 | The examples and perspective in this articledeal primarily with the United States and do not represent aworldwide view of the subject. You mayimprove this article, discuss the issue on thetalk page, orcreate a new article, as appropriate.(February 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 |
| Environment |
|---|
|
Environmentalism has been a theme and cultural trend inpopular music.Ecomusicologists (musicologists and ethnomusicologists focusing on music andenvironmental issues) and music educators are increasingly emphasizing the intersections of music and nature, and the role of music inecological activism.[1][2]
Environmentalthemes in music have ranged from an appreciation ofnature andwilderness and advocating for itsprotection, toenvironmental degradation,pollution andclimate change. The earliest popular music exploring environmentalist topics can be traced back to the 19th century and earlyfolk,gospel andblues music. Thecounterculture of the 1960s facilitated an increase in environmental music that continued into subsequent decades.Genres that have addressed the topic includehip hop,punk rock,heavy metal andmodern classical.
Some musical artists have used their platform to promote and raise money for environmental causes. Efforts have also been made to improve thesustainability of themusic industry andlive music.
Some of the earliest songs to cover environmental topics originate from the 19th century, with one example being "Woodman! Spare that Tree!" byGeorge Pope Morris andHenry Russell.[3]Folk music explored environmental topics throughout the 1930s and 1940s.[3]
Icelandic music has had a long tradition of prominently featuringnature since the country's independence in 1944.[4][5][6]
After a radioactive isotope (Strontium-90) was found in cows milk in 1959, the concern for the environmental effects of thenuclear arms race increased. This sparked songs about the invisibility of environmental effects like radioactive isotopes. In his song "Mack the Bomb",Pete Seeger wrote a comparison between a shark and Strontium-90, explaining that the threat of a shark is at least visible, unlike radioactive isotopes.[7] In 1962,Malvina Reynolds also wrote a song called "What Have They Done to the Rain?", which was inspired by above-ground nuclear testing, and how it was putting Strontium-90 into the air, then into soil through rain, which is how it got into cows and their milk.[8] SongwriterPeter La Farge releasedAs Long as the Grass Shall Grow in 1963, a collection of native American songs discussing environmental destruction.[9]
Pete Seeger released what is considered the first environmentalist album, entitled "God Bless the Grass" in 1966. The 1960s produced a large number of environmental-focused songs, primarily due to the popularization of folk music and the musicians that penned many environmental protest songs, in that genre.[3]
In the 1960s and 1970s, popular music was influenced by thecounterculture movement,anti-Vietnam war movement and thecivil rights movement.[10] The inauguralEarth Day and founding ofGreenpeace,[11] the1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and passing of theNational Environmental Policy Act were influential on music in the early 1970s.[12] "Big Yellow Taxi" byJoni Mitchell referencedDDT followingRachel Carson's 1962 bookSilent Spring, which had brought the dangers of DDT to popular attention.[12]John Denver, a country and folk singer often sang about the wilderness ofColorado with popular songs such as "Rocky Mountain High" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads".[3]The Beach Boys also explored environmental concerns, particularlypollution, inSurf's Up (1971) songs "Don't Go Near the Water"[10] and "A Day in the Life of a Tree".[13][11]
In 1970, environmentalist opposition to nuclear testing inAmchitka prompteda benefit concert in Vancounver organised by popular musiciansJames Taylor,Joni Mitchell andPhil Ochs to raise money for a voyage of activist groupDon't Make a Wave Committee on thePhyllis Cormack to oppose the test. This concert and subsequent voyage sparked the foundation of influential environmental groupGreenpeace.[11]
The primary view perpetuated by mainstream versions of environmental music from the 1960s onward have foregrounded the idyllic cohabitation of natural landscapes and humankind.[clarification needed] The shorthand being the pastoral mode. However the pastoral mode has been used to perpetuate beliefs of a separate and untouched wilderness, as well as anti urbanism. These beliefs do not reflect criticalenvironmental justice practices, which emphasize multidimensionality and intersectionality in issues relating to human health and environmental degradation.[14] The pastoral mode also excluded experiences of minority groups that are an integral part of pastoral landscapes, as well as face the effects of food and heat deserts, increased pollution, unclean water, and more in urban areas.[15]
Popular musicians in the 1980s, includingU2,R.E.M.,Grateful Dead andGeorge Harrison would continue to supportGreenpeace by contributing tracks tocompilation albums and appearing at benefit concerts,[11] including notablyGreenpeace – The Album.[16]Prince,R.E.M. andSting also successfully pressured record labels to phase out additional packaging forCDs to reduce their contribution to waste and pollution.[11]
In 1995 singerMichael Jackson came out with the hit "Earth Song" which was about environmental and animal welfare. The production of the music video had an environmental theme, showing images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution, poverty, and war. Jackson and the world's people unite in a spiritual chant—"Earth Song"—which summons a force that heals the world. Using special effects, time is reversed so that life returns, war ends, and the forests regrow. The video closes with a request for donations to Jackson'sHeal the World Foundation.[17][18] The clip was shown infrequently in the United States.[19]
In 2007, a massive concert entitledLive Earth was held in several locations around the world simultaneously to raise awareness and provokeaction on climate change.[20][21]
In 2009Disney created a campaign calledDisney's Friends for Change which helped to promote an environmental message. A song calledSend it On recorded by Disney singersMiley Cyrus,Demi Lovato, theJonas Brothers andSelena Gomez was produced, and the profits were donated to environmental charity organizations.[citation needed]
TheGorillaz albumPlastic Beach (2010) focused onplastic pollution[22] andBjörk'sBiophilia was inspired by her interest in nature and environmental concerns.[5]
Climate change became a more prevalenttopic in music during the 2010s,[23][24] owing to changes inpublic opinion and the influence of theclimate movement,youth strikes andGreta Thunberg.[25] A number of figures and groups from themusic industry in the United Kingdom formedMusic Declares Emergency in 2019 anddeclared a climate emergency.[26]Grimes released a climate-themed albumMiss Anthropocene in 2020, and 2019Lil Dicky charity single "Earth" featured numerous celebrities and attracted considerable social media attention.[25]
Taiwan's Sheng-Xiang Band (生祥樂隊 [zh]) has been described as pioneering exploring environmental topics in the music of their home country. Their 2016 albumVillage Besieged has been described as an elegy for victims ofTaiwan's petrochemical pollution.[27]
Billie Eilish's first album featured the song "All Good Girls Go to Hell,"[28] which was meant to bring attention to humans inability to stop climate change. It came out in the aftermath of a series of forest fires which is what the song was mainly targeted at.
The 1975's track "The 1975" is entirely dedicated to climate change activistGreta Thunberg. This track contains lyrics such as "We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis" and "now is not the time for speaking politely or focusing on what we can or cannot say. Now is the time to speak clearly."[29] Some of these lyrics were taken directly from Thunberg's speeches or press releases.
In the days of theAfrican slave trade to the United States, the role of the environment was closely tied to spirituality and agricultural labor. Enslaved generations born in Africa passed down beliefs in divinity, superstition, and human connection to the natural world. "Africans believed in the interconnectedness of the human, spiritual, and environmental realms and felt that harm toward or care for one necessarily affected the others."[30] These influences were expressed in the form of Spirituals orGospel music and generally performed in either "praise houses" or in outdoor communion called "brush arbor meetings" or "bush meetings"[31] This style of music was a way to authentically express the black experience in America, which in many ways meant reflecting on suffering. In reaction to this, references to heaven in gospel refer to it as a natural or pastoral landscape.[32]
TheBlues which came out of the south at the beginning of the 1900s spoke on the agrarian and impoverished lifestyles of theAfrican American community. Firmly grounded in the realities of slavery and the systemic discrimination that followed, the Blues exemplified by artists like Roosevelt Charles was a reflection of rural labor and connection to the land.[33] Later versions of the Blues shifted to faster tempos and themes of urban life as communities of colour migrated to cities likeChicago,Detroit, andNew York. Some historians denote the dukes as an expression of reliance in the face of a continued struggle against white oppression. Thereby the Blues derived community amongst the minority in shared experience. Geographer Clyde Woods claims that citing artists likeRobert Johnson that the Blues as well as Hip-Hop represent sustainability ethics by promoting the ‘co-operative rural and urban land forms’ through communities as sacred outside of their material value.[33]
Whilecomposers have often used nature as their inspiration,modern classical from the period sinceWorld War II has seen an ever increasing amount of music in this regard.[34] Composers such asJohn Cage andOlivier Messiaen began using patterns in nature as their materials inmusical composition.[35][36] One example of Cage's use of environmental sounds is the piece "Child of Tree". This work involves amplifying acactus andpea pod shakers in addition to other instruments chosen by the performer.[37]John Luther Adams writes music directly from his surroundings inAlaska.[38] He is anenvironmentalist who has written and discussed the role that artists can play in combatingglobal warming.[39] An example of his music is the pieceThe Place Where You Go to Listen. This work involves a sound and light installation that is "controlled by natural events occurring in real time."[40]
Folk music has had a considerable influence on the environmental movement. Richard Kahn wrote that folk's "populist spirit, tradition ofprotest rhetoric, and general reliance uponacoustic—and even homespun—instruments, many see folk music as the style that best fits and represents the environmental movement".[3]
The first American environmental folk song is thought to be "Boll Weevil", which discussed the impact ofboll weevils on America'scotton industry.[3] During the beginnings of theAmerican folk music revival, the impact of intensive agriculture on creating theDust Bowl during theGreat Depression was also a topic of numerous folk songs, such asWoody Guthrie'sDust Bowl Ballads and his prominent song "So Long It’s Been Good to Know Yuh". Guthrie and his collaboratorPete Seeger would go on to release numerous environmentally conscious songs and were involved in advocacy for reducingpollution in rivers.Malvina Reynolds released music on topics such aswater conservation, the impact of theCalifornia freeway system andpollution.[3]Joni Mitchell,Bob Dylan,John Denver andJohn Prine were all prominent advocates of environmental causes in their music and activism during the 1970s.[3]
In the 1970s, along with grievances over theVietnam War andCivil Rights activism, environmentalism was in the public eye as a political point of unrest. Within theAfrican American community the transition intoR&B emphasized the importance of these issues. ArtistMarvin Gaye released an album in 1971 titledWhat's Going On wherein he criticizes the role of the United States in theVietnam War, as well as the social and environmental degradation of inner city residences, particularly in "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)".[41]
The birth ofhip-hop in the 1970s out of the primarily black, lower class communities in theSouth Bronx was also a reflection on issues related to race, poverty, violence, andinjustice. Environmental hip-hop is an extension of the issues faced by communities of color. Artists likeMos Def in his song "New World Water", released in 1999, use the medium to break down the struggles in urban areas for some neighbourhoods to have access to clean water.[42]
Groups like theHip-Hop Caucus and Grind for the Green continue to promote increased advocacy for environmental issues in communities of color through the medium of Hip-Hop.[43][44] These groups have found that using a platform like Hip Hop to engage youth resonates. Removingenvironmental injustice from academia and into oral performance historically better promotes shared experiences and shared interest.[citation needed]Malik Yusef andLennox Yearwood have been involved in thePeople's Climate Movement, and have attempted to raise awareness ofHurricane Katrina andair pollution being environmental issues affecting black people.[44]
Heavy metal music has featured environmental themes, thought to be related to the genre's position as acountercultural style.[45][46]
Thrash metal has addressed environmental topics since its origins in the 1980s, typically addressing them throughdystopian themes.[47]Nuclear Assault andTestament were both early adopters, andMetallica explored the theme for the first time on 1988 song "Blackened".[48][24] Australian rock bandKing Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard released a climate change themed thrash metal albumInfest the Rats' Nest in 2019.[49]
Black metal, including its subgenre "eco-metal", has had a long tradition of focusing on nature andradical environmentalism, including groupsWolves in the Throne Room[50]Botanist,[51][52]Agalloch,Panopticon andImmortal.[45]
French metal bandGojira and American deathgrind groupCattle Decapitation have also made environmental issues integral to their music and image, respectively exploringclimate change andcontemporary extinction on their albumsFrom Mars to Sirius (2005) andThe Anthropocene Extinction (2015).[53][54][24]
Heavy metal bands inIndonesia have addressedlocal environmental issues.[55]Brazilian metal bandSepultura have released songs discussingenvironmental issues in Brazil such asdeforestation andclimate change, and their song "Ambush" is a tribute to murdered environmental activistChico Mendes.[56][57]
.jpg)
Punk rock is a genre withnumerous political ideologies, including environmentalism.Poly Styrene andX-Ray Spex explored pollution on "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo", as didThe Clash on "London Calling" and theDead Kennedys on "Cesspools in Eden".[24] In the 1990s, the movement ofstraight edge hardcore punk was associated withradical environmentalism andveganism, particularly groups likeEarth Crisis andVegan Reich.[58][59] Thehardline subculture that promotesbiocentrism was spawned from straight edge hardcore punk, influenced bydeep ecology.[60]
 | This sectionmay containexcessive orirrelevant examples. Please helpimprove the article by adding descriptive text and removingless pertinent examples.(February 2022) |
Many artists have partnered with or supportedenvironmental organisations financially or via awareness raising[61] and have been directly involved inenvironmental activism andadvocacy. This includes theBarenaked Ladies,Bonnie Raitt,Cloud Cult,Dave Matthews Band,Don Henley,Drake,Green Day,Guster,Jack Johnson,King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard,KT Tunstall,Massive Attack,[62]Metallica,Moby,Pearl Jam,Perry Farrell,Phish,Radiohead,[63]The Roots,Sarah Harmer,Sheryl Crow,Thom Yorke,Willie Nelson, and many others.[64][65]
In 2009,Björk andSigur Rós streamed a free concert to raise the profile of opposition to theKárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant over its environmental impact in their native Iceland.[66]Greenpeace have worked with musicians throughout their history to promote environmental causes,[67] including a series of 2015 "orchestral activism" protests againstpetroleum exploration in the Arctic.[34]Marine conservation activist organisationSea Shepherd have numerous high-profile supporters in the music industry that have financed theiroperations andvessels, includingRick Rubin,Anthony Kiedis,The Red Paintings andGojira.[68] During the2019–20 Australian bushfire season, numerous musicians raised money for fire relief efforts andwildlife rescue operations, including three live albums released byKing Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.[69]
A rock club in New York City calledWetlands Preserve served as both a performance venue and a hub for environmentalist activism from 1989 to 2001.[70][71] TheBaltic Sea Festival was founded on the theme of preserving the environment. Countries surrounding theBaltic Sea are brought together to solve problems with the body of water. Music "serves as a good platform" in discussions of solutions which can only be solved jointly.[72][better source needed]
Given the prevalence of environmental advocacy in music, the environmental impact of various aspects of themusic industry, particularlylive music, has been scrutinised.[74][75][62] Live music events likeLive Earth that sought toraise awareness of climate change has attracted criticism over their owncarbon footprint, particularly theenvironmental impact of flights taken by artists.[21][74]
Some artists and industry bodies have made efforts to improve their ownsustainability or reduce theircarbon footprint. This includesmusic festivals likeBonnaroo,Coachella, and theRainforest World Music Festival,[76] and certainconcert tours.[11][77][61][75] Efforts have included usingbiodiesel for tour vehicles,carbon-offsetting, encouragingrecycling and usingbiodegradable packaging at venues.[61]Radiohead have shipped musical gear by freight rather than via air andJack Johnson addedsolar panels and insulation to his studio to improve its energy efficiency.[61]Massive Attack worked with theTyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to explore hosting low-carbon live events.[78]
Coldplay'sMusic of the Spheres World Tour set out to be as sustainable as possible and included recyclable batteries powered by renewable resources such ashydrotreated vegetable oil,solar power andkinetic energy.[79] They utilized visual effects which required less explosive charge and new formulas to reduce harmful chemicals,[80] while unavoidable emissions wereoffset according toOxford's principles.[81] The band also pledged to plant a tree for every ticket sold through One Tree Planted.[82]
The format of music consumption also has an impact on its carbon footprint. On an hourly basis,streaming tends to release 55 grams of CO2, whereasCDs are closer to 165, andvinyl andcassettes reach 2000.[83]
.svg)
{{cite magazine}}:Check|url= value (help)| Key topics | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disciplines | |||||||||||
| Views |
| ||||||||||
| Offshoots |
| ||||||||||
| Goals |
| ||||||||||
| By country | |||||||||||
| In culture | |||||||||||
| Environmentalists |
| ||||||||||
| Related topics | |||||||||||
