You say you want an evolution? (Part 2-Civil Rights in America)
CIVIL RIGHTS!
It's 2007, and we have the first legitimate black candidate for the office of the President of the United States:
Is there any doubt in the minds of any of you, my fair readers, that any of this could have been accomplished without the aid of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, James Brown, Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Otis Redding, Gil-Scott Heron (and the Last Poets), Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, or Janis Ian (White Girl! Ian!). The songs sung by these folks through the 50s and 60s sparked some of the most powerful barrier-breaking in American culture. While the war generation was on its way out, these songs appealed to a new mentality in urban areas in America. No longer would the color of someone's skin be a reason to talk to or ignore them, to shun or praise them, to accept or reject them. James Brown told the world what to call Black people, enough of this "negro" shit, enough of this "african" shit, Now, we're people like the birds and the bees/we rather die on our feet than keep living on our knees/say it loud, i'm black and i'm proud.
FUCK YEAH!
These songs
changed the way the youth of America at the time saw racial issues.
These were deep songs with real meaning that sparked action in the
listeners. Suddenly music was a vehicle for social change, people
could connect to one another on a much broader level, as long as they
were singing the same songs, they were saying the same message. Black,
white, purple or yellow, if you knew the words, you were part of the
solution, if you didn't you were the problem.
Lewis Allen (Abel Meeropol - jewish dude!) wrote a poem called "Strange Fruit" as a reaction to seeing the lynchings of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Indiana. He set this poem to music and gave it to Billie Holiday in 1939. 
She then used the song to close all of her sets, "The first time I sang it, I thought it was a mistake. There wasn't
even a patter of applause when I finished. Then a lone person began to
clap nervously. Then suddenly everyone was clapping and cheering."
While Billie Holiday brought awareness and an emotional rhetoric to anti-black violence, Marvin Gaye was speaking about war and racism on a much broader level that still reverberates today:
Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today
-Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On?"
In 1971, this song became a huge success much to the chagrin of Gaye's manager who thought the song had zero commercial appeal. Here's an early face of the problem we have today, the managers and A&Rs don't think revolutionary music has much appeal to the masses, because of their level of comfort and security and stability. Today, this seems to be true, I have a motherfucking iPod, i can watch The State while i ride the bus to work and laugh my ass off, why the hell should i be concerned with a bunch of people killing each other across the sea?
For the sake of concision, I won't ramble on, but please please watch the Gil-Scott Heron video below. Back then there WAS a revolution to be un-televised, where the fuck is ours? At this point, i don't give a shit if it's on you tube, SOMEONE PLEASE DO SOMETHING!!!
Next: The Waves of Punk Rock
James Brown - Say it Loud I'm Black and Proud buy iTunes
Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit (video!) buy iTunes
Bob Marley - Get up, Stand up buy iTunes
Gil-Scott Heron - The Revolution will not be Televised (Video) buy iTunes
Jimi Hendrix - House Burning Down buy amazon
Janis Ian - Society's Child buy amazon
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