Politics and Music: Class Meetings

Professor Courtney Brown

Meeting #16: Political Protest Music of the 1960s and 1970s, Part I
LECTURE NOTES
SELECTIONS played in class:
Beatles: Revolution, Let It Be

QUESTIONS and DISCUSSION: This is political music that is "movement" related. Can you see how the politics of the times transformed popular music, making protest music mainstream? Note that during times of deep political transformation, much of the music carries a similar theme. Remember this when we study nonmovement related political music. We refer to this as the level of "political heterogeneity" in the music. Musical political heterogeneity is minimized during times of profound political transformation, while at the same time, the quantity and intensity of the political music tends to increase.