As Bruce Springsteen embarks across the country on his Land Of Hope and Dreams American Tour, I’ve borne witness to many different reactions. Some fans, like myself, are 100% on board with these shows — shows which feature an opening speech, during which Springsteen refers to the Trump administration as “corrupt, incompetent, racist and reckless” before descending into a rocking rendition of The Temptations’ protest hit “War” — while others see the Springsteen as a musician who has gotten far too political for his fanbase.
My response to those arguments is this: Springsteen’s music has always been political, and so has music itself.
Beginning fully in 1978 with the release of “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” Springsteen has continued to tell the stories of working class Americans and speak up about the harm of an uncaring government since the inception of his career. From the beaten down Vietnam veteran featured in “Born in the U.S.A.,” to the critiques of the Bush administration sung about in “The Rising” and “Magic,” he is no stranger to the opinions that he infuses in each of his releases.
But Springsteen is not the only musician to use his music as a platform for change — nor is he the first. The history of protest music in the United States draws all the way back to early movements for change, having been used by both women’s suffrage groups and abolitionists. It then became incredibly popular during the 1960s, the decade in which both the Vietnam war destroyed American communities and the fight for civil rights came to the forefront of American life.
An article by Evie Erickson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said that music has “the unique ability to give a voice to the oppressed and form a genuine organization of people that can stand up to their oppressors when all together.” What is live performance if not a collective of people, drawn together for a singular moment? What is protest, if not a similar experience?
For those who claim that they attend a concert to hear music, not politics — it seems they’ve spent no time delving into the meanings behind the songs they’re there to hear. These songs are shaped by the social and economic environment of the world, as well as its own creator’s experience. There is no art without society, and there is no society without political context.
These misunderstandings have made audiences feel entitled to the idea of escapism beyond context. Pop culture has always been a reflection of the world around us, and musicians like Springsteen have the right to tell these stories just as much as the collective audience has the right to listen.
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