Music is an exceptionally complex topic because of the nature of its complex and deep connections it forges in its listeners. Often times the rich emotional connections I or others build with a song are challenging to describe with words. The songs that manufacture the strongest emotional connection require the listener to relate to not only the lyrics but also the instrumentals and mood to feel an emotional resonance that can be described as anthems.
These anthems can take different forms to different people. Music is often confused to be something that the creator has complete control over. In reality, the listener has the ultimate control to decide what the sounds they are hearing mean to them. Although the musician may have an idea in their mind for how their song is going to relate to the masses, sometimes songs like The Animals “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” get co-opted by a group of people to take a new meaning and message.
The Vietnam war was a unique conflict because of the way that music came to symbolize the event. The American soldiers who fought in the war had access to the music of their country. By the late 60s and early 70s, many American forces started to feel discontent for what increasingly felt like pointless fighting. They started to relate to the 1965 track”We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” as a rallying cry.
“[H]ow do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”
This deep emotional connection to the lyrics, the instrumentals, and the mood was shared by a large portion of G.I’s in Vietnam which helped it become the group anthem for Vietnam Veterans.
More recently, BLM has a rich involvement and connection with music. One of the songs most synonymous with the Movement is Kenrick Lamar’s “Alright”.
Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, Los Angeles; he has experienced gang violence depicted in the story told during good kid, m.A.A.d city album released in 2012. Lamar’s following album entitled To Pimp a Butterfly which continued many societal issues including racism
“We gon’ be alright”-Kendrick Lamar in “Alright”
The song’s lyrics and beat become synonymous with movement following protests in Cleveland, Ohio in 2015. The lyrics: “We gon’ be alright” became a rallying cry at BLM protests in the following months and years. “Alright” worked on an emotional level to speak to African American’s who were frustrated and distraught by police brutality and the seeming lack of care for the lives of black men and women. The song became the rallying cry for protesters as it was a perfect blend of messages and sounds that can be related to by millions of supporters of Black Lives Matter.
The two anthems I have chosen to highlight are similar because of the group anthem dynamic. Although personal anthems are extremely valuable – my personal favourites “All of the Lights” or “Kids” have been important and meaningful songs in my youth – they don’t have the deep symbolism and power that a group anthem can demonstrate.
The same principle of emotional connection to the instrumentals, lyrics, and mood is required in personal as group anthems. For a song to reach a group of people its quality and relatability must be universal enough to reach a broad range of people in the movement.
Music is a personal experience that requires deep emotional resonance over a broad group of people to become the most influential song. These connections have to be developed in a group dynamic because they require a resonance over multiple backgrounds and people utilizing the beat, the lyrics, and the mood to speak with the listener. As we look back at history we can see the group anthems as the force for change and for their symbolism of a movement. A quality anthem has the potential to provide a movement or group of people with a surge of energy that could help them change the world or even as small as finding meaning in pointless work.
