Songs of Peace, Politics & Protest Part I Quiz

Answer: Sunday Bloody Sunday

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" came off U2's 1983 album, appropriately titled "War." To this day, it's considered to be one of U2's signature songs.

When it was first aired, the public wasn't entirely sure how to receive "Sunday Bloody Sunday." Many perceived it as being sectarian, and even today, many reckon that it somewhat "glorifies" the two Bloody Sundays that it talks about, and thus consider it to be a "rebel" song. During the first few performances of this song at concerts, Bono frequently had to reassert its anti-hate and anti-war message.

Answer: Terrorism, the War on Terror and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"Where Is The Love?" is considered to be the Black Eyed Peas' breakout song, and came off their album "Elephunk" which was released in 2003. Despite being a writer and vocalist in the song, Justin Timberlake is not credited due to technical reasons. The song is also recognised as being the first single from the Peas to feature Fergie, as the group had been a trio before that time.

In the song, many issues are talked about, including terrorism, the U.S. Government, hypocrisy, war, greed and intolerance.

Lyrics such as "Overseas yeah we tryin' to stop terrorism. But we still got terrorists here livin'. In the USA the big CIA the Bloodz and the Crips and the KKK" and "the war's going on but the reason's undercover. The truth is kept secret. Swept under the rug," are viewed as being a lamentation against terrorism, the invasion of Iraq, and the War on Terror.

While many might say that this song could be used as an anthem for any one of the events listed above, it is most often perceived and used by the anti-war members of the public as an anthem against the War on Terror and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Iraq was invaded of March 2003 which would begin a long "War on Terror," and "Where Is The Love?" was released very shortly after the invasion.

Answer: PLO

"Sunshowers" came off M.I.A's 2004 album "Arular."

Of the song, M.I.A says:

"Sunshowers" is about how in the news the world is being divided into good and evil with this axis of evil and terrorism thing, so the song is asking:
'How can we talk about gun culture and other issues while Blair is preaching that if someone hits us, we should hit back twice as hard?'"
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshowers]

PLO is an abbreviation for the Palestine Liberation Organization which was founded by the Arab League in 1964.

M.I.A is the daughter of a Tamil militant Arul Pragasm (incidentally, she named her album "Arular" as an acknowledgement of her father's past), and is known to have a strong political message in a lot of her music. She has expressed great discontent at the War on Terror, and has said "You can't separate the world into two parts like that, good and evil. But America has successfully tied all these pockets of independence struggles, revolutions, and extremists into one big notion of terrorism." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.I.A._%28artist%29].

Due to some of her lyrical content and her outspoken discontent at some American Government antics, she was denied entry into the USA.

I think it's a great pity that this song hasn't received more recognition, because I love it, both for the somewhat cryptic lyrics with a powerful message hidden behind it, plus the great beat!

Answer: The 'Fish' Cheer/ I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag

"The 'Fish' Cheer/ I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" came off Country Joe and the Fish's 1967 album of the same name. It is without a doubt the most popular song performed by this group, and is a well-known black comedy/ protest song against the Vietnam War.

It attained a great following after its performance at the first Woodstock Festival of 1969, where Country Joe McDonald performed it solo. At the beginning of the song, in a call-response style, Country Joe spells out the word "fish." However, at Woodstock, "fish" was replaced with a less savoury F-word, and had just about all five hundred thousand attendants singing along. To this day, it is still considered the epitome of anti-war music of the 60s.

Answer: Masters Of War

"Masters Of War" came off Bob Dylan's 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan." Like many of Bob Dylan's songs, it is an adapted version of the old folk song "Nottamun Town."

On the 10th of September 2001 (quite ironically, the day before the 9/11 attacks), Bob Dylan said to Edna Gundersen of "USA Today":

"['Masters of War'] is supposed to be a pacifistic song against war. It's not an anti-war song. It's speaking against what Eisenhower was calling a military industrial complex as he was making his exit from the presidency. That spirit was in the air, and I picked it up"
[http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2001-09-10-bob-dylan.htm#more]

Judging from the lyrics, the song seems to be a protest against politicians who sit behind their fancy desks in their air-conditioned offices, who send others off to do their dirty work. It is believed by many to have been written by Bob Dylan as another protest song against the Vietnam War.

Answer: Don Henley

"All She Wants To Do Is Dance" came off ex-Eagles member Don Henley's 1984/1985 album "Building The Perfect Beast." Like a lot of Don Henley's solo work, this song is filled with political and social commentary.

Personally, I find it kind of amusing that so many people consider this to be a great dance and party song, while it's actually a commentary on the blissful ignorance of some Americans who are more concerned with self-gratifying activities (such as partying and dancing), instead of concerning themselves with some of the more important things in life, such as foreign and domestic policies, and wars that their country is involved in.

Answer: It was a protest against receiving inferior education to that of their white counterparts

"Another Brick In The Wall" is the title of three songs off Pink Floyd's 1979 album "The Wall." The three songs are set to variations of one basic theme, and in particular, Part II and the line "we don't need no education" have proven to be a massive hit, and is often used as a protest song against rigid and strict schooling, and this has caused the song to be banned in several countries.

"Another Brick In The Wall" was taken up as a protest anthem by black students in South Africa in 1980 during the protest at Elsie's River, which became very violent, and caused two 15 year-olds to be shot dead by the police.

The song continued to be used as an anthem against the Bantu Education Act which was passed by the Apartheid Government in 1953, which aimed to direct non-white youth of South Africa into the labour market, by placing emphasis on agriculture and banning sciences and mathematics from being taught. This was all done in an attempt to "ensure white prosperity." At one point, it also tried to force all children under the Bantu Education Act to be taught in Afrikaans (and for many of them, this could be their third or fourth language).

"Another Brick In The Wall" was eventually banned on the 2nd of May, 1980, by the Apartheid Government.

Answer: Peace

"Give Peace A Chance" was a 1969 single originally credited to both John Lennon AND Paul McCartney, but after one of Lennon's posthumous albums was released, only Lennon was credited with the song. It is also sometimes credited as being a song from the Plastic Ono Band (a conceptual supergroup formed in 1969, with all four members of the Beatles except Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Yoko Ono).

The song has become an incredibly popular peace anthem, and is often sung at protests.

Answer: The House Of The Rising Sun

The 2006 cover version of "The Saints Are Coming" by Green Day and U2 was first performed live at the Louisiana Superdome during the Monday Night Football game between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons (incidentally, this was the first game in the Louisiana Superdome since it had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina) on the 25th of September 2006.

The song lyrics were altered slightly by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and Bono of U2 to connect it to the awful events of Hurricane Katrina.

The music video for this song shows the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and then shows an alternate history, in which the troops in Iraq were redeployed to help the hurricane victims. Five days after its initial upload onto YouTube, the video had already been watched more than two millions times. Chris Milk, the director of the video, has this to say: " It make a commentary on the Katrina disaster ... from the standpoint of how things can and should be done in the future."

The first few lines used in the Saints were coming are as follows:

"There is a house in New Orleans, They call the Rising Sun
It's been the ruin of many a poor boy, and God, I know I'm one."

"Rising Sun" was replaced with "Super Dome" in the live version of the song. These are also the opening lines to the ever popular folk song "The House Of The Rising Sun."

Answer: Execution by means of the electric chair

"Ride The Lightning" came off Metallica's 1984 album of the same name, and is often hailed by fans as one of the classics of the thrash/ heavy metal genre.

The song is written from the perspective of someone who is accused of a crime he didn't commit, and is sentenced to die by means of the electric chair ("Prison Break," anyone?), and the powerful lyrics are considered by many to be a protest against capital punishment.

However, in a 1998 interview with Guitar World Magazine, lead vocalist James Hetfield denied that it was an anti-capital punishment statement.

"GW: The song "Ride The Lightning" appears to sympathize with the criminal
in the electric chair. Was that an anti-capital punishment statement?

HETFIELD: Not exactly; I believe in capital punishment, but it was more like the idea of being strapped in the electric chair even though you didn't commit the crime. That song, and others on the record, were about not being able to escape a situation."
[http://www.geocities.com/metallicmessiah/meanings_rtl.html#lightning]

Nevertheless, many fans of Metallica and capital punishment protesters continue to believe this song to be a statement from Metallica.