Communicating Through Music

I know that we discussed the controversial nature of Ice T’s “Cop Killer” in Carrie B. Fried’s article, “Who’s Afraid of Rap: Differential Reactions to Music Lyrics,” but it is very important to look at the powerful communicative platform that music provides for society from a more general standpoint. There really is no way to justify the potentially stereotypical notion behind the reason why country lyrics pertaining to violence and reckless behavior are overlooked and violent lyrics in the rap genre are heavily scrutinized. We saw in this study that across the board in all three categories of the participating population (age, parental status, frequency of purchasing music) that rap was identified as more negative than country. However, there is more to examine outside of these two genres. The rock genre has served as platform for free speech and protesting for many decades. My question directly relates to what we talked about in class: Does having extensive history in the music scene potentially negate any negative connotations found in the context of the lyrics, thus, making it culturally acceptable rather than controversial? Also, how does race of the band members/artist play into these perceptions? 

Going back to 1969, The Rolling Stones’ leadoff track on their Let it Bleed album, “Gimme Shelter,” is a crowd-pleasing fan favorite often longed for during live shows even 40+ years later. Keith Richards' opening guitar riff immediately gets the crowd dancing and belting our Mick Jagger’s lyrics about the struggle of war, violence and rape. To be completely honest, I find “Gimme Shelter” to be one of the greatest songs ever written. However, I find it strange how the crowd, maybe unknowingly, ignores the dark subject matter of the lyrical content. Again, The Rolling Stones’ influential impact on the music industry may be the reason why society accepts these lyrics and is appalled by the explicit content of rap. This is a similar scenario for Pink Floyd. Lyricist Roger Waters has always been one to put a political or conceptual twist on songs in a very innovative way. From comparing politicians to animals to discussing a desire for isolation behind a literal wall, we receive messages of a controversial sort from this artist as well. Perhaps, the longtime appreciation for their concept albums makes society view their lyrics as profound and acceptable.

One band that I would love to see analyzed in a future study is Rage Against the Machine. Here, we have a band that puts a heavy focus on instrumentation (detailed electric guitar riffs, complex layers of bass guitar and real percussive sounds from an actual drum kit) and often-rapped lyrics regarding political angst and promotion of anarchy. The band is also composed of members of races. The term “rap” seems to come with a negative connotation, a common stereotype in society. Rage Against the Machine is categorized as rock/rap. The lyrics discuss violence, anarchy and religion in a very antagonistic manner that seems to serve as method of unifying society under extreme messages. Just to provide an example of how intense shows can get, here is a clip from the end of their performance at Lollapalooza 2008 in which lead singer, Zach de la Rocha, gives a speech about the current state of US government (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpXVN-Qfr2A). With a band that has members of different races and a sound that fuses rock and rap, I think it would be very interesting to see how society perceives the overall tone of their music.