Music from the Cultural Revolution was heavy-handed and stiff, and was weighed down by the responsibility of carrying the correct political message. As Kong Qiesheng, a mainland writer living in the US, describes it, "It became a propaganda tool to promote Mao's ideas, just like party newspaper editorials and critical articles."
文革時期的歌曲陽剛、沉重，肩負「歌頌」與「聲討」的政治功能，「幾乎成了毛語錄、黨報社論，大批判文章的同類項和揚聲器」，大陸旅美作家孔捷生描述。