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Kent State Shooting Essay

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Musical Journey Till The Kent State Massacre

Music serves as a platform for commentary on important social issues. Social events are an inspiration for creativity, and often, this creativity gathers momentum to tackle these societal concerns. The mutual relationship between music and social issues is seen evidently throughout the history. The Vietnam War serves as a great example to showcase the interdependency between the society and music.
The Vietnam war, one of the longest war in the history of United States, is often regarded as the most controversial battle. The liberal, radical and conservative interpretation tries to shed some light on the dark and murky image of the war. Radical view suggests …show more content…

Released in 1971, the song was inspired by Marvin’s brother who returned home after serving in Vietnam. Marvin’s communication with Motown, a recording company, about the Kent State Shooting also shows the influence of social issues on his music. The song “paints graphic pictures of deteriorating social conditions and offer stinging critiques of skewed public policy priorities”. The lyrics also calls for a need to stop the war to prevent more loss of fellow Americans. The repeated question of “What’s going on” signals the state of turmoil and protests going on around that …show more content…

As the pathway became clearer, the feeling of opposition started to spread. The songs like “War”,“I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag”, and “What’s Going on” depicts the resistance against the war. This increasing feeling of opposition leads to students movements, which is shown by the song “Student Demonstration Time”. The songs “Fortune Sons” and “Draft Dodger Rag” shows that the inequality in the drafting which also made the students oppose the war. In the end, the unfortunate incident in the Kent State University is narrated by “Ohio”, “The Kent State Massacre”, and “Hey Sandy”. These songs in the playlist symbolize a chronological order of events and are build up songs leading up to the Kent State Shooting. The legacy of the Kent State Shooting and the anti-war songs is that we should all think thrice before we get into a fight and we should all give peace a

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