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Explain the function of protest music. What is it intended to do? Does it reinfoExplain the function of protest music. What is it intended to do? Does it reinforce or subvert the extant power structures? How does music fit into protest activity? Do we see it associated with particular movements? If so, which ones? Can pop music ever function as protest music? Does the concept of celebrity add to the efficacy of the artist as a vehicle for protest? Does it detract?

select one song and respond to the prompt attached below in paragraph form. You may use the prompt itself, insert your response

Song for the week:

– “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” (1971)
– Sam Cooke – “A Change is Gonna Come” (1954)
– Billie Holiday – “Strange Fruit” (1939)
– Arlo Guthrie – “1913 Massacre” (1972)
– Dolly Parton – “9 to 5” (1980)
– Joni Mitchell – “Big Yellow Taxi” (1970)
– Midnight Oil – “Beds Are Burning” (1987)
– Pearl Jam – “Do The Evolution” (1998)
– U2 – “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (1983)
– The Cranberries – “Zombie” (1994)
– Phil Ochs – “Here’s to the state of Mississippi”; Eddie Vedder – “Here’s to the state of George W.”
– Bob Dylan – “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1962)
– Grandmaster Flash – “The Message”
– Public Enemy – “Fight the Power”
– Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”
– Eminem – “Darkness”
– Childish Gambino – “This is America”
– Daveed Diggs – final scene from “Blindspotting”

Philosophers (and their concepts) discussed:

– Verta Taylor and Nella Van Dyke: typology of protest
– Serge Denisoff: functions of a protest song