Power of music to effect change
James Croot finds a new eight-part docu-series on one year in music an engrossing watch.
Admirers of cinematic documentaries Amy, Senna and Diego Maradona, of whom there are many, should check out Apple TV+’s latest series.
That’s because the eightpart 1971: The Year Music Changed Everything (which begins streaming on the global service on Friday) offers director Asif Kapadia’s crowdpleasing mix of pitch-perfect archival footage, historical audio and modern-day voiceovers on a grand scale.
The ambitious project aims to capture the turbulent time, exactly 50 years ago, when America was hugely divided, embroiled in an unpopular war and saddled with a president (Richard Nixon) many didn’t care for. Racial and generational tensions were high.
Rock stars were the most influential people on the planet, and they weren’t just going to stand on the sidelines.
As the opening episode, What’s Happening? , so evocatively and poignantly demonstrates: music wasn’t just reflecting the times, it was helping shape and cause it. A ‘‘trojan horse’’ for highly politicised messaging in the form of ‘‘beautiful music’’.
Everyone from Marvin Gaye and John Lennon to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were focusing their abilities on creating protest songs with lyrics that reflected their concerns about America’s involvement in Vietnam and the growing unrest within its own borders.
‘‘I feel the world is in awful state and the country is headed for civil war,’’ Gaye fears. Lennon, in one of many incredibly intimate ‘‘interviews’’ unearthed for this project, describes dissent as ‘‘the gasoline of democracy’’.
Kapadia’s trademark audiovisual montage style, that eschews traditional talking head-style documentary storytelling, works magnificently, allowing the songwriters’ words to shine, with the lyrics sometimes even used as onscreen subtitles for extra effect.
You’ll learn the genesis of hits like Lennon’s Imagine and Gaye’s What’s Going On , as well as some of their less wellknown tunes. There’s jawdropping footage of Nixon declaring his love for ‘‘square music’’ and being on the receiving end of a protest by a member of a singing group performing at the White House.
The lead-up to and the execution of George Harrison’s Concert For Bangladesh is examined in detail, and subsequent episodes promise looks at the work and influence of Aretha Franklin, Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones and Joni Mitchell.
And, of course, not only is this a fascinating, richly rewarding, lovingly assembled treasure trove of material not seen in half a century, given the events of the past few years, it also has an extra resonance and power for those viewing these epochal moments for the first time.
Rock stars were the most influential people on the planet, and they weren’t just going to stand on the sidelines.
1971: The Year Music Changed Everything begins streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday.