There are certain songs that really stand out to me from the artists I grew up listening to. Considering how busy life can get as an adult, I don’t always have time to sit down and listen to an album like I would have 15-20 years ago. The power of streaming music also gives us the power to create playlists or be as random as we want to be with our listening habits. One very interesting song that seems to pop up when I think about 90’s alternative rock is Free To Decide by The Cranberries. In hindsight, I don’t remember this being a major hit except on MTV and maybe some alternative rock stations. Otherwise, when it comes to the 90’s, this great song seems to be largely forgotten about. That’s a shame because it has a message that has fallen on deaf ears.
I don’t want to become too preachy or political because this blog isn’t meant to be either one of those things. What I do see is far too much close-mindedness in today’s society. People are often too rigid and took quick to judge. We also have crazy intense media coverage of every little thing that tends to twist and turn almost every news story out there. A lot of stories tend to pry into people’s personal lives and don’t allow for too much space for the person on the other end of the story. We live in a really crazy time. Although this song came out twenty-one years ago, I think it does a good job of visually and lyrically tapping into some of the same sentiments we see on a much higher level today.
I think this song is about freeing yourself from what the outside world is trying to tell you. That could either be what it is saying about you or what it is trying to tell you about the world. The second verse of this song is very important. The lines “You must have nothing more with your time to do there’s a war in Russia and Sarajevo too” as well as the rest of the verse really tap into a big problem we have today. A good percentage of our news stories are equivalent to tabloid fodder. Between the stories themselves and the comments within the stories, you get far too many opinions and messages on what to think about the world. Although this song was written a long time ago and most likely came from a more personal viewpoint, I think it is a very relevant message you can easily apply to today’s world.
Personally, I am the kind of guy who has always tried to stay true to their own core set of values and opinions on the world. Based on what i’ve seen from the world in recent years, there is a good chance that my opinion of it may not 100% line up with many others out there. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t really like to be told what to think or how I am supposed to view things. This is probably one reason why I always identified with the alternative/indie music scene. Often times what you get within this genre are people who are a little more independent in their thinking. They tend to shy away from what the media is telling you. I think in Dolores O’Riordan’s case, as well as many other notable people like her, she probably learned that from personal experience. There is far too much emphasis placed on issues that aren’t that important. There are too many people out there who don’t stand up firmly and form their own opinions about life. What they don’t realize is that it is very freeing to veer away from popular opinion. I think that is one of the messages this song and video tap into.
Now that I have taken the time to step on the soapbox, I will get back to the music itself. To be honest, this might not be the most groundbreaking, impressive, or creative song this band has written. I can name a few others that fell into that category a lot more i.e. Ode To My Family or Dreams. This along with the beginning of the end of the “golden age” of alternative music might have factored into why this song had such modest success. However, I think this is a very underrated song. It is a much better tune than it seems on the surface. I think it sends such a powerful message. This alone helps to strengthen what might otherwise be nothing more than a decent, pleasant song. I also see a lot of creative visuals in the video to keep the listener entertained as well. A lot of these visuals are in order to emphasize the message they are trying to send about the media and the choices we make as individuals in order to free us from all those things that are weighing us down.
Free To Decide is a song and video that deserves another look/listen. Especially considering where we’re at as a society today. I am not writing this to convince anybody to change their stance on anything. I would never do that. What I hope to do is to make somebody out there think twice about how they are thinking about their life and all of these stories that are going on around us. I think that was their intent when this song came out. This song made a big impression on me as a senior in high school, but I think it impacts me even more today. It’s a message a lot more people need to hear. This is one of those songs i’m very glad I “dug out of the vault”.
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