Can Rock Save the World?

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Live Earth founder Kevin Wall, Paste magazine editor Josh Jackson and musician Alejandro Escovedo talk about music's role in bringing about change. They join host Bob Boilen in examining the ways rock music has helped solve problems on both a global and personal level. Below are just a few of the countless songs that have helped make a difference.

This feature was inspired and made possible by the latest issue of Paste magazine which looks at the often powerful relationship between music, musicians and global activism.

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Long before Farm Aid and "We Are the World," there was The Concert for Bangladesh. The 1971 performance was organized by George Harrison, fresh out of the Beatles, to raise money for the troubled country. It featured many of his friends and fellow artists like Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Billy Preston.

George Harrison

CD: The Concert for Bangladesh
Song: "Bangladesh"
Label: Capitol

Listen to an excerpt from "Bangladesh"

Note: The label did not give us permission to play the full version of this song.

In 1969, poet and activist John Sinclair was caught with two joints and sentenced to 10 years in prison. John Lennon wrote this song in protest and later headlined at a benefit concert for Sinclair. Sinclair was freed on appeal after serving 29 months.

John Lennon

CD: Some Time in New York City
Song: "John Sinclair"
Label: Capitol

Listen to an excerpt from "John Sinclair"

Note: The label did not give us permission to play the full version of this song.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded this Neil Young song to protest the National Guard's 1970 shooting of 13 students on the campus of Kent State in Ohio. Four of the students, who were protesting the Vietnam War, were killed. Nine others were injured. A studio recording of this song first appeared on the 1974 album So Far.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

CD: So Far
Song: "Ohio"
Label: Atlantic

Listen to an excerpt from "Ohio"

Note: the label did not give us permisson to play the full version of this song.

U2's opening track for their 1983 album War was an overtly political song against the violence in Northern Ireland.

U2

CD: War
Song: "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Label: Island

Listen to "Sunday Bloody Sunday"

This 1980 Peter Gabriel song remembers Steve Biko, a South African anti-apartheid campaigner who was arrested and died in police custody in 1977. Though police claimed his death was the result of a hunger strike, Biko was found to have massive head injuries.

Peter Gabriel

CD: Peter Gabriel III (Melt)
Song: "Biko"
Label: Geffen

Listen to "Biko"

Steve Earle's meditation on a death row prison guard first appeared on the 1996 soundtrack for the film Dead Man Walking.

Steve Earle

CD: Dead Man Walking (Soundtrack)
Song: "Ellis Unit One"
Label: Sony

Listen to "Ellis Unit One"

Proceeds from the sale of this track by The Arcade Fire go to help support the Hatian charity Partners in Health.

The Arcade Fire

CD: Neon Bible
Song: "Intervention"
Label: Merge

Listen to "Intervention"

Alejandro Escovedo got his start in a punk band called the Nuns in the mid '70s and went on to pioneer his own blend of folk, progressive country, roots rock and various Latin flavors. He collapsed following a show in 2003 and was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. This album was a benefit to raise money for his medical bills.

Calexico (Various)

CD: Por Vida
Song: "Wake"
Label: Or Music

Listen to "Wake"

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