Do song lyrics influence or just reinforce our political beliefs?

Music has always been a popular medium through which to plead for social change or criticize the status quo. As such, it's more naturally affiliated with liberal than with conservative causes. For example, during the 1960s and 70s the wave of liberalism that swept America went hand-in-hand with protest and peace songs. Certainly these songs were intended to shape the debate, to influence policy, but they were also a reflection of the culture that spawned them. Times are different now, and the music has changed too, but the symbiotic relationship between (liberal) politics and music persists.

The popular band Linkin Park recently released a CD titled "Minutes to Midnight" (in reference to the Doomsday Clock ) which was an immediate commercial success : Linkin Park's "Minutes to Midnight" crashes in at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 in a big way this week, its 623,000 copies the highest first-week total of 2007, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The new album is a break from their metal/rock roots; many of the songs are slower, more subdued, with richly layered harmonies and winding melodies. The lyrics have also evolved; the urgency of their early work is still present, but there is a brooding, almost despairing quality to many of the songs. There are a few instances in which the lyrics appear to make direct reference to current events, although the band is quick to renounce the activist label :