Walkouts, mum professors, “War Is Not The Answer”
stickers, demonstrations in front of the federal building, stop
signs with “STOP War” tagging: All that was missing
were some good, ol’ fashioned protest songs and controversial
plays.
Unlike the Vietnam debacle of the 1960s, the recent conflict
with Iraq has not generated the wealth of protest songs that once
dominated mainstream music charts four decades ago. Today’s
anti-war music has received lukewarm responses from critics and
fans. The artistic merit might not have faltered significantly, but
for many, the social impact has surely waned.
The Beastie Boys’ “In a World Gone Wild” and
System of a Down’s “Boom!” have garnered some
public attention, but will they be remembered 40 years down the
line like Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In the Wind”
or Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In the USA”? Even
Springsteen’s current call for peace lacks the mainstream
appeal of his earlier protest songs. Even Alt-folk singer Billy
Bragg had a gem with “The Price of Oil,” but like the
relevant works of Saul Williams and Ani DiFranco, it has no shot at
mainstream success. Perhaps today’s mainstream environment
simply does not allow protest songs to thrive.
“After Sept. 11, (2001), (Clear Channel Entertainment) had
a huge list of songs that were banned on all the major radio
stations,” Jared Burton, a sixth-year anthropology student
and political singer/songwriter, said. “Clear Channel’s
scared to go against the grain and play anything that is critical.
Labels aren’t willing to sign artists with anything critical
to say. All the good protest songs are underground.”
Nonetheless, the current movement still lacks defining icons and
anthems. Public Enemy is too threatening, and “Combat
Rock” by indie band Sleater-Kinney is not exactly a campfire
sing-along. Burton believes that today’s music is still
powerful, but the diversity of genres makes icons and anthems hard
to come by. According to Burton, protest songs are less effective
this time around because the absence of any visible military
disasters has kept Americans relatively calm and almost
apathetic.
If Sept. 11, 2001, was truly the day the protest music died,
music fans can still break out oldies like “What’s
Going On” by Marvin Gaye or soul man Edwin Starr’s
“War.”
UCLA theater Professor Mel Shapiro did the theatrical equivalent
by resurrecting 1968’s anti-war musical “Hair.”
Shapiro recently directed a production of “Hair” at the
Little Theater to show the younger generation that circumstances in
the ’60s remain meaningful today.
“It’s important to use the arts to raise
consciousness,” Shapiro said. “This war had the
greatest worldwide outpour of protest ever recorded in history, but
we had the least demonstrations. The media tells us not to dissent,
so it’s up to the arts. It has an element of dissent. Art is
fearless.”
When asked to explain why original stage productions with
anti-war messages are rare these days, Shapiro points to the strong
pro-war sentiments that have limited opportunities. Shapiro notes
that much of the Vietnam crisis was about the draft, which is no
longer an issue with this generation. Also, the war was so short
that stage productions did not have enough time to develop.
For Maryam Griffin, a second-year political science student and
director of UCLA’s version of the Lysistrata Project, timing
was crucial as well. It took three weeks of preparation just for a
small production ““ the war was halfway over by that time. A
worldwide peace event that included 700 performances in numerous
cities, the Lysistrata Project featured Greek playwright
Aristophanes’s anti-war comedy “Lysistrata” in
various guises.
“The project was less about the performances and more
about unity,” Griffin said. “Artistic merit is
important, but talent does not matter as much as having people
express themselves.”