Songs that sing the crisis: music, words, youth narratives and identities in late modernity

Abstract

In this special edition on popular music we seek to explore Simon Frith's (1978: 39) argument that: "Music's presence in youth culture is established but not its purpose." 'Songs that sing the crisis' captures contemporary accounts which build upon popular music's legacy, courage and sheer determination to offer social and cultural critique of oppressive structures or political injustice as they are being lived by young people today. Young people have consistently delivered songs that have focused on struggles for social rights, civil rights, women rights, ethnic and sexual minorities rights, through creative anger, emotion and resistance and we know that music matters because we consciously feel the song (DeNora, 2000). However, in the aftermath of the post 2008 global economic and cultural crises, young people in particular have faced austerity, social hardship and political changes, which have impacted on their future lives (France, 2016, Kelly and Pike, 2017). This Special Issue assesses the key contestation where popular music is a mechanism to not only challenge but to think through ordinary people's experience and appeals for social justice. The present introduction starts by presenting the historical and theoretical background of this research field. Then introduces the articles about the songs that sing the crisis in Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Denmark, Egypt and Tunisia through the rhythms of rap, hip-hop, fado, electronic pop, indie rock, reggaeton, metal and maghragan.