1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/revolution_will_not_be_televised_6722.jpg]] |
2 | [[caption-width-right:350: ''The revolution will not be televised, brothers; the revolution will be live!'']] |
3 | |
4 | ''The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'' is a 1974 [[GreatestHitsAlbum compilation album]] by musical poet Music/GilScottHeron[[note]] It collects tracks from three of his earlier albums: "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", "Brother" and "Whitey on the Moon" from ''Small Talk at 125th and Lenox'' (1970); "Save the Children", "Lady Day and John Coltrane", "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" and "Pieces of a Man" from ''Pieces of a Man'' (1971); and "Get Out of the Ghetto Blues", "Did You Hear What They Said?", "No Knock" and "Sex Education: Ghetto Style" from ''Free Will'' (1972)[[/note]]. |
5 | |
6 | The {{title track}} is a [[SpokenWordInMusic spoken-word piece]] wherein Scott-Heron recites {{poetry}} while a conga and bongo percussionist plays in the background. Despite this, it is still classified as a music album, usually as {{jazz}} and [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration beat poetry]]. |
7 | |
8 | The track[=/=]album's name has since become an iconic slogan, and the album itself has been praised for its [[ProtestSong political and social commentary]]. It's a CultClassic within the black consciousness movement, but also very popular in [[HipHop hip-hop]], as Scott-Heron's socially conscious and catchy vocal delivery is considered to be a predecessor of the genre, along with The Last Poets. Quotes from this record have made for rife {{sampling}}, especially in ConsciousHipHop and PoliticalRap. |
9 | |
10 | "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" was added to the UsefulNotes/NationalRecordingRegistry in 2005 for being "historically, culturally and aesthetically important". |
11 | |
12 | The album title itself has become so iconic that it [[TropeNamers inspired]] no less than '''''four''''' [[PunBasedTitle Pun-Based Titles]] on Website/TVTropes: |
13 | |
14 | * TheResolutionWillNotBeIdentified %%invoked |
15 | * TheRevolutionWillNotBeBureaucratized |
16 | * TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized |
17 | * TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified |
18 | |
19 | ---- |
20 | !!Tracklist |
21 | |
22 | [[AC: Side One]] |
23 | # "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (3:03) |
24 | # "Sex Education: Ghetto Style" (0:48) |
25 | # "The Get Out of the Ghetto Blues" (4:59) |
26 | # "No Knock" (1:27) |
27 | # "Lady Day and John Coltrane" (3:32) |
28 | # "Pieces of a Man" (4:59) |
29 | |
30 | [[AC:Side Two]] |
31 | [numlist:7] |
32 | # "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" (3:18) |
33 | # "Brother" (1:42) |
34 | # "Save the Children" (4:22) |
35 | # "Whitey on the Moon" (1:26) |
36 | # "Did You Hear What They Said?" (3:25) |
37 | [/numlist] |
38 | |
39 | !!The Revolution will not be read on TV Tropes, tropers, the Revolution will be in real life! |
40 | |
41 | * AlbumTitleDrop: ''The revolution will not be televised''. |
42 | * AlliterativeTitle: "'''H'''ome Is Where The '''H'''atred Is" and "The '''G'''et Out Of The '''G'''hetto Blues". |
43 | * BadassPreacher: Scott-Heron sure counts as one. |
44 | * ConsciousHipHop: Inspiration to the genre. |
45 | * CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: Listen to that voice, brothers! |
46 | * CrapsackWorld: The very reason Scott-Heron started writing poetry. |
47 | * DrugsAreBad: ''Home Is Where The Hatred Is'' about a junkie trying to quit his habits. |
48 | --> ''Home is where I live inside my white powder dreams'' |
49 | --> ''Home was once an empty vacuum that's filled now with my silent screams'' |
50 | --> ''Home is where the needle marks'' |
51 | --> ''Try to heal my broken heart'' |
52 | --> ''And it might not be such a bad idea if I never, if I never went home again'' |
53 | ** "Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues" also addresses this matter: |
54 | --> ''I know you think you're cool'' |
55 | --> ''Just 'cuz you shooting that stuff in your arm.'' |
56 | --> ''I seen you nodding'' |
57 | --> '''Cuz you shoot that STUFF into your arm.'' |
58 | --> ''And it don't matter which pine box you choose:'' |
59 | --> ''You got the get out of the ghetto blues.'' |
60 | * FaceOnTheCover: Scott-Heron, arms folded behind his head. |
61 | * TheFutureWillBeBetter: If you believe in the revolution, it will be. |
62 | * UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHipHop: Despite not being hiphop Scott-Heron and Music/TheLastPoets were both important influences on the development of rapping. Thus ''The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'' is considered to be a predecessor of hiphop. |
63 | * GreatestHitsAlbum: All the material compiled here was from Scott-Heron's previous albums. |
64 | * GriefSong: "Did You Hear What They Said?" |
65 | --> ''Did you hear what they said,'' |
66 | --> ''About his mother and how she cried,'' |
67 | --> ''They said she cried,'cause her only son was dead'' |
68 | --> ''They said she cried,'cause her only son was dead'' |
69 | --> ''Woman, could you imagine if your only son was dead'' |
70 | --> ''And somebody told you, he couldn't be buried,'' |
71 | --> ''Hey,hey, come on, come on, come on, come on, this can't be real.'' |
72 | * {{Homage}}: "Lady Day and John Coltrane" bring homage to Music/BillieHoliday and Music/JohnColtrane. |
73 | * TheManInTheMoon: "Whitey On The Moon", where it is implied that the problems on Earth haven't been solved, yet "Whitey is on the moon". |
74 | * MightyWhitey: Referenced and parodied in "Whitey On The Moon". |
75 | * MinisculeRocking: "Sex Education: Ghetto Style", "No Knock", "Brother" and "Whitey on the Moon" are all well under two minutes. |
76 | * MurderBallad: "Did You Hear What They Said?" and "No Knock" are both about murders of fellow black men. |
77 | * MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting: Many tracks criticize the USA, especially "Whitey On The Moon". |
78 | --> ''With all that money I made last year'' |
79 | --> ''For Whitey on the moon'' |
80 | --> ''How come I ain't got no money here?'' |
81 | --> ''Hmm, Whitey's on the moon'' |
82 | * NarrativePoem: A lot of tracks have Scott-Heron tell a tale. |
83 | * NewAgeRetroHippie: The title track castigates them as ApatheticCitizens, claiming that, when the revolution comes, they will try to "plug in, turn on, and [[SellOut cop out]]" and sit on the sidelines. |
84 | * OneWordTitle: "Brother". |
85 | * PoliticalRap: Though not exactly rap this album was a huge inspiration to the genre. |
86 | * PopCulturalOsmosis: The phrase ''The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'' is more famous than the album itself, which not many people have ever listened to or are familiar with. |
87 | * ProductPlacement: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] and possibly [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]], since Scott-Heron includes many brand names and product slogans in the title track, but does so to criticize their triviality and the blind, self-centered consumer culture of America that prevents its people from perceiving real threats to society. |
88 | -->''The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal'' (reference to Ultra Brite), |
89 | -->''The revolution will not get rid of the nubs'' (reference to Schick pens) |
90 | -->''The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner'' (reference to Playtex) |
91 | -->''The revolution will not be right back after a message about a white tornado'' (reference to an Ajax slogan), |
92 | -->''White lightning or white people.'' |
93 | -->''You will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom'' (slogan for Dove antiperspirant), |
94 | -->''A tiger in your tank'' (a reference to the slogan of ''"Esso"''), |
95 | -->''Or the giant in your toilet bowl'' (reference to Salvo laundry detergent). |
96 | -->''The revolution will not go better with Coke'' (reference to Coca Cola). |
97 | * ProfessionalSexEd: "Sex Education: Ghetto Style". |
98 | --> ''I hope that when I have kids of my own they really don't get shook'' |
99 | --> ''When I tell them that there are things they've got to learn that can't be found in books.'' |
100 | * ProtestSong: Every track! |
101 | * PunBasedTitle: "Home Is Where The Hatred Is", instead of "home is where the heart is." |
102 | * QuestioningTitle: "Did You Hear What They Said?" |
103 | * RebelliousSpirit: See above. |
104 | * TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Scott-Heron predicts that the revolution will not be broadcast on TV for you to enjoy from your lazy seat, but it will indeed be a real society changing revolt that not to be underestimated and taken lightly. |
105 | * TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: Scott-Heron announces a revolution in a cool, but self-assured way that makes the listener believe that it will be a just event. |
106 | * ShoutOut: |
107 | ** The title track makes all kinds of allusions to television shows and terms, specifically TV advertisements. |
108 | ** "Sex Education Ghetto Style" namedrops UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud. |
109 | ** "Brother" mentions UsefulNotes/MaoZedong and Frantz Fanon |
110 | --> ''Always does the man read Mao or Fanon'' |
111 | * SkewedPriorities: "Whitey on the Moon" accuses the Apollo program of being a case of the United States government mis-investing taxpayer money with malevolent intent, funding propagandized efforts to put white men on the moon instead of funding socioeconomic reforms that would help disenfranchised Black communities. |
112 | * SomethingBlues: "Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues". |
113 | * SpokenWordInMusic: Scott-Heron recites his lyrics, rather than sings them. |
114 | * TakeThat: |
115 | ** The title track attacks conformism of rather watching TV than rebelling against society, but also provides vicious shout-outs to Xerox, UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, John Mitchell, General Abrams, Mendel Rivers, Creator/NatalieWood, [[Creator/SteveMcQueenActor Steve McQueen]], ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', ''Series/{{Julia}}'', Willie Mays, Creator/{{NBC}}, Whitney Young, Roy Wilkens, ''Series/GreenAcres'', ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'', ''Series/PetticoatJunction'', ''Series/SearchForTomorrow'', UsefulNotes/JacquelineKennedy, Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, Glen Campbell, Music/TomJones, Music/JohnnyCash, and Engelbert Humperdinck. |
116 | ** The entire album is one long TakeThat against white supremacy and patriarchy in America. |
117 | * ThinkOfTheChildren! "Save The Children". |
118 | --> ''We've got to do something to save the children'' |
119 | --> ''Soon it will be their turn to try and save the world'' |
120 | --> ''Right now they seem to play such a small part of'' |
121 | --> ''The things that they soon be right at the heart of'' |
122 | * UncleTomFoolery: "Brother" criticizes blacks who attack their fellow brothers for being Uncle Toms. |
123 | --> ''I think it was a little too easy for you to forget that you were a negro before [[UsefulNotes/MalcolmX Malcolm]].'' |
124 | --> ''You drove your white girl through the village every Friday night'', |
125 | --> ''While the grass roots stared in envy and drank wine.'' |
126 | --> ''Do you remember?'' |
127 | --> ''You need get your memory banks organized, brother.'' |
128 | --> ''Show that man you call an Uncle Tom just where he is wrong.'' |
129 | --> ''Show that woman that you are a sincere black man.'' |
130 | --> ''All we need to do is see you SHUT UP AND BE BLACK.'' |
131 | --> ''Help that woman.'' |
132 | --> ''Help that man.'' |
133 | --> ''That's what brothers are for, brother.'' |
134 | * VoiceOfTheResistance: Scott-Heron is somewhat of a prophet in Afro-American consciousness movements. |
135 | * WhamLine: |
136 | --> ''The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised. The revolution will be no re-run brothers; the revolution will be live.'' |
137 | * YouWatchTooMuchX: The title track informs listeners that the revolution will not be shown on TV to be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home. |
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