33 revolutions per minute : a history of protest songs
Dorian Lynskey (Author)
Why 33? Partly because that's the number of rotations performed by a vinyl album in one minute, and partly because it takes a lot of songs to tell a story which spans seven decades and five continents - to capture the colour and variety of this shape-shifting genre. This is not a list book, rather each of the 33 songs offers a way into a subject, an artist, an era or an idea. The book feels vital, in both senses of the word: necessary and alive. It captures some of the energy that is generated when musicians take risks, and even when they fail, those endeavours leave the popular culture a little richer and more challenging. Contrary to the frequently voiced idea that pop and politics are awkward bedfellows, it argues that protest musicispop, in all its blazing, cussed glory
Criticism, interpretation, etc
1 online resource (xviii, 843 pages) : illustrations, portraits
9780571277209, 0571277209
1199001660
Part One: 1939-1964. Billie Holiday, "Strange fruit" ; Woody Guthrie, "This land is your land" ; Zilpha Horton, Frank Hamilton, Guy Carawan and Pete Seeger, "We shall overcome" ; Bob Dylan, "Masters of war" ; Nina Simone, "Mississippi Goddam"
Part Two: 1965-1973. Country Joe and the Fish ; "I-feel-like-I'm-fixin' -to-die rag" ; James Brown, "Say it loud
I'm black and I'm proud" ; Plastic Ono Band, "Give peace a chance" ; Edwin Starr, "War" ; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, "Ohio" ; Gil Scott-Heron, "The revolution will not be televised" ; Stevie Wonder, "Living for the city"
Part Three: 1973-1977 (Chile, Nigeria, Jamaica). Victor Jara, "Manifesto" ; Fela Kuti and Afrika 70, "Zombie" ; Max Romeo and the Upsetters, "War in Babylon." Part Four: 1977-1987. The Clash, "White riot" ; Carl Bean, "I was born this way" ; Linton Kwesi Johnson, "Sonny's lettah (Anti-Sus poem)" ; The Dead Kennedys, "Holiday in Cambodia" ; Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five feat. Melle Mei and Duke Bootee, "The message" ; Crass, "How does it feel?" ; Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Two tribes" ; U2, "Pride (In the name of love)" ; The Special AKA, "Nelson Mandela" ; Billie Bragg, "Between the wars" ; R.E.M., "Exhuming McCarthy"
Part Fivd: 1989-2008. Public Enemy, "Fight the power" ; Huggy Bear, "Her jazz" ; The Prodigy feat. Pop Will Eat Itself, "Their law" ; Manic Street Preachers, "Of walking abortion" ; Rage Against the Machine, "Sleep now in the fire" ; Steve Earle, "John Walker's blues" ; Green Day, "American Idiot"
Appendices. Protest songs before 1900 ; Songs and albums mentioned in the text ; One hundred recommended songs