{"id":56091,"date":"2025-01-29T19:09:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T19:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-january-29-2025-musical-activism-post-9-11-songs\/"},"modified":"2025-01-29T19:09:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T19:09:36","slug":"americanstudies-january-29-2025-musical-activism-post-9-11-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=56091","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: January 29, 2025: Musical Activism: Post-9\/11 Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[Forty
\nyears ago this week, the musical supergroup USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa<\/a> recorded
\ntheir single \u201cWe are the
\nWorld<\/a>\u201d (it would drop on March 7th<\/sup>). So this week I\u2019ll
\nAmericanStudy that effort and other examples of musical activism!]<\/p>\n

On how art
\ncan radically change in meaning alongside history. <\/span><\/p>\n

The song,
\nand one of the cultural works in any media, that became most overtly associated
\nwith September 11th<\/sup> and its aftermaths was released almost exactly a
\nyear before the attacks. America Town<\/i>,
\nthe second studio album from <\/span>Five for
\nFighting<\/span><\/a> (the stage name of singer-songwriter Vladimir John Ondrasik), was
\nreleased on September 26th<\/sup>, 2000 and included the song \u201c<\/span>Superman (It\u2019s Not Easy)<\/span><\/a>.\u201d That
\nsong, an interesting psychological examination of Superman\u2019s inner perspective
\nand emotions, was the album\u2019s second single and had already become a minor hit
\nby September 2001; but in the aftermath of the attacks it became an anthem for
\nthe first responders, an expression of their collective service and sacrifice
\non and after that horrific day. Five for Fighting\u2019s live piano performance of
\nit at the <\/span>October 20th<\/sup>
\nConcert for New York City<\/span><\/a> was one of the most moving moments in a
\nperiod of American and world history <\/span>full of
\nthem<\/span><\/a>, and cemented this song\u2019s enduring status as a definitive artistic
\nexpression of the best of post-9\/11 America.<\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously
\nall of Bruce Springsteen\u2019s 2002 album The
\nRising<\/i> comprised another, and much more intentional, such artistic
\nexpression. But interestingly enough, perhaps the single song from that album
\nwhich became most overtly connected to 9\/11 and its aftermaths\u2014including a <\/span>similar
\nlive performance<\/span><\/a> at another benefit concert, September 12th<\/sup>,
\n2001\u2019s televised special <\/span>\u201cAmerica: A Tribute to Heroes\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u2014was
\nlikewise written a year before that event. Springsteen first wrote the song \u201c<\/span>My City of Ruins<\/span><\/a>\u201d in
\nNovember 2000 for a Christmas benefit concert for Asbury Park, New Jersey, the
\nseaside community that had been such a vital element of Springsteen\u2019s childhood
\nand <\/span>early
\nmusical career<\/span><\/a> alike. By 2000 Asbury Park was in pretty rough shape (hence the
\nneed for a benefit concert), and so was the titular city of ruins to which
\nSpringsteen\u2019s speaker repeatedly implores that it \u201ccome on, rise up!\u201d By
\nperforming the song at the Tribute to Heroes benefit Springsteen already began
\nto shift its association to post-September 11th<\/sup> New York City,
\nhowever, and then his inclusion of it on The
\nRising<\/i>\u2014indeed, it is the album\u2019s concluding track\u2014cemented that new and
\nenduring association. <\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nspecific circumstances and ways in which these two songs became so closely
\nassociated with September 11th<\/sup> are thus quite different, but the
\nfundamental facts are nonetheless similar: songs written in the fall of 2000
\nbecoming repurposed a year later after the attacks and in the process coming to
\nfeel like collective artistic anthems of that moment and its emotions. And
\nthat\u2019s what I would especially emphasize about this interesting and telling
\npair of 9\/11 songs: a particular and potent form of what literary critics would
\ncall <\/span>reader-response
\ntheory<\/span><\/a>. That <\/span>critical
\nperspective<\/span><\/a> argues that the meaning of texts is made not by the authors (nor
\nby intrinsic elements within those texts), but by audiences through their
\nengagement with and responses to the texts. In my understanding reader-response
\ngenerally focuses on individual reader\/audience member, but there\u2019s no reason
\nwhy we can\u2019t think about collective such responses, and indeed when it comes to
\nhistorical events that affect an entire community or nation, it makes sense
\nthat there would likewise be collective experiences of cultural and artistic
\nworks. Moreover, Springsteen sought to produce such a collective experience
\nwith his post-9\/11 album The Rising<\/i>,
\nand it\u2019s clear that he succeeded very fully indeed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Next
\nmusical activism tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What
\ndo you think? Activisms you\u2019d highlight?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Forty years ago this week, the musical supergroup USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa recorded their single \u201cWe are the World\u201d (it would drop on March 7th). So this week I\u2019ll AmericanStudy that effort and other examples of musical activism!] On how art can radically change in meaning alongside history. The song, and one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[14104,13299,3805,751,32024,6652],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-56091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-history","tag-activism","tag-americanstudies","tag-january","tag-musical","tag-post911","tag-songs"],"yoast_head":"\nAmericanStudies: January 29, 2025: Musical Activism: Post-9\/11 Songs - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=56091\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AmericanStudies: January 29, 2025: Musical Activism: Post-9\/11 Songs - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[Forty years ago this week, the musical supergroup USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa recorded their single \u201cWe are the World\u201d (it would drop on March 7th). 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