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When a nation is on the brink of independence or partition, when injustice spits in the face of truth or when an individual attempts to engage the force of change, a collective spirit often swells and crests the precipice of otherwise complacent human behaviour.

The collective human spirit can be a vehicle for positive change in the wake of intolerance or war as was seen in the 1960’s in the United States with the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Vietnam rallies. That same spirit can also be summoned for evil in its thirst for hysteria and fear mongering as demonstrated by the Nazis or the Khmer Rouge. However, the most compelling examples of the collective human spirit exist within the personal spaces of our daily lives.

In dissecting the cannon of popular music that has enabled or encouraged social change, one must walk the fine line of choice between songs that reached a wide range of people due to their popularity and those songs that truly made a difference. The current wave of doom and gloom that exists in mainstream media rides on the break of a tidal wave of reported hope and change in the wake of Barrack Obamas’ election.

Something happened on the road to revolution.

Someone or something above pulled on the strings of creativity and left us in the wake of mediocrity. Exposure to thought-provoking music has been shaded by an ADD-led onslaught of 15 minute-famers whose momentary appeal doesn’t seem to have the prerequisite punch card.

Bubblegum pop has left a bad taste in my mouth and normally I love both bubblegum and pop.