By: Jared Stranberg
Music can be more than just art. At the Durham Science Museum of Omaha, the Louder Than Words exhibit featured artifacts and facts about rock and roll’s evolution from the post-World War II era to today.
Rock ‘n’ Roll as a genre started picking up speed in the late 40s, combining the musical styles of country, folk, blues and gospel music into something that attracted younger generations, especially teenagers during the Eisenhower presidency. However, parents and other moral figureheads grew wary of the new fad. Even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. claimed the genre “plunges men’s minds into degrading and immoral depths.”
As time passed, rock as a genre became a more widely accepted norm, but not without resistance. The U.S. House Oversight Committee fined, pushed for firing, and even jailed radio DJs such as Alan Freed for broadcasting rock and promoting black artists.
When 250,000 people marched toward Washington in the fight for racial equality, a group of artists known as the Freedom Singers joined the crowd. Odetta, Josh White, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson all performed for the crowd at the National Mall.
The exhibit also moves through the Vietnam era. One of the most recognizable songs “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival was a direct response to the marriage of David Eisenhower, who was not going to be drafted as a “fortunate one.”
Rock music was not only about the class struggle, but also the gender and sexuality rights for everybody as well. In second wave feminism, Lesley Gore released “You Don’t Own Me” and Helen Reddy wrote “I Am Woman.” As for gay rights, Barry Manilow and Bette Midler performed at a gay liberation rally in New York City in 1973.
Despite the popularity, censorship always remained in the rearview mirror of music that could be deemed “offensive.” The founding of the Parents Music Resource Center tried to label certain artists and groups as offensive in order to protect children.
Eventually when rock become normalized, rap became the new target. House Speaker Newt Gingrich tried to get advertising pulled from radio stations that played rap music in 1991. Civil rights veteran C. Delores Tucker accused rap of glorifying violence, misogyny and drugs that degraded African American culture in 1996.
Today, music still speaks messages of rights and freedom. Lady Gaga’s release of “Born This Way” promoted LGBT rights, while artists such as Janelle Monae and Kendrick Lamar protest police brutality and the murder of black people.
As music has evolved, it will always bear a message; a rallying cry to a cause that an artist may deem worthy. It has a way of reaching the public that no ordinary speech can do, and thus will always remain part of the changing of the world.
In the words of the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, “Where words fail, music speaks.” Music is the weapon to pierce through the noise when words alone cannot be heard. 
The acoustic guitar of Odetta, named “Baby.” This guitar was used at her performance in the National Mall during the March on Washington in 1963. 
Joshua White’s guitar used during the performance for the March on Washington. Known as Pinewood Tom or Tippy Barton, White was previously blacklisted from American television before being invited to dinner by President Kennedy. It was there he learned that Kennedy was inspired by his records while attending college in the Roosevelt era. 
The album “The Times They Are a-Changin’” had just been finished by the then 22-year-old Bob Dylan when President Kennedy was assassinated. Songs from the album spoke of civil rights struggles and fundamental changes in American society, resonating with fans across the country. 
Elvis Presley met President Nixon in the winter of 1970 after writing a letter claiming that he could be a federal agent since he wasn’t the enemy of hippies, communists and Black Panthers. His wife Priscilla said that Elvis simply wanted the badge because he thought he could carry guns and drugs anywhere without repercussions. When Elvis and Nixon met on Dec. 21, Elvis gave the president a gun, and Nixon returned it with an honorary drug enforcement badge. 
The jacket worn Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd during a tour. Skynyrd’s song “Sweet Home Alabama” tried to ease the division between the north and the south. In the song is a message that says not all northerners are corrupt because of Nixon, just like not all southerners are racist because of anti-integrationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace. 
The Village People were responsible for the popularization of disco, despite its connotation as homosexual. As a band, they sought to promote acceptance for homosexuals by dressing in “gay fantasy figures” such as police officers, cowboys and construction workers for the release of their first hit “Macho Man” in 1978. 
The Fender Telecaster played by Joe Strummer of The Clash. In the song “Washington Bullets,” the band paid respects to President Carter for finally acknowledging the human rights abuses in Nicaragua. 
Roughly 60,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War. During that time, the draft sparked anger in many songs such as “Alice’s Restaurant” and “I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore.” Passions were so high that it took John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival all of 20 minutes to write “Fortunate Son.” 
Robert Nesta Marley, hailing from Jamaica, pioneered the Rastafarian and reggae culture. Themes such as peace, love and unity were heavily present in his song writing. These themes led to his reception of the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations in 1978. Pictured is one of Marley’s stage jackets. 
A musician can incite the smallest or largest changes using simple instruments. A skilled artist uses their tools to speak a message, whether a cry for support such as the Live Aid concert of 1985, or an angry protest like Green Day’s “American Idiot.” 
For the “Paint the White House Black” music video, George Clinton wore what he called the “Uncle Jam” outfit. In the song he had guest appearances from Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Chuck D., all dreaming of a day where an African American would become President. Their dream was fulfilled in 2008. 
In the Super Bowl after 9/11, Bono of U2 wore a black suede jacket with an American flag design underneath. The Super Bowl of 2002 is still regarded as one of the best, perhaps because of the sense of unity after the tragedy five months previous. 
When attending the 2017 Grammy Awards, artist Joy Villa wore her support of the recently inaugurated President Donald Trump, featuring his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” and the name “Trump” on the dress. 
Among the controversies of police brutality and racism were deaths of African Americans such as Trayvon Martin and Freddie Gray. Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout” approached the issue head-on, listing numerous black men and women who died in similar circumstances. 
The custom-made Fender “Erica Clapton” Stratocaster, embedded with medallions and badges from first responders and painted to depict the ruins of the World Trade Center with a flag flying above. 
A piece of concrete from the Berlin Wall, which fell Nov. 10 1989,. In that same week, Neil Young debuted his newest album “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World,” which he had previously wrote after learning that his band couldn’t go to the Soviet Union.
