Rebellion Shown Through Music in the 80's by Madalyn Bertrand

Music has always been an expression of a person's inner most feelings. Song lyrics depict a certain story that the artist wants you to hear, and the music conveys the tone of the emotions the artist is feeling. In the 1980’s, in response to political actions and the want to be heard, rebellion music was the response. In this time, violence was present all over every part of the world. In the political realm certain events were taking place such as, the start of the Persian Gulf War, the Berlin Wall falling, and the end of the Soviet-Afghan War. In the early 1980's president Ronald Reagan was elected, and this election resulted in a tremendous military increase. Most rock artist did not appreciate the military increase because they were more wild and unruly.  It was in these moments that rock artists found the opportunity to express their opinions because the thought of a military increase brought feelings of confinement. Below is a video of rock artist, Bruce Springsteen, singing "Born In The USA". Springsteen debuted "Born In The USA" in 1984.

“Born In The USA” was written to display Springsteen's anger towards the United States because since the United States did not win Vietnam the veterans of Vietnam were ignored when they returned home, and in turn veterans of other wars were treated as heroes when they returned home. Although Springsteen's thoughts were clear when writing "Born In The USA", somehow his fans saw his song in a different light; “. . . ‘Born in the USA,’ ironically, became the nation’s adopted patriotic anthem . . .” (Raha 108). 

Above is the music video for "The Wall", by Pink Floyd. “The Wall” which was Pink Floyd’s album title, had numerous unruly political implications instead of him directly stating his rebellion. "The Wall" earned its name by the fact that Pink Floyd built a mental wall between himself and the rest of the world because he wanted to be isolate from the horrible struggles that life brings

To the left is the video of "Rock The Casbah" by The Clash. One of The Clash's singles, “Rock The Casbah”, on the album was about an Islamic ruler dictating a ban on rock music. Anyone who was in violation of this ban would be bombed. Hysterically enough, the pilots who were to bomb the violators ignored the orders and played rock music in their cockpits too. The 1980's was just the start of an aggressive sense of music; it would soon be followed by even more hostility and violence in the years to come. 

Works Cited

Raha, Maria. Cinderella’s Big Score. California: Seal, 2005. Print.

Reynolds, Simon and Joy Press. The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock ‘n’

roll. London: Serpent’s Tail, 1995. Print.

Urick, Brett. “An Introduction to The Wall.” Pink Floyd The Wall: A Complete

Analysis. 2006. 1 April 2008. http://www.thewallanalysis.com/.html