Lyrical Lefties

For a long time, Grime was considered to be an underground music scene - but how has its rise to mainstream popularity affected its influence on the political beliefs of young people in the UK? (" Roskilde Festival Stormzy-2.jpg "  by  Henry W. Laurisch  is marked with  CC BY-SA 4.0 .) On 14 June 2017, a fire started on the fourth floor of Grenfell tower, a 23-storey tower block in North Kensington, West London. Tragically, the fire spread uncontrollably, causing the deaths of 72 people. After months of inquiry, anger, hurt and frustration, it was found that the reason why the fire was so aggressive and persistant was because of the building's cladding and external instillation. It had been compromised, the building company choosing to opt for cheaper, rather than safer, alternatives. Widely covered on National news, the horrific incident brought to light the awful implications of Tory cuts to health and safety legislation. David Cameron himself spoke of 'the health ...

Over recent years, Indie music has become synonymous with leftist politics. Artists like Style Council and The Clash paved the way for newer artists to inject their own political activism into the indie music scene. One of these artists who has recently gained recognition on a larger scale is Sam Fender, a 27 year old singer-songwriter from North Shields who gained fame for using his music to express his own leftist politics and beliefs. "Sam Fender - Live at Leeds" by Braden F is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Sam Fender’s critique of Tory austerity is perhaps seen most strongly into his award-winning hit ‘Seventeen goi ng under’: ‘ She said the debt, the debt, the debt So I thought about shifting gear And how she wept and wept and wept Well, luck came and died 'round here I see my mother, the DWP see a number .’   In this song, Fender touches on many aspects of growing up in working-class communities where life was characterised by ‘the debt, the debt, the debt’. His rete...

Historically, the rave has always been an event of resistance against authority. Beginning in the 1980's, rave culture in Britain was originally birthed as a remedy for the misery caused by the Thatcherite government. It was a place for everyone, breeching the barriers between different groups and often resulting in an environment where socio-politics were left at the door. Raves historically allowed people to give in to the urges which mainstream society aimed to control and suppress: drugs, sex, music, dancing, and the absence of a need for authority or leadership. The socially free nature of raves as they existed in the late eighties and nineties meant that they posed a threat to government powers and power structures. Unlike the power structures within the political system which favoured the rich and privileged, the rave scene encouraged equality and a duty of care between and for all members. There were no leaders, and often not even an official host as raves were held in publ...

  Hello. My name is Tom, and this is my newly created blog ‘Lyrical Lefties’! The focus of this blog is to explore and discuss left wing music as a form of protest against conservative governments and their policies in the UK. We will be looking at different controversies and scandals which the tories oversaw, such as Grenfell and Windrush, and the responses that were elicited from left wing musicians in their musical, political activism.   In the coming few weeks, I will be exploring a range of different genres - from BritPop, to Rave Music, to modern day indie rock - and their relationships to a range of different political issues, such as Margaret Thatcher’s governance, the neglect of the working-class, and over a decade of Tory austerity. I wanted to delve into this topic because I have grown up in a working-class environment, raised by the likes of Pulp and Billy Bragg. My upbringing also means that I’ve seen first-hand how my community has been affected by the Torie...