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Songs used by Politicians

20:08 |

Music can be used in a variety of ways, not just one. Music can be used for entertainment, religion, boredom, rights, freedom and the topic we are going to discuss which is for political reasons. Music is very powerful, it is a medium that can send messages across countries and society. It is powerful at the level social group because how music can just be described beyond words, how it can be criticized and it can create national and cultural identities. Music can also be used to manipulate one’s mood; it can also calm people down who suffer from depression or anxiety. Let’s just say in short many individuals use music to enhance the quality of our lives.

Many Politicians use Music as a way to send a message. It is becoming more and more common in today’s time because of the strong effect it has on people and how it can be spread across the globe with ease. Music and Politics share a link between each other and it is been used in many different societies and cultures. An example would be a song used to prevent a war which can be in the form of a national anthem, patriotic songs and even political campaigns. Political songs are used differently than the “regular” music we listen to. Political music wants to simply convey a message without it being ambiguous to portray a specified political message that was intended. It would be irrational if political songs had too many meanings and different messages. It wouldn't be clear to the people and the message wouldn't be taken very seriously.

This song Wavin' flag by K'NAAN was originally released on Somalia-born, Toronto- raised Hip, Hop artist K'NAAN's second studio album, Troubadour. After Mitt Romney was extremely happy of the outcome in Florida during the 2012's president primary, this song was played. When K'NAAN had heard about this situation, he wasn't impressed. He was threatening to take legal action and he said "happily grant Obama permission to use it without prejudice". It was said that Romney's campaign was under blank licensing agreement. K'NAAN also made another comment saying "If you don't like the poor, don't use their songs".

The following song "We Are The Ones" by Will.i.am was released on February 29, 2008. It was to support support Obama's presidential campaign. The music video features many different celebrities each saying one or more lines, with Obama saying one line near the end of the song. All the lyrics are taken from the quotation from Obama's concession speech which was held in New Hampshire.

Political music, is mean't to be heard by the people so it often becomes viral. However it can be extremely difficult to predict the audience can react to particular things like kinda of music that was chosen, sounds, or even visual cues.

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghSJsEVf0pU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amXeJrA-wDc

http://www.songfacts.com/category-songs_used_by_politicians.php

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Musicians and Politicians

22:16 |

Music and politics go hand in hand, both influence on each other. Political issues influence the music of the time, whether they are anti war songs or the anti establishment songs and same goes with the pro establishment songs like national anthems, patriotic songs .These type of songs help politicians to propagate their agenda and increase their popularity. We can always see artists like Usher, Fun, Shakira, Beyonce, Alicia keys among others standing along side the present day President of The United States Barack Obama at various occasions.

One of such songs is the "Dear Mr. President" by P!nk from herfourth album, I'm Not Dead (2006). According to Pink the song was an "open letter" to then President of the United States, George W. Bush. It was released in Europe, Australia and Canada but not in The States.

This is one of my favorite songs and even though its old but it still gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it. In the beginning of the song she starts to ask the President to take a walk with her and answer her few questions, She points out he has the tendency to lie in the lines, "I'd like to ask you some questions if you can speak honestly". She asks him about the homeless people which is due to the result of his many policies and whether if he's proud of his mistakes when he looks at himself in the mirror. Shes asks him about his controversial take on gay and women basic rights, abortion laws. According to him, his government has given equal rights to everyone so they could get rid of the mortgage but in reality he is biased towards only some communities and races while others still lag behind.She accuses of him being a good leader as he himself was a alcohol and cocaine addict. At the end she says "let me tell you about hard work ,... you don't know nothing about hard work" is how he keeps on giving long speeches about hard and honest work, but in reality he himself doesn't know how it is to work on minimum wages. In the end she says that President will never take a walk with her because he considers himself above everyone and is not answerable to anyone.

This is how music and songs can highlight and show whats going on in the present day. Songs like this are not only controversial but they are an eye opener too.

References:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081106070559AAbHysL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Mr._President

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pink/dearmrpresident.html

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Musicians and their Presidents.

12:55 |

Everyone is different. The way they treat, use or view something will differ. Music is not an exception. Some people may use music as a source of entertainment, others may use it as a way to inspire, and some may even use it for health purposes. But have you ever heard of individuals using music as a medium for politics?

Will.i.am, a rapper from an American hip-hop group, Black-Eyed Peas, "changed the face of politics online with his Barack Obama YouTube video Yes We Can." Will.i.am took the script of Barack Obama's concession speech in New Hampshire during his first election in 2008, and made it into a song. The song was then sung by various American artists, uploaded on YouTube, and received more than 22 million views as of February 23, 2008.

The purpose of the video of Yes We Can was to furthermore inspire other Americans, to "affect and touch their inner core" as it had struck Will.i.am. The speech, turned into music, gave out an even more powerful sense of new hope and change for the Americans. Listening to the speech that was made into a catchy song carried out Obama's message a lot stronger, perhaps even more than when it was said by Obama himself. I believe it is safe to say that this song has helped Obama in many ways to lead to his success of being elected as the United States of America's new star.

8 years before Barack Obama was elected to be the President, America was under the rule of George W. Bush. Bush, however, did not receive many musical 'praises'. Neil Young, a Canadian singer and songwriter, who moved to California to continue his music career.

Young wrote many political-related songs, one of which was used to express "his problems with the Bush administration." The Grammy Award-nominated protest song Let's Impeach the President, which contains lyrics of many reasons why ex-President of the United States should be criticized. Some of the accusations included that Bush misled their country into war, played a part in the hijacking on 9/11, abusing the power his people gave him, and dividing the country into colors.

This song was very well favored because Young successfully voiced out all Americans' concerns towards the parliament and their government at that time. Young said what many Americans were afraid to speak because protest was considered a crime. Instead, all complaints were written into a song, drew the attention of millions and eventually, gathered American citizens together and fight against Bush, and to furthermore secure the position of President for Barack Obama after Bush resigned.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william/why-i-recorded-yes-we-can_b_84655.html

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/neilyoung/letsimpeachthepresident.html

http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/09/5-biggest-democratic-musicians-and-5-biggest-repub.html

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Make Love, Not War.

22:26 |

Long hair, tie dye shirts, and peace, all describe the group of people who fueled the musical movement that we know today as Woodstock. It was 1969 when it happened, over 500,000 people showed up to a farm just 50 miles outside of Woodstock New York to take part in what may be the biggest musical movement to help shape the political economy. Woodstock was a music and art festival that displayed some of the most recognizable artists of the 1960's such as, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, and Jimmy Hendrix, as well as many more. But what was Woodstock about? Was it a peaceful demonstration that many people there say it to be, or was the media at the time right, saying that it was all about hippies, long hair, and drugs.

During the first few days of Woodstock, the media coverage on the festival was displaying only the negative aspects. It is true, Woodstock was very poorly organized, the organizers sold roughly 180,000 tickets before hand, and were expecting an approximate 200,000 to show up to the festival, but that estimate was blown out of the water, peaking at just over 500,000 people. New York governor at the time, Nelson Rockefeller, told Woodstock's organizer, John Roberts, that he was going to order 10,000 New York state troops to the grounds if he did not get it under control, Roberts was able to get him to call this off. The media displayed Woodstock as a "Hippiefest," they distilled the true meaning of what the festival was about, which was a place for these music loving hippies to show their love for music and peacefully protest against some of the big problems facing America at this time. However, the media described it as "a glorification of drugs, a loosening of sexual morality and a socially corrosive disrespect for authority."

The festival was quoted as "three days of peace and love," and this was to go against the war that was happening across the world in Vietnam. The festival organizers were quoted as saying "anyone buying a ticket was contributing to a united front against the Vietnam War." Act's made speeches against the Vietnam war and Country Joe McDonald, at the beginning of his act told the crowd "if you want to stop this fucking war, you'll have to sing louder than that." If the true meaning of the Hippie movement was to change the world for the better by peaceful musical protest, then why was the media not depicting this? It was because the media and America could not see this as a political movement, they were to busy focusing on the negative fallacies of the Hippie movement to see the positive reality. Bernard Collier a writer for the New York Times, who was writing the major article on the festival said that he had been told by his editors that he should write a "misleadingly negative article about the event."

The media displayed the festival as a hippie drug filled festival of nudity and not a musical festival about peace. America saw this festival as a failure because it lost revenue, they didn't take into account the movement that formed and ideas that spread into peoples minds, all they took into consideration was the fact that there was a revenue loss, it is clear the media and political economy only cared about money. The truth behind Woodstock will never be uncovered as over the years it has gotten more and more foggier from the media, but everyone has their beliefs on what truly happened on that great day in musical history. The tie dye shirts, long hair, and Woodstock may just be a part of history now, but the Hippie movement is still in our society today, you just have to dig deep to find it.

Peace, Love, and Unity.

Kyle Ketchum

Sources:

http://historyrat.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/woodstock-did-the-1960s-change-the-world/

http://vi.uh.edu/pages/buzzmat/htdtiswoodstock.html

http://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript119.html

Woodstock (Film)

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A Stealthy Tool to Manipulate Your Mind

19:41 |

The consumption of media penetrates through our everyday life. We live in a world where screens are the medium through which we see most of life. Music is something that is incorporated into our media and it sneakily places itself in our midst. Music is used in nearly every form of media. It is heard in the background of commercials, movies, television shows, and most obviously, music is a big medium in itself.

Music can easily manipulate a person’s mood or mindset and this is why so many in the industry of media find it to be an imperative tool. The vibe that a song can give off sends emotions, feelings, and thoughts to the person receiving it. Depending on the thought or emotion received, this can motivate the person to do certain things, associate a product to certain goals, or associate a film scene to a certain genre. Because of music’s ability to influence a person’s thoughts, it is very important in the film industry.

Take for example the trailer for inception.

At certain moments of the sneak peek, we hear certain notes being strung along to create an intensity that could not be achieve through any other means or any other note, for that matter. Having the suspenseful track underneath the serious voice of Leonardo Di Caprio, one is thrusted into a mood of curiosity. In the same manipulative way, the music in the Juicy Fruit commercial united the product of gum with happiness through its hypnotic jingle. The notes heard produce a silly and somewhat annoyingly repetitive tune that refuses to leave your mind once it has entered.

Now watch this video for Obama’s 2012 election campaign.

The triumphant, simple, and easy melody that is being played behind the backdrop of the seemingly intelligent voice of the narrator gives the viewer a feel that Obama is definitely a worthy candidate to at least consider if not all out vote for. Now, in your mind, imagine the exact same video and swap Obama’s music with Juicy fruit jingle or even with Inception’s trailer track. I wouldn’t be surprised if you started laughing. The Juicy Fruit jingle would make Obama’s video seem like a joke, even if it were just an instrumental. Americans would not take him seriously for a minute if his campaign managers had thrown in just any happy-go-lucky tune. Now put Inception’s trailer track as the music for Obama’s video. With a tune of such intensity, the viewers of the video may find that he is trying too hard to present himself in a serious light. As a matter of fact, swap any of the background music for any of the videos above with one another and I guarantee you that the effects would not be the same. Even though only one of the elements had changed, the effect of the presentation is greatly affected.

Music can be a great tool to modify a person’s view of something. Music is quite a stealthy tool to persuade people’s mindset and thus, it is a tool of great power. The ability to yield music properly is necessary for its proper and effective use but once a person has mastered that part, the minds of the majority of the population is virtually is his or her hands.

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17:48 |

Music and Politics
Music and politics are both deeply related to each other. Music and politics are two important spheres of an individual's life . In this present era , many musicians and song writers in the world have made great efforts to produce songs which can express political views and aware people about injustice happening with them Music can be used as a weapon against politicians. Political music is often used to convey a messages to public and to warn politicians.

In developing countries , music is also helpful in lighting social problems like human rights and female foeticide. Several artists had written songs on social problems , but some powerful authorities are strctly against such songs because these songs uncover their shameful deeds . It is difficult to imagine how people will look at these songs whether they like it or not. There are several songs made on the topic of corruption . Famous musicians sings songs on the issues related to political injustice and nation's welfare. For illustration , Pete Seeger sang a song about the issues of civil rights and Vietnam war. Bob Dylan also sing songs on these topics.Songs such as Dylan's encouraged listeners to be aware and start arguing with the politicians that are dominants of society.

When politics and music got merged then the people who were not interesting in politics previously start taking interest in politics. People become aware about their rights. In India , a movie named "Sada Haq"( our right) is made. This movie and songs of this movie was totally based on the injustice which happened with sikh people in 1984. This movie was a good way to aware people how their community suffered a lot in 1984 due to corrupted politicians. Unfortunately , this movie is banned in India, censor board did not allow this movie to release in India. The songs of this movie was related to Khalistan movement and a terrorist named Rajoana who is comparing himself with great martyrs like Bhagat Singh Now , this movie is going to release in Canada on April 6, 2013. This is a good example how much politicians are afraid music's power .

Another good example is Chicago's grant park where a lot of people assembled to protest against Hubert Humphrey and his political tasks in 1968. Many youngsters were also involved in this assembly. The whole credit of participation of youngsters goes to Dylan because they had the influence of Bob Dylan's song.

Bloomfield (1991, 80) wrote that " Music occupies a special position in \our capitalism because the creation of popular musical commodities is a site of struggle." Seeger's Song "We shall Overcome" worked a lot and convey message of fight for civil rights . This song is so famous that this is still heard wherever people assemble for social justice.
In some developing countries , politicians gave a lot of money to famous musicians who make songs on politicians and these songs help them during elections. They also attend the music concerts of famous musicians for their own sake .

Politicians know that music is the best way to spread information in the whole country. To win elections and gain publicity ,they make use of music, musicians and music concerts because music and videos influence people a lot.
So, no one can deny the fact that music has a great power to protest against political injustice. Whenever there happens something wrong then music is our the alarm to inform us that now we should rise from slumber and fight for our right.

References

http://my.kwantlen.ca/tag.1ea8ea8eec96d570.render.userLayoutRootNode.uP?uP_root=root&uP_sparam=activeTab&activeTab=u12l1s103&uP_tparam=frm&frm=frame

Anderson, Terry. The Sixties. Crawfordsville: RR Donnelley & Sons Company, 2007.

Pichaske, David. A Generation in Motion. New York: Schirmer Books, 1979

http://notes.variogr.am/post/26869688460/how-well-does-music-predict-your-politics

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=LNW4jrIKvJEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=political+music&hl=en&sa=X&ei=usJEUY-zPIOQrQGnmYDACQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=political%20music&f=false

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00:04 |

MUSIC FUELED THE SIXTIES

The Beatles are a legendary band icon who’s music rose in the 60s and never died. Although they are no longer together, their music still widely influences many cultures. When people remember the sixties, they remember many revolutions and “hippies.” Fueled by marijuana, LCD, and psychedelic music which was led by the Beatles, they created the sexual movement and The Underground Press. So did music fuel a revolution? Was it the music that created such change in media and democracy? It sure did.

If you look at the lyrics of any Beatles song, it encourages the usage of drugs and promotes a lifestyle which is free and without higher authority controlling the state. An example of this is the lyrics to a very famous Jimmy Hendrix song, “Cocaine,” or even “Yellow Submarine,” by The Beatles. The “Yellow Submarine” that The Beatles sing about can be used as symbolism for a society where everyone is happy and there are no authorities controlling them. The lyrics to “Cocaine,” says, that to receive any pleasure from the negative, cocaine is the answer. The combination of these two messages created a revolution we now call the sixties. Not only were the Beatles a major player but so were Jimmy Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Oasis, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and many others. They all had similar meanings and their psychedelic album artwork also played a key role. Peter Marx, a psychedelic artist, who made a lot of artwork for bands, was very influential among the youth.

Music spawned the art, which also sparked the revolution. The sixties created a big impact in our society and in the geology of the world today. From the revolutions, anti-war movements for the Vietnam War such as the Moratorium protests affected our world map. The Moratorium March on November 15 1969, was a large rally across the White House with 250,000 protesters, (mostly students), who rallied against the Vietnam War. Protesters marched silently down Pennsylvania Avenue to the white house, each calling a name of a fallen soldier as they reached the House. Importantly, at this Moratorium, protesters sang John Lennon’s, “Give Peace A Chance.” Also during the movements, the resistance from conscription had lead to the discontinuation ofconscription in 1973. Music truly did play a large role in the sixties and all of its events. Music cured a war, music cured corruption, and it led to one of the most influential decade and rallies of all time.

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Archives

Songs used by Politicians

Musicians and Politicians

Musicians and their Presidents.

Make Love, Not War.

A Stealthy Tool to Manipulate Your Mind

References

MUSIC FUELED THE SIXTIES