Kanye West - Who Will Survive in America

     Although Kanye West is obviously not identified as an anarchist, his song Who Will Survive in America, points out issues in the government and society that make it hard to survive as a normal person.

     Lyrics in the rap talk about issues in America, such as a lack of help for troubled individuals, misinterpretation of freedom, and obsession with material goods. West opens the song with "Us living as
we do upside down. And the new word to have is revolution." This suggests a call for revolution to resolve these issues.

"All I want is a good home and a wife
and a children and some food to feed them every night." In this verse, West comments that all you should need for a good life is a family and food on the table. In a way, this speaks out against American greed and obsession with materialism that feeds the presence of capitalism that cuts out the middle and low class.

West ends this song by suggesting living in China would be a better life, where citizens follow a much less capitalism-oriented society. The last verse ends with "who will survive in America" repeated four times.

These lyrics are not directly anti-government in the typical Anarchist sense, the lyrics coincide with anti-capitalist views that are a common belief of modern anarchists.

-Julianne Fleck

http://www.elyricsworld.com/who_will_survive_in_america_lyrics_kanye_west.html

Pink Floyd

     Pink Floyd, banded in 1965, wrote "Another Brick in the Wall" (Parts 1-3) about breaking free from the
social norm and realizing that things go as they will.

Part 2 of this song goes as follows:
"We don't need no educationWe dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!"

     This song does not contain lyrics directly associated to anarchism, but it does address anti-authoritarian views in education. Pink Floyd tells the teachers to leave the kids alone and that we don't need education. This supports that the band views education as it is now as corrupt and that it brainwashes students and controls their thoughts, rather than letting students think for themselves.

     Although the band's lineup changed over time, Pink Floyd released music with views against authority for 36 years. 

-Julianne Fleck

http://www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/html/another-brick-in-the-wall-lyrics.html

Chumbawamba

Back in 2002, anarchist band Chumbawamba sold a song to GM for a car commercial in order to donate the money to "mount an aggressive information and environmental campaign against GM." This seems quite odd. I do not understand why an anarchist band would want their song to be in a car commercial. In the future they became upset over one of their songs being played at an Independent Party conference. They appear too anarchist to help a company sell cars. Although the money is being used to attack GM, they should not have helped them in the first place by giving them their catchy song, "Pass it Along." It is silly that an anarchist band's music would help a big business like GM to get richer.

Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/jan/27/davidrowan.theobserver

-Hannah Kelley

Chumbawamba in Horror

In an attempt to stray a little from simply looking into the lyrics of anarchist songs, I decided to look into anarchist music in the media. In September, the anarchist band Chumbawamba was mentioned in an article due to a scrap with the Independent party. Apparently their song "Tubthumping" was played at an Independent party conference. This outraged member Dunstan Bruce, declaring " I am absolutely appalled that this(these) grubby little organization are stealing our song to use for their own ends. It's beyond the pail and if they use it again we will consider legal action." It is nice to see an anarchist band stand up for what they believe in. Chumbawamba does not want to be associated with an Independent Party and the Independent Party should be smart enough to choose songs representing their own values. Taking legal sounds a bit rash, but the band's work should be respected as anarchist pop.

Source:http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-09/europe/30155217_1_dunstan-bruce-tubthumping-anarchist

-Hannah Kelley

Rage Against The Machine- Killing In The Name

When I think about anarchism in music, I think of Rage Against The Machine. Rage Against The Machine has been known for going against the government and instead standing up for what thet believe in. Their hit single, “ Killing In The Name” is symbolic from beginning to end. The song is mostly about police brutatlity and how the government tries to cover up and hide hate crimes.

                 

             "Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses"

These lyrics suggest that the same police officer can be a member of an organization such as the Ku Klux Klan, and act accordingly because so. Rage Against The Machine has no limits, and will sing about anything they want people to hear. 

CLICK TO PLAY SONG

- RYAN WINNICK

Blitzkrieg Bop, The Ramones

The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in 1974. They are often known as the first punk rock grounp. Their song Blitzkrieg Bop is very interesting because most people probably would have thought that the it just had a catchy tune and an unforgettable chant throughout the song, but it actually meant more than that. The song was about a German tactic used in World War II and some consider the line, `Shoot `em in the back now,' to make reference to the blitzkrieg strategy which saw exposed tanks attacked. However, a number of Ramones songs focused on gang violence and many believe this one to be no exception. This band, like many other punk bands, had a great influence on social change especially during the time that the band was around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iymtpePP8I8&feature=related
http://www.musicbanter.com/lyrics/The-Ramones-Blitzkrieg-Bop.html
http://timmyramone.tripod.com/punkandanarchism-anykingdomofmanisjustanillusion/id12.html

-Megan Keane

I Was A Teenage Anarchist, Against Me!

Against Me! is a band that was form in 1997 that currently consists of Tom Gabel, Andrew Seward, James Bowman, and Jay Weinburg. Every member of the band claimed to be anarchist and that fact was shown through many of their songs, such as one of the more obvious ones "I Was A Teenage Anarchist". In this song, Gabel announces his participation in the anarchist movement

I was a teenage anarchist, looking for a revolution.
I had the style, I had the ambition.
I read all the authors, I knew the right slogans.
There was no war but the class war.
I was ready to set the world on fire.
I was a teenage anarchist, looking for a revolution

I was a teenage anarchist, but the politics were too convenient.

In the depths of their humanity all I saw was bloodless ideology.

And with freedom as the doctrine, guess who was the new authority?

I was a teenage anarchist, but the politics were too convenient.

I was a teenage anarchist, but then the scene got too rigid.
It was a mob mentality, they set their rifle sights on me.
Narrow visions of autonomy, you want me to surrender my identity.
I was a teenage anarchist, the revolution was a lie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7RUeMCZL3Q
http://againstme.net/

-Megan Keane