We Fight The Fire - While We're Feeding The Flames

Following on from last weeks blog about Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album and its theme of saving the environment it got me thinking about who else had done ‘Green’ songs, I must admit, not many sprang to mind. However, with the growing debate of climate change, global warming, sustainable energy etc, the issue of environmentalism must surely find its way into more and more songs.

I suppose, unlike familiar pop song subjects such as love, hate and drugs, songwriters face a particularly tricky challenge when it comes to penning a meaningful song about the environment. After all, what rhymes with fracking? ‘Morally lacking’ maybe? Admittedly, ‘Financial backing’ does though! So it strikes me that it can be difficult to pull off an “environmental song” without devolving into preachiness. It’s difficult to come up with songs that work as songs but successfully walk the line between sincere and sanctimonious.

So What Tracks Did I Come Up With?
There are a number of types of environmental songs to consider. There’s those that chronicle environmental ravages and aim to inspire awareness or action; there’s those that simply celebrate the beauty, wonder and regenerative capacity of nature and then there’s those that try and address the bigger picture.

Neil Young – After The Gold Rush
This comes from the same era as Marvin Gaye. The song seems to view our civilisation as a lost cause when it comes to conservation, with the cycle set to begin all over again in the future at “a new home in the sun.” The chorus too “Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 1970s” makes it abundantly clear that If we don’t change our ways, she may need to board a spaceship and find refuge elsewhere.

Johnny Cash - Don’t Go Near the Water 
This is a song that really hits the environmental issues head on, air pollution, water pollution, the lot. I must admit the lyrics are a bit overly preachy for my liking with lines like “We’re torturing the earth and pourin’ every kind of evil in the sea, We violated nature and our children have to pay the penalty” but on the other hand this is Johnny Cash, the Man in Black and if he wanted to preach to us we’d better be listening.

The Eagles - The Last Resort
A simple story about the American West and its rugged allure that continually draws new people to it who inevitably then go on to destroy the very values (serenity, pristine wilderness, solitude etc) that they sought there in the first place. Similar things have happened in this country too. Don and Glen’s lyrics “They call it paradise, I don’t know why, Call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye.” Are spot on and a warning that nature’s beauty must be embraced carefully rather than commercialising then strangling it. The next track is in a similar vein:

Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
I’m sure for many people, this is the environmental song to end all environmental songs. With its chorus: “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone, They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.” The idea of replacing the landscape with a giant car park is particularly offensive to most of us, considering that we think of car parks as ugly, dirty concrete slabs that seem to be empty more often than they’re in use. People are becoming more and more aware of their impact as the things they enjoyed began to disappear.

Joni could've turned this classic into a preachy rant. Instead she opts for a breezy, upbeat feel and a bit of sarcasm (or is it satire?): "They took all the trees, put ’em in a tree museum, And they charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see ’em." Genius !!

Marillion – Season’s End
A beautiful song about the hole in the ozone layer, and how we’ll explain to our children what we’ll leave behind for them by way of our actions. Season's End was Marillion's first album after the departure of Fish and signified a departure away into different territories. The lyrics of Season’s End say it all really. 

“We’ll tell our children’s children why we grew so tall and reached so high, we left our footprints in the earth, and punched a hole right through the sky. We’ll tell them how we changed the world, and how we tamed the sea, and seasons they will never know in England. So watch the old world melt away, a loss regrets could never mend. You’ll never miss it ’til it’s gone, so say goodbye, say goodbye to season’s end.”

And again, nothing’s changed in the 30 years since its release!!!

The Pretenders - My City Was Gone
Another updating of Big Yellow Taxi. Only Chrissie Hynde could make a song about land use and 'development' sound so nasty. The track is all about Chrissie returning to her hometown of Akron in Ohio, only to discover that over-development had robbed the city of its character. Worse for her were the environmental infractions, which she colourfully describes as, “my pretty countryside, Had been paved down the middle. By a government that had no pride.” I love this track, Chrissie’s voice drips with sarcasm and disgust. “The farms of Ohio had been replaced by shopping malls, and muzak filled the air from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls.”  

Mentioned In Dispatches

Jamiroquai – Emergency on Planet Earth
Jamiroquai track that highlights several social and environmental issues affecting the world. Confused by the lack of action being taken, Jamiroquai asks if “anybody’s listening?” as he screams out that “we got emergency on planet Earth.”

Eddie Vedder – Society
This is from the film “Into The Wild.” Vedder takes us through a withering indictment of a modern culture obsessed with material gain at the expense of deeper connections with nature and each other, “It’s a mystery to me, we have a greed with which we have agreed, You think you have to want more than you need, until you have it all you won’t be free.”

Michael Jackson - The Earth Song
Probably the most well-known environmental song ever made. It uses a series of questions to help us all reflect on our responsibility to the earth, Michael’s main question is “What have we done to the world?” – I’ve not gone into this track further because, quite simply because I don’t like it!!

Midnight Oil – Earth and Sun and Moon
Allegedly inspired by a TV show about NASA astronauts who had gone into space and looked back down on the earth. They see the outline of the continents, the rivers, the weather patterns and of course they see the stains, the oil spills in the gulf and whatever else is wrong.

R.E.M. –Fall on Me (Oh, Acid Rain)
The song which appears on their 4th album, ‘Lifes Rich Pageant’ is one of the band's early compositions about environmentalism, discussing acid rain.

Belly – Feed the Tree 
From the Star album, this is Tanya Donelly’s driving ditty to respect and commitment to each other and to the cycle of life. Quite like this track!!

Lou Reed - Last Great American Whale
The lyrics say it all “Americans don’t care too much for anything, land and water the least, they’ll shit in a river or dump battery acid in a lake and complain if they can’t swim.” Nuff said !!

Gorillaz’s - Plastic Beach!
The trippy little title track of the album of the same name. A great album in my opinion. Theme of the track to me is it's a shame about that floating landfill in the ocean, Styrofoam, plastic, trash, scraps all collected in the ocean like an island. – A very current subject even though the track is 10 years old.

We’re All At Fault
My last track isn’t strictly an environmental song it covers the whole bigger picture and suggests we’re all at fault, we’re all responsible for the future and its all of us that must change things.

Rush - Second Nature
From 1988s patchy ‘Hold Your Fire’ album. Second Nature is conciliatory in its message: If we can't reach perfection in this world then let's at least settle for some degree of improvement. Writer Neil Peart is quoted as saying "Sometimes we have to accept something less than total victory,"  "It's like the difference between compromise and balance. The politician who campaigns for clean air but doesn't want to close down the stinking factory in his area because thousands of people will lose their jobs”.

The line "We fight the fire -- while we're feeding the flames", for me hits the whole environmental issue squarely on the head. Yes we all wants a better world without pollution. Yet we keep polluting!! That the crux of it all and a sad but accurate description of the modern world we live in.

A memo to a higher office
Open letter to the powers that be
To a god, a king, a head of state
A captain of industry
To the movers and the shakers...
Can't everybody see?

It ought to be second nature
I mean, the places where we live
Let's talk about this sensibly
We're not insensitive
I know progress has no patience
But something's got to give

I know you're different
You know I'm the same
We're both too busy
To be taking the blame
I'd like some changes
But you don't have the time
We can't go on thinking
It's a victimless crime
No one is blameless
But we're all without shame
We fight the fire while we're feeding the flames

What's (still) Going On then Marvin?

The sign of a truly great album is if it stands the test of time and Marvin Gaye’s, "What’s Going On" certainly does that. It’s still as meaningful in 2018 as it was 47 years ago back in 1971 it also seems to be even more relevant today.



It’s a truly brilliant album, my problem is, it’s nearly 50 years old and the same problems that the album raises still exist throughout the world today - and in most cases, are now even worse.


How It Was
The late '60s and early '70s in America were marked by great unrest: the race riots, the Vietnam War, economic slowdown, social deprivation in the cities all hitting communities in America hard. Sound familiar ???

Inspired by his brother's return from Vietnam, Gaye ignored the love songs that all the other Motown artists were recording, and wrote about the things in life that he cared about at the time.

From the joyous but hugely political opener, gradually the concept of the album takes shape. What follows is a velvet soul voice in the same league as Sam Cooke and a concept album of songs which don't just hang together they are vice like in their tightness and solidity. The wonders of songs such as ‘Flying High in a Friendly sky’, ‘Mercy Mercy Me’ and ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’; the street talk and the overt social concerns make this Gaye's immortal testament to the tragedy which ultimately engulfed his own life.

Some have described the album as a 'black American' album. Listen again, you will not hear the word 'black' once! This is not one of those 70's 'Blaxploitation albums like those of Curtis Mayfield. What's Going On speaks to all of humanity just like great art should. The concept is timeless.


Those Tracks
The title track is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. ‘What's Going On’ details the futility of war (especially with the famous line "You see, war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate"). It is as relevant today as it was when it was written, the difference is Vietnam now equates to Syria, Iraq or Yeman.

‘Flyin' High’ covers the perils of drug addiction. Even more prevalent today !

‘Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)’ is about the worsening environmental situation back in the Seventies. With the current real concerns and emphasis on pollution and global warming we're now at panic stations, so much so that 'Mercy Mercy Me' could easily have been written today.

The devastatingly poignant 'Save The Children' is deeply profound, reflecting on our rapidly deteriorating climate and desperate, abandoned children in the world.

‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’ could be seen as a low on the album. It deals with the miserable life lead by many within the cities. The subject matter is certainly very bleak, with seemingly little hope of salvation, represented by the howls of genuine anguish within ‘Inner City Blues’. Yet for Gaye, all is not lost: for love offers us some hope for the future in addressing these problems.

That theme is particularly strong in not only the title track, but also in ‘God Is Love’ and ‘Right On’. To quote the latter, "Love can conquer hate every time, give out some love and you'll find peace sublime": a powerful, universal message to societies all over the world, all still facing the same problems, all with a chance of redemption.


Moods 
The album operates on two levels, you can listen to it and it’ll lift you up to a better place, it can also have the opposite effect. The music can be sad and mournful too, the lyrics seemingly looking up into the sky, pleading for some kind of redemption for mankind. And given what happened some 13 years later, it is almost painful to hear him sing lines like “Love your father” and “Father father, we don't need to escalate.”


What's the Relevance Today?
The old social problems have not gone away, and are unlikely to; what is more, we now have to deal with Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and even Yemen, in the same way that Gaye's America had to deal with Vietnam. Deep down, we all know that if we could replace hate with love, the world would be a much better place. Therefore you can consider this album not just as a product of the early seventies, but as a product for all time.

Some of the religious imagery conjured up by songs such as ‘Save The Children’, ‘God Is Love’ and ‘Wholy Holy’ may, of course, appear today as somewhat dated, not to say hopelessly optimistic, particularly in the context of the general direction of today's equivalent urban R&B music, but on the other hand, it could also be argued that their message is now even more relevant (though probably no less unattainable).

Certainly, the radical content of the album's masterpieces, the title song, with its anti-Vietnam and oppression sentiment (“Picket lines and picket signs, don't punish me with brutality”); ‘Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)’, with its self-explanatory view on world pollution and the crime/police vicious circle expounded upon in ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’ all still resonate with many people today.


Truly a Landmark Album
What’s Going On is a landmark album not only of its generation but one of current and future generations. It’s up there with the best of all time. It should be mentioned in the same breath as Pet Sounds, Innervisions, London Calling, Revolver, Dark Side of the Moon etc. as a landmark production.

The feel of the album is mind-blowing, the first time I listened to the album on my own I was transported to another place. From the first note to the last I was gripped, its beauty is undeniable; it’s more than an album, it’s a feeling. It should be preached to the masses as a tool to prevent war and hatred, No one after listening to this could harm another human being.

Simply, this isn't just music and it's certainly no ordinary album. It's a template for how we should all live our lives and no music collection whatever your tastes, should be without it!


So Prophetic
Don’t forget what a scarily prophetic album What's Going On really is. It just get better and more relevant with age, the youth of today should listen to it, learn from it, violence and hate is not the answer.

To think that it’s nearly 50 years old, to me it sounds fresher and more vital than most of the bland R&B that is being offered up today, it's overtly political messages still blow me away.

What’s really sad about 'What’s Going On' though is the fact that it IS so relevant today, yes technology has advanced and created a new world since 1971, but the fundamental wrongs in this world are all, sadly still there.

Hak Baker – A ‘Later’ Discovery

I’ve watched Jools Holland’s ‘Later’ for decades, some weeks are really good, some don’t really reach the heights. Some of the new artists are brilliant, some not so. Last week though had a really impressive line-up including one Hak Baker, a musician who’d I’d never heard of before but I’ll certainly be following in the future.

Now first thing I’d say is that his sort of music isn’t on paper “my thing”. I’m not really into the whole grime scene at all, but Hak is something slightly different and it’s hard not to get drawn in. I’m not entirely sure how to define him, but I would say that he’s extremely talented and seriously impressive.

In case like me you haven’t heard of him, Hak Baker was born and raised in East London. As a teenager he was part of the B.O.M.B. Squad grime crew. What followed then was a phase of heavy drinking, partying and the sort of late-night behaviour that landed him a couple of years in jail. Of his time locked up, Hak’s quoted as saying “At a certain time, when I was in jail, I realised, this was bollocks: ‘this is shit.’ My mates started going jail, some people died, some people got nicked. And in jail I thought, ‘I don’t even care.’ Jail was like a break that I needed; ‘it’s bollocks out there anyway.’” 

 

After coming out of prison Hak has spent the last couple of years coming up with a collection of songs that fall under a genre that he calls ‘G-Folk’. Essentially what we’d maybe call socio-political alt-folk. The tracks often have laugh-out-loud lyrics but with a serious point behind each of them.

Alt-Folk

This ‘alternative’ folk I found engrossing. Of course over the years I’ve heard various versions of folk both traditional and modern, the only one I really like is the sort of Punk-Folk expounded by the likes of The Pogues, New Model Army and The Levellers. Hak’s ‘G-Folk’ is almost an extension of this.

Watching Hak on ‘Later’ he sounded like he was right in the room with me, which I suppose is the least a folk singer can hope to convey. His tracks are a fusion of English folk, reggae and Albion indie. They’re honest and nostalgic. His lyrics tell tales about growing up in the east end. Hak’s vocals are pretty raw, they seem to switch from singing to almost-rapping over an acoustic guitar.

More Digging

As a consequence of watching Hak on ‘Later’ I dug back into what he’s released over the last few years and was surprised to find that he’s not been snapped up by a major label. Some of the tracks I discovered included:

‘Misfits’ – The lyrics of which are a modern update on the ska, reggae and two-tone themes of the late 70s and early 80s dealing again with police brutality and what actually goes on on the real streets in a similar way that the like of The Specials did.

‘Skint’ – Is a very quick way into Hak. As all good punk songs do, it weighs in at a rapid two minutes 46 seconds and paints a picture of the struggles and grinds of inner city life.

‘Tom’ is a touching song about one of Hak’s mates who died and the impact of his death on their group of friends. He largely speaks the first verse in a very sombre manner, with lyrics like “we’d give anything to bring back our boy, the lads miss you, we all do”. It ends with Hak lamenting “That’s life I guess…” as an ominous synth raps the track up.

The New.... with some tradition

Hak brings up to date decades of both folk and inner city tradition into something that to me feels not only of 2018, but very believable. He brings us a sound that tips a nod to the past but brings in the foundation of today's modern music.

I’m sure as a white middle aged guy I’m not Hak’s target audience but I find there’s something compelling about him. His semi-spoken politically charged lyrics are full of real life stories of dodging the police and revelling in the traditions of London’s inner city. In many ways his work updates tracks like The Clash’s ‘Guns of Brixton’ and ‘Police and Thieves’, or The Equals’ ‘Police on My Back’ from all those years ago. Hak’s music is like nothing else that’s around at the moment and it’s incredibly captivating.

The Misfits(EP) is available for download on the likes of Amazon, there’s some decent stuff on You-Tube too – Go look it up, you won’t regret it. !!

The Breeders - A Comeback Success

It happens to all of us who hit middle age. Those bands we loved during our youth get back together and start making music again. I’m not talking the ones that get back to get together just for a money grabbing tour then disappear again. I’m talking of those that get back together to make some new music. Sometimes this happens admittedly because the artists' need for money becomes greater than their hatred for their old bandmates. Sometimes though, it happens because the old musicians get bored and forget about how jaded they felt when they walked away from the band so long ago.

And sometimes, not often, but sometimes, people get the old band back together because they still have something to say. They get back together because their original passion for music somehow got rekindled. It’s a rare occurrence but occasionally new magic can happen. Yes, for every great comeback like Johnny Cash’s American Recordings, there are 10 albums like Guns N Roses Chinese Democracy which leave you with the question ‘Why did they bother?’

Last week I finally got round to buying a ‘comeback album’ that I’ve had my eyes on since it was released back in the spring, The Breeders – All Nerve.

Young Again

It’s been 10 years since we last heard from this brilliant but rather turbulent band so ‘All Nerve’ is a welcome return. It’s an album that’s easy to listen to repeatedly and its only 30ish minutes long! There’s something peaceful about it; something that just flows smoothly from track to track. After the first listen it left me feeling young and excited about new music again – a rare occurrence these days !

Quality Tracks

The first four tracks are under 10 minutes long, indeed the opening pair of ‘Nervous Mary’ and ‘Wait In The Car’ are done and dusted within five minutes, a kind of brutalist guitar minimalist. My favourite tracks are ‘Walking With The Killer’ which indicates a continual paranoia and ‘Spacewoman’, which softly compares loneliness to orbiting alone in space, seems to me its indicating a disconnection from the real world. The album’s softest moment, ‘Dawn: Making an Effort’, captures Kim Deal’s girlish voice melting into an all-consuming haze. “Dawn running us down,” she repeats, a line that beautifully suggests the end of one thing and the beginning of something else.

Skinhead #2 is the only real weak point on All Nerve, but that’s only weak in comparison to the rest of the album. Most bands would kill to have written that one.

Re-Captured Energy

All Nerve finds The Breeders sounding more ecstatic and less restrained than at anytime since their ‘Last Splash’ album back in 1993, part of the original alt-rock scene. By not looking back they’ve re-captured the incessant energy that drove ‘Last Splash’, and given us something to take its place. The album also manages to do what The Pixies (from hence where Kim Deal came), have struggled with since returning to the recording studio. They sound like the band that we first fell in love with 25 years ago but without ignoring the decades of trials, experiences, and musical ideas that have come and gone since.

All Nerve isn’t a 90's retro album, it is of its time, but is sounds like The Breeders have never left us. It’s an album that somehow manages to emulate their 90s past - while thoroughly taking the piss out of it at the same time!

The Breeders have still got IT ... whatever 'IT' is !!

1971 – Was It Really Rock’s Golden Year?

I recently read David Hepworth’s book, '1971 Never a Dull Moment' where he makes the case for 1971 being rock's year zero. It’s a fascinating book written by someone who was there. It’s also a social commentary on a time when the world was a very different place. I couldn’t put it down and read it cover-to-cover in a few days thoroughly enjoying it.

The author certainly put forward a very strong case for 1971 as ‘Rock's Golden Year’. And when you look at the list of top albums released in 1971 you struggle to disagree. Albums such as these classics all came out in 1971:

• Led Zeppelin IV
• Who's Next,
• David Bowie had both The Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory
• Carole King's Tapestry
• Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On
• The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers
• Rod Stewart’s Every Picture Tells A Story
• The Doors. L.A. Woman
• Imagine by John Lennon
• Joni Mitchell’s Blue
• Master Of Reality by Black Sabbath
• Sly and The Family Stone – There’s A Riot Going On

Plus many more classics by Cat Stevens, Elton John, Don McLean, Pink Floyd and George Harrison.

When you consider that most of these albums are still held up as classic musical high water marks today then David Hepworth’s case becomes very convincing.

However…..

And it’s a big however! The vast majority of assumptions and assertions made in the book are based on these classic albums all being released in 1971, however – what about singles? Was 1971 the golden year for singles? I think not! There were a couple of classics off those albums but it wasn't a 'singles' year was it? In my eyes, there are a number of other years to consider if you’re looking for high water marks based on classic singles and sales of singles. Here’s a few I'd consider:

1966

There were many classic singles released in 1966 including:

• Jimmy Ruffin – What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted
• The Beach Boys – Both Good Vibrations and God Only Knows
• The Supremes – You Can’t Hurry Love
• Small Faces – All or Nothing

Also, The Kinks’ Sunny Afternoon and The Rolling Stone’s Paint It Black on their own could make 1966 a worthy contender for a classic year in music.  

Add to these some classic albums of that year, Simon & Garfunkel released “Sounds of Silence.” The Beach Boys unleash “Pet Sounds,” and The Beatles put out their best album “Revolver.” 1966 is right up there.

1980

1980 was a very diverse year for music. Punk had been and gone, new wave was amongst us, disco was on its way out and the New Romantics were just starting to put their make-up on. In amongst all this you also had the resurgence of the mods, 2-Tone and the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ along with old favourites such as country music and Abba all hitting the higher echelons of the singles chart!

Classic singles from 1980 include

• Blondie - The Tide Is High, Call Me and Atomic
• David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes
• Abba - The Winner Takes It All
• Madness - Baggy Trousers, oh and My Girl
• Bob Marley & The Wailers - Could You Be Loved

All of these tracks still receive regular radio airplay 38 years later. Can you say that about a lot of years? I think not!

There were a few classic albums in 1980, but not that many. They include AC/DC’s Back in Black, The Game by Queen and Peter Gabriel 3, beyond that there wasn’t much of note

1987

This was initially a difficult choice as at first, the singles didn’t jump out at me as being from 1987, once the penny dropped though I realised what a phenomenal year it was. All these singles were released in ’87 and all have received continuous air play since:

• Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody along with So Emotional
• George Harrison - Got My Mind Set On You
• George Michael & Aretha Franklin - I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)
• Heart - Alone
• George Michael - Faith
• U2 - With Or Without You
• New Order - True Faith
• Alexander O'Neal - Criticise
• The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale Of New York
• Whitesnake - Here I Go Again

Add to that classic albums such as Paul Simon’s “Graceland”, Michael Jackson’s “Bad”, “Whitney” by Whitney and how can you forget, U2’s classic - “The Joshua Tree”. What a year!!

1995    

The year that Brit Pop was in full swing. Blur and Oasis went head-to-head in the singles chart, Blur won the battle, Oasis won the war! Portishead spearheaded the Bristol sound, Alanis Morrisette release Jagged Little Pill, Richey Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers went missing, Robbie Williams left Take That and The Beatles release Anthology. Nuff said really !!!

So What Year Is Music’s Golden Year?

I was seriously struggling with this one. Yes, David Hepworth has a point about 1971, it probably is the best year in album terms. Best ‘singles’ year for me (and its probably reflective of my school days) would have to be 1980 purely for it’s diversity in genres. 

Overall though, the year I’d say was the best, whose singles and albums have the greatest longevity and airplay would have to be 1987 – for me, the classic year in pop and rock history. Lets not forget either, one of the greatest pop songs ever - Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up came out in 87 – What more can you ask for !!!

But that's just my opinion. I'm sure yours will be totally different!!

Why Aren’t Pop Stars Angry Anymore?

After recently listening to some of my music collection from the seventies and eighties I find myself asking, where has all the edgy, protest and political tracks gone from our charts and air waves?

Growing up, there was always some band or artist protesting about something or other, whether it was war - Vietnam and the Cold War being common themes; the Government; the welfare state; deprivation;  ban the bomb; racism; there was always something to sing about. Not now, it seems we’re all so content with our perfect lives and Governments that there’s no need to protest or sing about it.

So How Do You Define a Protest Song ?

Well for a start it’s a piece of music that in its own right is a great song. Good words and fine sentiments are not enough. The music must move you.

It needs to be a song with a purpose; a song that doesn’t confine itself to commenting on or bemoaning the ills of the world, but looks in some small way to change things. It may do this by directly calling for something to happen – remember Free Nelson Mandela? It must do it by informing us, but also it must appeal to our hearts and our emotions.

A true protest song should really address a specific issue or issues that are current at the time. Songs about wars and revolutions in days long gone don’t really count.

The song should really provoke the listener; it should shock us, unsettle us, amaze us, inspire us, make us angry, make us sad or make us optimistic. If it doesn’t do any of these things, it hardly deserves to be called a protest song.

Thirty of my favourite Protest Songs include:

• Edwin Starr – War
• Sam Cooke – A Change Is Gonna Come
• The Special AKA – Free Nelson Mandela
• Peter Gabriel – Biko
• Billy Bragg – Between The Wars
• The Levellers – Battle of the Beanfield
• Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy
• Prince – Sign of The Times
• Nena – 99 Red Balloons
• Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On?
• Neil Young – Rockin’ In the Free World
• Bob Marley – Redemption Song
• Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall
• The Beat – Stand Down Margaret
• Morrissey – Irish Blood English Heart
• Black Sabbath – War Pigs
• Pat Benatar – Hell Is for Children
• Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall
• The Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought the Law
• U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
• Yes – Don’t Kill the Whale
• Sly & The Family Stone – Don’t Call Me Nigger Whitey
• Marillion – Forgotten Sons
• UB40 – One in Ten
• The Clash – White Riot
• The Specials – Ghost Town
• Rolling Stone – Gimme Shelter
• The Pogues – Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six
• Style Council – Walls Come Tumbling Down
• Frankie Goes To Hollywood – 2 Tribes

Whether it's old classics passed down through generations or the scream of angry young voices, protest has always been at the centre of rock'n'roll. It might still be, but I’m just not hearing it.

Anti-Tory Pop

You very rarely hear pro-right wing protest songs, they’re usually always from the Left and, as usual the Left have the most to preach to us about how we should be doing things.  The pop stars of today though, are very quiet about politics, rarely indulging in political comment in case it wrecks their career. It wasn’t always so, remember ‘Red Wedge’ in the eighties where people like Paul Weller, Jimmy Somerville and Billy Bragg got together to hold concerts around the country protesting about social depravation and the policies of the then Tory Government? We’re in a similar boat now but I don’t hear the likes of Little Mix doing much protesting.

Some of the songs back then proved quite prophetic too, Eton Rifles by The Jam told the story of a group of unemployed socialists being heckled on a march by a cadet corps from Eton College. Former Conservative leader David Cameron is reported to have said: “I was one, in the corps. It meant a lot, some of those early Jam albums we used to listen to. I don’t see why the left should be the only ones to listen to protest songs.” Prompting Paul Weller to ask “Which part of it didn’t he get?”

Galvanising

Protest songs like I remember, the kind that galvanised thousands at a time during, anti-nuclear and civil rights marches, the anti-Vietnam war rallies, the Northern Ireland troubles and the economic upheavals during the Thatcher years, seem to have disappeared from the landscape. At least they have from the commercial airwaves.

It’s true that some rap music contains elements of social consciousness, part of a continuing commentary and protest that goes back to the earliest blues forms, but there’s a disconnect between rap and what went on before largely because of the Rappers own image.

The last mainstream, protest albums I can remember are probably Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ and Neil Young’s ‘Living With War’. Both American, both very successful. So the demand is still there, especially now Trump’s around!

Bigger Pictures

There’s a bigger picture now which all revolves around the internet and social media. There are still plenty of protest songs out there, but they just aren’t part of the cultural mainstream any more. Radio doesn’t play them, and people don’t seem to do things together, as a community. We’re all connected individually to some kind of device, working alone, amusing ourselves alone, and enlightening ourselves alone.

People are still concerned about the issues that have always troubled us. Nowadays though they’re more likely to wear a coloured ribbon, or turn to Facebook to find a like-minded community than to march or sing songs in the streets, the way they did in the 1960s. It also reflects the now common disconnect between politics and young people.

Today’s ‘plastic’ manufactured pop stars are more interested in getting their picture in the paper wearing next to nothing than trying to change the world. They’re a meal ticket for their management and they don’t want to stop that money coming in by letting their little stars voice their opinions and rock the boat. This has led to political and protest now being addressed in music by independent and internet artists, they don’t get the air time though, so we don’t really hear their work.

Is Anyone Really Listening Anymore?

We do seem to lack a groundswell of popular protest songs today, when, from recession, poverty and controversial wars through to bankers and politicians screwing us all, there is surely so much to sing and protest about. But the manufactured likes of X-factor and today's boy and girl bands, are the inheritors of the sanitised pap of old, and have crowded out the old rockers, folkies and ageing punks.

In reality, protest and political songs haven’t disappeared, we just have to hunt them down, they’re alive and well, they are just hiding in plain sight. It seems that we just don’t hear them. We don’t hear anything worthwhile these days unless we go looking for it. Which then begs the question, are political and protest songs effective anymore if nobody’s listening to them ? 

The answer is sadly ‘No’

Bob Dylan – Nope, Don’t Get It

Let me put it out there early in this new blog. There are certain musical critical darlings that do nothing for me and Bob Dylan is one of them. I do like the remakes of many of his songs though, Hendrix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. The other major critical darling I cannot get properly into no matter how much I try is Bruce Springsteen. I guess there is just not enough blues, funk, soul, hard rock influence in these folks for me. I appreciate strong lyrics, but the music has to have some soul to it otherwise I can’t connect with it. There are many other popular artists I can’t get into either, but Dylan and Springsteen are two who plague me because they are so critically lauded. I also can't seem to really grasp Coldplay - but that's another story!

Anyway back to Dylan. I don’t get what the fuss is. Now, I haven’t listened to a lot of his music but I would say that I’m familiar with his most popular songs. I haven’t really analysed his lyrics, and I do have a hard time understanding them when he’s singing. His music and his singing don’t really move me, they don’t open a door and draw me in. I get his sixties alternative culture stuff but don’t really notice anything original or innovative, not in any meaningful way. Yet, clearly he is a highly respected musician and I’m curious to know why people feel this way; I’m also interested in hearing why people really like his music and are obsessed by it, because I don’t get it!

Respect

I do respect the hell out of what he has done and achieved, so please don't take this as some kind of attack on him or his fans. To many, he’s easily one of the best song writers who has ever lived. I also understand his historical importance in terms of music and American history.

In a similar vein to Dylan, I've never gotten into Morrissey’s solo work either, but I know people who are passionate about one or the other or both. I can appreciate them both as poets and I think they've both created really interesting images for themselves, but as far as the music goes, I don't get it. I know other people do though. Some people can't understand why I'm into some of the music that I like so it's all relative I suppose.

Covers

Following on from the theme of my last blog someone once told me that the best thing about Bob Dylan covers is that you don’t have to listen to Bob Dylan sing them and I think they’ve got a point. There has been many fine covers of his work, many of which you’d think were actually the original such as:

• Bryan Ferry – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
• The Byrds – Mr Tambourine Man
• Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower
• Adele - Make You Feel My Love

Dylan is undoubtedly an incredible storyteller. But I'd rather have his stories sung to me by someone who doesn't sound bored and inebriated. It just goes to show that a great song writer and a person who makes great music are not always the same.

Will I Ever Like Dylan?

Well I’m not crazy about his voice, but I do like and respect singers with unconventional or “bad” voices (eg, I like both Bjork and Geddy Lee of Rush). With more exposure and better understanding his voice could grow on me or at least I could come to understand why people value his singing and vocal quality. I must say though that I do prefer Dylan’s crusty older voice to the thin whiny one which often grates. I have a feeling I’d have to really pay attention to the lyrics though and not just listen to the music while doing other things. And I’m not sure I can really carve out the time to do that.

That being said, I have tried really hard a number of times over the years to get into Bob Dylan and his music and I just can’t. I’ve bought a number of his albums including that 3-disc box set called ‘Dylan’ that covers about five decades of his work but still I can’t make it do it for me. As I said, I like many versions of his songs that other people have done, but by in large, I cannot get onto the Dylan train. And I don’t really know why!

Olives

Bob's music obviously speaks in a language that my ears are not accustomed to. Maybe someone will one day put his music in the proper perspective for me and I'll love him. It's happened for me with other artists, but it just hasn't happened for me yet with Dylan. I’m 50 now so there’s still time – isn’t there?

I’m not narrow minded, my musical tastes are very broad and span all eras. I’m not a closed shop though, I still like to broaden my musical horizons and try new artists. Unlike some people, I don't like to just stay in the box of safe things I know! I do like to taste a bit of the different food on the musical table.

Anyway, I’ve come to the conclusion that Bob Dylan is a bit like olives - an acquired taste! Fact is though, I don’t like olives and I still don't like Dylan's music! So he’ll probably remain one of those people whose success I’ll just never understand.