From Woodstock to Rammstein; expressing criticism of society through music
It can hardly have escaped anyone's notice that this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the music festival in Woodstock. A festival that is also seen as the moment when musicians made themselves heard in a socially critical manner for the first time. Since then, many people worldwide have expressed their criticism of the established order or society in a broader sense through music. But what is it like nowadays? Which bands still take a stand in their music and express a vision of society or dare to express criticism? And what about that in Dutch music?
Two Issuemakers attended a concert this summer by the German Rammstein, which does not mince its words and takes clear positions. Rammstein, the band that has been trying to get people not only dancing, but also thinking with their controversial lyrics and video clips for years. Earlier this year they sparked a discussion about the identity of their motherland with a ten-minute video clip for the song Deutschland. Rammstein shows how a band can set tongues wagging by addressing social themes in their songs and on stage. For example, when two male band members kissed while performing in Moscow, and posted on Instagram with the caption, “Russia, we love you.”
A special moment during Rammstein's concerts is when five of the six band members, sitting in rubber boats, are carried to the stage by the hands of the audience. Where they are welcomed by the singer with a sign with the text “Willkommen”. A clearer statement regarding the current, harrowing boat refugee drama in the Mediterranean is hardly conceivable. And it could hardly be more poignant than Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer describes it in his “Grand Hotel Europa” when he compares the situation of the boat refugees with that of the passengers of the luxury cruise ships with “… four thousand people of pure purchasing power on board. Yet they paid less for their ticket than the outcasts from the south paid for a place on their rickety boats” (p. 155).
We may still remember Armand and Boudewijn de Groot from the 1960s, or the Klein Orkest and Doe Maar who showed the dark side of the Cold War and the associated arms race in the 1980s. And more recently are the statements of rappers such as Fresku and Typhoon who point out to Dutch society the persistent excesses of racism within the Dutch music world and the lack of diversity on Dutch radio. Or Within Temptation that canceled a performance in Lebanon in solidarity with Mashrou Leila, whose performance was canceled after protests by fanatical Christians. But these seem to be exceptions rather than the rule. Is there still room for social criticism in current Dutch music or is political correctness in our country perhaps a barrier? Who dares to compete with Rammstein...
