In the wake of an election and political unrest, “The Pitchfork Review” podcast released an essential episode over “When Music Becomes Political Protest” on Oct. 30.
The podcast is an extension of Pitchfork’s original site where they specialize in music journalism. They are well known for their album reviews and coined themselves as the “most trusted voice in music.”
The podcast, hosted by Pitchfork’s Editor-in-Chief, Puja Patel, kickstarted in July, and has released new episodes each Friday at midnight since. “Each episode, your favorite Pitchfork writers and editors bring in-depth analysis, explore the best new music, revisit old classics and report on the latest music news,” Patel said. “It is a podcast for the music obsessed and the music curious.”
The most recent episode came just in time, right before the 2020 election. 2020 has been one of the hardest years our nation has seen; and in hard times, people make and rely on beautiful and meaningful art.
Patel speaks with Jason King, professor at NYU and founding faculty member of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, and Allison Hussey, Pitchfork Associate Staff Writer, about the role of protest music across American history on this episode.
During the episode, Patel asked her guests various questions on their thoughts of the roots and increasing importance of protest music.
As the guests gave examples of artists and specific songs that are influential, there would be an excerpt played to follow their commentary. I think this element is crucial for listeners because it either exposes them to music they haven’t heard before or brings listeners to realize that a song they do know is, in fact, a protest song and they just never knew.
“The first mainstream protest song in popular music is very likely ‘Strange Fruit’ by Billie Holiday. It has these incredibly haunting and impressionistic lyrics that use the metaphor of fruit hanging from trees to protest the lynching of Black Americans,” King said. “It is explicit protest music because it doesn’t let you hide. You are implicated once you listen to that song.”
Unfortunately, these important songs can be twisted in some respects as it is translated through time. “When [a song has] been sampled and repurposed and recontextualized, on one level that’s incredible in terms of the enduring quality of that music and how it’s managed to last. Sometimes that repurposing is deeply problematic,” King said.
Kanye’s “Blood on the Leaves” sampling of the song “Strange Fruit” is a prime example of this. “It felt like he was taking something that was so incredibly political and personalizing it in a way that was not only irreverent, but a little disrespectful to the original context,” King said.
However, the listener’s experience can be enhanced by the recycling of music. An example, provided by King, was Janelle Monae’s “Hell you Talmbout.” In this song she chants the names of Black victims of police brutality. This song later shows up, peculiarly, in David Byrne’s of the Talking Heads’ musical American Utopia. “I think it’s amazing because he’s asking you to do the same thing that she’s doing. He’s not defanging the song. He’s just putting it in a different context for a different purpose and for a different audience. And that’s just making the music adaptable for a wider group of people,” King said.
Songs like this are so dire to movements. Just listening to the sample of Monae’s song feels like I am in the middle of protest. People need a playlist to their lives, and for many, these are their lives right now. “People are looking for this huge songs that have become kind of really important rallying cries from many different backgrounds. They have become protest music by association.” Patel said.
Songs like Beyonce’s “Formation,” Kendrick’s “Alright,” and the resurgence Pop Smoke’s “Dior” during the recent protests are songs that are “very pop, but feel politically empowered.”
I happily recommend this episode, and the podcast, to music lovers and historians alike. Available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.