In order to understand music inside an historical background we have to begin from an ancient point of view and its 3 main elements: Rhythm; Melody; and Harmony and the significance has to do with the order of their discovery. Rhythm is the first and the oldest element of our earliest understanding of music first played by the cavemen. That could possibly be one man banging a drum. The second one is melody, when probably banging was first accompanied by humming. And finally, harmony was added. From what we know today, music is deeply affected by the special features of the society that creates it like social and economic traits, technological advance, climate etc. The feelings and concepts that music signifies, the distinct role of music in society and the approaches to music vary greatly depending on the period.
Music has always been of the most cherished experiences. Everybody appreciates some kind of music, and music is what we choose to accompany the most significant events of our lives from a wedding to a presidential inauguration. The mood can change in any space just by simply changing the music that is played. A handful of well-known athletes have revealed to listening to their favorite music as a a ritual before an important sports event. And who could overlook his favorite soundtracks? But the role of music is beneficial with scientific proof. According to studies, it enhances greater performance in athletic activities, like cycling or running (and it also causes the athlete to enjoy the music more), it eases pain and it improves the sleep quality. Also, it helps people eating less, according to another study and it reduces stress.
Music’s involvement in politics is not a new concept. A distinct type of music genre, called March was used for marching into war as early as the 16th century since it was noticed that it had an hypnotic effect on soldiers. Several years later, the sixties came with the hippie movement and all the social changes they brought. Music was an extremely significant tool to convey the messages of a revolutionary youth. Today, almost 50 years after the cultural and musical revolution that began in the sixties, the political role of music seems to have radically changed. An antiwar verse of a song that could send thousand to the streets, singing and protesting is now almost impossible to create an uprising. The messages of a time of great turmoil (the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement) now seem to have dissolved over the complexity of a present in which still lie great challenges and constant changes. In a few works of art, this chaotic difference between then and now can be seen more intensely, than Just Kids by Patti Smith. In the next few pages, we will try to study the role of music then and now, in the social norms, the political changes and petitions for social justice.
“So peaceful, like an ancient child. He opened his eyes and smiled. “Back so soon?” And then again to sleep. So my last image was as the first. A sleeping youth cloaked in light, who opened his eyes with a smile of recognition for someone who had never been a stranger.” . Those are the first written words of Patti Smith in the foreword of her book, “Just Kids” describing the death of Robert Mapplethorpe as experienced and seen through her eyes. Just Kids is a moving story of love, a paradigm to future artists as well as a written account of the artistic movement in New York spanning from the 1960s to the 1980s. The writer directs the reader through landmarks such as the Chelsea Hotel while narrating her story along with the story of her lover, friend, mentor and artistic companion Robert Mapplethorpe. Additionally, while experiencing the city of New York, we are also travelling through time and modern American history’s key events such as the Kent State events, the moon landing or the funeral of John Coltrane who the writer describes as “It was if a saint had died, one who had offered up healing music yet was not permitted to heal himself. Along with many strangers, I experienced a deep sense of loss for a man I had not known save through his music.”
Smith is constantly referring to pop culture and the main protagonists who played the most important part in it, and who at least in their majority, perished at a young age. It is impossible to read the book, without having in mind the distinct conditions which influenced its writing. The era of the 60s counterculture was an extraordinary time, where artists like The Beatles and later on John Lennon in his solo career, Bob Dylan and many others frequently articulated protest, anti-war and pro-peace messages through their art and needless to say, music was the leading form of protest art.
The term is about an anti-institutional cultural occurrence advanced mainly in the USA and then in the United Kingdom and the developed world spanning a decade from the early 1960s to the early 1970s. The mass movement grew quickly while the African-American Civil Rights Movement was on the rise, and soon converted into an anti-war movement the time of the US military intervention in Vietnam . As the 1960s advanced, universal social strains were established as well regarding other problems that originated from a more widespread generation gap between the WW2 generation and the after-war generation about sexuality, civil rights, drug use and the whole ongoing polemic against the status quo. Novel music genres like Psychedelic Rock emerged along with films by creators unaffected by censorship and state control while the hippie lifestyle emerged. Gradually, a vibrant subculture was built, based on experimentation and the representation of a bohemian lifestyle that became dominant. Along with the innovative Beatles, a handful of creative musicians and authors backed the innovative counterculture movement .
Numerous aspects differentiated this movement from previous anti-disciplinarian movements. The “baby boomers” generation (people born between 1946 and 1964) was mostly comprised from an unparalleled amount of disgruntled young people as future members of a re-established American (along with other western states) democracy. Post-war prosperity gave the opportunity to that generation to think beyond the surviving needs that had mostly troubled their Depression-era and WW2 parents. Another exceptional feature of the movement was the instant adoption by the mainstream society of an excessive number of the counter-culture’s behaviors .
In a more wide-ranging sense, the 1960s movement developed through a convergence of people, circumstances and technological progress which played a catalytic part in the creation of exceptionally quick and radical changes during that era.
The leading figure of The Beatles has an extensive part in Just Kids, where Patti Smith cites him as an influence, along with her favorite poètes maudits, the cursed poets: “I tacked pictures of Rimbaud, Bob Dylan, Lotte Lenya, Piaf, Genet, and John Lennon over a makeshift desk where I arranged my quills, my inkwell, and my notebooks—my monastic mess.” or later on when she travels to Charleville, France, the place where Rimbaud was born and buried whereas described, she wore the now famous “National Health–style spectacles, in honor of John Lennon.”. The most famous of the Beatles had a major role during the counterculture movement, where he actively became involved in the causes of broad-minded ideas, expressed an interest in various political and social causes. He became a spokesman of the anti-war movement and the civil rights movement while manifesting a developing awareness in feminism as well. At that time, he started forging strong links between his music and the causes of the counterculture movement. His art became a strong tool of collective and political change. Lennon took part in demonstrations against the US intervention in Vietnam and submitted to the movement one of the greatest anti-war anthems ever written, the insurmountable “Give Peace a Chance” released in 1969. Two years later, he released what is generally considered as arguably the most important pop song ever written, “Imagine”. The classic anthem is a plea to the people to imagine a planet without borders or differences caused by religion or nationality as well as to reflect on the prospect of the world living without materialistic pursuits. Another great support to the movement was the famous “bed-in” following his marriage to Yoko Ono in March 1969. They both spent a week indoors, in Amsterdam as an innovative form of objection to the conflicts arising among nations that led to acts of war and human suffering. Although concerned, the Beatle did not have faith in other forms of demonstration like the symbolic occupation of a park in Berkeley. In estimating the usefulness of such demonstrations Joan Baez has said that: “The only thing that’s been a worse flop than the organization of non-violence has been the organization of violence.”
Along with Lennon, Bob Dylan sang about the war and civil rights in his excitedly celebrated albums "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" and "The Times They are A-Changin", promoting the causes of the civil rights and anti-war movement. Dylan was grasped by the Beat writers and contributed greatly to the folk revival, and the political stance of the hippie generation . While Dylan’s musical genre was folk, he was culturally considered a rock artist and became linked to the anti-authoritarian movement holding a stance that influenced many of his fellow artists –like the British Invasion bands- and one might state that he was a great influence for John Lennon as well, politically speaking, for there is no question (according to music historians) that the late Beatle was heavily influenced by Dylan as an artist. A number of other, less-known bands and artists contributed to the movement like the MC5 (Motor City 5) who originated from Detroit’s underground scene. The MC5 was the one group to play a set before the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago where a notorious protest took place shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King followed by a clash between police and concert goers . Among other bands that joined the cause were The Fugs, Jefferson Airplane and Country Joe and the Fish while The Rolling Stones and Hawkwind made constant references to
socio-political issues rather in a more passive than involved way in tracks like Street Fighting Man, Salt of the Earth and Urban Guerrilla.
Patti Smith herself, wrote an ode to Janis Joplin, was inspired by a brief meeting with Jimi Hendrix and motivated by musicians and poets. As the writer escorts us through this chapter of her life we are allowed a glimpse into the metamorphosis of an artist who started working with graphic arts, was then attracted to poetry and in the end with the enthusiastic advice of friends turned her poetic word into music, along with the unfolding of Robert Mapplethorpe’s work and talent from drawing to photography. Through her description of the method in which Robert explored the photographic art she provides the reader with a deep comprehension of the important role that one’s social standing has in his life as an artist. Mapplethorpe did not spend much time working in photography because film was exceptionally costly but this led him to grow a special vision on the work he intended to have. His work pushed the boundaries of sexual manifestation and was broadly acknowledged by the critics. A carrier of HIV, Mapplethorpe also fought with the stigma the disease had in the New York 80ies. Just Kids is an exceptional book that draws the attention to the modern American history from a political but equally important, from a cultural vantage point. It combines all the traits that made New York so thrilling in the 1970s – the perils and the poverty, the artistic gravity and the hopefulness, the feeling that the great artistic tradition of the city was ever present and the connection with that. It was a not-so-big society watched closely by the media and the whole US and marked the beginning of a golden era for New York as a cultural capital of the West. In the last part of the book Patti Smith writes of her last image of Mapplethorpe: “So my last image was as the first. A sleeping youth cloaked in light, who opened his eyes with a smile of recognition for someone who had never been a stranger.” The last, nostalgic image of an era as well.
Nowadays music has a different impact on politics. In the summer of 2005, an estimated number of millions of people around the world at the urging of famous pop musicians took part in the Live Aid concerts in 9 different countries a large, populous musical protest whose main message was to “Make Poverty History”. Protests of this kind do not have a lot to do with roaming the city’s streets with banners and slogans like “Make love not war”. It also is not the same with confronting water cannons and riot police, but remains a political act all the same and in the case of Live 8 it was characterized as model of substantial political involvement, focused in altering the thoughts and future practices of the western world’s wealthiest countries. A number of pop and rock music artists urged G8 heads of state to alter their strategies on debt relief and according to them, they succeeded. In the words of sir Bob Geldoff “A great justice has been done On aid, 10 out of 10; on debt, eight out of 10 Mission accomplished, frankly'. But is music and its role all that? Sir Geldof is a role model for the youth but what about songs with negative influence and drug related themes? According to a study conducted by the Office of National Drug Control Policy at how music affects teenagers, taking into consideration the charts of 2007, it was discovered that about 1/3 of the songs had direct references on drugs and/or alcohol. However, only 6% of those songs were about the negative outcome of drug use and abuse. So a question is raised about how the youth is affected by music in general and those songs in particular. Also there is a relation, though not correlation found, between increased drug use among teenagers and increased depiction of drug related themes in music and it comes as no surprise that drugs have become a typical reference point in the mainstream culture in general.
Furthermore, today’s youth simply does not care about revolutionary or progressive ideas and artists definitely do not help in that direction. Pop and rap music has turned into a superficial industry obsessed with image and depiction of sexual themes, business-as-usual profession that follows strictly what the people want to hear, eradicating the emphasis on the real music. Political change is not the main request, but sex, misogyny fame and drugs. Music today satisfies mainly the selfish needs of mainstream music artists rather than the radical messages that were spread out in the past helping well sought after changes to finally become reality. Rappers like Kanye West, Pharell with his sexist “Blurred Lines” hit, Chris Brown, the infamous wife-beater with his “Fine China” song (an objectification of women) and many others do not leave a hopeful note for the future.
All in all, music has stopped being a political expression, a healing companion and an activity aimed in our delight, but has become an industry with economic targets. It is appreciated for its impact on people all over the world but this impact has evolved in conveying a misogynistic, materialistic, low-quality message. But the blame is not only on the artists and the music industry as a whole. It is the audience that drives the progress in music, and the majority of music listeners are asking for that exact kind of music that they are getting. The media is to blame as well, as we are bombarded in all the media that we are using from social to traditional and from apps to signs on the road, what we see is “popular music” advertising. But that is why this music is called popular after all.
Works Cited
Anderson, Terry H. The Movement and the Sixties. Oxford University Press, 1995.
Blake, Bailey. The 60s. New York: Mallard Press, 1992.
Churney, Linda. «Student Protest in the 1960s.» Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute 1979.
Dreier, Peter. «The Political Bob Dylan.» Dissent 24 May 2011.
Hirsch, E.D. The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
Landis, Judson R. Current Perspectives on Social Problems. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1973.
Smith, Patti. Just Kids. New York: Ecco, 2010.
Burkeman, Oliver. «Three months ago Bob Geldof declared Live 8 had achieved its aim. But what really happened next?» The Guardian (2005).
Wansink, Brian. «FAST FOOD RESTAURANT LIGHTING AND MUSIC CAN REDUCE CALORIE INTAKE AND INCREASE SATISFACTION.» Psychological Reports 2012.
