Richard James
COM304
Prof Spratt
Lesson 8
Brief analysis of a non-journalistic media message
The Seattle rock band, Soundgarden, released the song “Hands All Over” in 1989 as a critique of environmental destruction, imperialism and American greed. With passages like “Hands all over western culture, ruffling feathers and turning eagles into vultures” and “hands all over the inland forest, in a striking motion, trees fall down like dying soldiers” its messaging truly resonated with me at a young age and influenced my thinking about American capitalistic excesses and their effect on the environment. The passage “Hands all over the peasant’s daughter, she’s our bride, she’ll never make it out alive” also suggested to me capitalism and imperialism exploit the poor in our country, and in other countries where we look to wield our influence and extract their labor and resources.
Over the years, there have been multiple quotations from the band members, like Chris Cornell, emphasizing the environmental focus of the song. He is quoted as saying “Not strictly environmental, but mostly," Cornell told The Rocket in 1990. "It's basically about how we humans tend to screw up everything that's good enough as it is...Or everything that we're attracted to, we love to go and defile it.” (loudwire.com, 2019). In addition, Tom Maginnis of AllMusic said, "The song combines an Eastern-tinged rock riff in an extended arrangement, as singer Chris Cornell airs out his impressive lung capacity while lyrically taking a stab at environmental politics." (Allmusic.com, 1989).
As highlighted in the Hoffman and Thomson reading, “A democracy assumes that its citizens have motivation and agency to affect society through established political processes” (Hoffman and Thomson, 3), and the definition of political efficacy, where the belief that one can understand and influence political affairs, parallels the song’s critique of disempowerment and moral decay. The passage about “ruffling feathers and turning eagles into vultures” suggests a loss of noble purpose, much like Hoffman and Thomson’s concern about declining civic motivation and trust. The analysis from Tom Maginnis helps illustrate the political efficacy present in the lyrics and the political socialization of the song’s environmental critique.
Citations
Schaffner, Lauryn. “10 Facts You May Not Have Known About Soundgarden’s ‘Louder Than
Love.’” Loudwire, 5 Sept. 2019, https://loudwire.com/soundgarden-louder-than-love-facts.
“Hands All Over - Soundgarden | AllMusic.” AllMusic, 5 Sept. 1989,
www.allmusic.com/song/hands-all-over-mt0004738817.
Lindsay H. Hoffman Ph.D. & Tiffany L. Thomson Ph.D. (2009) The Effect of Television Viewing on
Adolescents' Civic Participation: Political Efficacy as a Mediating Mechanism, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53:1, 3-21, DOI:
10.1080/08838150802643415