20 December 2011
Newsdesk
From Lily Allen and Live8 to gangsta rap, revolution and the sounds of the Arab Spring - the political power of music is explored in a new book by an academic at the University of East Anglia.
Music and Politics by Prof John Street shows how music is inextricably linked to politics, and provides a soundtrack to the nation’s mood.
The book, published by Polity, looks at how musicians from Bob Geldof to Lily Allen have spoken for political causes. It investigates how music can inspire crowds, move individuals and mobilise movements – and how governments can live in fear of its effects, censor its sounds, and imprison its creators. It also shows how leaders use music for both propaganda and torture.
Music and Politics goes on to consider what it is about notes and rhythm that creates such political potency.
Politics professor John Street said: “Music has always been the most political of cultural forms.
“After the riots that gripped the UK in August, the musician and campaigner Billy Bragg made a plea for the return of political pop. This was how young people could ‘speak truth to power’. It was music, rather than blogging or tweeting, that really gave people a voice.
“Other voices emerging from the same post-riot debate blamed gangsta rap for causing the attitudes that inspired the looting.
“What both sides agreed was that music mattered - that it had the capacity to influence thoughts and actions. The idea that music and politics are inseparably linked, and that each animates the other, is at the heart of this book.”
Beginning with the censorship of music, and the fears that inspire it, Prof Street looks at how music has been treated both as an enemy and a friend - how some governments imprison musicians, while others sponsor them in the name of social cohesion.
He investigates the role of musicians who campaign for political causes through movements such as Rock Against Racism and Live8, and looks at the way history is shaped by, and captured through, music.
The last section of the book looks at how political ideas are articulated in criticism of music and in commendations of it – from the stars awarded by music reviewers to the prizes awarded by Mercury judges.
Prof John Street lectures in UEA’s School of Political, Social and International Studies. He is the author of Rebel Rock (Blackwell, 1986) and has since published widely on the subject. He was a co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock, as well as contributing music reviews to The Times for a decade, and acting as a member of the editiorial group of the Cambridge University Press journal Popular Music.
