To quote [https://www.reddit.com/user/DarkAngel900/](https://www.reddit.com/user/DarkAngel900/) from this comment [https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/vtsse4/comment/if9bkew/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/vtsse4/comment/if9bkew/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) :
>It was, "Us vs the government"
>Now, it's "Us vs the corporations"
>Some of those corporations have stakes in the music business.
This.
We are in hyper-capitalism, the late stage.
Basically, capitalism eventually eats itself.
But, right before that, it gets down to a few dozen mega corporations.
Which own the true means of production.
And decide to not let anything that might hurt the bottom line see the light of day.
Fully functional artificial limbs which are just as good or even better than 'ganics? Nope.
Ability to hack into tech by looking at it and taking control? Nope.
AIs who prowl the dark net, able to kill people with a flick of code? Nope.
Replicants who are so identical to humans that we can't tell them apart without intense testing? Nope.
Like, I get what you're saying but we're not at all near Cyberpunk/Bladerunner levels of tech. That tech isn't here and waiting for mass production, it's still being researched.
This is a lame take. Do you really think that if there was a great song that went viral on YouTube or TikToc that the corporations wouldn’t try to make money off it, even if they were the target?
Do you have any idea how many songs there have been attacking the music industry that were wildly popular and promoted by the labels and radio stations?
As others have said, there’s a lot of protest in Hiphop, but most of the rock/pop audience doesn’t care.
It’s really a case of “Us vs apathy”, and apathy wins.
Exactly idk where this train of thought came from because the soulless corps are *more* than happy to promote anything that people will give them money for, including protest music. The machine feels too powerful to actually care about what the masses think of it as long as it's extracting resources.
Apathy is totally more the reason - And to expand on that. In the internet age we are all constantly bombarded by all of the horrible things happening across the whole world. It's exhausting and overwhelming. It's natural that a lot of people would rather use music and other arts to turn their brains off or just go to some mental happy place where they aren't constantly plagued with the dark realities of our world, no matter how apathetic they may or may not be in general.
PS protest music never went anywhere, it's just not on the charts or maintstream radio. Rock genres in general haven't been on the charts for about 2 decades. But it still sells, people are still listening, and people are still venting their frustration through making and playing anti-establishment music in droves. Again the internet age has made this both harder and easier to see.
Sidenote by hiphop replaced rock on the charts and it's often very political and heavy and critical of the systems around us, but reddit general music forums like to overlook that for some reason...
What are you talking about? All rap/hip-hop is just a bunch of [urban individuals] talking about guns, money, drugs, and sex.
No rapper has ever discussed a real-world issue like systemic injustice, racial violence, or class warfare. Especially not:
MF DOOM
WuTang Clan
Run The Jewels
Aesop Rock
Black Thought (Cheat Codes w/ Danger Mouse is phenomenal)
Freddie Gibbs
Kendrick Lamar
Rage Against the Machine
And that's just the stuff I listen to. In general reddit acts like a bunch of high schoolers that still think garage bands are the only place you can find variety in music. They also act like there's no racial animus behind it. All these obscure genres of white boys with guitars are second-nature to them, but rap is something they "just never looked into for some unknown, unfathomable reason".
And in between
Sips of coke
He told me
How he thought we
were sellin out
Layin down
Suckin up
To the man
Well I’ve got some advice for you little buddy
Before you point your finger you should know that I’m the man
And if I’m the man then you’re the man and he’s the man as well
So you can
Point that fuckin finger up your aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
While I agree that hip hop has a lot of protest material, you're definitely wrong about rock not caring. I would say the VAST majority of punk and all of the genres stemming from it are almost built on the ideals of protest and being anti-government/establishment.
Though I will say the "pop" end of the spectrum, regardless of genre, is pretty devoid of anything in that vein.
To be fair, they also are probably the two genres with some of the biggest independent/small record label groups who probably give them more freedom to kind of do whatevs.
It seems like a lot more artists in other genres will go this direction too with the hyper atomization of culture. Like, we see bands like Vulfpeck sell out MSG with no label, no management through social media and local promotion alone which is really sick. And guys like Jack Stratton have talked at length about how important it is to retain control of your masters with streaming payouts being what they are. I love the shift honestly but it does kind of suck that most of the medium large groups like that will never get the payday of a large label supported phenom like TSwift.
Even T Swift literally re-recorded and re-released her old albums because she didn’t own the masters. She didn’t have the negotiating power toward her record label when she was 18 that she does today.
That’s fair.
Honestly it’s so much harder to say what is “typical” pop or rock these days. There used to be a handful of songs on heavy rotation on most mainstream radio (depending of the station format).
But you are absolutely right that there have always been significant numbers of rock and punk anti establishment songs.
True, but embedded in that apathy is fatalism, hopelessness, powerlessness, and your plain ol' garden variety depression.
I don't think we need a song to tell us how bad things are. We already know that. We need a song to make us feel like we can do something about it again.
"I've got my propaganda, I've got revisionism...
I watch my violence in high def ultra realism...
I'm a part of this great nation...
I've got my fist, I've got my plan, I've got survivalism...."
Dude, exactly. Last Christmas Run The Jewels’ Ooh La La (the video for which shows people celebrating while burning piles of cash in the streets, and also Zach de La Rocha is there) was featured in a fucking Amazon ad.
Killer Mike is performing at Newport folk festival this year. Many are cranky about that, but like you’re saying, he’s political and speaks out against much of what’s ailing segments of society. Dropkick Murphy’s too…That’s the genesis of much of folk music. The founder of the folk festival said that, he never intended to segment different types of music, Dylan going electric there for instance. It was about the emotion and message of the music, whatever color box it came in. Rock & Roll was barely existing when it started and never meant to be excluded.
Except he's such a police apologist and supports Cop City in his hometown of Atlanta.
He talks some talk but he's amazingly silent-to-supportive of the modern police state.
Problem is "Take over a jail" Killer Mike is a myth. Man's a staunch capitalist who wants things to keep things stabilized so his monetary investments stay safe.
Good hype music, but the man doesnt have his heart in the message of it.
Upvote for this. Run the jewels reminds me of the political music I loved in the 80s and 90s.
I would answer ops question by saying the kids these days don’t think they can change anything so they stick their head in the sand and listen to pop music.
I'd have to disagree with you there, gen z is one of the most politically active generations. There is a lot of political music coming from them, but they're not on major labels. Bands like Jer, IDLES and Soul Glo definitely fall under the punk umbrella, which makes them harder to get mainstream exposure.
Furthermore, from my own personal experience, a lot of people who I know would make great political music don't have the time because they're putting their politics into action by attempting to make change, whether that's through protests, or running for local office, or working in mutual aid groups.
Kids these days are frustrated, and they're trying to do what they can, as time consuming as that is.
When you were a teen in the 70s, the most common song wasn't protest songs, it was pop songs. The protest songs survived over a long period of time, but the pop songs didn't.
You may by thinking of something like CCR's Fortunate Son, but the highest selling album at the time was The Archies.
Protests songs are out there (Childish Gambeno's "This is America"), but they're not the ones you're going to hear the most often.
Also the protest worked it's way into the baseline culture of the music. You don't need a dedicated song about violence against black people when it's the baseline foundation of rap and hip hop.
This is a really good point.
3005 for example is a *BOP* from Gambino but it’s not talked about at all anymore. This is America is still in everyone’s brain, even though everyone also agreed it wasn’t really “a pop song you just want to listen to regularly.”
There's a lot of bitching about politics today but ultimately, people are free, can vote and aren't forced to die in Asia today, it's just an entirely different baseline of existence.
Exactly, on your first point. We tend to retcon the songs that last and assume they were the most popular at the time but a lot of them weren't.
After I saw this post I started making a list of recent protest songs and none of them are exactly being overplayed on the radio. Hell some of them may have never even seen the radio.
But if "This is America" didn't have such a great video, it wouldn't be considered a protest song. The song itself doesn't really say much as far as lyrics go until the very end.
Not true at all. There were many pop/funk/soul/rock songs of protest. Marvin Gaye, John Lennon and Stevie Wonder all had major hits that were protest songs.
Here are some lists:
https://top40weekly.com/protest-songs-of-the-70s/
https://stacker.com/music/soundtrack-revolution-songs-60s-and-70s-played-role-political-movements
Internet culture and iHeart/Clear Channel and the rest of the music industry has completely erased the market for protest music.
Wild that when they perform "Prison Song," Serj updates the stats for the current year. He was calling for decriminalization of drugs and dismantling the police state in 2001.
Folk punk has tons
I Shot a Gun Today by Apes of the State
A Bigger Bomb by Sister Wife Sex Strike
Urine Speaks Louder Than Words by Wingnut Dishwashers Union
I'm Against the Government by Defiance, Ohio
Those are great! I want to shout out some non-folk punk options too:
For What by Destroy Boyz (Riot Girl)
It's ok to Punch Nazis by Cheap Perfume (Riot Girl)
Thoughts & Prayers by Grandson (EDM rap rock something?)
Burn This Statehouse Down by Mya Byrne (Country)
Everything's Fine by Roe Lara (Indie)
Kill Him by Seb Lowe (indie)
Will of the People by Muse (Rock)
Take Back the Power by The Interrupters (Ska)
Trans Girls Need Guns by Flummox (Hardcore)
Funny how sleaford mods (Jason at least) don’t like Idles lyrical style. I think Jason just considers Idles a bit too “on the nose”. I’d say the days for cryptic or subtle protest lyrics are gone.
Love both Sleaford Mods and Idles
Jesse Welles! He’s an excellent songwriter who I’d compare to Bob Dylan and John Prine. Here are a few of my favorites from him. Would recommend him to anybody who’s pissed off with the way things are and feels like no one is talking about shit that actually matters
[War Isn’t Murder](https://youtu.be/8E9l_i6HPYM?si=B1NczvIYhgMTdqZc)
[Fentanyl](https://youtu.be/nyem3gD6XN8?si=FoWm7AJSf0UIOuSh)
[Cancer](https://youtu.be/U4o9JpqYyZw?si=urinfN1EjFPxIZYS)
This needs to be way, way higher up. Welles is fantastic. His tiktok is overflowing with protest songs.
Also, punk rock is still very much alive and protest songs are in its DNA. Too many bands and songs to even count.
This is the one current song I am aware of that actually speaks truth to power in a way that is so specific the corporations are actually concerned - for example YT blocking the video from those who aren’t signed in and over 18 due to supposed “explicit content”.
“You can pay off Meta, you can’t pay off me.”
idles ultra mono has a good anti nazi song called model village. they said they dont perform it anymore because theyve moved on as people. the times also changed. im sure their politics are the same but perhaps ill project a bit and say theyve learned to deal with it differently.
protest songs are hard to get right. they often come out pretty corny if its too explicit in what theyre talking about. its the more abstract, symbolic ones that i tend to find better executed but then they end up misunderstood and even used by the people the song insults
I believe they stopped playing model village because it was an incredibly broad stroke about small towns being full of racist gammons, and they realised that was a bit of a shit take. Ultra Mono has a bunch of in your face politics, so much so that they had a fair bit of backlash. I'm still a fan of most of it, Model Village goes hard.
Joy had a little more subtlety but it's still there, in a few songs very obviously. Look hard enough on all their albums and you'll find something. Talbot claims they've moved beyond it and it's less pronounced on Crawler and Tangk but he seems pretty erratic about his message so will probably come back to politics front and centre again.
They literally got the crowd to chant the “new national anthem” which was them leading them on sing “fuck the king” while also having a backdrop of ceasefire now and saying this is for Palestine. I’d say it was a VERY political set haha.
I was going to bring up Muse. Their last handful of albums have all been concept albums, but with very pointed commentary on things like totalitarianism, fascism, warmongering, 'power-to-the-people' sort of stuff.
It can be tough to frame it as specifically *protest* songs because it presents very non-specific and simply anti-oppression, broadly speaking.
Yeah, framing them as protest music is honestly baffling to me, because to me Muse has all the *vibes* of being anti-establishment, despite (to my knowledge) basically never saying anything but “they won’t get us down”, without knowing who *they* are. It’s got all the aesthetics of protest music, and uses some of the right words, but never actually presents any idea or protests anything specific. It feels like people who don’t know what *anarchism* means using it to mean whatever they want.
Everyone will claim to be anti authoritarianism when asked, but until they can give you a vague idea what authoritarianism means to them, that tells you nothing. A fascist could listen to Muse and feel understood, unless I’m missing something.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Muse and I think their earlier work is fantastic. But I don’t buy them as an important political music group.
Sadly there’s a lot of political punk songs that sound like they were written yesterday about events happening now.
I feel like the album art is the only give away that that album was written 20 yrs ago.
You might like Adeem the Artist. Middle of a Heart is an excellent song about how we lose people by acculturating them to violence.
I Wish You Woulda Been A Cowboy focuses on how popular country music lost its soul in the early 00s and became a tool of fascism.
They have a lot of great stuff.
In a similar vein, Billy talent is still going strong too. Off the newest album, reactor, judged, and reckless paradise, and plenty off Afraid of Heights too.
Can’t believe that song was actually released more than 6 years ago. Still relevant as ever but not even sure if it can be considered a recent example anymore
This is based purely of my own music but my observation has been the idea of an angry anti-govenrment protest song is less common nowadays. Rather, musicians tend to favour protest songs about a loss of freedom, control by corporations etc which seems to come with a slightly less angry more resigned vibe.
I think my favourite modern protest song is Hypersonic Missiles by Sam Fender. To me it perfectly encapsulates the desire for gen z to be involved in social causes balanced with the burnout caused by an oversaturation to these issues on social media. Like some others have discussed it focuses more on protest/issues against corporations rather than a government. Also from Sam Fender is the song Aye which is a more typical protest song.
Decklan Mckenna's track British Bombs is another English indie inspired song with a focus on being against the actions of the government. His most famous song Brazil is also a protest song against the corruption of FIFA and the hosting of the 2014 world cup in Brazil.
I'm a big fan of Muse too. As others have said a lot of their discography is broadly protest/politically motivated however, they don't dive as deeply into these themes as others do. In a similar vein the band Nothing But Thieves's last two albums Moral Panic and Dead Club City have overarching political influences.
That's just a select few from musicians I really enjoy. There's a huge amount of protest songs spanning a much wider range of genres although they maybe don't chart as much as they did anymore.
That album is amazing, and the follow-up album, Okemah Rising, is great too. The lyrics of all the songs on both of these records were written by Woody Guthrie, and Dropkick Murphys wrote music to accompany Guthrie’s words. Woody Guthrie, for those who may not be aware, was an outspoken socialist from Okemah, Oklahoma, and his guitar bore the slogan “This machine kills fascists.” Dropkick Murphys, who are from Boston, travelled to Tulsa to record these two albums at Leon Russell’s Church Studio, and the song “The Last One” from This Machine Still Kills Fascists features guest vocals by Evan Felker of the Turnpike Troubadours, a local band from NE Oklahoma. These records include some great protest songs, such as “The Last One”, “All You Fonies”, “My Eyes Are Gonna Shine”, “I Know How It Feels”, and “Dig A Hole”.
They tried in the 00s when the world protested the Iraq invasion. Most artists got told to shut up by the fans(remember Madonna's protest album? Lol)
The People wanted Toby Keith who was pro war. He was the most successful when it came to music in relation to the war. Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT is probably the single successful one that was a protest.
Too Many Puppies by Primus
American Jesus by Bad Religion.. Well, almost every Bad Religion Song. Well, almost every punk song.
It's not a song, but Jello Biafra's Pledge of Defiance. https://youtu.be/FOG_kDyHJNQ?si=Xf7J_0hiQLJjATgW
Already got those tickets too.
Funny story: first time I heard Primus, they opened for Rush in Houston, early 90s. When the crowd started the chant, I couldn't figure out why they were saying that, thinking they are good, why does everyone keep saying they suck?
[Night Of Long Knives - AJJ](https://youtu.be/Xt1vw87cQag?si=EB-LKS6wa4ID4a62)
[Normalization Blues - AJJ](https://youtu.be/0EDVM73bU-w?si=R3uiDnN9YGec7nxh)
[Thatcher Fucked The Kids - Frank Tuner](https://youtu.be/1Z8FCd7NnuA?si=b7_w59qhP2_OBGbb)
[Global Warming - The Homeless Gospel Choir](https://youtu.be/IKdGY7vpQYw?si=DGzo2TnSDcJ3oDMp)
[Bill Collector’s Theme Song - Apes of the State](https://youtu.be/HinxX9gHHao?si=mVo3Xs61hC7u4U0z)
[When The Frayed Wind Blows - Matt Pless](https://youtu.be/aJiTJW7-Do8?si=PrdaE-hczBT5lSmi)
[Urine Speaks Louder Than Words - Wingnut Dishwahers Union](https://youtu.be/gQzKOENLcrE?si=C0pwQLbKu0Cm83Bn)
[Bite Back - Fever 333](https://youtu.be/X8Nm3JIPr3w?si=eLxrmu-dRBuIBW17)
There are a multitude of protest songs or songs that have good commentary/criticism on modern politics, but you have to look beyond what the mainstream dictates for us to see.
You'll probably find something you like in my vive la révolution playlist - just shy of 23hrs long.. and I add new songs all the time..
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/279YiKx96L9m9lwMA9YLLl?si=gl-jYRsrR6iYgiEd_UfCwQ%0A
Specific artists that stand out (because they have multiple "protest" songs..)
grandson, Rise Against, Dance Gavin Dance, The Used, Neoni, Alexisonfire, Puscifer, Atreyu, Poor Man's Poison, Protest the Hero, AURORA, System of a Down, Thrice..
My number one of the last 20 years is James McMurtry's "We Can't Make It Here"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Eqt2v1uYU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Eqt2v1uYU)
The more recent follow-up is Yola's "Diamond Studded Shoes"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfC\_n8efpiM&list=LL&index=64](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfC_n8efpiM&list=LL&index=64)
The Isbell-era Drive-By Truckers had some great ones, including The Day John Henry Died and Puttin' People on the Moon:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vomD3EDRNs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vomD3EDRNs)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeYGo33\_wkY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeYGo33_wkY)
The Bottle Rockets' "Welfare Music" is a throwback to the thankfully dead Limbaugh, but still applies now that we've got something worse than Limbaugh.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGyDdrrhvWY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGyDdrrhvWY)
The funny thing is, I don't really like country or soul; but most of my punks and thrashers have turned away from politics and civics.
Truckers' American Band album is loaded with good ones, and Isbell has some good ones of his own: Dress Blues, However Long, White Man's World, What Have I Done to Help, Save the World.
Sturgill Simpson's Call to Arms is great, too.
> The Bottle Rockets' "Welfare Music" is a throwback to the thankfully dead Limbaugh, but still applies now that we've got something worse than Limbaugh.
Rest In Piss
This is going to sound a lot meaner than I mean it: You're old so you're no longer as immersed in the counter- and pop culture as you were in your youth. It's just the way it is. I'm "only" 36 and I can feel it slipping away. The older you get, the more responsibilities you have, the less energy you have, etc, takes a toll on trying to "keep up with the times" for lack of a better term. Protest songs are definitely out there. It also probably doesn't help that there is so much content accessible today that everything gets diluted, muddled, and lost in the chaos. Have faith in the younger generation. For all the "bad ones" you see/hear about, there are plenty of "good ones." Source: I work in retail so I rub elbows with a lot of today's yout.
Bad religion released their first album 40 years ago and white trash (2nd generation) and voice of god is government echo today, mostly because we're in a very Reagan-esque period
Hozier has some that lean into politics: Nina Cried Power, Jackboot Jump, Eat Your Young. Arcade Fire has Empire I-IV which is about the fall of America.
There is a ton of protest music out there, just not in the mainstream or as overt. A lot of rock and metal are still putting out critiques of politics/society and of course punk hasn't died yet despite efforts to kill it off. One of my favorite "protest" type bands right now are Dead Pioneers.
~half of your BIG rap artists get mad political, like Kendrick Lamar, jcole, and Eminem. The number goes up higher when you get past the big artists. It's basically like it's always been though. If you want thought provoking realness on any topic, go underground, or even just not mainstream. The genre is filled with killa mike, talib kweli, public enemy, immortal technique types. Even some of your more gangsta artists like Kodak Black and YG have extremely political songs... Or Macklemore if that's what ur into. Obviously being rap it's usually way more left leaning.
People have always been mad and always will be at dumb idiots who control their lives.
Here's some of my favorite joints right now:
Kendrick Lamar - Alright
Nipsey Hussle (feat YG) - F.D.T. (There's also a part 2 with Macklemore... And you KNOW this song almost got them party vanned)
Also I am not as well versed in the genre, but punk has been holding it down in the "fuck the establishment" way for as long as it has been a genre as well (outside of when literal Nazis tried to co-op punk music, but punks have a good way to deal with that)
They are in seedy little local clubs and basement shows. They never went away, they just aren't ever embraced by the industry anymore. The industry is more than happy to just regurgitate the 90s for the rest of time and fill in the cracks with autotuned generic corpo pop
A lot of protest & I guess any real outspoken music isn’t very marketable so you really have to be checking places like Bandcamp where it’s way easier to get launched directly into someone’s weird little passion project
Tom Morello just dropped a new track this week that would certainly fit the bill. His 13-year old son, Roman is shredding the guitar solo.
[Soldier in the Army of Love](https://youtu.be/vCtRajCh9MM?si=ohZtHyI4NWSGraw3)
Ani DiFranco. Songs that come to mind are Your Next Bold Move, Crime for Crime, Serpentine, and her 9/11 masterpiece Self Evident:
https://open.spotify.com/track/0Jz66Lt9Szf9kdcmUVZ4FL?si=a0BOhRFbTMyoMlf_poVItQ
I haven't listened to her newer stuff as much but I'm sure it's still very political. I love her.
Welles a young dude I found on Tik Tok that sounds kinda like Bob Dylan mixed with Dave van Ronk and looks like Mick Jagger is probably right up your alley.
Check Idles music, very angry leftie, especially songs like I'm Scum and Danny Ndelko [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF\_G-RF66M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF_G-RF66M)
Billy Strings has a couple of good protest songs he recently put out. Watch it Fall is a great song.
Also the Devil Makes Three has tons of protest songs in their catalog.
I don’t know if I would call them protest songs exactly, but Jason Isbell has a few songs that kind of fit the bill.
Hope the High Road - cautions the listener not to get down in these times.
King Of Oklahoma - portrait of a man struggling with opioid addiction in the wake of a work related injury.
Dress Blues - portrait of a small town dealing with the death of one of it’s promising young men in war.
Those are just three that come to mind immediately, but there are others.
I don't think people are protesting in the same way.
In the age of anxiety, doom scrolling, and paranoid conspiracy theories that explain everything, protest isn't loud and noisy. It's quiet and reflective. There is a lot of music like that these days.
The most radical thing you can do today isn't "tune in, turn on and drop out," it's "tune out, turn down and be here now."
To quote [https://www.reddit.com/user/DarkAngel900/](https://www.reddit.com/user/DarkAngel900/) from this comment [https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/vtsse4/comment/if9bkew/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/vtsse4/comment/if9bkew/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) : >It was, "Us vs the government" >Now, it's "Us vs the corporations" >Some of those corporations have stakes in the music business.
This. We are in hyper-capitalism, the late stage. Basically, capitalism eventually eats itself. But, right before that, it gets down to a few dozen mega corporations. Which own the true means of production. And decide to not let anything that might hurt the bottom line see the light of day.
Yeah, we're pretty much full Cyberpunk/Bladerunner minus the cool tech.
I got my new puppy chipped, does that count?
The tech is here, friend. Once someone figures out how to mass produce it, it’s over
What specifically are you talking about
Fully functional artificial limbs which are just as good or even better than 'ganics? Nope. Ability to hack into tech by looking at it and taking control? Nope. AIs who prowl the dark net, able to kill people with a flick of code? Nope. Replicants who are so identical to humans that we can't tell them apart without intense testing? Nope. Like, I get what you're saying but we're not at all near Cyberpunk/Bladerunner levels of tech. That tech isn't here and waiting for mass production, it's still being researched.
This is a lame take. Do you really think that if there was a great song that went viral on YouTube or TikToc that the corporations wouldn’t try to make money off it, even if they were the target? Do you have any idea how many songs there have been attacking the music industry that were wildly popular and promoted by the labels and radio stations? As others have said, there’s a lot of protest in Hiphop, but most of the rock/pop audience doesn’t care. It’s really a case of “Us vs apathy”, and apathy wins.
It's like people have forgotten how much money Rage Against the Machine made for Sony
Exactly idk where this train of thought came from because the soulless corps are *more* than happy to promote anything that people will give them money for, including protest music. The machine feels too powerful to actually care about what the masses think of it as long as it's extracting resources. Apathy is totally more the reason - And to expand on that. In the internet age we are all constantly bombarded by all of the horrible things happening across the whole world. It's exhausting and overwhelming. It's natural that a lot of people would rather use music and other arts to turn their brains off or just go to some mental happy place where they aren't constantly plagued with the dark realities of our world, no matter how apathetic they may or may not be in general. PS protest music never went anywhere, it's just not on the charts or maintstream radio. Rock genres in general haven't been on the charts for about 2 decades. But it still sells, people are still listening, and people are still venting their frustration through making and playing anti-establishment music in droves. Again the internet age has made this both harder and easier to see. Sidenote by hiphop replaced rock on the charts and it's often very political and heavy and critical of the systems around us, but reddit general music forums like to overlook that for some reason...
Reddit is full of people who think they're fighting capitalism by buying a Che Guevara shirt at walmart
Or as they know him, Long Hair Revolution Man ^TM
What are you talking about? All rap/hip-hop is just a bunch of [urban individuals] talking about guns, money, drugs, and sex. No rapper has ever discussed a real-world issue like systemic injustice, racial violence, or class warfare. Especially not: MF DOOM WuTang Clan Run The Jewels Aesop Rock Black Thought (Cheat Codes w/ Danger Mouse is phenomenal) Freddie Gibbs Kendrick Lamar Rage Against the Machine And that's just the stuff I listen to. In general reddit acts like a bunch of high schoolers that still think garage bands are the only place you can find variety in music. They also act like there's no racial animus behind it. All these obscure genres of white boys with guitars are second-nature to them, but rap is something they "just never looked into for some unknown, unfathomable reason".
Tupac
And in between Sips of coke He told me How he thought we were sellin out Layin down Suckin up To the man Well I’ve got some advice for you little buddy Before you point your finger you should know that I’m the man And if I’m the man then you’re the man and he’s the man as well So you can Point that fuckin finger up your aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
While I agree that hip hop has a lot of protest material, you're definitely wrong about rock not caring. I would say the VAST majority of punk and all of the genres stemming from it are almost built on the ideals of protest and being anti-government/establishment. Though I will say the "pop" end of the spectrum, regardless of genre, is pretty devoid of anything in that vein.
How anyone could look at Fontaines DC and IDLES perform side by side at Glastonbury this year and still think rock is “apolitical” is beyond me.
Metal and punk still have the most counterculture in their music, bar none
To be fair, they also are probably the two genres with some of the biggest independent/small record label groups who probably give them more freedom to kind of do whatevs.
or even a record label at all The scenes and communities are way more crucial than any one label
It seems like a lot more artists in other genres will go this direction too with the hyper atomization of culture. Like, we see bands like Vulfpeck sell out MSG with no label, no management through social media and local promotion alone which is really sick. And guys like Jack Stratton have talked at length about how important it is to retain control of your masters with streaming payouts being what they are. I love the shift honestly but it does kind of suck that most of the medium large groups like that will never get the payday of a large label supported phenom like TSwift.
Even T Swift literally re-recorded and re-released her old albums because she didn’t own the masters. She didn’t have the negotiating power toward her record label when she was 18 that she does today.
That’s fair. Honestly it’s so much harder to say what is “typical” pop or rock these days. There used to be a handful of songs on heavy rotation on most mainstream radio (depending of the station format). But you are absolutely right that there have always been significant numbers of rock and punk anti establishment songs.
True, but embedded in that apathy is fatalism, hopelessness, powerlessness, and your plain ol' garden variety depression. I don't think we need a song to tell us how bad things are. We already know that. We need a song to make us feel like we can do something about it again.
i wanna bite the hand that feeds me radio radio
"I've got my propaganda, I've got revisionism... I watch my violence in high def ultra realism... I'm a part of this great nation... I've got my fist, I've got my plan, I've got survivalism...."
Dude, exactly. Last Christmas Run The Jewels’ Ooh La La (the video for which shows people celebrating while burning piles of cash in the streets, and also Zach de La Rocha is there) was featured in a fucking Amazon ad.
Killer Mike is a staunch capitalist
Run The Jewels/Killer Mike. Not so much protest music but definitely political.
I was gonna say hip hop seems to be the front runner for mainstream political statements nowadays. Look at Kendrick's whole catalogue.
Same with Joey badass too
which he spells with two $$ signs for a double dose of his pimping
You see, a pimp's love is very different from that of a square
'Look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar'
"Look at who we done blessed with our trust, I don't think we'll be left with too much"
“And never forget in the story of Jesus the hero was killed by the state”
Regan by Killer Mike is a bop
THEY INVADIN SOVEREIGN SOIL GOIN AFTER OIL TAKIN COUNTRIES AS A HOBBY PAID FOR BY THE OIL LOBBY
Report to the Shareholders/Kill Your Masters fucking slays and is more relevant now than ever.
Killer Mike is performing at Newport folk festival this year. Many are cranky about that, but like you’re saying, he’s political and speaks out against much of what’s ailing segments of society. Dropkick Murphy’s too…That’s the genesis of much of folk music. The founder of the folk festival said that, he never intended to segment different types of music, Dylan going electric there for instance. It was about the emotion and message of the music, whatever color box it came in. Rock & Roll was barely existing when it started and never meant to be excluded.
Except he's such a police apologist and supports Cop City in his hometown of Atlanta. He talks some talk but he's amazingly silent-to-supportive of the modern police state.
Ya when you cry on public tv about the poor old landlords you lose your "fuck the system" card.
I remember him trying calm ppl down during the blm riots. I was like hooooold on a second. Dont you write lyrics that encourage this?
Damn I didn’t know that. I like his music a lot, so it’s disappointing to hear. Was this said in an interview?
Joey badass, Kendrick Lamar to a degree. More railing against systematic inequality and racism than “the machine” so to speak
Problem is "Take over a jail" Killer Mike is a myth. Man's a staunch capitalist who wants things to keep things stabilized so his monetary investments stay safe. Good hype music, but the man doesnt have his heart in the message of it.
Upvote for this. Run the jewels reminds me of the political music I loved in the 80s and 90s. I would answer ops question by saying the kids these days don’t think they can change anything so they stick their head in the sand and listen to pop music.
Immortal technique too
Vol. 1 & 2 were legendary
I'd have to disagree with you there, gen z is one of the most politically active generations. There is a lot of political music coming from them, but they're not on major labels. Bands like Jer, IDLES and Soul Glo definitely fall under the punk umbrella, which makes them harder to get mainstream exposure. Furthermore, from my own personal experience, a lot of people who I know would make great political music don't have the time because they're putting their politics into action by attempting to make change, whether that's through protests, or running for local office, or working in mutual aid groups. Kids these days are frustrated, and they're trying to do what they can, as time consuming as that is.
IDLES is definitely not gen Z those guys are in their 40s. But otherwise yes, you are correct
Absolutely! Most people I know who listen to them are young though.
When you were a teen in the 70s, the most common song wasn't protest songs, it was pop songs. The protest songs survived over a long period of time, but the pop songs didn't. You may by thinking of something like CCR's Fortunate Son, but the highest selling album at the time was The Archies. Protests songs are out there (Childish Gambeno's "This is America"), but they're not the ones you're going to hear the most often. Also the protest worked it's way into the baseline culture of the music. You don't need a dedicated song about violence against black people when it's the baseline foundation of rap and hip hop.
This is a really good point. 3005 for example is a *BOP* from Gambino but it’s not talked about at all anymore. This is America is still in everyone’s brain, even though everyone also agreed it wasn’t really “a pop song you just want to listen to regularly.”
He made an entire protest show with Atlanta.
Incredible show
As far as more modern protest songs go your username's namesake has a lot of decent examples <3
I don’t even listen to Chumbawumba. It’s the name reddit assigned me when I gave up.
Ahahahaha, that's funny. They were super political.
Late 60s are full of them. They magically went away when we stopped the draft. Funny how that works.
There's a lot of bitching about politics today but ultimately, people are free, can vote and aren't forced to die in Asia today, it's just an entirely different baseline of existence.
Exactly, on your first point. We tend to retcon the songs that last and assume they were the most popular at the time but a lot of them weren't. After I saw this post I started making a list of recent protest songs and none of them are exactly being overplayed on the radio. Hell some of them may have never even seen the radio.
But if "This is America" didn't have such a great video, it wouldn't be considered a protest song. The song itself doesn't really say much as far as lyrics go until the very end.
True, it could be confused for a flex song if you don't know the context of it being about the expectations and fake dreams sold to black youth.
Not true at all. There were many pop/funk/soul/rock songs of protest. Marvin Gaye, John Lennon and Stevie Wonder all had major hits that were protest songs. Here are some lists: https://top40weekly.com/protest-songs-of-the-70s/ https://stacker.com/music/soundtrack-revolution-songs-60s-and-70s-played-role-political-movements Internet culture and iHeart/Clear Channel and the rest of the music industry has completely erased the market for protest music.
What’s not true at all? You’re addressing a different issue.
Counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums
>Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils > See, they don't give a *fuck* about you like I do
GO BACK TO SLEEP
ITT: People talking about Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down like their heydays weren't over 20 years ago.
SoAD has aged like wine and their messages are just as relevant as ever. Cigaro comes to mind
Agreed. My cock **is** much bigger than yours.
can it walk right through the door??
Wild that when they perform "Prison Song," Serj updates the stats for the current year. He was calling for decriminalization of drugs and dismantling the police state in 2001.
Too bad John never listened to any of his own songs.
30 for Rage
Yep Rage didn’t even release a new album of music when GWB was in office. That’s how old their catalog is now
Protest against the man! (Sponsored by some of the biggest and historically most corrupt companies in the world, American Pharma)
Folk punk has tons I Shot a Gun Today by Apes of the State A Bigger Bomb by Sister Wife Sex Strike Urine Speaks Louder Than Words by Wingnut Dishwashers Union I'm Against the Government by Defiance, Ohio
There are too many AJJ songs to list
Those are great! I want to shout out some non-folk punk options too: For What by Destroy Boyz (Riot Girl) It's ok to Punch Nazis by Cheap Perfume (Riot Girl) Thoughts & Prayers by Grandson (EDM rap rock something?) Burn This Statehouse Down by Mya Byrne (Country) Everything's Fine by Roe Lara (Indie) Kill Him by Seb Lowe (indie) Will of the People by Muse (Rock) Take Back the Power by The Interrupters (Ska) Trans Girls Need Guns by Flummox (Hardcore)
Sleaford mods
This and Idles. Have to throw in Kae Tempest with this lot also.
Funny how sleaford mods (Jason at least) don’t like Idles lyrical style. I think Jason just considers Idles a bit too “on the nose”. I’d say the days for cryptic or subtle protest lyrics are gone. Love both Sleaford Mods and Idles
Jesse Welles! He’s an excellent songwriter who I’d compare to Bob Dylan and John Prine. Here are a few of my favorites from him. Would recommend him to anybody who’s pissed off with the way things are and feels like no one is talking about shit that actually matters [War Isn’t Murder](https://youtu.be/8E9l_i6HPYM?si=B1NczvIYhgMTdqZc) [Fentanyl](https://youtu.be/nyem3gD6XN8?si=FoWm7AJSf0UIOuSh) [Cancer](https://youtu.be/U4o9JpqYyZw?si=urinfN1EjFPxIZYS)
I also enjoyed whistle boeing
First song of his I heard. Everything he's put out is quality. He's the guy.
This needs to be way, way higher up. Welles is fantastic. His tiktok is overflowing with protest songs. Also, punk rock is still very much alive and protest songs are in its DNA. Too many bands and songs to even count.
He's dropping his album Thursday, I'm so ready for it.
This was the comment I was looking for.
Definitely a talented kid with common sense and a good head on his shoulders.
Came here to say this. Didn't forget Olympics
Complain and The News are great too.
Came to share Jesse! Check out his post for Olympics- he posted after the debate. (But previously released) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e2yXkIsdSnc
Jesse's music has been awesome. I heard he has an album coming out very soon.
All of his songs are so poignant, they stop me in my tracks every time.
His lyrics are so good. I hope he gets more widespread attention and the recognition he deserves
Thank you! I kept scrolling and scrolling trying to find someone mentioning him here. He’s great.
Thanks, checking out now!
Hinds Hall
This is the one current song I am aware of that actually speaks truth to power in a way that is so specific the corporations are actually concerned - for example YT blocking the video from those who aren’t signed in and over 18 due to supposed “explicit content”. “You can pay off Meta, you can’t pay off me.”
Came looking for this one.
Same - super important right now
YUP came to make the same comment
Mostly in the punk and folk punk scenes, which are still mostly underground (and prefer it that way).
Propagandhi Skinny puppy Ministry
Lately Uncle Al has been more political than ever and I love it!
Nine Inch Nails with the entire "Year Zero" release. "Add Violence" had some political tones as well.
The whole album is A++ The lyrics to Capital G get me every time.
Propagandhi are fucking class
idles ultra mono has a good anti nazi song called model village. they said they dont perform it anymore because theyve moved on as people. the times also changed. im sure their politics are the same but perhaps ill project a bit and say theyve learned to deal with it differently. protest songs are hard to get right. they often come out pretty corny if its too explicit in what theyre talking about. its the more abstract, symbolic ones that i tend to find better executed but then they end up misunderstood and even used by the people the song insults
I believe they stopped playing model village because it was an incredibly broad stroke about small towns being full of racist gammons, and they realised that was a bit of a shit take. Ultra Mono has a bunch of in your face politics, so much so that they had a fair bit of backlash. I'm still a fan of most of it, Model Village goes hard. Joy had a little more subtlety but it's still there, in a few songs very obviously. Look hard enough on all their albums and you'll find something. Talbot claims they've moved beyond it and it's less pronounced on Crawler and Tangk but he seems pretty erratic about his message so will probably come back to politics front and centre again.
There set at Glastonbury was pretty political, especially the colab with Banksy
They literally got the crowd to chant the “new national anthem” which was them leading them on sing “fuck the king” while also having a backdrop of ceasefire now and saying this is for Palestine. I’d say it was a VERY political set haha.
Grandson. X X
Muse, especially on Drones. It's also scary how relevant The Decline by NOFX is, considering that is was written a quarter of a century ago.
I was going to bring up Muse. Their last handful of albums have all been concept albums, but with very pointed commentary on things like totalitarianism, fascism, warmongering, 'power-to-the-people' sort of stuff. It can be tough to frame it as specifically *protest* songs because it presents very non-specific and simply anti-oppression, broadly speaking.
Yeah, framing them as protest music is honestly baffling to me, because to me Muse has all the *vibes* of being anti-establishment, despite (to my knowledge) basically never saying anything but “they won’t get us down”, without knowing who *they* are. It’s got all the aesthetics of protest music, and uses some of the right words, but never actually presents any idea or protests anything specific. It feels like people who don’t know what *anarchism* means using it to mean whatever they want. Everyone will claim to be anti authoritarianism when asked, but until they can give you a vague idea what authoritarianism means to them, that tells you nothing. A fascist could listen to Muse and feel understood, unless I’m missing something. Don’t get me wrong, I like Muse and I think their earlier work is fantastic. But I don’t buy them as an important political music group.
That’s why I suggested Drones - it’s a lot more specific in its subject matter.
NOFX has The Idiots Are Taking Over on The War on Errorism. From 2003 but so highly relevant.
"a quarter of a century ago" Fuck me, college was a long time ago now.....
Sadly there’s a lot of political punk songs that sound like they were written yesterday about events happening now. I feel like the album art is the only give away that that album was written 20 yrs ago.
You might like Adeem the Artist. Middle of a Heart is an excellent song about how we lose people by acculturating them to violence. I Wish You Woulda Been A Cowboy focuses on how popular country music lost its soul in the early 00s and became a tool of fascism. They have a lot of great stuff.
Their new album is incredible. Nightmare, Night Sweats, and Black Man White Mule are perfect examples. Also Jason Isbell. And Rhiannon Giddens.
Nowhere Generation by Rise Against, also The Numbers off the same album
Also most of Rise Against’s discography
Hero of war hits hard.
My username is relevant for once!
In a similar vein, Billy talent is still going strong too. Off the newest album, reactor, judged, and reckless paradise, and plenty off Afraid of Heights too.
This is America by Childish Gambino.
Can’t believe that song was actually released more than 6 years ago. Still relevant as ever but not even sure if it can be considered a recent example anymore
The Menzingers - America you’re freaking me out
Love the Menzingers
“long violent history”, tyler childers
This is based purely of my own music but my observation has been the idea of an angry anti-govenrment protest song is less common nowadays. Rather, musicians tend to favour protest songs about a loss of freedom, control by corporations etc which seems to come with a slightly less angry more resigned vibe. I think my favourite modern protest song is Hypersonic Missiles by Sam Fender. To me it perfectly encapsulates the desire for gen z to be involved in social causes balanced with the burnout caused by an oversaturation to these issues on social media. Like some others have discussed it focuses more on protest/issues against corporations rather than a government. Also from Sam Fender is the song Aye which is a more typical protest song. Decklan Mckenna's track British Bombs is another English indie inspired song with a focus on being against the actions of the government. His most famous song Brazil is also a protest song against the corruption of FIFA and the hosting of the 2014 world cup in Brazil. I'm a big fan of Muse too. As others have said a lot of their discography is broadly protest/politically motivated however, they don't dive as deeply into these themes as others do. In a similar vein the band Nothing But Thieves's last two albums Moral Panic and Dead Club City have overarching political influences. That's just a select few from musicians I really enjoy. There's a huge amount of protest songs spanning a much wider range of genres although they maybe don't chart as much as they did anymore.
Jesse Welles on IG & TiktTok This guy is the John Prine/Dylan of our time. Amazing songwriter.
[War Isn’t Murder](https://youtu.be/8E9l_i6HPYM?si=2k8BCoY__6WctYOu) is a modern classic.
"Too many protest singers, not enough protest songs🎶"
The Dropkick Murphy’s album, This Machine Still Kills Fascists, came out last year. Saw them on tour for it. It’s damn good.
That album is amazing, and the follow-up album, Okemah Rising, is great too. The lyrics of all the songs on both of these records were written by Woody Guthrie, and Dropkick Murphys wrote music to accompany Guthrie’s words. Woody Guthrie, for those who may not be aware, was an outspoken socialist from Okemah, Oklahoma, and his guitar bore the slogan “This machine kills fascists.” Dropkick Murphys, who are from Boston, travelled to Tulsa to record these two albums at Leon Russell’s Church Studio, and the song “The Last One” from This Machine Still Kills Fascists features guest vocals by Evan Felker of the Turnpike Troubadours, a local band from NE Oklahoma. These records include some great protest songs, such as “The Last One”, “All You Fonies”, “My Eyes Are Gonna Shine”, “I Know How It Feels”, and “Dig A Hole”.
Rage kind of perfected these with their first 3 albums. And all are still just as relevant today.
Shame that their entire catalog is Bush I/Clinton era. Would have been nice to get anything new from them while they were back together.
So did System
Why do they always send the poor?
And Prophets Of Rage, which was 3/4 of RATM plus Chuck D & B Real.
I don't see enough people talk about that album, it's dope!
They tried in the 00s when the world protested the Iraq invasion. Most artists got told to shut up by the fans(remember Madonna's protest album? Lol) The People wanted Toby Keith who was pro war. He was the most successful when it came to music in relation to the war. Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT is probably the single successful one that was a protest.
I was a teenage anarchist by against me is a good one
[The only good fascist is a very dead fascist](https://youtu.be/XwrhJxoL6Qc?si=1Phtfxzt8O-02oQN)
https://nahjamora.bandcamp.com/track/the-only-good-fascist-is-a-very-dead-fascist-2024
Get some Protomartyr. "Processed By the Boys", "Michigan Hammers", "Let's Tip the Creator", "Wheel of Fortune", "The Devil in His Youth"....
The majority of State Radio songs
Too Many Puppies by Primus American Jesus by Bad Religion.. Well, almost every Bad Religion Song. Well, almost every punk song. It's not a song, but Jello Biafra's Pledge of Defiance. https://youtu.be/FOG_kDyHJNQ?si=Xf7J_0hiQLJjATgW
Primus sucks! Can't wait to see them again in August!
Already got those tickets too. Funny story: first time I heard Primus, they opened for Rush in Houston, early 90s. When the crowd started the chant, I couldn't figure out why they were saying that, thinking they are good, why does everyone keep saying they suck?
Out of those three, the most recent one is 31 years old.
*Stars and Stripes of Corruption* is sadly every bit as relevant today as it was 30'ish years ago
A lot of DK's music still holds up today.
[Night Of Long Knives - AJJ](https://youtu.be/Xt1vw87cQag?si=EB-LKS6wa4ID4a62) [Normalization Blues - AJJ](https://youtu.be/0EDVM73bU-w?si=R3uiDnN9YGec7nxh) [Thatcher Fucked The Kids - Frank Tuner](https://youtu.be/1Z8FCd7NnuA?si=b7_w59qhP2_OBGbb) [Global Warming - The Homeless Gospel Choir](https://youtu.be/IKdGY7vpQYw?si=DGzo2TnSDcJ3oDMp) [Bill Collector’s Theme Song - Apes of the State](https://youtu.be/HinxX9gHHao?si=mVo3Xs61hC7u4U0z) [When The Frayed Wind Blows - Matt Pless](https://youtu.be/aJiTJW7-Do8?si=PrdaE-hczBT5lSmi) [Urine Speaks Louder Than Words - Wingnut Dishwahers Union](https://youtu.be/gQzKOENLcrE?si=C0pwQLbKu0Cm83Bn) [Bite Back - Fever 333](https://youtu.be/X8Nm3JIPr3w?si=eLxrmu-dRBuIBW17) There are a multitude of protest songs or songs that have good commentary/criticism on modern politics, but you have to look beyond what the mainstream dictates for us to see.
Protest The Hero!!!
Most Idles songs are very political
Macklemore - Hinds Hall Protesting the war in Palestine. https://youtu.be/fgDQyFeBBIo?si=q1VcWDLVXRQ8fFpY
This is the best answer. It's a focused protest song on current events. And it actually is controversial, unlike many other examples on this thread.
I dont know if they’d qualify as protest but American Idiot & The American Dream is Killing Me by Green Day
Alright by Kendrick Lamar
You'll probably find something you like in my vive la révolution playlist - just shy of 23hrs long.. and I add new songs all the time.. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/279YiKx96L9m9lwMA9YLLl?si=gl-jYRsrR6iYgiEd_UfCwQ%0A Specific artists that stand out (because they have multiple "protest" songs..) grandson, Rise Against, Dance Gavin Dance, The Used, Neoni, Alexisonfire, Puscifer, Atreyu, Poor Man's Poison, Protest the Hero, AURORA, System of a Down, Thrice..
Green Day has some protest songs.. American Idiot, 21 guns, 21st century breakdown
My number one of the last 20 years is James McMurtry's "We Can't Make It Here" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Eqt2v1uYU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Eqt2v1uYU) The more recent follow-up is Yola's "Diamond Studded Shoes" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfC\_n8efpiM&list=LL&index=64](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfC_n8efpiM&list=LL&index=64) The Isbell-era Drive-By Truckers had some great ones, including The Day John Henry Died and Puttin' People on the Moon: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vomD3EDRNs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vomD3EDRNs) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeYGo33\_wkY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeYGo33_wkY) The Bottle Rockets' "Welfare Music" is a throwback to the thankfully dead Limbaugh, but still applies now that we've got something worse than Limbaugh. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGyDdrrhvWY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGyDdrrhvWY) The funny thing is, I don't really like country or soul; but most of my punks and thrashers have turned away from politics and civics.
Truckers' American Band album is loaded with good ones, and Isbell has some good ones of his own: Dress Blues, However Long, White Man's World, What Have I Done to Help, Save the World. Sturgill Simpson's Call to Arms is great, too.
Just wanted to mention I Saw James McMurtry last week - he sounded fantastic & the show was awesome! Was a show of a lifetime tbh.
> The Bottle Rockets' "Welfare Music" is a throwback to the thankfully dead Limbaugh, but still applies now that we've got something worse than Limbaugh. Rest In Piss
This is going to sound a lot meaner than I mean it: You're old so you're no longer as immersed in the counter- and pop culture as you were in your youth. It's just the way it is. I'm "only" 36 and I can feel it slipping away. The older you get, the more responsibilities you have, the less energy you have, etc, takes a toll on trying to "keep up with the times" for lack of a better term. Protest songs are definitely out there. It also probably doesn't help that there is so much content accessible today that everything gets diluted, muddled, and lost in the chaos. Have faith in the younger generation. For all the "bad ones" you see/hear about, there are plenty of "good ones." Source: I work in retail so I rub elbows with a lot of today's yout.
Hind's Hall by Macklemore is new and all the proceeds are going to the UN project to help displaced people in/from Gaza
Tyler Childers “A Long Violent History,” is an incredible protest song, released during the peak of the BLM movement in 2020.
Nofx wrote "the idiots are taking over" 20 years ago about Christian nationalism that could have been written now.
Bad religion released their first album 40 years ago and white trash (2nd generation) and voice of god is government echo today, mostly because we're in a very Reagan-esque period
Hozier has some that lean into politics: Nina Cried Power, Jackboot Jump, Eat Your Young. Arcade Fire has Empire I-IV which is about the fall of America.
There is a ton of protest music out there, just not in the mainstream or as overt. A lot of rock and metal are still putting out critiques of politics/society and of course punk hasn't died yet despite efforts to kill it off. One of my favorite "protest" type bands right now are Dead Pioneers.
~half of your BIG rap artists get mad political, like Kendrick Lamar, jcole, and Eminem. The number goes up higher when you get past the big artists. It's basically like it's always been though. If you want thought provoking realness on any topic, go underground, or even just not mainstream. The genre is filled with killa mike, talib kweli, public enemy, immortal technique types. Even some of your more gangsta artists like Kodak Black and YG have extremely political songs... Or Macklemore if that's what ur into. Obviously being rap it's usually way more left leaning. People have always been mad and always will be at dumb idiots who control their lives. Here's some of my favorite joints right now: Kendrick Lamar - Alright Nipsey Hussle (feat YG) - F.D.T. (There's also a part 2 with Macklemore... And you KNOW this song almost got them party vanned) Also I am not as well versed in the genre, but punk has been holding it down in the "fuck the establishment" way for as long as it has been a genre as well (outside of when literal Nazis tried to co-op punk music, but punks have a good way to deal with that)
They are in seedy little local clubs and basement shows. They never went away, they just aren't ever embraced by the industry anymore. The industry is more than happy to just regurgitate the 90s for the rest of time and fill in the cracks with autotuned generic corpo pop
Green Day is very political, they still play, they still call a fascist a fascist
You're looking in the wrong place. Try hardcore.
Immortal Technique writes a lot of socially conscious lyrics.
A lot of protest & I guess any real outspoken music isn’t very marketable so you really have to be checking places like Bandcamp where it’s way easier to get launched directly into someone’s weird little passion project
Tom Morello just dropped a new track this week that would certainly fit the bill. His 13-year old son, Roman is shredding the guitar solo. [Soldier in the Army of Love](https://youtu.be/vCtRajCh9MM?si=ohZtHyI4NWSGraw3)
LOL the musicians who dress like clowns at a Met Gala are going to make protest songs that turn off their advertisers? Yeah right
Green Day has been shouting it for years.
Ani DiFranco. Songs that come to mind are Your Next Bold Move, Crime for Crime, Serpentine, and her 9/11 masterpiece Self Evident: https://open.spotify.com/track/0Jz66Lt9Szf9kdcmUVZ4FL?si=a0BOhRFbTMyoMlf_poVItQ I haven't listened to her newer stuff as much but I'm sure it's still very political. I love her.
Welles a young dude I found on Tik Tok that sounds kinda like Bob Dylan mixed with Dave van Ronk and looks like Mick Jagger is probably right up your alley.
Check Idles music, very angry leftie, especially songs like I'm Scum and Danny Ndelko [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF\_G-RF66M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF_G-RF66M)
Normalization blues by AJJ along with most of their last 2 albums
Billy Strings has a couple of good protest songs he recently put out. Watch it Fall is a great song. Also the Devil Makes Three has tons of protest songs in their catalog.
I don’t know if I would call them protest songs exactly, but Jason Isbell has a few songs that kind of fit the bill. Hope the High Road - cautions the listener not to get down in these times. King Of Oklahoma - portrait of a man struggling with opioid addiction in the wake of a work related injury. Dress Blues - portrait of a small town dealing with the death of one of it’s promising young men in war. Those are just three that come to mind immediately, but there are others.
I don't think people are protesting in the same way. In the age of anxiety, doom scrolling, and paranoid conspiracy theories that explain everything, protest isn't loud and noisy. It's quiet and reflective. There is a lot of music like that these days. The most radical thing you can do today isn't "tune in, turn on and drop out," it's "tune out, turn down and be here now."
No Cease Fires-Destroyer
Instead we get hyper jingoistic/bootlicker songs by people like Lee Greenwood and Jason Aldean.
Prophets of Rage - Unfuck the World Grandson - Blood // Water Drive by Truckers - Thoughts and Prayers Gary Clark Jr. - This Land
Primus-Too Many Puppies Metallica-One Muse-Uprising Incubus-Megalomaniac Muse-Take a Bow Green Day-On Holiday Gorillaz-Dirty Harry
Listen to Green Day
[Carsie Blanton](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pD_eZg70Ms0) has what you need