Riley Kramer

Dr. Aaron Kashtan

03/24/17

Proposal:
The topic I intend to do for my research paper is how music influences the American culture during times of
protest. This topic matters to me because I was raised on rock and roll, a prime genre for protest songs, and
grew up hearing the calls to action of musicians like Neil Young. This matters to other people because music is
one of the most popularized artistic mediums and musicians often try to use their influence for political and
social movements. The peak era of protest songs was during the 60s and peaked again around 2004 with the
Iraq War, Bush re-election, and Hurricane Katrina going on. The reason why its particularly interesting right
now is because people predict a rise in protest music and punk rock with the re-election of Trump.

Annotated Bibliography

Long, Lacey B. American Idiot to the "american Eulogy": Green Day's Rock Operas As Apocalyptic Political
Protest During the George W. Bush Administration. , 2011. Internet resource.
Longs Thesis argues the context of the rhetorical situation Green Day presents in their album, the journey of
the "credulous Idiot, the Last of the rebels, and the Faggot protestor", through respected rhetoricians. She
declares the moral of the album, through their journey, is that mass protest along with the powerful allies is the
only way to create sustainable, honorable action during turmoiled times. The album was strategically released
weeks before the Bush election and had the goal of swaying the results. American Idiot was part of the wave of
musical protest post 9/11 and made punk rock more mainstream by shunning the publics ignorance and
hysteria regarding the Iraq war and Bush himself. Lacey Long is a professor of English at the University of
Georgia and a fan of Green Day though this source is an unpublished thesis. I agree with this source and think
it will be useful because of Ch. 5 in the thesis which describes the start of Green Days beginnings of the
albums creation and the themes built in the album. I connect this source to my movie source Broadway Idiot
which follows Green Days Billie Joe Armstrong as American Idiot became a Broadway musical. The movie
goes over the biggest themes of the album and the source through Long reinforces the points made by the
movie.

Phull, H. (2008). Story behind the protest song: A reference guide to the 50 songs that changed the 20th
century. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press
Phull's book is full of relevant information, going through protests songs in chapter by chunks of time (such as
'The Birth of A Nation' which covers (1939-1964). He encourages his reader to see how music can rile people
up and spark movements. An example of this was Bob Dylan's "The Times Are-A Changing" inspiring protest to
relevant to the protest it fought for. Berger is a professor at the University of Wisconsin- Madison in social work
though his work is not always on teaching but on child development. I connect this source to my previous
source by Phull. I can use Berger's science of protest music and apply it to Phull's history of protest music.

Kutschke, B. (December 01, 2015). Protest Music, Urban Contexts and Global Perspectives. International
Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 46, 2, 321-354
Kutschke argues protest music of 1960s/1970s created the environment for protest and more protest music
and looks at this through two case studies in East Berlin and West Berlin. She proposed that the urban setting
is always a viable location for protest to occur because of closely quarter diverse people and that the music is
transnational. These arguments are interesting to me because I can apply her academic journal publication to
my paper by looking at international protest songs that've swayed the United States. Beate Kutschke is a
professor at the University of Salzburg and an expert on music impacting politics having written several articles
and books on the matter. I think another interesting connection to this source that could be made is protest
music having impact in a rural location and an urban location. This source makes me think of the movie "Love
and Honor" which is about a soldier in Vietnam who comes on leave with a friend to his friend's hometown and
discovers the protesting hippies. The hometown was more urban than the rural, war supporting environment he
had been in and the music and environment eventually make him a deserter.
Small, Andrew. "Did Protest Songs Make A Difference?" Andrew Small. Blogger, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 01 Apr.
2017. <http://andrewsmall1863.blogspot.com/2009/08/generations-legacy-did-protest-songs.html>.

Although this paper loses some credit for being written by the author in the 10th grade, there is still merit to
whats being said. Small identifies several famous protest songs during the Vietnam War and explains them.
The grand argument he tries to say about them are that, coupled with the horrifying images of war from the T.V,
the protest songs say that war isnt something we have to take and the government isnt something we should
always listen to if theyre making our country go through this. The essay makes me think of the music during
the 60s and 80s, which has a bit of a contrast to it. The 60s has more of a flower child message to it and is
encouraging for the public stop the war while the 80s has a more to heck with it we cant listen to people in
power kind of message. Andrew Small is currently a journalist working in D.C, but thats not relevant to when
the paper was written. Egan, Rob. "Protest Songs - Do They Make a Difference?" First Lady Melania Trump.
FLMT, 25 Jan. 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.

Egans article is well backed up with supporting evidence for the theme that music has played a powerful role
in oppressed people. There were a lot of examples from international countries, like the singing revolution of
Estonia, but an example of the Dixie chicks is relevant to how their music protested in the United States. The
Dixie Chicks told their audience that they were Ashamed President Bush was a fellow Texan because of his
role in the Iraq War. I feel I can explore this topic more and whats said about it in this article to focus on a
paragraph about modern musical protests on the Iraqi War. This article made me think of a newsletter called
Popular Resistance which called its readers to create public unity and political change through moral
responses. Basically, all the examples Egan described seem to be built on the same principle as this newsletter
but Egan focused only on musical responses. This article was originally published on a website called
ezinearticles.com and this is Rob Egans only published piece.

Paul, Richard. "Vietnam War Protests Influenced Popular Music." VOA. VOA, 04 May 2014. Web. 30 Mar.
2017. <http://www.voanews.com/a/vietnam-war-protests-influenced-popular-music/1904818.html>.

There were songs during the Vietnam War that supported and discredited the war and the draft, but Richard
says that whats important is that both messages could be said in the country and especially in a time of war.
One tough topic that was popularized in music was draft dodging. Draft dodging is a dishonorable thing where
men fled the country or hid after they were drafted for the war and they would be shunned and prosecuted if
they were caught doing it. The article gave examples of Draft Dodger Rag, Fortunate Son, and Draft
Morning which lamented the draft and encouraged dodging. This seems like an important side of musical
protest because while the musicians arent directly telling people to not support the war, telling people to dodge
the draft rallies around saving the men drafted and ending the war. I connect this source to Muhammed Ali,
famed boxer and philanthropist, who refused the draft and went straight to jail. He was doing this as an
opposition to the draft and representing a similar message to the draft dodging music.

"Protest Songs Cartoon 3 of 4." Cartoonstock. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.
<https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/music-protest-protester-protest_song-bill-song-
rth0202_low.jpg>.

Robert Thompson is an accomplished illustrator having worked for major newspapers like The Times, The
Guardian, and was commissioned by Microsoft. His most common work though are pocket cartoons and
cartoon strips. Thompsons cartoon is of a man playing the piano singing Bastards, Bastards, Bastards while
his wife asks how his protest song is coming along. This song shows the view protest songs have on some
people. Its viewed by a few that protest songs are whiney and dont accomplish anything. I hope I can explain
this view and discredit it in my paper. This makes me think of an article from Salon.com talking about how we
dont need protest songs anymore. They did agree there was a small place for them in the 60s but say that the
complaints about no protest songs are because current politics havent inspired music. The connection I see
between these two is how musical inspiration can make or break a piece. Salon has the opinion that current
protest songs are awful because their inspiration is bad and the cartoon singing bastards clearly agrees that
whats being protested isnt worth protesting

Dmichlewitz7/19/12, Jamibeck1/2/14, and Mark.pratt2/24/15. "The Sixties and Protest Music." The Gilder
Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., 04 July 2012. Web. 30 May 2017.

Whats interesting about this article on protest music is that it acknowledges other factors during the time of
protest. Kerry Candaele points out that during the 60s there was the civil rights movement going on, rock and
roll was created, and political turmoil with Vietnam. Candaele says that the height of the musical activism in the
60s was Jimi Hendrix performing the Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock. During his electrical guitar rendition,
he did tricks with his guitar to imitate screaming, guns going off, explosions, and towards the end he played the
tune the trumpet plays at a soldiers funeral. Music like this pushes to the public what the reality of whats going
on. I connect this to when celebrities try to yield their stardom to raise money for a cause like the USA for Africa
performance of We Are The World. They both provoked strong responses from the public and fueled a
movement. Kerry Candaele is a documentary director whos also a co-author of a book called Bound for Glory:
From the Great Migration to the Harlem Renaissance and author of Journeys with Beethoven: Following the
Ninth, and Beyond.

"Songs of War: The Evolution of Protest Music in the United States." Harvard Political Review. N.p., 09 May
2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://harvardpolitics.com/covers/songs-of-war-the-evolution-of-protest-music-in-
the-united-states/>.

This article from the Harvard Political Review writes on the history of protest music from the revolution era to
modern day. At the start of the U.S. history, mass music was controlled by the newspapers which were
controlled by the elite, so musical protesting was difficult to do. Jumping ahead to the Bush era, author Frankie
Hill gives the input that new levels of hostility were reached because of the responses from mainstream
musicians like Green Day, Bright Eyes, and Neil Young. He proposes that protest songs now have been
replaced by songs encouraging social change which is a thoughtful idea. I connect this to an article from
Newsweek about bush era music holding up during modern day because of the Trump administration creating
frustration. Frankie Hill is a once published author on the Harvard Political Review but, considering the prestige
of Harvard, the source seems credible.

Mondak, Jeffery J. "Protest Music As Political Persuasion." Popular Music and Society. 12.3 (1988): 25-38.
Print.

Mondak argues that protest music is inherently capable of producing positive attitude change. This is useful
for my study as it pushes forward the idea that protest music impacts culture and, better yet, impacts it
positively. He thinks that protest music is a form of political persuasion and that makes me connect the idea to
a Green Day song called Holiday. Holiday uses lines like bombs away is your punishment and theres a
flag wrapped around a score of men which are both referencing the carnage of the Iraq War and the tone of
the song is clearly protest. This was one of the most popular songs of the American Idiot album and public
approval of the war swayed negatively after the release of it. Mondak is a credible source because he is a
professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in political science for graduate programs.