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The world and U2 : one band's remaking of global activism
The Irish rock band U2, and especially its frontman Bono, are among the most effective activists ever. U2 has convinced wealthy governments to forgive tens of billions of dollars in loans while spreading its activist messages to billions of people, helping save millions of lives. So how did four boys from one of the poorest countries in the West achieve this? Who and what influenced them? What strategies did they use to succeed as much as they did as activists, and how did those strategies change over time? In particular, how did lead singer Bono make the leap into superstar lobbying? And, with so much attention on him, how has he handled critics who have taken to task his work on behalf of developing countries? In The World and U2: One Band's Remaking of Global Activism, Alan McPherson trains a historian's eye on the evolution and influence of the band's activism from its formation in 1976 to its most recent album and concert tour. Throughout its nearly four decades, the band has held up a mirror to the increasing selfishness in the world while at the same time working to fill the void left by those who have abandoned the world's poor to their plight. From raising awareness about war and human rights in the 1980s to engaging in direct action in the 1990s to moving mountains of cash for the planet's poorest in the twenty-first century, the band, and especially Bono, have both raised the bar and set the example for other celebrity activists. But it is also a success that has brought a greater scrutiny to bear on U2's activism and initiated a healthy debate about the merits of Western development aid. The World and U2: One Band's Remaking of Global Activism tells this story of U2's successful storming of the world's philanthropic stage. It will enchant the band's fans, engage its critics, and offer lessons--and warnings--to activists seeking to change things for the better.--From publisher description.
Book
Leonard Bernstein
From his dazzling conducting debut in 1943 until his death in 1990, Leonard Bernstein's star blazed brilliantly. In this fresh and revealing biography of Bernstein's political life, Barry Seldes examines Bernstein's career against the backdrop of cold war America—blacklisting by the State Department in 1950, voluntary exile from the New York Philharmonic in 1951 for fear that he might be blacklisted, signing a humiliating affidavit to regain his passport—and the factors that by the mid-1950s allowed his triumphant return to the New York Philharmonic. Seldes for the first time links Bernstein's great concert-hall and musical-theatrical achievements and his real and perceived artistic setbacks to his involvement with progressive political causes. Making extensive use of previously untapped FBI files as well as overlooked materials in the Library of Congress's Bernstein archive, Seldes illuminates the ways in which Bernstein's career intersected with the twentieth century's most momentous events. This broadly accessible and impressively documented account of the celebrity-maestro's life deepens our understanding of an entire era as it reveals important and often ignored intersections of American culture and political power.
eBook
U2 : rock 'n' roll to change the world
U2's significant career far exceeds that of most average successful rock bands, with a prolific output of thirteen well-received studio albums and a sometimes relentless touring schedule. The band is famous for uniquely drawing together music, art, faith, and activism, all within a lucrative career that has given each of these elements an unusual degree of social and cultural resonance. Broad-minded musically and intellectually, U2's output is thematically rich, addressing a slew of topics, from questions of faith to anxieties about commercialism to outright political statements. 505 0 $a Growing up in Ireland -- Innocence and idealism -- Into the arms of America -- Irony and theatricality -- Rage can only take you so far -- New horizons -- Faith and art -- Social engagement.
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The world and U2
In The World and U2: One Band's Remaking of Global Activism, Alan McPherson trains a historian's eye on the evolution and influence of the band's activism from its formation in 1976 to its most recent album and concert tour.
eBook
Music Video and the Politics of Representation
How can we engage critically with music video and its role in popular culture? What do contemporary music videos have to tell us about patterns of cultural identity today? Based around an eclectic series of vivid case studies, this fresh and timely examination is an entertaining and enlightening analysis of the forms, pleasures, and politics that music videos offer. In rethinking some classic approaches from film studies and popular music studies and connecting them with new debates about the current 'state' of feminism and feminist theory, Railton and Watson show why and how we should be studying music videos in the twenty-first century. Through its thorough overview of the music video as a visual medium, this is an ideal textbook for Media Studies students and all those with an interest in popular music and cultural studies. Key Features* Provides a framework for how to describe and analyse a music video.* Uses case studies from internationally well-know artists, such as Kylie, Shakira and Beyoncé to explore issues of representation of gender, sexuality and ethnicity.* Draws on classic and contemporary videos from a range of musical styles, from Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera to Gorillaz and Metallica.
eBook
Riot days
\"A Pussy Rioter's riveting, hallucinatory account of her years in Russia's criminal system and of finding power in the most powerless of situations. In February 2012, after smuggling an electric guitar into Moscow's iconic central cathedral, Maria Alyokhina and other members of the radical collective Pussy Riot performed a provocative 'Punk Prayer,' taking on the Orthodox church and its support for Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime. For this, they were charged with 'organized hooliganism' and were tried while confined in a cage and guarded by Rottweilers. That trial and Alyokhina's subsequent imprisonment became an international cause. For Alyokhina, her two-year sentence launched a bitter struggle against the Russian prison system and an iron-willed refusal to be deprived of her humanity. Teeming with protests and police, witnesses and cellmates, informers and interrogators, Riot Days gives voice to Alyokhina's insistence on the right to say no, whether to a prison guard or to the president. Ultimately, this insistence delivers unprecedented victories for prisoners' rights. Evocative, wry, laser-sharp, and laconically funny, Alyokhina's account is studded with song lyrics, legal transcripts, and excerpts from her jail diary--dispatches from a young woman who has faced tyranny and returned with the proof that against all odds even one person can force its retreat.\"--Publisher description.
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Creative Activism
This collection brings together interviews with a compelling range of musicians, artists, and activists from around the globe. What does it mean for an artist to be “political”? Moving away from a narrow idea about politics that is organized around elections, advocacy groups, or concrete manifestos, the subjects of Creative Activism do their work through song, poetry, painting, and other arts. The interviews take us from Oakland to London to Johannesburg and from the Occupy movement to the coal mines of Appalachia to the fantasy worlds created by some of our most fascinating writers of spectacular fiction. Listening to the important “cultural workers” of our time challenges any idea that some other time was the golden age of political art: Creative Activism gives us a front-row seat to the thrilling artistic activism of our own moment.
eBook
33 revolutions per minute : a history of protest songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day
A history of protest music embodied in 33 songs since the 1930s.
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Crisis music
Marching to the beat of punk rock and reggae, Rock Against Racism was a mass movement built in opposition to racism and fascism in 1970s Britain. At a time of severe economic and social crises, RAR, alongside the Anti-Nazi League, organised one of the biggest and most effective political and cultural mobilisations of the post-war period. Expressing itself through spectacular carnivals, concerts, marches and innovative forms of design and communication, RAR combined hard-headed political organisation with the optimism and energy of radical youth culture. Drawing on interviews with activists, supporters and critics, and based on the latest research, Crisis music explores the nature of this ground-breaking politico-cultural phenomenon. The author explains why RAR seized upon the power and passion of punk and reggae, and how this has helped to shape the boundaries of modern popular music. He also offers, for the first time, a clear picture of the relationship between RAR and its main political sponsor, the Socialist Workers Party. Crisis music discusses RAR’s place within the left’s often-troubled encounters with popular culture, and draws comparisons with other music-based movements and campaigns, such as the post-war folk revival and Live 8. This book casts light on numerous current debates: about ‘celebrity politics’ and the role of musicians as political spokespeople, for instance, and the links between ethnicity, popular culture and politics. It will be of value to students and researchers in cultural studies, politics and labour history, and to anyone interested in the role of culture in political activity.
eBook