What's Going On?

I think this song and music video by Bon Jovi is absolutely amazing.  The video and song are a tribute to all those people who aren’t afraid to go against grain and make their own path when other criticize them.  The video has clips of many of these moments  in history including Martin Luther King delivering the “I Have a Dream” speech, images of Barack Obama, and a boy playing for his high school basketball team despite having Down Syndrome.

This song recently released by Lady Gaga this year has drawn enormous attention and popularity.  I think this song sends such a powerful message about everyone is special in their own way.  Even people born “different” are beautiful and should be treated as such.  The music video has a whole introduction before going into the actual song and the intro pushes the message even further.  Although the introduction is abstract and “out-of-the-world” it basically is a message from Lady Gaga trying to make the world different.  She is creating a new race-a race which bears no prejudice, no judgment but boundless freedom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy1gp3F5NhY

This was a song that stood out to both my parents.  As many other students have posted this video, this song written by Michael Jackson, just is so powerful and incredible.  This song brought together music’s biggest stars in such a rare collaboration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZtAQQh-yYA

Emily Marks

Musician Lupe Fiasco is about to release a new album and I think as part of a promotional tool he created a video called we are not losers that I stumbled on recently. The lyrics for this video are

“We will not compromise who we are to be accepted by the crowd.
We want substance in the place of popularity.
We want to think our own thoughts.
We want love, not lies.
We want knowledge, understanding, and peace.
We will not lose, because we are not losers.
We are LASERS.”

It’s very inspirational for a contemporary musical artist to create something like this. This is such a relevant topic in our society , but it’s not talked about by the media. This is Lupe Fiasco’s official website http://wearenotlosers.com/. He is trying to raise awareness about the hidden truths about the media.

Musician Justin Bieber’s video is called “pray.” He sings about poverty and his feelings about his visions of making a difference. I found this song to be very powerful because once again it’s another contemporary artist singing about problems in the world. The lyrics to this song are on this website Pray Lyrics .

I’m not going to even bother posting the lyrics to Lady Gaga’s Telephone because they are about as unprogressive as lyrics can get but the video however provides a parody on fame culture and American consumerism. She blatantly uses product placements- some brands fake, most real- some were paid some were just for aesthetics- as a way to poke fun at American obsession with brands. The height of the product placement as parody can be seen towards the end of the video in the kitchen scene where she is using Miracle Whip and Wonder Bread in a recipe to kill every patron in the diner and in the corner the logo says “Poison TV” – a jab at TV and the mindless consumption of anything and everything by the American populace. She pokes fun at fame culture in the way that she is released from jail after killing her boyfriend in the “Paparazzi” video- the celebrity jail system is not at all the same as the penal system for us regular folk. She is also commenting on the dependence of America on technology- everytime the song “messes up” so too do the humans in the video.

Samantha Zaruba

http://www.metrolyrics.com/byob-lyrics-system-of-a-down.html

System of a Down’s BYOB (Bring Your Own Bombs) is as blunt as songs get. They talk about our endless war in the middle east begging the question: Why don’t presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor? The comparisson of going out to party can be taken as picking at the sensationalistic PR campaigns that our country uses to bring us into war.

Samantha Zaruba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvh4WaMFnRg

Lost in the World by Kanye West featuring Justin Vernon from Bon Iver isn’t a progressive song until you get to 4:15 in the song and the bit about America needing a revolution and comparing the idea of “Freedom” as a rapist in disguised gives an honest depiction of the lazy youth (“programmed”) and the hypocrisy of our country using the words “freedom” and “democracy” as mere excuses to do whatever suits our financial interests.

Samantha Zaruba

I Just Want to Celebrate by Rare Earth is about a transformed, better world. The lyrics are about the world, life itself and how no matter how much you are let down or are going through a tough time to just keep on going and celebrate another day of living. The song continues to talk about how you cannot be bothered with trivial things and sorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZsppOw2Mxk

Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin is about how consumers tie material things and money to happiness. In the song she talks about how her friends all have Mercedes Benz and so since she has worked she must have the same things they have in order to be happy. 

  Jenien Lim

I Can-Nas- 2002

Songwriters: Roy Hammond, Salaam Remi, Nasir Jones

In his song, “I Can,” Nas urges young kids to have dreams and push themselves to reach them. He tries to motivate them to do better and to know that they can be anything they want to be if they put their mind to it. Nas talks about young people who were drawn into the wrong crowd, and ended up badly, despite having the potential to do better. He also talks about young girls who try to imitate what they see on television and try to act a lot older than they actually are. He tells them to slow down and focus on reaching their goals before they end up in a bad situation.

Dear Mr. President- Pink- 2006

Musicians: P!nk, Max Martin, Billy Mann, Indigo Girls

In “Dear Mr. President,” Pink talks about having a conversation with the President and asking him questions about different things going on in our world today. She touches issues like the war, education and the no child left behind act, employment, and prison. When I first heard this song I thought it was very interesting and controversial. But I liked that she raised questions about a lot  of issues that are probably on peoples minds.

Niagara en Bicicleta- Juan Luis Guerra- 1999

In the song, “El Niagara en Bicicleta,” Juan Luis Guerra talks about a day where he went to a hospital because he was feeling sick. When he goes to the hospital, he barely receives any medical help and finds out that the hospital barely has any doctors or equipment to help him. In this songs, he shows what people who don’t have a lot of money in certain countries have to go through when they go to their local hospital and how this should change. My mother told me about this song and I remember both my parents singing this song when I was younger. They told me that this song really showed what people go through in the Dominican Republic and how it can be very different from here in the U.S.

– I. G

Music is a powerful tool that has the ability to send strong messages to a vast amount of people all over the globe. People take pride in the music they listen to and use it as a means to identify themselves. Along with catchy guitar riffs and chorus’s, music can have a deeper meaning that changes the way people view certain concepts. When talking to my mom about music from when she was growing up that talked about social change, she couldn’t recall and specific songs. However, she told me that she was a huge Michael Jackson fan and he had a few songs where he sang about racism and the need to change. I came up with a few of my own songs that i feel envision a better tomorrow.

“Dear Mr. President” By Fitz and the Tantrums. 2010

“Dear Mr. President” by Fitz and the Tantrums is a song about a husband and wife that struggle to make ends meet and raise their children. It talks about how they can’t find a job, have no place to live, and life on the street. As the title may suggest, he is asking the President to “put his foot down” and end of all this nonsense. It’s a song that inspires hope for the future.

“Changes” By Tupac. 1992

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Y9-JlSRXw

“Changes” by Tupac Shakur is a song about the struggle living as a poor black male. It touches on how urban black males don’t get any respect and don’t have respect for each other. In the song, Tupac ask for people to start making changes in the way they live, so we can have a better tomorrow. He also mentions how no one is trying to help the poor black community and instead they are more worried about keeping them down. It inspires hope to the black community to stick together and keep fighting for change.

“Drowning” By Hootie and the Blowfish. 1994

“Drowning” by Hootie and the Blowfish is a song about racism and hatred. The main message in this song is that we must all learn to live together as one. Continuing to hate one another based on skin color and also continuing to teach this hate will only make things worse. The singer and songwriter, Darius Ruckus, doesn’t understand why it makes a difference that he is black and wants everyone to see people for who they are and not what color they are.

“Times they are a-changin” by Bob Dylan. 1964

“Times they are a-changin” by Bob Dylan is a classic song that became an anthem for frustrated youth. It was a protest song at the time of its release, and still is, that spoke out against the establishment and urged everyone to change now and do right because the “times they are-changin”.

-MN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLV4BBmjnz 

I am Woman by Helen Reddy was a song of social change because it promoted the progress of womans rights.  In the 1970’s all the new tv shows like Mary Tyler Moore promoted the new Independent women movement, and this song spoke about these new values.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc 

Where is the love came by the black eyed peas right after September 11th.  This song was played on every single radio station almost every hour because people were so distraught this song summed up the way everyone was feeling at this point in American History.

Music is a drug.  It is a drug that powers us to be what we want to be, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.  It makes us happy, sad, angry, excited, it evokes emotion and affect within its listeners.  It talks to us, telling us that it’s ok to feel the way we feel, and we’re not alone.  Songs like “Father and Son,” by Cat Stevens, preach to teens and young adults about how it is okay to feel like you’re being held back.  It preaches a request for a movement to brake free of the chains of their parents.  And then you have songs like “Teach Your Children,” by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young that tell you to understand where your parents are coming from.  These songs of the 60s are all about breaking free and taking hold of your freedom.  “Ruby Tuesday,” by the Rolling Stones, was another ground breaking song that touched many young people of the time.  All of these songs either allowed people to set themselves free, or give the young people of the time something to aspire too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg

In today’s time, I don’t think our music is as inspirational as some of the songs of my parent’s time.  I feel like we have become a lazy generation, accepting what is handed to us, and dealing with what we don’t believe in.  Fortunately there are some performers who still try to persuade their audiences to act for what they believe in.  “Better Days,” by the Goo Goo Dolls, is a plea that people will take action and make the world a better place.  Unfortunately, I don’t think many people take that idea out of the song.  “Live High,” by Jason Mraz is another song that is meant to make people think about their lives and how people live.  Are you living happy?  Are you living righteously?  These are some of the things that are focused on in the song, I don’t think it is a song meant to convince people to take drugs, which I’m sure many people get out of it.  I think music today is taken for granted, and it is extremely hard to find a song that can make an impact on the youth.