Heavy Rock Music and Social Activism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh3WkHumu-U

'Rage Against The Machine - The Art Of Protest'

The above link is a snippet of a documentary about Rage Against The Machine, and the impact that they had upon society at the time. As mentioned previously on our blog, music can be a "powerful tool to provoke and challenge societal norms."

Rage Against The Machine were a hard rock band that implemented hip-hop elements within their music, and also used their band as a tool to encourage people to stand up for what they believe in, as well as promote protests and social activism.

These, in essence, were the main motivations for the creation of the music, and the band helped to bring back the sentiment of 'protest' back into mainstream music.

The member's experiences of racist, imperialist politics, as well as the personal experiences of racism they had growing up, fuelled them to express themselves through Rage Against The Machine, and this had a large influence on many people, especially due to the amount of people the band reached, and the amount of records that they sold.

Music can definitely give people a voice, and induce emotions and perspectives within people that can lead to social change.

It should never be doubted that music is a powerful platform.

-Ben