Rock in the face of wars

Image: Stephen Niemeier
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By MICHEL GOULART DA SILVA*

The role of rock in its critical perspective of denouncing war atrocities and political interests that put innocent lives at risk

The theme of war has always influenced the arts, as, given the impacts on people, artists find themselves affected by the suffering left by different conflicts. One of the best-known examples of this representation of the impact of wars on the arts is possibly the painting Guernica, made by Pablo Picasso, in 1937.

Rock, celebrated worldwide on July 13th, as well as other musical expressions, also did not fail to express the time in which its songs were created, providing reflections for the most diverse generations. The landmarks to exemplify this political expression could be several, such as the case of MC5, with its various political provocations, as in the song “The American Ruse” (“The American Stratagem”), on the album Back In The USA, from 1970. The first verses show much of the message that the panel was trying to convey:

They told you at school about freedom
But when you try to be free, they never let you
They said: It's easy, no big deal
And now the army is after you

The theme of war, specifically, appears in several lyrics by the most different bands, since the end of the 1960s. In “war pig”, from 1970, the band Black Sabbath says at one point:

Politicians hide
They just started the war
Why should they fight?
They leave this role to the poor, yes!

It was the context of the Vietnam War. This passage seeks to point out how political interests drive war and how those who benefit from it send innocent people to the battlefield. This theme around the denunciation of those who remain behind the scenes commanding the war and planning their actions also appears in “Us And Them” (“We and They”), by Pink Floyd, released in 1973. At a certain point in the song, it says:

Advance, he shouted from the rear
And the front line was decimated
And the general sat, and the lines on the map
They moved from one side to the other

This passage particularly shows the cruelty of war, where soldiers are nothing more than objects to be moved on a map where the general makes his plans. Therefore, as the theory of war teaches, this is politics by other means. The rulers who provoke and benefit from war do not even come close to the battlefield. Pink Floyd, in the same song, quips: “Didn’t you hear? It’s a war of words.” In this passage, economic and political interests are again denounced, while the rulers limit themselves to demagogic speech.

The theme of war did not leave rock in the 1980s. Iron Maiden released the song “2 Minutes To Midnight”, in which they say, at a certain point:

While those responsible for the carnage cut their flesh
And lick the sauce
We oil the war machines

This song again denounces the interests that drive the war, showing how people's lives are considered irrelevant. Like pieces moved across the map or people mischaracterized in rhetorical disputes, war appears to be an abstract entity.

Over the course of the decade, the themes underwent some changes. In "One”, from 1988, the band Metallica brings the trauma left by the war to soldiers. It's said like this:

Now that the war is over with me
I'm awake, I can't see
That there's not much left of me
Nothing is real but the pain

This trauma left by war may not only be mental, but even physical. In the same Metallica song, at one point it says:

Powered by the tube stuck in me
Like a wartime novelty
Trapped to machines that make me breathe
Cut this life from me

The perspective of not wanting this life full of traumas to the body and mind left by war is also shown here.

With the arrival of the 1990s, there was also an increase in wars that use religion as a demagogic justification. This perception, brought up in rock in the face of the first War in Iraq, was shown in a song by Megadeth, entitled “Holy Wars ... The Punishment Due” (“Holy Wars, Due Punishment”), 1990. The theme is evident in the lyrics:

Brother will kill brother
Spilling blood across the land
Killing in the name of religion
Something I don't understand

The absurdity of war is sung amid the weight of guitars. This perspective is even more explicit in “Civil War”, by Guns N' Roses, from 1991. This song, in practically all of its lyrics, criticizes the war. It shows, among other themes, the impact on people's lives, as in this passage:

See your young people fighting
See your women crying
See your young people dying
The way they've always done it before

She also seeks to show how these actions do not solve any problem, but, on the contrary, end up fomenting even more hatred and enemies:

See the hate we're creating
See the fear we're feeding
See the lives we are guiding
The way we've always done it before

And the music seeks to show the true character of war, that is, to represent the interests of the rich and those who occupy positions of power:

And I don't need your civil war
She feeds the rich while burying the poor
You're power hungry, selling soldiers
In a human market, isn't it fresh meat?
I don't need your civil war

Showing the character of a constructed illusion, the song compares the demagogic speech of politicians with religious fanaticism:

'Cause all these dreams are left aside
By the bloody hands of the hypnotized
Who carry the cross of murder
And history carries the scars
Of our civil wars

Other examples could be mentioned, such as the bands Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down, but those mentioned here already clearly highlight the role of rock in its critical perspective of denouncing war atrocities and the political interests they place putting innocent lives at risk. This political character of rock is something that has existed since its creation and that remains today.

*Michel Goulart da Silva He holds a PhD in history from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and a technical-administrative degree from the Federal Institute of Santa Catarina (IFC).


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