Race is a prominent aspect of life, therefore any part of popular culture has to be influenced and refer to it to some degree. Often there is too much emphasis on the divide between black and white, especially in today's politically correct society.
Many key genres and legendary artists have been created through the transferral of what can be seen as “black” and “white” music- Elvis Presley covering black artists to make hugely famous hits and often said to spark the Roll n Roll genre, Eric Clapton covering Bob Marley and making his music accessible to the mainstream, Eminem as a white raper, and Jay-Z more recently covering classics such as Wonderwall to evolve the RnB genre.
Blackness and Whiteness is often merged in popular music by these ever developing genres. It takes away the barriers and allows artists to create new ways to express their cultural identity to match the ever changing multicultural world, but also allows them to be dependent on each other.
Monday, 27 April 2009
Monday, 20 April 2009
Can popular music achieve genuine political change?
Politics finds a natural place in popular music. Rage and Bob Marley demonstrates this lyrically. Even without preaching during gigs and hosting big “world changing” events these alone can be argued to achieve political change through simple awareness.
Where this topic is debated is displayed in the event Live Aid. Many artists appeared to be more involved in selling their latest single than helping climate change or poverty (especially those who travelled in private planes). The original Band Aid, however, conveys the other side of political events. It clearly raised awareness and raised over $50 million- described by Shuker as “a means of raising both consciousness about and funds for political causes.’
Popular music may not be able to change politics but is certainly can raise awareness, which is sometimes all that is possible in countries where Governments use such raised money to fund the Army instead of helping the needed. A recent example of awareness helping political change is with the amount of bands using their spot in the limelight to support the Obama campaign in the American election.
Where this topic is debated is displayed in the event Live Aid. Many artists appeared to be more involved in selling their latest single than helping climate change or poverty (especially those who travelled in private planes). The original Band Aid, however, conveys the other side of political events. It clearly raised awareness and raised over $50 million- described by Shuker as “a means of raising both consciousness about and funds for political causes.’
Popular music may not be able to change politics but is certainly can raise awareness, which is sometimes all that is possible in countries where Governments use such raised money to fund the Army instead of helping the needed. A recent example of awareness helping political change is with the amount of bands using their spot in the limelight to support the Obama campaign in the American election.
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