Rocking and Rolling for the Environment
· The conscience of the baby boom generation emerged with Bob Dylan's 1963 release of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, perhaps one of the most important rock albums of all time. Its songs encapsulated a nascent, youth-powered ethos of civil rights, feminism, and peace. A trio of songs, "Blowin' in the Wind," "Masters of War," and "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" helped galvanize the protest movement while becoming its principal anthems. "Blowin' in the Wind," which asks, "How many years can some people exist, before they're allowed to be free?" was at No. 2 on the pop charts when folk act Peter, Paul & Mary played it at the base of the Washington Monument during Martin Luther King Jr.'s landmark March on Washington in August of that year. "There's little doubt that music was key to carrying the message of the civil rights movement," says Warren Zanes of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
· Soul singer James Brown articulated a new sense of empowerment in the black community with his groundbreaking 1968 hit, "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud." The call for black empowerment hit No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a centerpiece of his frenzied live shows. Chuck D of the groundbreaking rap group Public Enemy has credited the song with changing the way the African-American community saw itself. On his website, Chuck D writes that the song "was an implanted soundtrack theme into understanding that our minds, bodies, and souls were black and beautiful." Many believe the song ushered the end within the community of self-descriptors Negro and colored. After Brown, black was not only beautiful; it was a new identity.
· Fittingly, it was a Beatle (preaching "All You Need Is Love") who is responsible for the birth of the benefit concert. Grasping the power of the music industry, George Harrison invited an all-star cast of friends, including Eric Clapton, Dylan, and Leon Russell, to headline the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh in New York City's Madison Square Garden. The event raised $250,000 for the famine-stricken nation in ticket sales alone while generating an additional $14 million over the years through the release of a live triple album and documentary film. With nothing like it before, the concert proved to be a fiasco of financial management; the organization failed to set up the proper tax-exempt framework to channel money to appropriate parties. For years, IRS audits tied up the money bound for Bangladesh.
· The Boss didn't fight in Vietnam, but his work as a rock musician brought the troubles of Vietnam veterans to public attention at a time when the country was eager to forget about the war. In August 1981, Bruce Springsteen staged a "Night for the Vietnam Veteran," which has been described by fans as one of the most emotional shows of Springsteen's career, with some members of the band reportedly tearing up during a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Who'll Stop the Rain?" Springsteen also delivered the travails of veterans to the American public in subsequent songs, such as "Born In the U.S.A." Bobby Muller, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, was present at the 1981 concert, which delivered a cash infusion to nascent awareness groups. "Without Bruce Springsteen," Muller says, "there would be no Vietnam veterans movement."
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