One of the essential functions of art – whether it’s visual art or the performing arts - is to comment on society and to highlight issues that require change. Pop music is ideal for this because of its widespread appeal.
It’s right there in the name; it's pop(ular).
Never did pop music and protest synergise more effectively in Aotearoa than in the 1980s; an era when there was no internet and therefore nothing to dilute popular music’s enormous power as a rallying point for public focus.
Today music commentator Ian Chapman revisits four tracks from this golden era of protest.
Photo: Supplied
