Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”, John Lennon’s “Imagine”, Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land”, Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight”. The real meanings of these songs are often missed by people. “Born in the USA” is about the hostility American soldiers received when they returned to America, from Vietnam, and “Imagine” offers a strong political message.

Music has been an expression of social and cultural events that has happened for hundreds of years. Many famous bands were writing controversial songs about the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and ongoing police brutality. People choose to incite change and new thoughts through music and its lyrics. Famous artists like Prince, Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne, and even Chuck Berry were given lots of backlash from listeners, producers, and even other artists for singing songs about sex, suicide, and violence.

These bands and songs considered controversial were the ones that stood against the events going on during their times. In Pete Seeger’s “We Shall Overcome”, he states “Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome, someday…We’ll walk hand in hand…We shall live in peace…We are not afraid, today…The whole wide world around some day…We shall overcome, someday.” This song became a protest song and anthem during the civil rights movement. The music industry, and these songs in particular, have frequently been pushing people to hear the words and get people to listen and speak up.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the famous rock festival Woodstock, with a tribute festival coming this summer. Woodstock was held on a dairy farm in the Catskill Mountains in New York, and about 400,000 people attended this three-day music and art festival. Thirty-two acts performed including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and The Who. Woodstock was one of the more iconic moments of an entire generation.

At one point, then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller threatened to call in the National Guard to break it up because of how many people were there. So many people wanted to be part of the change while others criticized and threatened those that went against the grain, making those songs and bands controversial. Even after receiving these controversial thoughts and actions, bands didn’t back down. They brought to light things that weren’t being taken seriously, things that the common people couldn’t see behind closed doors.

Bands were risking everything to do this including the band Rage Against the Machine which has been involved with organizations from the Anti-Nazi League to Women Alive. Their front man Tom Morello was jailed for protesting alongside union workers against sweatshops. Pete Seeger, a popular folk singer, was also arrested for refusing to cooperate with questioning in relation to suspicion of supporting the communist agenda.

In court Pete Seeger told the committee “I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody,” earning him a year in jail.

Lyrics in songs have been written to show a political message, express an emotion, and highlight events. These are only some of the reasons that songs, bands, and artists become controversial.