We're in a recession, so why the lack of politicised music?

Roger Waters - The Wall Concert _D7C29460, a photo by youngrobv (Rob&Ale) on Flickr.

I’ve had a lot of uni work over the past couple of weeks and as a result, I’ve
been heavily reliant on Pink Floyd to help me concentrate. One of the things that’s really struck me is how politically outspoken their music is compared to what’s around right now. I find this particularly puzzling given that we’re in the midst of one of the longest and deepest recessions for several generations.

Traditionally, recessions coincide with a rise in politicised mainstream music. Some artists use their music to overtly express their political views. Others become social commentators, using music to moan about the state of society. Some examples below show this well-established link.

Mid-1970s: Here you not only had bands like Pink Floyd bemoaning the socio-economic state of the country, but you also had the rise of anti-establishment punk rock with the likes of the Sex Pistols and The Clash.

Early 1980s: Bands emerged in the early Thatcher years who were critical of the state of society. You think of The Smiths, The Jam, and UB40 for example.

Early 1990s: Much of the work by the Manic Street Preachers strongly advocate leftist ideas, Oasis’ Definitely Maybe talks of the troubles facing young adults at the time, plus Public Enemy became popular this side of the pond.

Clearly then, recessions tend to help produce popular politicised music. The current recession though seems to be the exception. The biggest British musicians of recent times have been the likes of Coldplay, Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Take That. All have seen commercial and critical success yet they’ve tended to write more about personal turmoil and love rather than commenting on society more generally.

I’m not saying the lack of politicised music is inherently bad. Certainly it hasn’t stopped me enjoying recently released music. It’s just interesting that this recession hasn’t seen much political music. I was discussing this with a friend the other day, and she suggested that Rupert Murdoch and Simon Cowell might be to blame for this. I’m not entirely convinced that Murdoch is relevant here but there’s definitely some mileage with the Cowell argument. With X Factor, people of all backgrounds may now simply see music as a way of quickly becoming famous and not some form of artistic expression. X Factor’s also flooded the music industry with artists producing safe and chart-happy songs that sell by the bucket load. As a result, there’s less space for more left-field music that may be more controversial.

Given how bad this recession has been, I’m surprised that there’s hardly any prominent politicised music around right now. I don’t see this changing anytime soon, unless Little Mix’s forthcoming album decides to break all the normal X Factor rules...