Saw this film in Calgary at the Plaza. I was aware of the premise from a preview I saw and interested in learning more. The topic struck me as one with great challenges when dealing with the culture who's input was required. Still, the film maker managed to line up some incredible interviews- a broad range of performers from Fat Mike of NOFX to David Crosby. Other performers, too, give their voice with good, solid results. And the inclusion of industry professionals added the economic angle to the mix. The money side of things can never be dismissed. The questions asked (though unheard on screen) moved the sequence of topics ahead based on the responses of the interviewees. Using this approach the issue of music as a tool of revolution was expanded to include a broad range of conditions influencing its effectiveness. And it was through these revelations that this doc really hit home with me. The pace, editing and especially the apparent quality of those interview questions- are outstanding considering the fact that (from my research) this seems to be the first feature length documentary from this film maker.
9 Reviews
A vital film about the political potency of music.
tim_laing31 August 2010
Good music always comes from the heart. It can also come from the head and the gut, but the heart has to be there. When an artist gets it right the song resonates for days, weeks and sometimes decades with an every changing audience.
Sounds Like a Revolution is a small film that examines the David and Goliath role of the corporation and government in the world of music. This uncomfortable relationship has been growing for decades. However,today the film explores how the link between the corporate and the government agenda can take the form of creative censorship.
This is a film for anyone who think that all the protest music was created and the migrated to FM stations in the 60's. It's alive and well. It's just that it doesn't have a large audience due to the perfect storm of corporate agendas matched to political agendas as the film points out.
Good music is out there. Protest music is out there. Watch this film and you may find yourself repeating the line from the classic film "Network", "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." And even if you don't the film with educate and entertain at the same time...and that's a win any day.
Sounds Like a Revolution is a small film that examines the David and Goliath role of the corporation and government in the world of music. This uncomfortable relationship has been growing for decades. However,today the film explores how the link between the corporate and the government agenda can take the form of creative censorship.
This is a film for anyone who think that all the protest music was created and the migrated to FM stations in the 60's. It's alive and well. It's just that it doesn't have a large audience due to the perfect storm of corporate agendas matched to political agendas as the film points out.
Good music is out there. Protest music is out there. Watch this film and you may find yourself repeating the line from the classic film "Network", "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." And even if you don't the film with educate and entertain at the same time...and that's a win any day.
Film Review
c_dassinger25 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
What a terrific film! The premise was creative and informative. As having no significant knowledge of the music industry apart from being a consumer, it was great to see it geared towards a wide audience. The beginning of the film really catches your attention with the music. The film makers did an excellent job of attracting the participation of a wide variety of artists and not just current mainstream individuals. The film certainly opened my eyes to the control the big label companies have over musicians, especially smaller names. That being said, some of the opinions and comments that certain artists made were incredible and very much quote worthy. As we live in a society that is very much censored and controlled by the mass media, it was wonderful to see a first time film maker try to emerge with an independent voice and try to the best of their ability to have it heard. I look forward to seeing further work from them in future.
Powerful
furrypawpaw28 September 2010
"Sounds Like A Revolution" is a powerful, insightful documentary about the state of protest music today, as well as a critique of and primer on the consolidation of the music industry and radio. With countless interviews and compelling profiles of four artists - Anti-Flag, Michael Franti, Paris, and Fat Mike (NOFX) - this film aptly demonstrates the ability of music to energize and mobilize people to action. I enjoyed all of the profiles, particularly those of Justin Sane (Anti-Flag) and Paris. Both men are insightful, thoughtful, intelligent and just downright interesting to listen to. I was already quite familiar with Anti-Flag, having been a fan for years, but not with Paris, whose music I was inspired to buy after seeing this film. Michael Franti is intelligent and thoughtful, and Fat Mike a textbook case of how someone who never paid much attention to politics becomes politicized.
If you are interested in protest music - not only its history but the seeming lack of new and established artists to carry on this proud tradition - "Sounds Like A Revolution" is a must see.
If you are interested in protest music - not only its history but the seeming lack of new and established artists to carry on this proud tradition - "Sounds Like A Revolution" is a must see.
An interesting brief look at US protest music during the Bush era
rgcustomer24 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
My job absorbed whatever free time I might normally have had during the Bush era, so I wondered what I might have missed in music during that time, because I likely would have agreed with it and been happy to hear it. At about 75 minutes long, this film provides a brief but entertaining sample of mostly anti-Bush protest music during that time. Performers represented include Paris, NOFX, Rage Against The Machine, and Anti-Flag, among several others.
The performers speak and sing for themselves, and that alone is worth the price of admission. I found the music enjoyable both for its sound and its lyrical content. What limits me to 7/10 for this film is that I found the flow of the film rapid, but a bit wandering. Maybe 15-30 minutes more would have rounded it out. Usually I want films to be shorter, but there's a rich subject area here, even just limiting it to anti-Bush. I wonder if the future might hold an extended cut in store, or a sequel.
One of the points the film makes has to do with concentration of media power. While it's true that this necessarily limits the variety and kind of voices that are heard, I disagree that this is a major reason that today's protest music is less iconic. I think the more important trend has to do with fragmentation that happened over the same interval. With a cable universe of hundreds of channels, and a virtually limitless internet landscape for young people to inhabit, there's no longer really a cultural "USA", or even a "left" and a "right", but several smaller groupings on that spectrum, and some completely off that dimension entirely. Radio is becoming much less important as a tool for new music. I wish that had been explored more.
I also think that the protest music of the 60s was a special thing, derived from religious singing, and other group singing. It was a participatory thing, and didn't require the original artist to be present. The protest songs of today are largely a one-way communication from the artist to the audience. The audience is fired up, and may sing along even to the entire song, but it's not quite the same dynamic.
I ALSO think that today's protest music doesn't inspire much action. I didn't see much action like that in the film. The music voices discontent with how things are and reveals hopes for the future, but doesn't really say what we're going to do about it. How are we going to get from A to B?
If the film was intended to be about a particular idea being protested, I think the historical context should have been defined more. The recent Bush reign certainly provides enough fuel for protest, starting from its questionable legitimacy, to its illegal war in Iraq, to illegal wiretaps of its own citizens, to the gross negligence that resulted in the worldwide economic meltdown. Some of this is covered in other films, but it seems that more of it needed to be here as well, to place the music in its environment. We see some of the strong emotion that was going on at the time, but it's somehow muted without a great deal of time devoted to the individual stories that bring it out.
(Most of the rest of this post is me blathering on about what I'd have liked included ... you may wish to stop reading now)
If the film was intended to be a broad look at protest music generally in the previous ten years, it could have included more variety. Even just staying on the left, the film largely ignores the current civil rights movement whose songs might include (all currently viewable on Youtube) Melange Lavonne - Gay Bash, Lily Allen - F--- You, Jen Foster - I Didn't Just Kiss Her, Josh Zuckerman - Got Love, Ozomatli - Gay Vatos In Love, Tom Goss & Matt Alber - This Is Who We Are, Court Yard Hounds - Ain't No Son. And although it's Dutch, it's impossible to exclude Terrence Van Cleave - Two Fathers.
Then if you want to include protest songs from the right, well, I can't stomach that much crazy, but it's there, everything from Westboro Baptist Church to the Tea Party to Toby Keith. It might have been useful for comparison. The right has co-opted some of the lyrical themes of the left. How does that change the meaning of protest music?
If you watch through the end credits, one group mentions that after Bush, they'll take on religion. Along those lines, like-minded viewers may be interested in First Aid Kit - Hard Believer, Pennywise - My God, Tim Minchin - Pope Song, A Perfect Circle - Judith, Jay Spears - Smak Dem Christians Down. There's likely a growing audience for a film on this subject.
Last, in the Internet age, no protest music film is complete without the elephant in the room: Dan Bull - Home Taping Is Killing Music, MC Lars - Download This Song, Weird Al Yankovic - Don't Download This Song. It would be interesting to explore how the sharing of protest music affects its influence, and how artists and labels and listeners feel about that.
The performers speak and sing for themselves, and that alone is worth the price of admission. I found the music enjoyable both for its sound and its lyrical content. What limits me to 7/10 for this film is that I found the flow of the film rapid, but a bit wandering. Maybe 15-30 minutes more would have rounded it out. Usually I want films to be shorter, but there's a rich subject area here, even just limiting it to anti-Bush. I wonder if the future might hold an extended cut in store, or a sequel.
One of the points the film makes has to do with concentration of media power. While it's true that this necessarily limits the variety and kind of voices that are heard, I disagree that this is a major reason that today's protest music is less iconic. I think the more important trend has to do with fragmentation that happened over the same interval. With a cable universe of hundreds of channels, and a virtually limitless internet landscape for young people to inhabit, there's no longer really a cultural "USA", or even a "left" and a "right", but several smaller groupings on that spectrum, and some completely off that dimension entirely. Radio is becoming much less important as a tool for new music. I wish that had been explored more.
I also think that the protest music of the 60s was a special thing, derived from religious singing, and other group singing. It was a participatory thing, and didn't require the original artist to be present. The protest songs of today are largely a one-way communication from the artist to the audience. The audience is fired up, and may sing along even to the entire song, but it's not quite the same dynamic.
I ALSO think that today's protest music doesn't inspire much action. I didn't see much action like that in the film. The music voices discontent with how things are and reveals hopes for the future, but doesn't really say what we're going to do about it. How are we going to get from A to B?
If the film was intended to be about a particular idea being protested, I think the historical context should have been defined more. The recent Bush reign certainly provides enough fuel for protest, starting from its questionable legitimacy, to its illegal war in Iraq, to illegal wiretaps of its own citizens, to the gross negligence that resulted in the worldwide economic meltdown. Some of this is covered in other films, but it seems that more of it needed to be here as well, to place the music in its environment. We see some of the strong emotion that was going on at the time, but it's somehow muted without a great deal of time devoted to the individual stories that bring it out.
(Most of the rest of this post is me blathering on about what I'd have liked included ... you may wish to stop reading now)
If the film was intended to be a broad look at protest music generally in the previous ten years, it could have included more variety. Even just staying on the left, the film largely ignores the current civil rights movement whose songs might include (all currently viewable on Youtube) Melange Lavonne - Gay Bash, Lily Allen - F--- You, Jen Foster - I Didn't Just Kiss Her, Josh Zuckerman - Got Love, Ozomatli - Gay Vatos In Love, Tom Goss & Matt Alber - This Is Who We Are, Court Yard Hounds - Ain't No Son. And although it's Dutch, it's impossible to exclude Terrence Van Cleave - Two Fathers.
Then if you want to include protest songs from the right, well, I can't stomach that much crazy, but it's there, everything from Westboro Baptist Church to the Tea Party to Toby Keith. It might have been useful for comparison. The right has co-opted some of the lyrical themes of the left. How does that change the meaning of protest music?
If you watch through the end credits, one group mentions that after Bush, they'll take on religion. Along those lines, like-minded viewers may be interested in First Aid Kit - Hard Believer, Pennywise - My God, Tim Minchin - Pope Song, A Perfect Circle - Judith, Jay Spears - Smak Dem Christians Down. There's likely a growing audience for a film on this subject.
Last, in the Internet age, no protest music film is complete without the elephant in the room: Dan Bull - Home Taping Is Killing Music, MC Lars - Download This Song, Weird Al Yankovic - Don't Download This Song. It would be interesting to explore how the sharing of protest music affects its influence, and how artists and labels and listeners feel about that.
By far, best documentary I've ever seen!
chelle077411 October 2010
By far, this is the best documentary I have ever seen! From learning what these artists go thru on a daily basis just to be able to sing what they truly believe and at same time, make a decent living - made me gain so much more respect for them. This film taught me so many life lessons, including to never be afraid to take a stand for something you believe. Couldn't help but wonder after watching "Sounds Like a Revolution," Where is this "freedom of speech" that we hear so many great things about in America? And what exactly do our soldiers fight for if we never have it completely? If the US government makes it very difficult for any artist who wants to take a stand and sing against war or something else they strongly believe....So glad I watched this documentary as I'm more aware of what is really going on nowadays and now I can try and help make a change - for the better, at least!
Good insight
tbraun-home29 August 2010
Good insight into the dark side of the music industry, as well as the good side of humanity where artists stay true to their art and their message rather than going for the fast buck. Like so many other things today, music has become sickeningly commercialised to the point where no intelligent people I know ever listen to the crap being pumped out over the mainstream radio waves anymore. While some rebel rockers come across as simply angry airheads lacking in substance, artists like Michael Franti and Paris, featured in this film, are the epitome of what music should be: passion, message, inspiration, fun. Their great music combined with their intelligent reflection and their refusal to pander to the big corporate music mafia like most of the big money 'artists' out there is part of what makes them true artists, and I hope everyone who watches this film will support them and others like them. Kudos to the filmmakers for telling their story. Would love to see more specifically on the inner workings of the toxic music and media industry.
Stimulating Discussions & Insights Into Protest Music Surrounding Bush Era Politics
sassomichael8 September 2010
This film features footage of live concerts and interviews with music makers protesting the Bush Era politics post 9-11. The arguments they make are rather compelling. A short excerpt from an interview with folk legend David Crosby drives home the point that in the Bush era, musicians and artists were discouraged from singing or speaking out against the war in Iraq. The movie is worth a viewing or two to experience the music of this historical time and see some great footage and rare clips. Getting an inside peak at artists discussing their passion for social justice and watching them perform in front of supportive audiences is inspiring. The economic structure surrounding the music business was eloquently discussed by ethnomusicologist Rob Bowman. The film focuses on a subject matter that remains outside of main stream media attention.
Sounds Like a Revolution
mchollisterrachel22 October 2010
The Toronto Undeground Cinema was host to a politically charged punk rock documentary in their third-annual Moving Images Festival. Corporate vs. independent and the political debate between both; should artists have to conform to the censorship of large corporations, or should they simply make their own independent label? This was the topic discussed in the two-hour documentary, Sounds Like a Revolution. Tailing the lives of independent artists such as Fat Mike, Tom Morello, Michael Franti and Anti-Flag, viewers were given their perspectives on the corporate America music scene. The footage seemed a little dated, but it made a clear point, on numerous occasions, the loss of freedom of expression through the eyes of these independent artists. Their rise of activism and their steep fall on the music charts. With a background in Political Science and a passion for film making, Ontario born Summer Preney (Love) created this bureaucratic documentary. She got a force of enthusiastic film makers and activists who now go by the name, Deltatime Productions. That being said Preney touched on the subject of 9/11 and how it had affected the music scene. How the Dixie Chicks were blacklisted for standing up for their political views and much more. I would have to say the Preney made me think about how the music scene here in Canada is also affected by corporate America. Many Canadian artists sign with American Corporations and are used as clay and molded to what Sony or Epic Records believes will sell the most. I would have like to hear from a major recording artists, the Dixie Chicks perhaps or a large corporation and gotten their perspective on the issue, even if they refused to comment, perhaps that put into the mix to shake things up and make it not so independent. However, that being said there was a lot of information thrown at me and I walked out of the theatre mulling things over in my head and wondering how my music choices have affected the music scene. rachelmchollister.wordpress.com
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
