If you’re wondering if protest music is still relevant, look no further than Bad Bunny or Bruce Springsteen.
More than 128 million viewers tuned in to watch Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, as he put on a jam-packed halftime performance during Super Bowl LX. The Puerto Rican powerhouse used the nation’s biggest stage to call for unity without shying away from issues of colonialism, power outages and government corruption.
While he’s spoken out against ICE in the past, he didn't explicitly mention the immigration agency in this performance.
Instead, he challenged the idea of who gets to be called an American when he said “God Bless America” and proceeded to list countries from North and South America. Speaking in Spanish, he reminded people “We’re still here” before spiking a football that said “Together, We Are America.”
Ocasio’s blending of reggeaton and trap sounds different from some protest music of the past, and it brings a level of visibility to issues that would be much harder to achieve with a pamphlet or petition.
Springsteen took a different tack with his new song “Streets of Minneapolis.”
The sound more closely mirrors the protest music that defined the 1960s and has reached more than 6 million views on Youtube.
The Dylan-esque tune is a response to the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti during what Todd Lyons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director, has described as the agency’s “largest immigration operation ever.”
It’s not just the megastars. In Minnesota, many musicians have lent their voices – and drum kits — to vigils, benefit concerts and protests.
Artists in North Texas are using music to make sense of this moment too.
What can music do?
“Music can inform politics by giving us an idea of other ways that one can be in the world and other ways the world could be,” said Eric Drott.
Drott is the co-author of the “Oxford Handbook of Protest Music” with Noriko Manabe and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music.
“It's not just singing a song that has some sort of social message. It can also be a way of creating a sense of collective identity, a way of getting people involved.”
Music can be a unifier that crosses physical boundaries, like when protesters are separated by barriers, he continued. It’s also a means of occupying a space.
“There is no doubt that protest music is one of those resources that historically has helped advance certain causes over the years and helps shift public opinion maybe in ways that aren't easily measured in concrete or precise ways.”
Before a protest begins, it can also be a tool to recruit people to a cause.
“You want people to come for the music and stay for the organizing, learn something, get some ideas, but also to not feel alone,” said Justin Patch, associate professor and chair of music at Vassar College. “When you get more people together, the media pays attention.”
Like Drott, Patch noted that the impact of a song is hard to measure. There’s not a universal test for whether a protest song is successful.
“I don't think I can think of a song that nationally changed the conversation,” he explained. “But I can say anecdotally, ... I think most of us who love the arts — not even those who do it professionally — there are always these moments where a film, a song, a painting or an installation becomes a catalyst for conversation.”
Of Springsteen’s vast catalogue, “Streets of Minneapolis” doesn’t rank near the top for Patch. But, he said that doesn’t mean it’s not important.
“I think that what we need to keep in mind is that it's OK if music doesn't transcend the moment, as long as it meets the moment that we're in,” he explained.
Protest music past and present
Protest music has a rich history in the United States.
The 1960s were bookended by songs about the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam War, like Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son.”
But the history goes back much further, spanning many generations and causes. Protest music is written regardless of which of the country’s two major parties happen to be in power at the time.
During President Joe Biden’s time in office, Oliver Anthony released “Rich Men North of Richmond.” The song, which criticizes wealthy politicians as well as welfare recipients, was played before the 2023 GOP primary debate.
H.E.R.'s song “I Can’t Breathe” decried the killings of unarmed Black citizens by police. It was released during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Janelle Monáe took on the same issue with “Hell You Talmbout,” which was first released in 2015, during the Obama era, and updated later.
Shifts in the media landscape
Though modern artists have continued to create new protest songs, the media environment has changed significantly since the heyday of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.
“On the one hand, it was much harder to break through because there were a lot more gatekeepers, but once an artist or a song did break through — their voice was amplified and gained mass attention,” Drott said of past eras of protest music.
Today artists face fewer hurdles to put their music out into the world, but that can be a double-edged sword because there is more content competing for people’s attention.
This change in landscape means that there is more diversity across genres, instruments and geographies, Patch said. An established artist like Springsteen has the opportunity to drum up attention quickly, but smaller artists can make a difference too.
“If a musician has 10 or 15,000 followers, that's well more than me, so that's nothing to look down at,” he explained. “If you've got 800 listeners, that's still important to those 800 people. Even if they disagree with you, even if they're not 100% on board — it's still important for them to hear somebody whose music has touched them speak their mind.”
Got a tip? Email Marcheta Fornoff at mfornoff@kera.org.
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