The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a satirical poem and Black Liberation song by Gil Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron first recorded it for his 1970 album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, on which he recited the lyrics, accompanied by congas and bongo drums. A re-recorded version, with a 3 piece band, was the B-side to Scott-Heron's first single, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is", from his album Pieces of a Man (1971). This recording was still sparsely instrumented, but now, in addition to drums, featured a driving bassline played by Jerry Jemmott and, somewhat unconventionally, a jazz-infused flute line by Hubert Laws throughout, acting as a countermelody to Heron's passionately delivered spoken word vocal. This sparse and rhythm-driven backdrop to Heron's incisive vocal, held down by Bernard Purdie's tight and explosive funk drumming, and eschewing thick chordal accompaniment, foreshadowed musical developments in hip-hop in the decade to come.

It was also included on his compilation album, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1974). All these releases were issued on the Flying Dutchman Productions record label.

The song's lyrics either mention or allude to several television series, advertising slogans and icons of entertainment and news coverage that serve as examples of what "the revolution will not" be or do. The song is a response to the spoken-word piece "When the Revolution Comes" by The Last Poets, from their eponymous debut album, which opens with the line "When the revolution comes some of us will probably catch it on TV".^[2]

It was inducted to the National Recording Registry in 2005.^[3]

In 2021, it was ranked at No. 258 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".^[4] In 2025, the publication ranked the song at number 14 on its list of "The 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time."^[5]