Why it Matters: Songs that shaped the music industry and our modern world

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The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

Ruby Voge

Protest songs: From “Blowin’ in the Wind” to “This is America”

Protest songs have been a central part of American music, life, and politics for hundreds of years. One of the most significant protest songs of all time is Bob Dylan’s 1963 single, “Blowin’ in the Wind”. Released on his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, the song soon became an anthem of various activist movements throughout the 1960s and beyond. Its refrain: “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind/The answer is blowin’ in the wind” became immediately timeless and universalizable for anyone seeking to change something about the world. 

But it wasn’t just folk artists who were moved by the simple lyrics and elusive message of “Blowin’ in the Wind”. Sam Cooke, widely regarded as one of the most talented soul artists of all time, was so inspired by Dylan’s work that he penned his own classic of the genre: “A Change is Gonna Come”. Released posthumously in 1964,  “A Change is Gonna Come” immediately became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement and has retained a political legacy through the present day. Throughout the 1960s, other Black artists drew on influences from 19th century spirituals and gospel music to write and produce songs fighting against racial injustice and promoting liberation. James Brown’s “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud” incorporated the call-and-response structure commonly used in songs sung by protestors participating in freedom rides while calling for the necessity of racial empowerment and unity. In a similar vein, Nina Simone’s “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black”, initially introduced at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, embraced Black joy and talent in a time of suffering and turmoil.

The success of “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “A Change Is Gonna Come” allowed for more and more protest songs to become commercially popular. Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction”, which addressed the Vietnam War draft, religious hatred, political incompetence, and racial turmoil, was the first protest song to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965. Opposition to the Vietnam War soon became the focus of hundreds of protest songs, including “I Ain’t Marching Anymore” by Phil Ochs, “Universal Soldier” by the Indigenous songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie, and “One Tin Soldier” by The Original Caste. 

The year 1971, one of the most influential in music history, saw dozens of classic additions to the genre. These included Gil Scott Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, a spoken word piece which warned against the commodification of radical beliefs, Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me”, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Ohio”, and of course, John Lennon’s perennially misunderstood “Imagine”. Additionally, the beginnings of reggae music in Jamaica saw Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “Get Up, Stand Up” and “I Shot the Sheriff” in 1973. 

While today we might associate protest songs mostly with the 1960s, the genre didn’t die with the new decade. Instead, it morphed to fit the development of new musical forms and different social and political issues. As a new anti-establishment counterculture emerged with the punk movement, so did a different kind of protest music. Punk bands like The Clash and the Sex Pistols addressed both well-worn topics, such as anti-conformity, and new ones, including anti-monarchy and anti-corporatist sentiment. The grating sound and more explicit lyrics of punk rock expressed the bands’ anger and resistance in a drastically different way from the folk and rock artists of the 1960s and early ‘70s. 

The 1980s saw the rise of hip-hop, as the genre moved out of the Bronx and became increasingly mainstream. Songs like “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash, “F*** Tha Police” by N.W.A. and “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy addressed structural racism, police brutality, and poverty within African-American communities. As hip-hop’s popularity and relevance continued into the 1990s, the riot grrrl movement evolved simultaneously. Drawing on principles from punk rock and third-wave feminism, Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and Sleater-Kinney, among others, tackled misogyny, sexual harassment, and patriarchy while promoting anti-establishment beliefs. 

With more music than ever available today, it is not difficult to find a variety of protest songs from every genre. In 2018, “This is America” by Childish Gambino and its controversial music video consumed the national conversation for weeks. The uptick in Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the subsequent cultural upheaval saw a resurgence in protest music pertaining to police brutality and begin Black in America. Classic protest songs have also remained relevant, as evidenced by the use of “Blowin’ in the Wind” during anti- Iraq War protests and Beyonce performing “A Change is Gonna Come” at a Sound for Change concert in 2013. It’s clear that protest music is here to stay; the only question is: what will it become next?