Can protest songs and music be effective in changing people’s opinion?

When a movement for social changes grows, protest songs may appear. They are music of resistance used in politics and as politics and reflect the musician’s point of view on a particular subject. But since we do not listen to music just for political reasons, can protest songs and music be effective in changing people’s opinion?

On the one hand, music is now often considered as a raw entertainment and people doesn’t care about the “message” of a song. A lots of lyrics aren’t understand and only the catchiness of a song seems to matter. This is even more true if you doesn’t understand the language used. There is also another problem: The market is nowadays flooded with songs and artists, and protest song are submerged under the surrounding creations. Therefore, few people may hear it and fewer may stick to the cause. Finally, people may only support the cause defended by a music because it is the actual trend, and are likely to forget afterward.    

However, on the second hand, music really has a great power over feelings and convey emotions to the listener. Thus, it make us open to change, no matter our social class or age. To some extent, you don’t even need lyrics: for instance, Jimi Hendrix enthralled the USA with his interpretation of the star spangled banner. Besides, music is used by authoritarian regimes and dictatorship as propaganda: For example, a national anthem exacerbate the feeling of patriotism and fanaticism. It show the effective of music in general.

So to conclude, it seems that even if protest songs can’t change the opinion of everybody, music as an incontestable power and already showed it. Protest songs changed the opinion of people in the past, and I think it will carry on for a long time.          

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