Are Protest Songs Politically Effective?

In the dictionary, the word "protest" is interpreted as "an objection, an opposition, or a representation of a dissent opinion, opposed to something that someone can not disturb or avoid" (dictionary.com, nd). Definitions must be written in a formal way and they must often be used for mitigation. In this case, the term ("disapproval of expression" etc.) also seems to imply that the protest is a harmless act. In fact, if you are talking about protests, the most common organizations will be about mass demos, pickets, strikes, and even blood and violence.

In a relatively early and few attempts to define protest music, Serge Denisoff (1968) classified the protest song from a theoretical point of view and presented a functional model of the protest. Whether it is individualism or part of a political movement, the function of political protest is an important factor in judging whether songs or certain kinds of music are political. Through this classification, the definition of protest songs is what they are trying to achieve. "As a form of political propaganda, emphasize social problems and suggest solutions to problems? The ultimate goal to achieve these goals is lyrics, and" functional "protests The actual change seen in the song category far exceeds the lyrics.

In the 1960's, protest songs were more popular than protest songs of the past decades. Political music existed before the 1960s, but these protest songs often only attract small groups of society. For this reason, protest songs did not become widespread in most of the protest music, especially in the labor movement during the 1960s. The example of Pete Seeger (above figure) shows most of the political songs in the labor movement as it aims to become a weapon used by members for strikes and meetings. Therefore, it is almost unattractive among other environments or non-solidarity members. This limits the applicability of songs and has the effect of reducing their popularity.

In the 1960s, political events such as the Vietnam War occurred simultaneously with a massive campaign against music. Music created by artists who wrote protest songs was more popular and had a greater impact than previous protest artists. Since political events such as the Vietnam War and the Draft are closely related to protest music, everyone needs to play a role in causing and spreading opponents. The two main arguments on this point are either political events that cause protest actions by raising protests against musicians or protest actions against political events such as student protests that affect political climate. But in this case, the lines of causation are ambiguous, so we can not think that politics caused by music are not only political events leading to protest music. For example, songs like "Barry McGuire" "Destruction Eve" can be used to demonstrate these two theories.