33 Revolutions Per Minute – A History of Protest Songs by Dorian Lynskey (Faber and Faber, 2010)
This is an ambitious, well researched and highly informative historical study of a strand of popular music that seems to be largely on the wane.
Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer artists willing to align themselves to political causes or identify themselves as protest singers.
There are notable exceptions like Billy Bragg or Steve Earle but there aren’t too many under 30 who take rebellion beyond the predictable statements of teenage angst or broad criticisms towards some vaguely defined authority.
Even on her magnificent anti-war album Let England Shake, PJ Harvey is careful to present her sentiments in emotional rather than political terms. Intelligent artists like Polly J are all too aware of the risk of being seen to be lecturing listeners; as Lynskey correctly observes “the biggest problem with protest songs is that they engender smugness”. Continue reading
