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Once upon a time music and politics were mixed in a way that didn’t seem fake, it wasn’t the trendy thing to do and protest songs were written truly to create conversation and rally people to make a change. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not absent from music today - everyone from Kanye West to U2 to Coldplay are using their music and celebrity as a platform to address the issues of the day; even the Dixie Chicks famously took one for the team when they spoke out against the war in Iraq.

But when people like Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez and Pete Seeger wrote songs, they didn’t rely on metaphor or simply attaching themselves to issues, they wrote about them, they sang about them and often times they were also the activists who helped make change.

Artists like System of a Down, Tom Morello, Chuck D and Billy Bragg have kept the true spirit of protest music alive and I have no doubt that they count themselves as fans of Pete Seeger who turns 90 in May.

There is a massive celebration going down to honor Seeger led by Bruce Springsteen with an amazing lineup of performers.

If this was history class and I somehow managed to get a job as a teacher…your required viewing would be Pete Seeger: The Power of Song:

I’ll expect a 2 page essay in one week on why Pete Seeger is the coolest 90 year old on the planet.

=matt

Tags: matt wells, pete seeger, protest, vjs

Posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 3:13 pm by Matt Wells and is filed under Music & Videos.

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