Have you ever sat back and listened to the words in the song you’re singing along to? Taken the time to hear the greater meaning then the time signature changes, the catchy rhythms and unique solos? Music tells a story, it may not be as simple as what the words say or how they match with the rhythms.
Music has become a part of our mass media, telling stories in a fashion that is impossible in print or broadcast news. It is a style that is not new to our time and has been going on for ages, music was used to protest, express and even report. It poses as a means for the story to be told and for the story to live on, in many instances the message may reach someone incapable of previously obtaining that news.
The list of songs about history is extensive and difficult to complete as everyday artist are spreading the news in their own way.
– 99 Luftballons by Nena
– A Great Day for Freedom by Pink Floyd
–Belsen Was A Gas by The Sex Pistols
– Countdown by Rush
– Don’t Drink the Water by The Dave Matthews Band
– Indian Sunset by Elton John
– Old Judge Thayer by Woody Guthrie
– Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2
– Zombie by The Cranberries
Weather the song has grown in popularity, was song by a famous artist or has only been heard by a small number of the population is irrelevant, because with the internet today the story will be told over and over again to multiple nations and generations.
In 1991 Rush released their track that talks about the fall of capitalism and the Berlin Wall, “Heresy.”
In 1996 Sublime wrote “April 29, 1992 (Miami)” a track about the riots that took place in Los Angeles in 1992 after news spread through the United States that the four police officers charged in Rodney King’s beating were acquitted; a track which to this day still stands a worthy track on many MP3 players today.
In March of 2010 The Dillinger Escape Plan released their album Option Paralysis. Track four of the album, “Crystal Morning,” refers to an anti-Jewish riot in Nazi Germany and Austria in 1938.
The Dillinger Escape Plan bassist Liam Wilson reflected on the track to The Associated Press, “This song is one of the most thematically focused songs we’ve ever written. Lyrically, it’s a reaction to and reflection on Crystal Night or Night Of Broken Glass, which was the Casus belli of sorts for German Jews at the very beginning of World War II. Musically, I think it supports itself with dark anarchist themes and a chaotic, almost self-destructive vibe to it.”
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