Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire
Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire epitomises the 1980s because he references all aspects that represent the culture of the 80s. He highlights the history of the United States from 1949- 1989 therefore showing a cultural and historical revolution of the country on a worldwide scale.
In reference to the 80s Joel mentions Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, Heavy Metal Suicide, Foreign Debts, Homeless Vets, AIDS, Bernie Goetz, Hypodermics on the Shore, China's under Martial Law and Rock- and - roller Cola wars.
This shows the cultural impact of the 80s through game shows which highlight the changing structure of both the Music and Entertainment Industry. Heavy Metal became a popular music genre during the late 70s and 80s, the songs had very intense and meaningful lyrics which are blamed for fans committing suicide during that era. He also takes into consideration the Presidents role as the US took on a lot of foreign trade deals which led to debt and as a result of this were major budgeting cuts. Furthermore Veterans of the Vietnam War were found to be living in awful conditions and many became homeless. The AIDS crisis of the 1980s and the rise in drug use also showed how America was changing as they had to advance medical research in order to find out more about the disease and how it could be prevented and treated. Environmentally the Hypodermics on the Shore became a crucial point in changing how America viewed dumping environmental waste. Finally the Rock-and-roller Cola Wars highlighted the huge multinationals Pepsi and Coke's economic power on the world stage. They competed against each other using the latest popular music artists to advertise their brand in order to appeal to teenagers and a younger audience.
Jay Z - Spiritual
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7431025/jay-z-releases-police-brutality-philando-castile-alton-sterling (Song can be heard on this website)
Even though the song does not have a music video it represents America because it shows how he feels being Black in America whilst be surrounded by police brutality following the Black Lives Matter Movement. The repetition of the lyric "I am not poison" exemplifies how racial attitudes still exist in America and negative stereotypes of African Americans are being highlighted in the form of social media hashtags and protests. The fact that Black Lives Matter trended worldwide just highlights how prominent the issue is in America today, it has always been a problem and there are not many signs of it getting better. Looking back on this song thirty years from now there is a high chance that this will still be a major issue for America, especially as in the last few years there has been a new name every couple of months that has been killed from police brutality or has been seriously injured. Therefore music is the prefect way for people's voices to be heard and can reach a larger audience. Billy Joel and Jay Z are clearly two very different artists with completely different sounding songs, yet they both have a powerful historical message in their songs.
Sources
http://guff.com/an-explanation-of-all-117-things-mentioned-in-we-didnt-start-the-fire
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/08/entertainment/jay-z-spiritual-song/
No comments:
Post a Comment