33 Revolutions Per Minute

by Lynskey, Dorian

• ISBN13: 9780061670152
• ISBN10: 0061670154
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-05
• Publisher: Ecco Pr

Summary

From one of the United Kingdom's most prominent music critics, a page-turning and wonderfully researched history of 33 songs that have transformed the world through the twentieth century and beyond. When pop music meets politics, the results are often thrilling, sometimes life-changing, and never simple. The protest songs of such great artists as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, U2, Public Enemy, Fela Kuti, R.E.M., Rage Against the Machine, and the Clash represent pop music at its most charged and relevant, providing the soundtrack and informing social change since the 1930s. They capture the attention and passions of listeners, force their way into the news, and make their presence felt from the streets to the corridors of power. 33 Revolutions Per Minute is a history of protest music embodied in 33 songs that span seven decades and four continents, from Billie Holiday crooning "Strange Fruit" before a shocked audience to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young paying tribute to the Vietnam protesters killed at Kent State in "Ohio," to Green Day railing against President Bush and twenty-first-century media in "American Idiot." With the aid of exclusive new interviews, Dorian Lynskey explores the individuals, ideas, and events behind each song. This expansive survey examines how music has engaged with racial unrest, nuclear paranoia, apartheid, war, poverty, and oppression, offering hope, stirring anger, inciting action, and producing songs that continue to resonate years down the line, sometimes at great cost to the musicians involved. For the audience who embraced Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise, Bob Dylan's Chronicles, or Simon Reynolds's Rip It Up and Start Again, 33 Revolutions Per Minute is an absorbing and moving account of 33 songs that made history.

Author Biography

Dorian Lynskey is a music writer for the Guardian. He also writes for Q, The Word, and Spin, among other publications. 33 Revolutions Per Minute is his first book.

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. xiii
1939-1964
ôStrange Fruitö	p. 3
ôThis Land Is Your Landö	p. 14
ôWe Shall Overcomeö	p. 33
ôMasters of Warö	p. 51
ôMississippi Goddamö	p. 70
1965-1973
Country Joe and the Fish, ôI-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Ragö	p. 87
ôSay It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proudö	p. 109
Plastic Ono Band, ôGive Peace a Chanceô	p. 126
ôWarö	p. 143
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, ôOhioö	p. 159
ôThe Revolution Will Not Be Televisedö	p. 180
ôLiving for the Cityö	p. 195
1973-1977 (chile, nigeria, Jamaica)
ôManifiestoö	p. 215
Fela Kuti and Afrika 70, ôZombieö	p. 231
Max Romeo and the Upsetters, ôWar Ina Babylonö	p. 245
1977-1987
The Clash, ôWhite Riotö	p. 265
ôI Was Born This Wayö	p. 283
ôSonny's Lettah (Anti-Sus Poem)ö	p. 299
The Dead Kennedys, ôHoliday in Cambodiaö	p. 315
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five feat. Melle Mel and Duke Bootee, ôThe Messageö	p. 329
Crass, ôHow Does It Feel?ö	p. 340
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ôTwo Tribesö	p. 356
U2, ôPride (In the Name of Love)ö	p. 368
The Special AKA, ôNelson Mandelaö	p. 386
Billy Bragg, ôBetween the Warsö	p. 400
R.E.M., ôExhuming McCarthyö	p. 412
1989-2008
Public Enemy, ôFight the Powerö	p. 429
Huggy Bear, ôHer Jazzö	p. 447
The Prodigy feat. Pop Will Eat Itself, ôTheir Lawö	p. 462
Manic Street Preachers, ôOf Walking Abortionö	p. 476
Rage Against the Machine, ôSleep Now in the Fireö	p. 489
Steve Earle, ôJohn Walker's Bluesö	p. 506
Green Day, ôAmerican Idiotö	p. 521
Epilogue	p. 535
Acknowledgments	p. 539
appendices
Protest Songs Before 1900	p. 541
Songs and Albums Mentioned in the Text	p. 543
One Hundred Recommended Songs	p. 569
Sources	p. 573
Index	p. 637
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