Kent State & The Protest Song

One of the things I miss about music today is the protest song.

Today's rap crap is frequently too full of violent, misogynistic lyrics (OK, you've made a good point, The Rolling Stones' songs were often full of that stuff too).

The current crop of self-absorbed, singer-songwriters - as excellent as many of them are - can not be mistaken for real folk or protest singers even though folk is the genre where a lot of their musical influences were schooled.

It's not that there isn't anything left to say and nobody around to say it. Jackson Browne's 2014 album, Standing In The Breach, is a very politically and socially aware album.

The dearly departed Celtic-rock band, Black 47, also frequently walked in Browne's territory over their twenty-five year existence. Their final CD, Last Call (also 2014), took on illegal immigration. In 2008 they recorded an entire disc about the war in Iraq and they were important in spreading the word about Ireland's often violent history.

Protest and political songs don't have to be depressing or preachy. Humor is a great way to make a point and gain attention. Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant Masacree" is very long but it's also extremely funny while protesting war and the draft. Stevie Wonder recorded a song you could dance to with "Happy Birthday," the last track from Hotter Than July (1980), the last LP from his golden era. It was his plea for Martin Luther King's birthday to become a national holiday that he was eventually happy to see become a reality. Both artists - though very different musically - proved lightheartedness can help promote serious goals.

There were more. The almost forgotten Al Stewart educated us about the "Road to Moscow" and George Harrison led The Beatles with his tirade against the "Taxman."

Peter, Paul, and Mary are finished, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez have grown old, and U2 have abandoned their causes. Where are the new Pete Seegers and Woody Guthries? Some of these activist musicians actually recorded songs with a social conscience that became hits and - over time - popular standards. Seeger wrote the bulk of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" and Guthrie is famous for "This Land Is Your Land."

The Kent State tragedy prompted Neil Young to write "Ohio," one of rock's great politically charged records. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young rode it to number 14 on Billboard's Hot 100 shortly after the event. The flip side of the famous single was a short, Stephen Stills song, "Find the Cost of Freedom," dedicated to those who died in the war in Viet Nam.

Even the Beach Boys - unlikely candidates for social commentary - responded with "Student Demonstration Time" from their 1971 Surf's Up LP. Mike Love updated the lyrics to an old Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller song, "Riot in Cell Block #9," originally recorded by The Robins in 1954. Love's version includes a reference to Kent State:
"America was stunned on May 4, 1970
When rally turned to riot up at Kent State University
They said the students scared the guard
Though the troops were battle dressed
Four martyrs earned a new degree
The Bachelor of Bullets" 
While there has always been a need for escapism in entertainment there was a time when pop music made people think. We need some of that thoughtfulness again.



Comments

  1. Todd Mason3:48 PM, May 21, 2023

    And the protest music wasn't all rock and rock's offshoots...Dave Brubeck's oratorio TRUTH IS FALLEN, dedicated to the students shot at Jackson State and Kent State within weeks of each other, comes to mind, and other jazz folks were not stilled in their response, among others (the original version of the Brubeck is essentially classical music, but the movement/song "Truth" was recorded a number of times by his jazz bands, with some of his angriest free playing on some of those...one suspects Cecil Taylor approved).

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