When Music Makes History

After being victimized by racial discrimination, R&B star Sam Cooke taps into the growing civil rights movement to write a timeless and hopeful ballad.

In December 1968, Elvis made a dramatic return to live television on his NBC “Comeback Special.” Instead of closing the show with a Christmas carol, he delivered a moving tribute to the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Director Spike Lee enlisted hip hop artists Public Enemy to write a theme for his 1989 film Do The Right Thing. The resulting song, Fight the Power, became a hit single and a vital modern-day protest anthem.

In 1975, the Allman Brothers Band, based out of Macon, GA, began performing fundraiser concerts for their fellow Georgian Jimmy Carter, injecting much-needed cash into his long-shot presidential campaign.

In 1984, Ray Charles delivered a stirring rendition of America the Beautiful at the Republican National Convention, echoing President Reagan’s optimistic campaign message.

In 1940, folk icon Woody Guthrie wrote the lyrics to This Land Is Your Land as a sarcastic response to Irving Berlin’s God Bless America. The song has been covered hundreds of times, but often without several controversial verses found in Guthrie’s original lyrics.

Just weeks after the May 1970 massacre of anti-war protestors at Kent State University, Neil Young wrote the song Ohio and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young rushed out a recording of the single.

In 1992, Bill Clinton chose Don’t Stop by Fleetwood Mac as his presidential campaign theme song. The hit song from 1977 appealed to his fellow baby boomers.

In 1985, an organization co-founded by Tipper Gore called the Parents Music Resource Center released “The Filthy Fifteen,” a list of songs deemed outrageous for their violent, sexual, and drug-themed lyrics. Dee Snider, the lead singer of Twisted Sister, one of the PMRC’s targets, testified at a high-profile Senate hearing to combat perceived censorship.

In 1968, James Brown released Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud). The song tapped into the emerging “Black is Beautiful” movement and went on to become an unofficial anthem of the Black Power movement.

In 2006, the Dixie Chicks released Not Ready To Make Nice. The song is a defiant response to a controversy over remarks that their lead singer, Natalie Maines, made during the run-up to the Iraq War.

In January 1971, Marvin Gaye released the landmark protest anthem What’s Going On. The song reflected a new socially conscious approach to songwriting for the DC native.