Political Pop

"I don't like when you mix music with politics" says Ray Gange to Joe Strummer in Rude Boy, the documentary about the Clash's roadie.

Mixing radical and rebellious issues with music seems to irritate some people. It raises questions of 'why?' and makes people uncomfortable that music is used as a weapon of resistance.

Yet do these people object when music is used to reinforce the dominant values and ideas in our society? I, personally have found few people that do. It's normal, so it must be ok. Singing about the bling bling, money, the American dream and constant consumption is acceptable. Who will question that? Seeing Madonna and Missy Elliot promote sweatshops through their endorsements is not really mixing music with politics. It's just the way things are, right? Wrong. Such actions are as political as any song by Rage Against the Machine. Like Bob Dylan sang "you've got to serve somebody". Madonna, Elliot etc are serving a different master. But serving they are. Like RATM they are highly political, albeit in a disguised way. Whether it's the Game & 50 cent promoting the myth of social mobility through "the underdog's on top" phrase or hip-hop's general misogynistic and materialistic messages, music, as part of culture either promotes or rejects particular values. MTV is like a global shopping catalogue selling cool. How much more political can you get?

Further reading:

Banks, J. (1996). Monopoly Television, MTV's Quest to Control the Music. Oxford: Westview Press

Pinn, A. B. (1999). "How Ya Livin'?": Notes on Rap Music and Social Transformation [Electronic version]. The Western Journal of Black Studies, 23(1), 10