10 artists committed to the climate emergency
Environment — di Gaetano Scippa
From Massive Attack to Billie Eilish, some artists committed to the environment stand out more than others for their initiatives, messages and concrete actions.
10 artists committed to the climate emergency
From Massive Attack to Billie Eilish, some artists committed to the environment stand out more than others for their initiatives, messages and concrete actions.
Awareness of environmental issues in music dates back to April 1970, with the birth of the current environmentalist movement in the United States and the establishment of Earth Day, dedicated to nature and conservation. The first modern environmental rock anthem is that of Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, who in the song Big yellow taxi speaks of "paving paradise to put up a parking lot". A hit that, even today, paves the way for numerous musicians and artists committed to confronting environmental destruction. Old and new generations side by side, among whom Massive Attack, Billie Eilish, Grimes, Lana Del Rey, Thom Yorke, Björk, Paul McCartney, Brian Eno, The 1975 and Childish Gambino stand out.
Half a century of environmental anthems and committed artists, from Joni Mitchell to the present day
A year after Joni Mitchell, the velvety voice of Marvin Gaye in Mercy mercy me (the ecology) warns of the impact of pollution on birds and fish, while the Beach Boys' Don't go in the water invites listeners to reflect on the problem of water. Using apocalyptic imagery, the Pixies' Monkey's gone to heaven in 1989 sings about the ozone hole.
Dave Matthews Band's 1996 album "Crash" features two environmental psalms, Proudest monkey and Too much, the latter openly critical of consumerism and unchecked capitalism with explicit lyrics such as "I eat too much / I drink too much / I want too much". Pearl Jam write socially conscious pieces, such as Do the evolution from 1998, in which Eddie Vedder sings of how humanity is bending the Earth to its will, transforming beautiful landscapes into impervious and polluted surfaces. Neil Young, an artist who has always been sensitive to the issue, in 2009 dedicates the entire album Fork in the road to alternative energy sources and electric mobility.
The urgency of The 1975, Billie Eilish, Grimes, Lana Del Rey, Childish Gambino
Yet, until a year ago, most musicians were not ready to confront the climate crisis. Combining environmental activism and music was considered banal (Bono Vox knows something about that), not very cool and even not particularly lucrative. Coldplay, by announcing that they would not tour until concerts became more eco-sustainable, effectively gave up hundreds of millions of ticket sales for their shows. Without knowing, moreover, that they would have had to give them up anyway due to the pandemic.
2019 is the year in which climate change truly begins to change music. Starting with The 1975, who last July released a same-titled "song" featuring Greta Thunberg's speech over a barely-there musical backdrop. Other musicians prefer to send more personal messages, even if equally "political". Like Billie Eilish, currently the most famous, young and outspoken artist on the climate crisis. Who, in any situation and by every means possible — whether a music video or an interview — calls for immediate climate action: "If we don't change, we're going to die."
Much like Eilish, Lana Del Rey is aware of the profound changes the climate crisis is bringing and wants us to share in that awareness. In the song The greatest, where she melancholically delivers lines such as "L.A. is in flames, it's getting hot" and "Life on Mars ain't just a song anymore", she sings about California's worsening wildfires, how an entire generation has been burnt, and hope as a dwindling resource.
Another singer who has chosen to immerse herself deeply in the issue is the Canadian Claire Boucher, known as Grimes. Her fifth record, released in March, Miss anthropocene, is a concept album about climate change. The title refers to the name of a hypothetical goddess created to personify the global threat in an allusive, nihilistic and apocalyptic way.
In his latest studio album, the all-round actor, singer and artist Childish Gambino conveys his anxieties about racism, ageing, mass incarceration, climate change and technological dependency with crystal clarity. His previous single Feels like summer, which only on the surface seems a breezy summer melody, is already a wake-up call for the climate crisis, which causes extreme heat, water scarcity, the disappearance of "the bees that we rely upon" and of "the birds that sing in the morning to wake us".
The perseverance of Massive Attack, Thom Yorke, Björk, Paul McCartney, Brian Eno
If artists from generations Y and Z are born already with faint hopes and have no choice but to put everything they have on the line, less predictable are the motivations of more seasoned musicians — long-standing activists who nonetheless have no intention of giving up on the fate of the planet. Massive Attack, at the forefront of environmental issues, commissioned a study from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester to investigate the environmental impact of their live shows and provide concrete solutions to the music industry on reducing its environmental footprint. The result is visible at the top of their website.
There is no spare ‘year or two’. All elements & all sectors of our economies & public life must come together to redesign a sustainable future. This includes the music industry.
Together with Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack, several committed artists including Thom Yorke and Brian Eno have signed an open letter in response to those who accuse them of hypocrisy when they go on tour, polluting, while fighting the climate emergency. The text, which supports the climate civil disobedience movement Extinction Rebellion, acknowledges that "the music industry has a large carbon footprint", but also explains that "without systemic change, our lifestyles will continue to cause ecological damage".
In 2016, Thom Yorke and Radiohead release a track entitled "The numbers", originally conceived as "Silent spring", dedicated to the pioneering manifesto of the environmentalist movement by biologist Rachel Carson. Yorke's falsetto provides a reminder that "we belong to the Earth / to her we return" and, despite the enormous challenges posed by climate change, encourages us to "take back what is ours / one day at a time".
For some artists, talking is not enough — action is required. For some time now, Björk has been trying to persuade citizens and governments to pay attention to climate change. Her 2011 album "Biophilia" means "love of nature", while her 2017 album is entitled "Utopia" — no further explanation needed. The Icelandic singer never makes explicit references to climate change, but her compositions always convey a sense of respect for the planet.
One who never gives up, finally, is Paul McCartney. Three years after taking part in the Love to the earth project — an environmental anthem launched by the UN in 2015 alongside Jon Bon Jovi, Sean Paul, Sheryl Crowe, Leona Lewis, Fergie and others — the former Beatle released the album "Egypt Station", containing the track Despite Repeated Warnings, aimed at climate change deniers, in which he reflects his frustration at climate inaction. As he explains in an interview, the song challenges the idea that "everything will be fine, don't worry". Much like these days, in the thick of the pandemic crisis, when people stubbornly keep repeating #everythingwillbeok.