The Political Influence of Pop Music. An Analysis of Michael Jackson's 'They Don't Really Care About Us'

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 2.0, University of Wuppertal, language: English, abstract: The thesis of my work is that pop music can be used as a medium of political messages. But what is actually pop music? Can this genre be used to spread a political message? And why is the influence of the media so important in this case? In the following I will introduce the phenomenon of pop music and try to give a definition. Furthermore I will discuss the question whether the lyrics of pop music can be considered as poetry or not. After that we take a closer look on a model that illustrates the relation between pop culture and politics. At the end of my work I will discuss the political role of pop music with the help of the famous song 'They don't really care about us' by Michael Jackson. Everybody knows pop music. It is a genre of popular music that found its way into the Western world during the 1950s and 1960s deriving from rock and roll. Its big influence in the Western world is quit remarkable. It is so remarkable that when it comes to the definition of what music in general is people start to think automatically about Pop music. This genre has become one of the most influential music forms in the world. But still there are songs like 'They don't really care about us' from Michael Jackson that show the political side of Pop music. The pop culture is a voice that communicates within the mainstream of the Western culture. It contains ideas, perspectives and attitudes towards the everyday lives of the society.