Songs of Protest: The Sounds of Rebellion

The 1975’s path to activism, culminating in their recent releases “The 1975” and “People,” captures what it means to be growing up human in an ever-changing world and draws attention to the songs of rebellion that have defined eras and changed the world through their influence. 

Music is one of society’s best teachers. In Songs of Protest, writers analyze some of music’s greatest hits, using their findings to make sense of the world around them.

Written and illustrated by Emma Tanner

Greta Thunberg is going to save the world. The Swedish 16-year-old has spoken in front of world leaders at the United Nations Summit, began the “Skostrejk for Klimatet” (school strike for climate) that snowballed into a worldwide movement, and is the familiar face of the revolution to combat climate change — an issue that is currently acknowledged by many as the most pressing crisis in modern history. A mere child is now one of the greatest revolutionaries of the decade, and she is redefining what it means to be both a teen and a leader in the sociopolitical climate we find ourselves entangled in today. 

Thunberg has become recognized for her no-BS approach to climate change. Her practice of calling out world leaders for their failure to combat the crucial issue has caused her to receive a great amount of both support and backlash. Individuals opposed to Thunberg’s approach, such as Fox News correspondent Michael Knowles, have gone so far as to attack the 16-year-old with derogatory and stereotyping commentary, calling her “a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left.”

It is precisely this controversial attitude towards the unapologetic Thunberg that brought her to the attention of British alt-rock band The 1975, who recruited her to speak on their recently-released track “The 1975” from their upcoming album, Notes On A Conditional Form. 

Set to release on February 21, 2020, Notes on a Conditional Form comes just a little over a year after the release of their third album, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, which rocketed the band to international acclaim. The album held undertones of political activism, which contrasted lead singer Matt Healy’s previous history of indifference. 

Healy is a living contradiction. He makes his hatred for Trump well known, while also calling out Trump-hating as a modern cliché. He has repeatedly expressed distaste at his status as a “rockstar,” calling out the stereotypes surrounding the title, while also fulfilling those very stereotypes by centering his lyrics around themes of sexual angst and excessive drug use. It is frontman Matt Healy’s paradoxical attitude that makes The 1975, and every album they release, a whirlwind of the conflicting nature of the human condition, exploring themes of impermanence, passion, and mortality as simply and seamlessly as one would discuss the weather. 

The band’s self-titled debut album, The 1975, explored themes of unrequited love, sexual desire, and the overall confusion of being young and human. Since then, The 1975 has grown from their self-concerned reflections of love and fantasy to comment on current political and social peculiarities, as demonstrated by their most recent album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. Throughout this record, The 1975 dip their toes into the realm of political and social wokeness to comment on the crisis of humanity that comes with being alive in modern times. With lyrics such as “I found a grey hair in one of my suits / like context in the modern debate I just took it out,” The 1975 display how they have matured lyrically and personally since their first album by mixing tender themes of romantic longing with unhindered commentary on the political agenda. 

Acting as a transition from the band’s days of boyish youth to an era of fully grown activism, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships is a portrayal of exactly what it feels like to be growing up in an age where the world seems to be ending every other minute. Equally concerned with the world-ending feeling of love and the emotion that comes with having an alleged sexual abuser elected as President of the United States, The 1975 perfectly capture the moment of the in-between — their lyrics show exactly what kind of world we’re living in. 

A Brief Inquiry seems to jump from one hot topic to another, never quite landing on a point of focus but instead attempting to comment on all the unhappy inclinations of modernity. But based on what The 1975 have teased of their upcoming album, they have chosen to tackle a very specific issue — the climate crisis. By enlisting Thunberg to star on the first song released from Notes On A Conditional Form, The 1975 call immediate attention to the issue and make a stark proclamation of precisely what they will be exploring throughout the album. 

The 1975 decided to make even more of a statement by allowing Thunberg to weave her own scripted commentary into the synth heavy instrumentals of the single “The 1975.” Typically, “The 1975” is the name of the first track of each of the band’s albums. Always with the same lyrics, previous releases of “The 1975” have only differed instrumentally. But this time, the band wanted to draw attention to Thunberg’s words by making them the sole commentary on a track that breaks the predictable pattern. 

The song acts as a call to arms, with the background instrumentals acting only as a complementary soundtrack to the urgency of Thunberg’s message. Thunberg highlights the importance and urgency of the issue throughout the track, outlining just how serious the problem is while also encouraging listeners to enact the change that is the solution. She implores the audience, saying, “I ask you to please wake up and make the changes required possible. To do your best is no longer good enough. We must all do the seemingly impossible.” 

The severity of what is being discussed is apparent, and the dire importance of the climate issue does not go unnoticed by listeners. In the final line of the track, she decidedly declares: “It is not time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel.” With this track, The 1975 highlight exactly what that rebellion sounds like — against accepted standards, against world leaders, even against the pattern of sound they had set for themselves — and thus highlights the importance of fighting back in this modern world. 

Following “The 1975,” the band released “People,” another tease at their upcoming album and a track that strays far away from the synth-fueled, pop sound that has become The 1975’s trademark. “People” is a hard rock track from the start, with Healy abrasively yelling, “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! / It’s Monday morning and we’ve only got a thousand of them left” in the opening line. By alluding to Thunberg’s previous call to “wake up,” Healy further highlights the impending doom that accompanies the decline of the climate. Yeah, Mondays might suck, but what sucks worse? Only having a dwindling number of Mondays left. Healy distinctly portrays the looming closeness of the end, screaming to be heard over the noise of the modern day, desperately hoping his call reaches the ears of the future saviors of our tortured earthly home.  

The band’s recent inclination towards activism has revamped and reworked the idea of a protest anthem, adding The 1975 to a list of names such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Green Day, U2, and so on. All of these artists and more have used their sound to make political statements, call listeners to action, and ultimately comment on the more negative side effects of the human condition. With “the 1975” and “People,” The 1975 join their ranks, symbolizing a turning point in The 1975’s career in which they recognize their influence and use it to work towards change. 

In the words of Thunberg: “It is time to rebel.” The rebellion is happening. It is here, and it sounds a whole lot like a The 1975 song.