Music has never been truly free of politics, even when it was deliberately designed to be as independent as possible. In the 19th century, the music's focus was on style and procedure, which still had the impact of communicating uniquely to different political classes. One example of music that was significantly influenced by another place's political conditions is Darius Milhaud in his piece "La création du monde, the first tableau." On a trip to America, Darius listened to African American Jazz bands and blues singers of Harlem and was impacted greatly by them. Combining this jazz style and African art influenced by the French colonial presence in Africa, he produced a ballet that quickly became popular and was considered a pioneering style.
The outcome was chic and inspired admiration of the audacity in American culture to the French. In his music, Milhaud sought to combine the raw energy from jazz with France's neoclassicism culture at that time. He was able to make a fresh and modern idiom that resonated with the French population. Although the song had lyrics, it mostly communicated through style and procedure. For instance, he used rhythms that are upbeat and have syncopations typical of jazz, but with a melody that sounds like blues. This forms a beat that is jazzy yet still modern, and that also had a subtle conflict. This expressed the times in Paris.
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A contemporary artist whose music was forced to be political at his time was Michael Jackson and his song, "They don't care about us." Because of the time and how racism was a big issue, Michael Jackson got to experience it personally during the Rodney King beating that led to the LA riots of 1992. He was also subjected to personal harassment, which embarrassed and affected him such that he had to express his feelings and thoughts through music. Although the song was accused of being problematic, it resonated with many people because of how accurately it described the political situation.
