongside Chairman Mao. (this may not seem like much but when you consider the potency of Mao as a symbol and the status of these 2 stars its certainly pretty interesting)
I'm currently listening to album 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day which I really like. Musically its fun like American Idiot, but there seems to be more class conciousness in Billy Joe's lyrics (they're just as cool and reflective with the same amount of cliches tho). And among less popular music as well politics has been coming up a little more.

This isn't a huge leap in the history of music but I think it could be the start of an interesting development and an indicator that class conciousness is rising in popular culture. Maybe its due to the decline of the bourgeois grip on music or maybe because people in general seem to be getting more interested in struggle and popular music is starting to reflect this, i dunno. but yeah.

Has anyone else noticed this? What do you all think ? What can the left do about this ? Would it be possible to establish some kinda cultural vanguard ? or am i just noticing stuff that was always there ?

Maybe you're listening to music where one would expect to hear that kind of talk?

Most of the pop stuff I've heard on the radio is very much geared toward loving wealth, luxury and think of being anti-establishment as being nouveau riche. Being anti-establishment because of capitalism was seen as crass, vulgar and outdated. The decade before the crash, it was all about being luxurious and as glamorous as one could be. Rappers trade in their Chucks and Dickies for Armani suits and Gucci shoes. Punk princesses would be seen at fashion shows with Louis Vutton purses. The entertainment industry was saturated in pro-establishment music as the good times rolled.

Rihanna and Jay Z appearing besides Chairman Mao? This is not is a positive step, this is another example of the commodification of revolution.
There is nothing in the slightest like class consciousness in anything Greenday have spewed fourth they are just another example of the betrayal of punk ideology by corporate puppets.

These are probably the most played songs on the radio here:

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

And don't get me wrong, I like Lady Gaga, but I have no illusions that there is any sort of class-consciousness raising lyrics in her songs. These three songs are completely devoid of anything intelligent to say

sorry, that was just unexpected.

I kind of liked the song Paparazzi.

My advice to the people tired of listening to corporate promoted crap: Manu Chao.

Pete Seeger is still alive!

RED DAVE

Manu Chao is the meds that i take when i get sick from listening to mainstream music.

Are you posting from 1977? I cant see any increase in left wing politics/social consciousness in pop music, especially in the UK. The personality cult RULES pop music (probably no new thing, and not always the fault of the artist), but im willing to bet my bollocks on Rhianna and Jay-Z being hardcore capitalists. The use of Mao in the video is completely throwaway, i would be highly surprised if it signified anything of note about Jay-Z politically. The guy's got his own clothing range!

If anything there is less and less all the time. Pop music is increasingly less focused on any form of dissent, surely?

I actually have seen the opposite. The music industry has as a whole become progressively more profit-driven and lyrics/music videos mind-numbing and vapid, promoting materialism/consumerism and oppressive gender relations (especially in the case of popular hip-hop).

Pop also serves to elevate corporate puppets as the embodiment of the illusory "American dream". Obviously, it is an integral part of the entertainment industry whose role in the system is to keep the masses complacent and ultimately blind to the injustices and realities of class inequality.

i was drunk when i made this thread can a mod delete it

i think the music industry is trying to be more "rebellious" in their music to sell more records. so i think its more of a "im in ur societeez bein rebellious" rather than people trying to make a true statement.

It's only more "rebellious" these days in the sense that it promotes nouveau riche as the new anti-establishment. The past decade was one of heavy, heavy materialist decadence. Everything had a touch of luxury in it, from rock to rap.

Exactly, it's commodification of rebellion basically.

There are a few things that make me very optimistic about music right now (Lady GaGa is one of them - I'm not into her music but she is so much more interesting than most of the recent pop and she spoke at the National Equality March!).

1. I think the music industry is loosing its grip and hegemony and that's always a good thing for music. At the turn of the century, the music industry really had a hold on popular culture because a few large companies really dominated and in the radio industry (in the US) companies like clear-channel and their limited play-lists had a overwhelming percentage of most major markets.

There was a PBS documentary called (I think) "The Merchants of Cool" that examined the music industry in the late 90s and how rather than signing existing music groups and artists, a few major players like MTV took a Pepsi-like strategy of doing market research into what white suburban males wanted to hear and then basically manufacturing it and promoting it.

2. Most importantly, we are at a social crossroads and society in much of the capitalist world is becoming increasingly polarized and volatile. This means that even as the music industry tries to push the same vapid shit, it has less resonance with people. The economic crisis is a social pressure cooker and it's bound to be expressed (in good and bad ways) in popular culture.

3. Commercials aren't buying pop music any more because it's too expensive.

4. I had all but given up on rock and hip hop music for most of the last decade - finally some more interesting things are beginning to get out there.

Local scenes are back. In Oakland hyphy has dominated for a while now and for the folks in "the movement", it's like their new punk rock... sure it's just escapist and lacks social commentary, but it's a whole subculture that is grass-roots and wide-spread. In San Francisco, it's all about the garage scene which has rekindled the punk spirit and is by and large pro-LGBT and has teenagers moshing again - much to my delight (and nostalgia). Like hyphy this music is more expressive and about working yourself into a sweaty and sublime state rather than having social commentary. But music that brings kids together, creates a sense of togetherness and ownership of a particular cultural scene tells me that the kids really are alright.

Just wanted to take the opportunity to say that I love Green Day, even though most of you probably hate them.

Well, I was never a fan of Green Day because like a lot of northern Californians who were into punk at that time, we saw them (and Rancid) as "corrupting the scene" or sell-outs or whatever. I feel like there was a lot more concern about "authenticity" in pop music at that time - hip-hop needed to be "from the streets" and hard, punk rockers had to be working class and not pop at all. It was really a lot of lifestyle and elitist bullshit in the end - but it was also an expression of the general (and not all that political - yet) anti-corporate sentiment of a lot of young people at the time.

In retrospect, Green Day were far far better than the pop-punk that dominated "alternative" rock music in the following years. That's right, I'm calling you out Orange County punk scene!

I see punk-erish music being mentioned. What do you guys say about NOFX? They are pretty left leaning politically and have never "fully" sold out.
I always preferred them over Green Day, especially for not changing so much over the years (and decades).

This reminds me of a band I used to love until they TOTALLY sold out - The Offspring
Anyone remember their old stuff before "Americana" came out?

The early 90s kicked ass for music, though. Even the mainstream was full of some good bands. From 91-94/95, the music was killer. Back in those days, it was ALL about the music and not selling out. MTV actually played videos, and no one gave a damn about what you wore, except as along as you stayed within you're own genre. I noticed in my junior high school there wasn't a lot of mixing genres.

It was very much the slacker generation. I don't know how the corporate yuppie generation swung back around and engulfed most of the college crowd with a vengeance again.

Actually what I am trying to figure out is how I know so many people who love RATM, Henry Rollins, System of a Down, Pearl Jam, NOFX yet they can be so damn right wing! I really don't think they pay attention to the lyrics.