Bob Dylan once said this about protest music when he started to question it,
“You can’t go around criticizing something you’re not part of and hope to make it better.”
It’s interesting to wonder about this. Today’s popular artists such as Dixie Chicks, Springsteen, U2, etc – those who support either the left or the right, all sing in the name of change and hope for a better world. This is what music has been doing for a long time – trying to change public opinion or lift the spirit of a nation. It is why people love music, and it’s also why some have come to question it. I had a conversation with a music producer once, who has always used music as a way to express his feelings and thoughts about political issues, having grown up witnessing racial and cultural divides first hand. I asked him whether he still believes music could change the world. He said he’s asked himself the same question. He said he realized that most of the people he performed for already thought the same way he does, so it is important for him to speak to those who have yet to hear the message. But he also said that in order to change the world, it needs to happen outside of music, not just within. Artists like Neil Young and John Butler Trio have launched projects to preserve the environment, while other artists perform as part of charity campaigns.
And the question arises – how effective really, are these projects in the name of music? Do artists really care about the world? Or do they only care about others just to benefit themselves? And do those who listen really hear the message? Does change only happen in a chorus?
While it is important to practice what we preach, in music and in anything, “music should never be harmless” as someone once said to me. Artists write and sing the sentiments of a nation, or a divided nation, of the hero and the villian, of the saviour and the victim, of people who might clap or take offence from it – music remains a form of expression. Music can stitch an open wound but it can also force it to tear. It is fair to argue that it takes one to know one, it takes those who’ve walked to talk the talk. But like writers, like doctors, like a good friend – music tries to look in from the outside, to reach out and understand something apart from oneself.
