Recent History of Protests: A Musical Perspective

I was born near the end of an era of small uprising. A time when people were mad at the government. From the war in Vietnam to a new brand of environmentalism, there was plenty to be mad about. Popular music often reflected this anger. You had John Lennon singing "give peace a chance" and who could forget Bob Dylan "Blowin' in the Wind"?

But I grew up in the 80s. There was nothing to be mad about in the 80s. Maybe it was just my youth, but I don't remember there being anything to be mad about. Not like today, with greedy corporate CEOs, tough economic times, and huge back and forth political swings, from the right to the left.

However, the 80s weren't totally devoid of protest songs and rock'n'roll political statements. Smaltzy love ballads, foreign aid tributes, and new age wasn't the only music to come out in the 80s. I've put together a smattering of lyrics from the 80s that illustrate this.

One of the most common forms of protest was against the banality of middle-class suburbia and the increasing influence of government in the lives of the common man. Who could forget Twisted Sister singing "We're not gonna take it"?

"we've Got The Right To Choose And
there Ain't No Way We'll Lose It
this Is Our Life, This Is Our Song
we'll Fight The Powers That Be Just
don't Pick Our Destiny 'cause
you Don't Know Us, You Don't Belong"

And of course there are always going to be anti-war songs, even if there is no war to oppose. For example, Guns'n'Roses, "Civil War". It stirred up such graphic imagery as:

"Your power hungry sellin' soldiers
In a human grocery store"

Or

"But still the wars go on as the years go by
With no love of God or human rights
'Cause all these dreams are swept aside
By bloody hands of the hypnotized
Who carry the cross of homicide"

"What's so civil 'bout war anyway?"

More often than not, however, protest could be found in songs we didn't even recognize as protest songs. Who knew that when the Boss sang Born in the USA, he was really protesting the treatment of Vietnam vets.

"Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said "Son don't you understand"

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go"

And how many of us knew that the perky 99 Red Balloons song by Nena was really about the cold war? The idea behind the song was what if a bunch of balloons floated over the Berlin wall to the Soviet sector. Could a tragic over-reaction trigger a nuclear war?

"99 red balloons.
floating in the summer sky.
Panic bells, it's red alert.
There's something here from somewhere else.
The war machine springs to life.

99 Decision Street.
99 ministers meet.
To worry, worry, super-scurry.
Call the troops out in a hurry.
This is what we've waited for.
This is it boys, this is war.
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by.

99 Knights of the air
Ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a superhero.
Everyone's a Captain Kirk."

Anyway, you get the point. Okay, I've meandered around this post too long. Now go out and dust off your old cassette tapes.