Here is yet another song for you all to listen to and learn. Black Sabbath is no doubt one of my favorite bands ever and a hugely influential band in general. Just about every good, heavy riff was written by them and has been rewritten by other bands.
"War Pigs" is the first track off the band's second album, "Paranoid." The lyrics, not surprisingly, are about war! It mentions how the politicians "Hide their tails away/ they only started the war." It provides some dissident commentary as the lyric ends with "why should they go out to fight?/ they leave that all to the poor." Teachers often talk about protest songs in school when they teach units on Vietnam, and they usually mention Bob Dylan and Buffalo Springfield, but Sabbath is left out. I think this song is just as "protesty" as the songs that are more popular and it rocks way harder than any of those tracks. Therefore, my students will not be listening to Bob Dylan, but Black Sabbath instead.
This is not the only Sabbath track either which mentions politics or social issues. "Hole in the Sky" has a few references to pollution, "Wicked World" talks about the hardships of working class people, and "Children of the Grave" is about people "living in the shadow of atomic fear."
I hope you do not mind me using songs that you recommend in class. I think the reason that the songs you mention are not used in class is because of ignorance or fear. I do not mean this harshly, but I think so many teachers use what is safe, and familiar. I assume that many teachers have not thoroughly examined the lyrics to that song, and do not care to, sadly, as this ignores alternative, emotional art/opinion towards war. I hope to use "Take a Bow" by Muse in my classroom for the WWII unit. Listen all the way to the end. The added sounds are quite powerful.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do not mind me using songs that you recommend in class. I think the reason that the songs you mention are not used in class is because of ignorance or fear. I do not mean this harshly, but I think so many teachers use what is safe, and familiar. I assume that many teachers have not thoroughly examined the lyrics to that song, and do not care to, sadly, as this ignores alternative, emotional art/opinion towards war. I hope to use "Take a Bow" by Muse in my classroom for the WWII unit. Listen all the way to the end. The added sounds are quite powerful.
ReplyDeleteObviously I don't mind...I suppose part of the reason that I am talking about them is to get those ideas out there. Part of it is also just so I don't lose my mind, because I need my metal. I realize some of the songs I could use I won't be able to, either because of foul langauge or because they are definitely not "safe", but we shall see. I think we should be able to use the tracks even if they are graphic because history is not candy coated, and neither should our interpretations of it or reactions to it.
ReplyDeleteI would like to second what Kristin said. Teachers tend toward the safe and familiar -- what is "known" to them. (The same pattern applies to levels of technology adoption and integration in the classroom.) Is it not a tad bit ironic that scruffy folk rockers from the 60s are now considered "safe" for the classroom? I am no music historian, but I would think that during their day Dylan and those guys would have offended most in the education establishment.
ReplyDeleteI would add that using both Dylan and Black Sabbath in class might get your students thinking about society and our tendencies toward candy-coating historical perspectives. Why not integrate contrasting genres within the tradition of protest songs and let your students draw some conclusions?