Spoken word

When I was in high school, I listened to a lot of punk music from the 80s and 90s (fairly new stuff at that time). One of the artists was a band called the Dead Kennedys. They had a political edge (obviously) and their lead singer, a man known as Jello Biafra, even ran for Governor of California.
In any case, some of these artists had a message in their music, and others just wanted to promote their right to party. Jello Biafra seemed to have a message, but to really get a clear idea of what he was all about, I bought one of his "spoken word" albums.
Wikipedia describes "spoken word" as follows:
Spoken word is a form of literary art or artistic performance in which lyrics, poetry, or stories are spoken rather than sung. Spoken-word is often done with a musical background, but emphasis is kept on the speaker.

That, however, is not an accurate description of what Jello and some of his other contemporaries were doing. The only music involved was the fact that they were musicians. Otherwise, they had political or social commentary to share, and basically sat down with their fans (I suppose) and had a chat more or less.
The music albums the Dead Kennedys released did have a political message in the music - with such songs as "Holiday in Cambodia" - but they also had skits of sorts. These days, hip-hop and rap musicians have skits on their albums, usually them chatting up a girl. The Dead Kennedys had a skit of Margret Thatcher chatting up Reagan about starting a war. Reagan gradually got more and more excited and the two were panting about the idea by the end.

Anyway, I realize that this was my form of news back then. These days I read the news with skepticism and interest in the way things really work. I think that the commentary that was contained in the music helped to shape that. Teenagers today are probably looking for a message they can relate to today. I don't think they just listen to whatever lyrics are out there and believe blindly. When we're young, we have beliefs, and we look for ways to expand them.

I still listen to spoken word, by the way. I haven't heard Jello speak in a while, but a former singer for the band Black Flag has been boosting his career in music and movies with spoken word albums as well. Henry Rollins used to put out books of poetry when I was a teenager, which seemed bold for a punk rocker then. Today his spoken word performances are part social commentary, part political activism, and a lot of goofing around. These guys are comedians who are too angry to leave it at laughter and want to drive the point home, basically.

However, I often recall the words of one of my high school teachers. He was a man of small-stature, skinny, balding and wore glasses. He was a well-liked teacher, however, because he seemed to be able to relate to the students and kept his classes interesting. He told us that we would be surprised at what he was like when he was younger; he wasn't so different from many of us. He said he was a punk rocker on top of it all. However, as he got older he was surprised to find himself listening to a type of music he NEVER thought he'd enjoy: classical. His reasoning was simple and it resonated with me at the time. "There gets to be a time when you get tired of hearing music that is trying to tell you something, to shout stuff in your ears. I just wanted to listen to music in its purest form, and I suppose I found that in Mozart."

I guess sometimes the best spoken word is that which uses few words to get the point across.