By Rhiannon Mach
for Writing and Rhetoric II: Honors
Since punk rock started in the United States in the 1970s, this form of music has been regarded as inherently political. Punk rock music has been a mode of political expression; spreading ideas and views to attempt to motivate political change. Punk rock has been utilized as a form of free speech since its beginning. Most bands started with anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian lyrics that sparked a cultural phenomenon throughout the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Punk rock is rooted in local music scenes and rejects affiliation with anything mainstream. Musicians in the punk rock arena are able to take their political views and transform them into a form that is easier for listeners to digest than newspapers, news channels on TV, or magazines.
Throughout its years as a genre, punk rock has used its affordances to its advantage. Not only did punk rock use speech and lyrics for political expression, but bands also utilized their right to free speech to write lyrics related to topics that are controversial and under dispute. They also created music that not only effectively spread their message but also captured the attention of various audiences. With the bands chosen words, you can feel their anger and disapproval of the current state of certain issues. When I think of punk rock bands that have inspired me to speak up, a few come to mind: Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, Against Me!, and Rise Against. I created a playlist that not only includes the songs I mention in this essay, but other songs that I believe deserve recognition. This is the link to the playlist.
Since Rage Against the Machine gained popularity, they have been regarded as the protest band of this generation. Rage Against the Machine formed as a band in 1991 and since produced music with a message of political dissidence. The name of the band perfectly sums up their views on politics; the band constantly wrote lyrics that criticized and denounced war, racism, capitalism, government oppression, and cultural imperialism. Rage Against the Machine embodied free speech in their music because they were able to take their and others experiences and speak on them through their music, despite some of the subject material being sensitive. For example, Rage Against the Machine is front-manned by Zack de la Rocha, and his descent and experiences as a Mexican American have influenced his lyrics about injustices faced by immigration and why reform is necessary. Rage Against the Machine harnessed their platform (concerts, interviews with press, etc.) to condemn the Bush administration and encourage their listeners to be active political members of society and utilize their right to free speech.
Green Day came onto the punk rock scene in 1990 with their debut album 39/Smooth. The band rose to fame with the 1994 release of Dookie, their third studio album. However, once 2004 rolled around, the band released the album American Idiot and created a cultural phenomenon. Throughout this album, Green Day explored a political tension fueled by the Bush administration and 9/11. Green Day’s criticism of the Bush administration is an important expression of free speech because at the time, it was very controversial. Green Day took a risk to condemn a high-power position and were willing to suffer the possible consequences in order to spread their message. Tracks like the title track “American Idiot” openly criticized the media’s portrayal of politics with lyrics like, “Well maybe I'm the faggot America/I'm not a part of a redneck agenda/Now everybody adhere to propaganda/And sing along to the age of paranoia.” “Holiday” condemns America’s aggressive international policy surrounding France’s involvement in the Iraq war with lyrics like, “Zieg Heil to the president Gasman/Bombs away is your punishment/Pulverize the Eiffel towers/Who criticize your government/Bang bang goes the broken glass and/Kill all the fags that don't agree/Trials by fire, setting fire/Is not a way that's meant for me/Just cause, just cause, because we're outlaws.” The environment that American Idiot encapsulated with its aesthetic and lyrics is a guide for listeners and helped propel political engagement and encouraged free speech among the new generation.
Against Me! has been labeled as the most modern anarchist band by millennials. Against Me! is one of the first bands to be explicitly anarchist. Like Green Day, Against Me! also had an anti-war and anti-Bush stance. Anarchy is defined as “absence or denial of any authority or established order” by Miriam-Webster. I believe that anarchism is free speech at its peak. Anarchism takes free speech and escalates it to a form that must be noticed and must be addressed. Against Me! describes this well in their song, “Baby, I’m an Anarchist!” with the lyrics, “Cuz baby, I'm an anarchist and you're a spineless liberal/We marched together for the 8-hour day/And held hands in the streets of Seattle/But when it came time to throw bricks through that Starbucks window you left me all alone.” Against Me! has always kept their focus on expressing their ideas effectively. More recently, Against Me! has been creating music with that explores the subject of transphobia. The lead singer of Against Me! announced that she was transgender and came out as a woman in 2012. The band created an album in 2014 titled Transgender Dysphoria Blues that chronicles the criticism and struggles that the lead singer faced throughout her first years as a transgender female. The album discusses transphobia, promotes free speech especially for those in the LGBTQ+ community, and takes a political stance. Against Me!’s album Transgender Dysphoria Blues made a big statement and utilized the punk rock genre as the vessel for it.
Rise Against formed in 1999 with a mission to create music that helps the members of its audience find an answer in punk rock. Rise Against has always held a very strong political stance that focused on their audience and the issues that they could possibly be working through. By keeping their focus on their audience, they are able to utilize free speech to explicitly connect with them and encourage them to speak up for themselves, speaking about anti-war, pro-vegan, anti-violence, and other sociopolitical issues. The Sacramento Bee quotes Tim McIlrath, the band’s primary lyricist and rhythm guitarist, saying that the group has a certain process they use when picking issues to vocalize and bring attention to: “We are looking for, ‘Where are the places where we can create friction?’ And not (echo) the things that are already being said by a lot of people.” McIlrath also states in that same article that he felt that the punk rock world was very male dominated and not enough lyricists/bands were addressing homophobia and its effects. Their 2011 album, Endgame, featured a song titled “Make it Stop” that delivered messages of anti-homophobia and anti-bullying. The music video featured gay and lesbian teenagers contemplating suicide and the video flashes phone numbers and web addresses for charities focused on helping LGBTQ+ teens.
Since its inception, punk rock has been considered inherently political; it incites rebellion and revolution with lyrics and music. Personally, punk rock music has done exactly that for me. It has influenced my beliefs since I began listening to it when I was relatively young, about 7th grade. I believe that hearing about the different social and political issues not only gave me a heightened awareness of the political environment I live in, but it also gave me the tools I needed to form my own opinions and utilize my right to free speech on issues that I believed in. Throughout high school, I was able to use this music as a reference point for my classmates and myself, especially throughout the 2016 election. I believed that giving people political music to listen to was easier than handing them articles and other references. Punk rock music made my political views easily digestible for those closest to me. I know that punk rock isn’t always a conventional method to harness free speech, but throughout my experiences, I have found that it is one that is most effective.
Bibliography
Edwards, Bryce. “The Politics of Rage Against the Machine.” Liberation, 21 Jan. 2008,
liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2008/01/the-politics-of.html.
Montgomery, James. “Green Day's 'American Idiot' Musical Is Political And Personal.” MTV News, MTV, 21 Apr. 2010, www.mtv.com/news/1637563/green-days-american-idiot-musical-is-political-and-personal/.
Barnes, Tom. “Rage Against the Machine Is Still the Protest Band Our Generation Needs.” Mic, Mic
Network Inc., 26 Oct. 2015, mic.com/articles/114316/15-years-later-rage-against-the-machine-is-still-the-protest-band-our-generation-needs#.coIxNyM2f.
Wang, Emily. “Growing Up With Green Day: Millennials and 10 Years of American Idiot.” Harvard Political Review, Harvard Politics, 28 Feb. 2014, harvardpolitics.com/covers/growing-green-day-millennials-10-years-american-idiot/.
Thompson, Stephen. “Review: Against Me!, 'Transgender Dysphoria Blues'.” NPR, NPR, 12 Jan. 2014,
www.npr.org/2014/01/12/261095666/first-listen-against-me-transgender-dysphoria-blues.
Saldana, Hector. “Rise Against in Tune with Today's Social, Political Issues.” My San Antonio, My San Antonio, 11 Jan. 2012, www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/article/Rise-Against-in-tune-with-
today-s-social-and-2457235.php.
Meyer, Carla. “Aftershock Festival: Rise Against Puts the Political Back in Punk.” SacBee, The Sacramento Bee, 11 Sept. 2014, www.sacbee.com/entertainment/music-news- reviews/article2609225.html.
Cooper, Ryan. “A Beginner's Guide to the History of Punk Rock Music.” ThoughtCo, 11 June 2017, www.thoughtco.com/history-of-punk-rock-2803345.