Love and heartache are popular themes musicians use to connect with their audience. However, for musicians whose passion is to promote political and social activism, their music goes beyond the average love ballad or pop song.
For Ohio University sophomores Austin Young and Will Cooper, their two-man band, The Red Army, provides them with an outlet to express their views on politics and the effects of social institutions.
When you get a band that has content to their lyrics
I think that people really latch on to that said Young. Especially now with so much going on with our own presidential election our music is either something that people want to hear or something they completely hate.
Through their song, Hey
Young and Cooper express their views on the negative effects of social institutions, specifically law and education, at the national and local level. The song briefly touches on the band's belief that the police have an us vs. them mentality he said.
From a more political standpoint, The Red Army's song Big House was written in support of Barack Obama. The song promotes a need to stand up and take responsibility for individual beliefs, Cooper said.
In addition to its music, The Red Army plans to launch its own T-shirt company by Spring Quarter, Cooper said. The band's shirts will express the same themes represented in its music, he said.
Despite The Red Army's personalized lyrics, the use of music as a form of political activism is not a new trend.Resistance music got its roots during the 1920s and '30s when activists began to oppose the labor movement and unionization said Andre Gribou, a music professor who teaches History of Rock.
Up until the 1960s, folk music was a popular genre for political activism, Gribou said. The Civil Rights Movement brought musicians into the rock 'n' roll era with artists such as Eve of Destruction, Bob Dylan and the Beatles he said.During this period, music was a popular way for individuals to protest the Vietnam War and reflect on political events, Gribou said.
For example, Neil Young's song Ohio reflects on the Kent State shooting that occurred in May of 1970. Because of its controversial subject, the song was banned from certain radio stations he said.
Janis Ian's Society's Child
a 1960s song about interracial dating, also stirred up controversy throughout the nation, Gribou said.
Today, artists such as Arcade Fire and Bruce Springsteen continue this form of political activism. On March 2, Arcade Fire performed in Nelsonville in support of the Obama campaign.
I feel that music is an effective and an inevitable way to express political activism
Gribou said.
While politics and social downfalls are major focal points in the lyrics of these cultural rebels
senior Erica Boehnlein prefers to promote awareness through her music.
Erica Boehnlein, Mike Goroff, and Wrion Bowling are the members of the band Erica and the Littlebeans. The band strives to promote equal rights for women and homosexuals as well as invoke emotion in the audience, Boehnlein said.Boehnlein recently performed three consecutive shows during Empowered Women's Week, stressing women's rights, she said.
While the group prefers to focus on equality, they do have politically driven material as well.
The band's song State of the Nation
which was written during the 2004 presidential election, opposes the reelection of George Bush, said Boehnlein.
I want to get people on board with my ideas and get them to want to change things
she said. Music is a good outlet for political change.
17
