Sample Essay On Protest Songs Analysis

There are numerous ways how an artist or even an individual person can express his thoughts and ideas. One of the most glorified ways of doing so is through writing a song or simply playing music. This is what is believed to be the main factor that led to the development of a socially-related music genre that is called protest songs. A protest song is basically a song that is specially made to be associated with a call for a certain movement or social change. One unique feature of protest songs is that they can be played and created using any style that the creator wants to associate it with be it folk, commercial, rock, ballad, or even classical. In some cases, there are protest songs that have been intentionally written as a medley or a combination of different individual songs, each of which may belong to a particular musical style or genre of its own.
Protest songs have become an integral part of American music because America is a democracy and people are free to voice out their thoughts, feelings, and ideas and a significant part of the population does it through a song. In this paper, the author analyzes and compares four protest songs, two from the past (prior to the 21st century) and two from the present (specifically the 21st century).
For Part I, the two protest songs chosen were Arrested Development’s Mr. Wendell released in 1992, and Ben Harper’s Excuse Me Mr. released in 1995.
In the case of Mr. Wendell, it was a song that slightly crossed the line between a song about social consciousness and an outright protest about what is going on in society, particularly with how can-afford people treat those who are poor and homeless. It is a song that protests about the ill treatment of the homeless. Listening to the lyrics of the song and how it has been played, one can easily know that the singer and song composer were pushing for something; for the homeless, despite their condition, to be treated with respect and dignity just like a normal person. This song was a hip hop classic and this is in fact what made it click among the song listening American public of that time. Of course, this bode well for the people who decided to send their message (or protest) through a song.
Excuse Me Mr. on the other hand utilizes a more complex and a broader definition of a protest song. This is because it covers a wider range of societal issues and or subjects instead of just one. It covers environmental issues (as evidenced by the part about oil and the world’s dependence on it), poverty (as evidenced by the part that paints a picture of children dying) and political abuse.
Obviously, these two songs are both protest songs and this is so far the only significant factor that they share as a similarity. What makes them different is that Excuse Me Mr. (including the message it is trying to send to the listeners) has been harder to market because it simply did not click to the public like how Mr. Wendell did.
For the second part, the protest songs (of today) that were chosen were The Gossip’s Standing in the Way of Control first released in 2006, and Green Day’s Wake me up When September Ends first released in 2004. Standing in the Way of Control was aimed at attacking the various movements against the legalization and recognition of same sex marriage. It featured numerous artists dancing and singing under the tune of disco and punk beats. This is so far one of the major qualities that made it easy to market the song and thus the idea that anti-same sex marriages movements are an impedance to people’s constitutional rights. This song also featured certain qualities of electro and rock. All in all, it was a cool song that easily went viral.
Aside from the fact that Wake me up When September Ends was sang by one of beset punk rock bands in the international music industry, what made it click was its melodramatic way of attacking the societal drawbacks of the Bush Administration’s decision to post vengeance against the perpetrators of the 9/11 series of bombings, the crappy foreign policy that it used that led to the separation of a lot of families and groups of people who care for each other. In Wake me up When September Ends’ music video, the voiceless story of a couple that got separated because the guy apparently was sent as a soldier to the Iraq war was basically what delivered the melodramatic touch to the protest.
For the second part, both did a good job in getting their message across. Comparing the two groups of protest music, however, it would be safe to say that the musicians and song writers of today’s generation are generally better when it comes to creating protest songs than in the past. This may be a biased opinion on which among the two groups of protest songs are better but it is important to note that the analysis was made based on which group managed to deliver their respective protests more effectively. Actual changes in the strategy can be seen by comparing them and some of the most important observations include the fact that protest music performs in the past are more focused on the protest part of the concept of protest song or music while their present-day counterparts are more focused on the song or music part; and it would only be safe to conclude that this is the main differentiating factor that made the current generation of protest songs more marketable and effective.