The topic of my research paper is Protest Music. The questions that my paper will answer are:
1. What is protest music?
2. What makes an effective protest song
3. Who are the people behind iconic protest songs
4. What are the lasting effects of the songs
My introduction paragraph will answer these questions in brief detail and my body paragraphs will expand on them and explain my answers deeply. There will also be some body paragraphs dedicated to explaining the historical context of the times when certain protest songs were made, what was the intention of the artist who made them and who are the people behind the songs.
Some of the songs that I plan on referencing are:
1. We Shall Overcome
2. Masters of War
3. I Ain’t Marching Anymore
4. Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud
- Objective of Paper:
- To define protest music as a genre
- To list key/defining features that make an effective protest songs and/or protest songs in general
- To explain the significance of each song and protest music in general
- Explain the historical context behind each song mentioned
- Give a brief background to the artists whose protest music is mentioned
- Works Cited:
- The Language of Protest: Gasaway Hill, Mary Lynne. The Language of Protest: Acts of Performance, Identity, and Legitimacy. 1st ed., Springer International Publishing, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77419-0.
Mary Lynne Gasaway Hill is a graduate program director for the English department at St. Mary’s University. She is also a professor of English Literature and Language at the university and has degrees in Linguistics, English, Political Science, and Anthropology.
This text talks about the type of language and word use used to help push a movement forward. It brings up much reference from the 60s, a time known for its many social causes that were brought to awareness and examples from music and slogans of the time.
- Give Peace a Chant: Martinelli, Dario. Give Peace a Chant: Popular Music, Politics and Social Protest. 1st ed. 2017 edition., Springer International Publishing AG, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50538-1.
Dario Martinelli is a professor at the Kansas University of Technology and is also an adjunct professor at other universities. He has a PhD in Musicology.
This text focuses on how songs and chants can be used as a tool for movement organizers and supporters to be able to express their message in a peaceful way to those who can make change and in an efficient way while also spreading their message to others who might be curious about the movement. It has a brief history of protest music and brings up specific songs and chants as examples to further elaborate on their point.
- Story Behind the Protest Song: A Reference Guide to the 50 Songs That Changed the 20th Century: Phull, Hardeep. Story behind the Protest Song : A Reference Guide to the 50 Songs That Changed the 20th Century. Greenwood Press, 2008.
Hardeep Phull is a music journalist. He writes for a variety of publications such as Dazed and Confused, the Independent and the Hip-Hop Connection.
This text talks about, as mentioned in the title, 50 different protest songs. It also talks about the background behind those protest songs and the impact that they had. These songs are tied to important movements and have a strong message.This book is very important for anyone who is interested in researching protest songs or interested in songs that generally had a big impact.
- The Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest: Peddie, Ian, editor. The Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest. First edition., Taylor and Francis, 2017.
Ian Peddie has taught english at many different universities such as the University of Sydney and West Texas A&M University
This text goes into detail explaining the connection between music and activism and how they are intertwined. It brings up examples of significant protest songs and contextualizes them for their time period while also bringing up what movements they were inspired by/made for.
- The Routledge History of Social Protest in Popular Music: Friedman, Jonathan C. The Routledge History of Social Protest in Popular Music. 1st ed., Routledge, 2013, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203124888.
Jonathan C Friedman is a professor of history at West Chester university with an expertise on modern german, modern jewish and modern european history. He has expanded his knowledge on the topic of music history, lgbt history, and film. Which is the knowledge he used to be editor of this book
The text goes over the history of protest music across multiple time periods and multiple genres from folk music to rock
- Music and Protest in 1968: Kutschke, Beate, and Barley Norton, editors. Music and Protest in 1968. 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Barley Norton is a professor of music and ethnomusicologist who has written and edited several books and journals. Beate Kutschke works at the university of Salzburg as a research associate. Her research involves topics such as music and protest.
The text talks about how the 60’s popularized the connection between protest and music not only in the United States but all across the world and shows many examples of this connection. It also explains how the impact of protest music in the 60’s permanently bridged the connection of music as an art form being used to bring awareness to social issues.
- Music is Power: Popular Songs, Social Justice and the Will to Change: Schreiber, Brad. Music Is Power : Popular Songs, Social Justice and the Will to Change. Rutgers University Press, 2020, https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978808157.
Brad Schreiber is known for the many books that he wrote and co-authored along with his journalistic work for the Daily Variety and Huffington post.
This text talks about the effectiveness of protest music in bringing awareness to a cause while also acknowledging how the music’s meaning can be watered down because commercialization can become a disadvantage.
Submitted 6 November 2024
