Playing for Change

by Rob Rosenthal, Richard Flacks

Although music is known to be part of the great social movements that have rocked the world, its specific contribution to political struggle has rarely been closely analyzed. Is it truly the 'lifeblood' of movements, as some have declared, or merely the entertainment between the speeches? Drawing on interviews, case studies and musical and lyrical analysis, Rosenthal and Flacks offer a brilliant analysis and a wide-ranging look at the use of music in movements, in the US and elsewhere, over the past hundred years. From their interviews, the voices of Pete Seeger, Ani DiFranco, Tom Morello, Holly Near, and many others enliven this highly readable book.

Genres: Music, Politics

330 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2012

Reviews

[Tim Hollo · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for one book to understand the role of music in social movements, this is the one for you.

It's an easy read, if long (but necessarily so, given how comprehensive it's analysis of the road range of issues and questions is). If I have issues with it, it's that it is rather America-centric, with too little exploration beyond the folk revolution of the 69s and 70s. Fascinating and revealing though that period was, I would have loved the book to apply its excellent analysis of the various roles and challenges of music and musicians working for change to other movements, other eras, other ethnic groups.

Nevertheless, as a primer in the issues, it is hard to go past this book.

[Garrett Mireles · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most impactful things the text achieved were a dissection of the disparity between an artist's message and the received meaning, a framework that should be applied to many other forms of media! Outside of its deeper philosophical commentary, the book largely asserts that "music should be interpreted in context" and "music is subjective," two truths that don't seem to merit such dense writing. Overall, a useful read.