John Lennon-Sukhpal Dhillon
It’s quite amazing the transformation that the Beatles themselves took through the ages and then see them after they broke up. Back in the early 60’s they were a mop-top group who only as John Lennon later stated sang about superficial things such as girls and puppy love. According to the video that we had watched last week; the history of rock and roll, it was after Lennon met Bob Dylan did he realize that he should be writing more politically active songs.
One part I found very interesting was when the reporter Gloria Emerson asked John whether he actually thinks that he saved any people by writing and singing songs about peace. Though I don’t agree entirely with all of John Lennon’s beliefs I do agree that he undoubtedly influenced if not saved any people’s lives. He surely knew this; the media, millions of people across the world were obsessed with everything that he did. Instead of singing of “superficial” things he knew that if he sang politically charged songs he would surely make a difference.
I really believe that music has had an effect of the beliefs and thoughts of Americans. If we look relatively recently bands such as Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden dominated the early 90’s with their grunge rock. Rage Against the Machine sang of worldwide issues from American wage slavery to military sieges. Due to people such as Bob Dylan and John Lennon’s and their well-known political activism I believe singers and bands now are more vocal when it comes to voicing their opinions on specific things. It is evident that one can look at the musical acts of the time and by analyzing their lyrics could have a pretty good idea of the social issues around them during that particular era.