Talk:The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the The Revolution Will Not Be Televised article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Songs

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Songs, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of songs on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SongsWikipedia:WikiProject SongsTemplate:WikiProject Songssong articles

R&B and Soul Music High‑importance

	R&B and Soul Music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject R&B and Soul Music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of R&B and Soul Music articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.R&B and Soul MusicWikipedia:WikiProject R&B and Soul MusicTemplate:WikiProject R&B and Soul MusicR&B and Soul Music articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Hip hop High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Hip hop, a collaborative effort to build a useful resource for and improve the coverage of hip hop on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.Hip hopWikipedia:WikiProject Hip hopTemplate:WikiProject Hip hopHip hop articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Library of Congress Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Library of Congress, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Library of Congress on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Library of CongressWikipedia:WikiProject Library of CongressTemplate:WikiProject Library of CongressLibrary of Congress articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale.

Lyrics[edit]

The website with lyrics does not actually appear to be scott-heron's website; I have thus removed the statement that this is the case. -wes—Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.3.226.242 (talk • contribs)

DAB page?[edit]

Is this a disambiguation page that doesn't point to an article on any meaning of the phrase? Odd.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Teucer (talk • contribs)

NPOV[edit]

Removed "many of which may be unknown today" from the heading to the list of references in the song. NPOV and searingly condescending.PacificBoy 04:05, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that that choice of words is condescending, but I agree that many of the references may be unfamiliar to folks 40 years on. PurpleChez (talk) 19:17, 25 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Spiro Agnew[edit]

Is Spiro Agnew mentioned in a version of the song? I don't hear it in the early version of the song I am listening to. Nightkey (talk) 22:52, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know about your version, but the version I have says "Spiral Agnew". 24.27.31.170 (talk) 17:11, 28 May 2011 (UTC) Eric[reply]

There are several "mistakes" in the song, and I've often wondered if the errors were actually intentional and for artistic effect. The misquote of Timothy Leary's "Tune In..." bit is probably the most obvious. There are also a few other passages that make me go hmmmmm, such as when GSH states that "Beverly Hillbillies...will no longer be so damn relevant." I mean...did anyone anywhere ever think Beverly Hillbillies was relevant? And that the Revolution will not star "Bullwinkle and Julia." PurpleChez (talk) 19:26, 25 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The (sarcastic) reference to certain shows being "relevant" exemplifies the use of irony. They were irrelevant to the revolution but highly relevant to what the revolution would overthrow; namely the social classes (or in marketing terms, the demographics) whose culture included watching them. The cancellation of such shows might be interpreted as a strategy of self-preservation undertaken by the leadership of those classes, since an obviously "irrelevant" cultural expression would all too easily mark them as reactionary. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.25.115.38 (talk) 17:56, 2 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the world of the Plastic Beach[edit]

The songs of Plastic Beach has Snoop Dogg at one point stating that the revolution will be televised.

Sources to improve this page[edit]

Prose Size[edit]

119 words or 694 characters. (for DYK) --Guerillero | My Talk 04:09, 29 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back[edit]

The phrase can be heard during the first track ("Countdown to Armageddon") from the Public Enemy album. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.165.195.85 (talk) 13:57, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"Dick and Jane" reference?[edit]

The list of cultural references mentions "Dick and Jane, white children, a brother and sister, featured in American basal readers" but the song's lyrics actually state "...and women will not care if Dick finally got down with Jane on Search for Tomorrow..." I'm not clear that children's reader couple is really what's intended. Opinions? JoeJJC (talk) 03:48, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong image[edit]

Seeing as this article is about "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" the 45 label image should be of this track, not its flipside. 68.146.52.234 (talk) 20:01, 20 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

references[edit]

I have seen articles on "list songs" that include hyperlinked lists of the things referenced in the particular song. The Intro and the Outro and Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me) come to mind. Rather than mere trivia, this information can be key to understanding the point (such as it might be) of the song, especially when the references may be unfamiliar to folks outside a particular place or time. Any feelings on how that would work here? PurpleChez (talk) 20:18, 13 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Going back through the article's history, I see that there was, at one time, a rather thorough listing of the references made in the song. I'll look further into the reasons for its removal, but personally believe it should return. Personal opinion...nothing more.... PurpleChez (talk) 17:39, 21 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comic cover - American Flagg! #12[edit]

The cover of American Flagg! issue 12 (Sept 1984) has the caption "The Revolution WILL be Televised." The story is science fiction revolving around pirate television and political intrigue escalating to genocide and revolution. Dhericean (talk) 13:26, 13 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

In popular culture[edit]

While the items pile up to include even some obvious spam (XRP out of escrow, I see… — huge text, no links, the works!), the following remains unlisted just because:

* Excerpts (of the expanded 1982 version) are featured in the opening theme of all 12 episodes of [[Homeland (season 6)|''Homeland'' (season 6)]].

It is however back-referenced in the linked article. Tuvalkin (talk) 06:16, 28 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The radio station I normally listen to has a weekly old-school R&B program. This week's program featured a song along the lines of what is listed in the "In popular culture" section. Like the original, it is full of dated references, in this case dating to the early 1990s. The lyrical narrative was along the lines of "The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will be a major motion picture. It will be written by John Grisham, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Kevin Costner and Julia Roberts". It then touches on racial issues by stating that Denzel Washington appears but is killed off by Costner within minutes, and that Costner carries a picture of Whitney Houston in his wallet (presumably a reference to The Bodyguard). Since this song predates the existence of modern search engines, those return no information. The program's website shows no diligence when it comes to posting playlists. Anyone know anything about this song or whether it would be appropriate to mention as a cultural reference? RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 01:23, 19 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Manny[edit]

During the 2020-21 United States racial unrest, the phrase "The Manny Will Not Be Televised" referenced both the song and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid character Manny Heffley, since many of the protestors grew up reading the series.

Is this even true?

24.151.216.70 (talk) 19:35, 2 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-manny-will-not-be-televised Richard-of-Earth (talk) 04:21, 4 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Popular slogan?[edit]

The article says: "The song's title was originally a popular slogan among the 1960s Black Power movements in the United States." It then cites Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America. by Charles Hamilton & Kwame Ture (1967) as a source for the claim. I checked the book and nowhere in it does it mention a slogan even similar to "the revolution will not be televised". I would suggest removing the claim from the article unless there is some other verification for it. 47.54.59.86 (talk) 13:36, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Just did a little more googling and found this source: https://medium.com/cuepoint/why-gil-scott-heron-wrote-the-revolution-will-not-be-televised-6e298f9d4e2 The article is described as an excerpt from a book called Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man, published in 2014. Here is the relevant passage:

"By 1970, Gil had written a few dozen poems that worked as song lyrics, most of them political and social commentary such as “Brother,” “Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul?” and one song that will define him forever. That spring, he and Brian and some friends were sitting around watching TV one night in one of the dorms when a news report came on about a demonstration. The newscasters started talking about how many people were taking part. “We said, ‘People ought to get out there and do something; the revolution won’t be televised,” Gil later recounted. “A cat said, ‘You ought to write that down.”

This seems to suggest that the title was a line original to Scott-Heron and his friends, not a widely used slogan. 47.54.59.86 (talk) 13:48, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Possible candidate[edit]

First rap ? Drsruli (talk) 18:36, 15 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]