The Rhythm of Rebellion: A Response to Social Unrest by Public Enemy in 1989 and Hito Steyerl in 2020

In this study, I analyze the song Fight the Power (along with its accompanying music video) by Public Enemy and the video installation/social simulation Dancing Mania by Hito Steyerl. Both works respond to social unrest, albeit in different disciplines and historical moments. Which design aspects are used to convey the subject, and what do the works reveal about the time in which they were created? After examining both works, I focus on an aspect of social unrest that both address, in order to answer my central research question.

Central Research Question Which themes within social unrest are addressed by both Fight the Power by Public Enemy and Dancing Mania by Hito Steyerl, and what can we learn about these themes from the works?

1963: the March on Washington. We see footage of over 200,000 people gathering to protest for the rights of African American citizens. Martin Luther King delivers his famous speech, I Have a Dream. These images transition to Brooklyn in 1989, where a crowd has similarly gathered for a march. Chuck D of Public Enemy speaks directly to the camera:

“We ain’t rollin’ like that no more. Matter of fact in young Black America, we rolling up with seminars, press conferences and straight up rallies. Am I right?”

Thus begins the music video for Fight the Power (1989) by the American activist hip-hop group Public Enemy. Fast-forward to 2020: Black Lives Matter, coronavirus demonstrations — Fight the Power remains highly relevant. That same year, artist, cultural critic, filmmaker, writer, and professor Hito Steyerl (Munich, 1966) launched her mission to “fight the power” with the video installation/social simulation Dancing Mania.

How did Public Enemy respond to social unrest in 1989 America with Fight the Power?

In the 1980s, African Americans were still oppressed and underrepresented, despite the changes brought by the civil rights movement. Young people had few role models in mainstream media. “Most of my heroes don’t appear on no stamps / Sample a look back you look and find / Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check,” raps Chuck D in Fight the Power. He was not the only one expressing his critique through music at that time. The rap and hip-hop scene, growing increasingly popular in the early 1980s, developed into a provocative, socially critical genre.

Under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr., many social welfare programs disappeared, increasing poverty and violence. A crack epidemic and an AIDS crisis spread, the number of murders of young Black men doubled, and several incidents occurred in which African Americans were killed due to police violence or racist groups. Young Black, as well as white and brown Americans, were angry.

“We ain’t rollin’ like that no more. Matter of fact in young Black America, we rolling up with seminars, press conferences and straight up rallies. Am I right?” (Chuck D, 1989)

Young people cheer at the camera; the mood is joyful, though the cheering is gradually overtaken by the beat. Returning to the music video of Fight the Power, Chuck D calls for a different form of demonstration than in 1963, with a direct message: fight the authorities. This may sound aggressive, but nowhere in the video, music, or lyrics is there an actual call for physical violence. The march is accompanied by men dressed as members of the Black Panther Party, a militant political organization focused on securing social and civil rights for the Black minority, for whom violence was considered an acceptable means. Their slogan, “power to the people,” is also shouted. Yet they carry no weapons and even attempt a dance.

The “fight” takes place through the energetic delivery of a message, honoring role models from the Black community, and uniting people by giving them a voice through music. The message is provocative and controversial: it challenges and critiques the prevailing white-dominated world, which leaves little room for Black culture and leadership. The song became a hit and remains an iconic anthem, encouraging individuals to stand up against authorities who abuse their power — an anthem that makes young people aware that they must fight for their rights.

A Turbulent Sound

The composition of Fight the Power is not harmonious; the melody is not clear, and the production breaks with convention — with what feels pleasant or resonates comfortably in the ear. It is abrasive, chaotic, restless, but also energetic and stirring; it awakens the listener. There is something happening that demands attention. There is a strong connection between the sound of the production and the turbulent social theme of this protest song.

The track consists of many samples, looping, transforming, and layered upon one another. The samples mainly originate from African American history: we hear James Brown (The Funky Drummer, one of the most sampled breaks), Bob Marley and The Wailers (aptly, a fragment from I Shot the Sheriff), and Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force. The work is rich in cultural and political references, all contributing to the message it conveys. It lends weight to the words and establishes the song as the anthem it was for many young Black Americans.

the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020?

2020 was also a turbulent year. Just like the sound of Fight the Power, the imagery in the video installation Dancing Mania is chaotic, restless, and energizing, matching the theme it addresses. On the screens, we see life-sized police officers and riot police in uniform. At first, they walk around calmly, but suddenly they begin to dance, and the others quickly follow. Over time, the dancing intensifies, and bright red lines appear, linking the agents together. The lines increase in number, almost engulfing the agents. They continue dancing until they dissolve, until they die. Meanwhile, an instrumental electronic beat plays, transitioning into the recognizable melody of Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees. Suddenly, a computer-generated voice asks:

“You don’t have a job. You only have two options. Would you prefer to die by: Disease? Lack of Income? Starvation? Police? Dancing? The only possible multiple-choice option is YES.”

Dancing Mania

By answering “Dancing,” Steyerl references the strange psychological condition known as dancing mania, as reflected in the title of the work. It is a pathological compulsion to dance. Like the agents, affected individuals dance until they literally collapse, often dying from exhaustion. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, this phenomenon spread across Europe as an epidemic. In Dancing Mania, Steyerl draws a parallel to the COVID-19 pandemic. The agents dance compulsively according to a social choreography based on the production and dissemination of information in the context of the pandemic and ongoing unrest (Ebner et al., 2020, p. 13). The red lines visualize the spread of the mania. Through parameters displayed at the bottom of the screen, information is input and converted into rhythmic movements for the agents. The information used relates to, among other things, infection rates, rebellion, conspiracy theories, and police violence.

Revolt as a Social Choreography Between Rebels, Police, and Citizens

The pandemic placed global inequality under a microscope — including financial inequality, health disparities, and racial injustice. What is more important: health, or protesting police violence at a Black Lives Matter demonstration? This question, posed in the video, is based on a statement by Rajikh Hayes, an activist from Baltimore, during an interview for The New York Times regarding the risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 during Black Lives Matter protests. In his response, he perfectly summarizes the dilemma: disease, poverty, police — it is indifferent to people in his position.

Dancing Mania is not only a video installation but also a social simulation model. During her research, Steyerl observed that in all existing models, the outcome is predetermined from the outset. These models provide no future perspectives and teach us very little. According to her, this is because they do not incorporate statistics regarding collaboration, solidarity, or other social values — elements she adds. Her model visualizes revolt as a social choreography between rebels, police, and citizens.

Research Question

Which themes within social unrest do Fight the Power by Public Enemy and Dancing Mania by Hito Steyerl respond to, and what do they teach us about these themes?

Steyerl and Public Enemy are both in the business of collecting. Steyerl collects information, while Public Enemy collects sound. Combined, sampled, this forms a chaotic and energetic new whole that presents its own image and its own sound. The works are socially critical, abrasive, and urgent. Whereas Fight the Power calls for protest against racial inequality, Dancing Mania presents an analysis and visualization of data regarding social unrest in society during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although Steyerl incorporates a very broad range of information in her video installation, the emphasis is on social inequalities, the protests that arise in response, and how authorities and governments react. Both works respond to social inequality and abuses of power by authorities. They depict protest, both featuring dancing men in uniform. Additionally, both works respond to police violence against (Black) people and the demonstrations that follow.

In the 1980s, New York saw numerous demonstrations against racial violence by police and racist groups. Among the victims were Michael Stewart in 1983, Eleanor Bumpurs in 1984, Michael Griffith in 1986, and Yusef Hawkins in 1989, events that caused significant public outcry. Thirty-one years later, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed by police violence. The Black Lives Matter movement, launched as the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter in 2013, gained worldwide traction with numerous protests as a result.

Over the 31 years between Fight the Power and Dancing Mania, police violence continued. Public Enemy already tried to wake us up in 1989; their call to action remains, unfortunately, highly relevant. Where does it go wrong? Why is the goal not achieved? What is actually achieved through protesting?

Steyerl explores these questions using social simulations, which are meant to provide insight into the dynamics of oppression and protest. Her conclusion is that these models form a “never-ending loop.” With Dancing Mania, she designs a new application in which revolt succeeds. Instead of serving as a tool to predict the future, this simulation is reformulated as an instrument for analyzing (and potentially reshaping) the present (Ebner et al., 2020, p. 14).

Analysis

Public Enemy — Fight the Power, 1989 An Anthem for “Young Black America”

1963, the March on Washington. We see images of approximately 200,000 people gathering to protest for the rights of African American citizens. Martin Luther King delivers his famous speech I Have a Dream. These images of the protest march transition to Brooklyn in 1989, where a crowd has similarly gathered to march. Chuck D of Public Enemy speaks directly to the camera:

“We ain’t rollin’ like that no more. Matter of fact in young Black America, we rolling up with seminars, press conferences and straight up rallies. Am I right?”

Fight the Power, a track by the American hip-hop group Public Enemy, begins to play, while we see Black youth and children cheering at the camera. Chuck D calls for a different form of demonstration than in 1963, with a direct message: fight the power. This may sound aggressive, yet nowhere in the music video, the music itself, or the lyrics is there an actual call to use physical violence.

The protest march, however, is accompanied by men dressed as members of the Black Panther Party, a militant political organization focused on securing social and civil rights for the Black minority, for which violence was considered an acceptable means. Their slogan, “power to the people,” is also shouted. But they carry no weapons and even perform a dance. Fighting here occurs through conveying a message with energetic vibes, honoring role models from the Black community, and uniting people by giving them a voice through music.

An anthem, a popular song, that urges one to stand up to authorities who abuse their power. An anthem that makes young people aware that they must fight for their own interests. The music video was directed by film director Spike Lee, as was the film Do the Right Thing, for which Fight the Power serves as the soundtrack.

Production

The music was produced by The Bomb Squad, the producers behind Public Enemy. The track consists of numerous samples that loop, transform, and layer over one another. The length of each sample is very short, less than a second, with few exceptions. Only two artists contribute live to the instrumental part of the track: saxophone by Branford Marsalis and scratches by Terminator X. Scratching is the rhythmic back-and-forth movement of a vinyl record on a turntable, producing the characteristic scratching sound, which can create or support beats. It is often associated with old-school hip-hop and, like looping, is a technique used by DJs.

A loop is a short sound fragment repeated multiple times, forming a rhythm. Through repetition, the fragment seems to transform; it has no clear beginning or end but merges into itself. The composition is not harmonic, the melody is unclear, and the production breaks with convention, with sounds that feel unsettling rather than pleasing to the ear. It is abrasive, chaotic, restless, but also energetic and exhilarating — it awakens the listener. Something is happening that demands attention. There is a strong link between the sound of the production and the turbulent societal theme that this protest song addresses.

Samples

The samples combine multiple genres: soul, funk, jazz, disco, metal, rock… Not only music is sampled, but also text, such as the opening quote from a speech by Judge Thomas Todd:

“Yet our best trained, best educated, best equipped, best prepared troops refuse to fight. Matter of fact, it’s safe to say that they would rather switch than fight.”

This immediately sets the tone for what is to follow. The samples support what is being conveyed in the lyrics at that moment. Most of the samples originate from African American history, including James Brown (The Funky Drummer, one of the most sampled breaks), Bob Marley and The Wailers (notably with a fragment of I Shot the Sheriff), and Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force. The work is rich in cultural and political references, all contributing to the message it conveys. It gives weight to the words and made it the anthem that shaped the experience of many young Black people at the time.

Analysis

Hito Steyerl — Dancing Mania, 2020

Dancing Mania Dancing mania, also called choreomania, is a pathological compulsion to dance, a social phenomenon that spread across Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries in the form of various outbreaks. During such an outbreak, large groups of people danced until they literally collapsed; many died from exhaustion or heart attacks. The cause of the dancing remains a mystery.

Not only in the title but also in the imagery of the video installation Dancing Mania, artist Hito Steyerl (Munich, 1966) references this dancing mania. Upon entering a darkened space, you are surrounded by wall-to-wall screens, and the floor is covered with reflective black vinyl, on which the moving images of the screens appear to dance. And dance they do — the figures in the video dance until they dissolve, dance until they die — accompanied by an instrumental electronic beat that transitions into the recognizable melody of Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees. A computer-generated voice then asks:

“You don’t have a job. You only have two options. Would you prefer to die by: Disease? Lack of Income? Starvation? Police? Dancing? The only possible multiple-choice option is YES.”

The figures in question do not resemble what one would expect from a group of dancing people. Unless it were a themed party, with the theme: police. They are police officers and riot control officers in uniform. They are life-sized. Recognizable, figurative, yet stylized in a way reminiscent of a somewhat dated video game. Their movements also reflect computer animation — not entirely realistic, yet still organic. At first, they walk calmly; moments later, one begins to dance, quickly followed by the rest. Over time, the dancing intensifies, and bright red lines appear, connecting the officers. The vivid red lines contrast with the black background and the officers’ somber, dark blue clothing, drawing attention and adding an abstract, alienating element to the scene.

Agent-Based Models At the bottom of the screens, parameters are displayed. In a presentation at the Q BERLIN conference (Q BERLIN, 2021, 3:00), Steyerl explained that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she began using social agent-based models as an artistic genre and medium. These types of models — social simulations — are also used to analyze the spread of epidemics and pandemics. The simulation she developed for Dancing Mania is a mix of pre-existing riot control and infection models, combined with her own additions. Existing models use parameters such as government legitimacy, complaints, and measures. However, it turns out that the outcomes of these models are predetermined from the start.

Steyerl criticizes this approach:

“…you can crank them [the parameters] anyway you want. The rebellion, even if it wins, will always end up with a lot of people running around very angry and not knowing what to do. You know, it looks like, basically, a normal Berlin Sunday out in the streets with a conspiracy protest happening.” (Steyerl, 2021)

Such models provide no perspective for the future and teach us little. According to Steyerl, the problem lies in not using statistics on cooperation, solidarity, or other social values — elements she therefore adds herself. Her model visualizes rebellion as a social choreography between rebels, police, and citizens. One person, fittingly an officer, is infected with a contagious “strange illness” called dancing mania. The movements and behavior of the agents are determined by the data entered through the parameters. During the exhibition, this is updated daily according to current and local changes, depending on the location of the exhibition. Information flows are translated into digital imagery: agents compulsively dancing to a choreography of contagion, rebellion, and oppression. The red lines show the spread; the dancing mania spreads, leaving the agents barely visible.

Interactive Social Simulation I personally saw the installation at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, where it was part of the SocialSim installation, itself part of the exhibition I Will Survive. However, Dancing Mania can also be viewed and even controlled from home as an interactive virtual simulation online. This digital space can be accessed via a computer screen, or, for a more immersive experience, via a VR headset. The subject of the VR version changes each time it is opened. The options include: viral dispersion, dancing mania, reality denial, and infodemia. Here too, parameters are visible and can be adjusted, thereby influencing the simulation — for example, the speed of the spread of the dancing mania, the distance between social bubbles, and the level of paranoia among the agents. These are all familiar concepts that were relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic.