Fri 5/20
It’s been many decades since political pop and rock tunes were mainstream, when every person of a certain generation knew the lyrics to Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and could sing along with Country Joe, “And it’s one-two-three, what are we fighting for? Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn — next stop is Vietnam,” when Marvin Gaye’s guy-wrenching “What’s Going On” and his “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” were both top 5 hits.
Today that’s almost unthinkable despite the fact that the issues Gaye sang about — the impact of war and violence on society in the former, the trashing of our environment in the latter — are even more timely today. Today you’ll find strong political messages only on the fringe (most people couldn’t cite a word of what Pussy Riot have recorded), while mainstream pop artists limit themselves to veiled, innocuous “You’re beautiful the way you are” anthems adoptable by the LGBT community.
But there’s a lot of musical history there. So the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has partnered with the Newseum in Washington D.C. for an exhibit called Louder Than Words: Rock, Power and Politics that looks at how popular music has impacted attitudes about peace, civil rights, patriotism and freedom. And it’s coming to Cleveland first, to be open during the Republican National Convention, which will undoubtedly be attended by people who at one time condemned or called for the banning of some of the exhibit’s contents.
Some of it will be fairly benign, of course, such as a replica of the hat that Aretha Franklin had made to perform at President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009 (pictured). It will include other artifacts as well, along with video, photos, publications, posters and multimedia displays. It will most likely have a strong tilt toward the civil rights and Vietnam War era of the ’60s and early ’70, featuring artists such as Bob Dylan and John Lennon. But it also promises to include the potent early hip-hop music of the ’80s when groups like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five — the first hip-hop act to be inducted into the Rock Hall, in 2007 — pushed back at the pathologies inflicted on their community instead of glorifying them like many of today’s rappers.
The exhibit opens this week and runs through the end of the year, when it moves to the Newseum. It opens there 1/6/2017. It’s free with regular Rock Hall admission.
rockhall.com/louder-than-words-rock-power-politics/