Crossposted from https://lemmy.world/post/52050257
Slyngstad | Bluesky
Transcript
A three-panel political comic by Slyngstad highlighting the long history of political activism in music. In the foreground of all three panels, two audience members are seen talking in profile.
Panel 1:
On Stage: A modern musician holding a microphone calls out, “FREE PALESTINE!”
Foreground: One audience member complains, “UGH, WHEN DID MUSICIANS START TO BE SO POLITICAL?”
Panel 2:
On Stage: Freddie Mercury performing at the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert, with the “Live Aid” global logo in the background.
Foreground: The second audience member replies, “START?”
Panel 3:
On Stage: Folk singer Woody Guthrie playing an acoustic guitar with his iconic slogan written across it: “THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS”.
Foreground: The second audience member continues, “MAYBE YOU JUST WEREN’T LISTENING.”
“Why aren’t my preferred musicians feeding me mindless entertainment that doesn’t affect my echo chamber?”
Now I wonder how far back can we find examples of political musicians… probably as far back as Mesopotamia, I’d guess.
It probably depends on your definition of political and musician. A lot of cultures had storytellers that would recite religious or historical stories in a poetic or musical way. There are also quite old accounts of war cries or chants. There’s also evidence to suggest that music was used in certain religious practices going quite far back. I don’t know that most of those things would count the way that we would count a modern protest song, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lot of political musical examples that we just don’t have historical evidence for.
I feel like most people don’t realize the words in songs are more than just noises you make along to the music, and actually form coherent thoughts…
“Y’all don’t wanna hear me, you just want to dance”
Hey Ya!
I initially thought this was a line from Muffin Top by Jenna Maroney
To be fair if you listen to stuff like this all day, they are just words that make noises: https://youtu.be/y7im5LT09a0?is=Ko_u6W5TqqUf_nm7
Why does Tom Morello hate Woody (joking)
Toite. Poignant. Love it
![People act like musicians standing up for what they believe in is anything new. #FreePalestine [Slyngstad]](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/229b1cbc-f82b-471f-a5b1-7aae0efb6aec.png){kind=link}