Exceptionnally, I was watching (French) TV yesterday, and there was a program with artists, including a singer I really like, Bénabar, who just released a new album this week.

The first song of this album is called "politiquement correct", and it basically says : yes, I'm against war, I'm not against muslims, I don't think there are too many jews in finances, so yes, I'm politically correct, and I fuck you.
You can see it here [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_I5YrBaUfw[/youtube]
The discussion went to politically singers, which basically don't exist anymore in France.
In the 80's, we had stand-up comedians (Coluche) or singers (Daniel Balavoine) who were very engaged into politics.
Coluche fought against Europe to be able to give extra food to charity, created Les Restos du Coeur in the process.
Balavoine had memorable discussions against politics, even against the President ([youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9a8DwV90yY[/youtube])
But now, singers tend to be very discrete on politics. Of course, some songs are very engaged, and we often see singers give concerts to support a candidate before an election, but no more.

So I was wondering if this "pattern" was general in the world, or specific to France.

I think you find a lot of political material outside of the mainstream. Pop success is reliant on reproductive messages and catatonic rhythms and overt political messages are seen to be bad for business from the corporate point of view - if you want the widest possible appeal then must not alienates a section of your potential audience. But a lot of music is overtly political, and one must note that music has played a large part in African and Middle-Eastern politics for many, many years (including this year's so-called Arab Spring revolutions).

Anyway, here's a couple of my favourites from the olden days...

From this year, the first one that comes to mind is Let England Shake by PJ Harvey.

I don't count rap and r&b, since they've always been more or less based on criticism of politics.

And as I said, I make the difference between a guy whos sings engaged songs, and a singer who engages himself in a politic fight

I'm a fan of Bjork on Facebook, and she's always banging on about political stuff. It's mainly local Icelandic stuff though, so you don't hear about it too much.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blCI9w7tw5k[/youtube]

Hiya Stanley

The best method for turning me off to an artist is for them to go political. Fucking hate music that tries to lecture you.

CdesignProponentsist wrote:The best method for turning me off to an artist is for them to go political. Fucking hate music that tries to lecture you.

Someone should write a song about that.

Can I ask if there are any countries that still have singers sing political songs?

I'm so not experienced in this field, and am very stuck in my essay.
The essay is in fact and Op-Ed about "Music and Politics"
and it has to be recent, and NOT from China...

Here's a belter from the ever-sharp Roy Harper, written in the Blair era. Hear it build!



Billy Bragg I suppose is a very obviously 'engaged' political singer.

Bono, of course. Geldof. The Indigo Girls are forever campaigning for good stuff.

cherubfish wrote:Can I ask if there are any countries that still have singers sing political songs?

I'm so not experienced in this field, and am very stuck in my essay.
The essay is in fact and Op-Ed about "Music and Politics"
and it has to be recent, and NOT from China...

there's a thread here with some political folk songs,got a bit mixed up with other folk music though but still you should find some stuff,especially at the beginning,the original thread title was ,folk songs,not lala http://www.rationalskepticism.org/music/folk-music-t18278.html

Daan having a go at Flemish separatism (chorus goes "Your country isn't my country, cause your country is a landmine" the wordplay is lost in translation of course). I can think of a few more but the songs all tend to be as terrible as this one, so I won't bother posting them.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arQCCbp-sUU[/youtube]

Lots of US and UK punk bands are very political

Here are a few I like;

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJjQ_gdgBZM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvZyT9pRemA[/youtube]

And;

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94vo6NzQD5c[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBtvabPee1U[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GrqCcY-qkc[/youtube]

Seabass wrote:

CdesignProponentsist wrote:The best method for turning me off to an artist is for them to go political. Fucking hate music that tries to lecture you.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7IUA8W8xuM[/youtube]