Well, not sure about "good" but punk is and always has been about politics.
Personally, I love the folk punk end of things like AJJ's 'Normalization Blues': https://youtu.be/0EDVM73bU-w?si=_mtGGyFhrmeMRlpZ
In a similar vein, Matt Pless's "where the frayed wind blows" is 5 minutes of angry goodness.
There's also a lot of protest hip hop but I don't know the newer stuff particularly well.
Bro Killer Mike just won a Grammy
He won three! Imo, for the most boring song on his new album, but whatever. But that album is highly political
Well, NPR did an entire article of 20 protest songs that came out in 2020. Looks like they might have made a Spotify playlist of them at one point too.
Here are 30 protest albums that came out in the first half of 2022
Here are 50 protest songs from 2023.
These are just results from pretty simple Google searches. 'protest songs year'.
I'm a big fan of Rise Against. Try these tracks out:
- Architects
- Welcome to the Breakdown
- A Gentleman's Coup
- Megaphone
- Holding Patterns
and Bad Religion:
- American Jesus
- Meeting of the Minds
- The Resist Stance
Bad Religion was one of my high-school favorites that has stayed a favorite since. I have every one of their albums saved on my phone.
If you like Rage Against the Machine, Tom Morello did a solo project called The Nightwatchman that had a lot of great protest songs. I think it’s closer to 15 years old, so not the last 10.
This might not be everyones cup of tea, but metal and hardcore are full of protest music. Heaven Shall Burn for example is lyricly anti-fascist and environmentalist (live video because that show is fucking legendary).
Toxicity - System of a Down was an incredible album about American exceptionalism and war hungriness. The towers were hit a week after the album was released.
Sheesh, some time in June of 2023, Toxicity's debut date became closer to 1/1/1980 than present day
I didn't see this mentioned so wanted to add it. Most people think of it as pro USA, but the lyrics paint a very different message.
For example:
Got in a little hometown jam So they put a rifle in my hand Sent me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man
Nofx - you’re wrong:
You're wrong about virtues of Christianity And you're wrong if you agree with Sean Hannity If you think that pride is about nationality, you're wrong
You're wrong when you imprison people turning tricks And you're wrong about trickle down economics If you think that punk rock doesn't mix with politics, you're wrong
You're wrong for hating queers and eating steers If you kill for the thrill of the hunt You're wrong 'bout wearing fur and not hating Ann Coulter Cause she's a cunted cunt
You're wrong if you celebrate Columbus Day And You're wrong if you think there will be a Judgement Day If you're a charter member of the NRA, you're wrong
You're wrong if you support capital punishment And you're wrong if you don't question your government If you think her reproductive rights are inconsequent, you're wrong
You're wrong fighting Jihad, your blind faith in God Your religions are all flawed You're wrong about drug use, when its not abuse I hope you never reproduce
You're getting high on the downlow A victim of Cointelpro You're wrong and will probably never know
NOFX has been around for like 100 years, they're the old guard, they're just still active (and alive) somehow haha.
Uncle Sam Goddamn - Brother Ali
Ju$t - Run the Jewels (and a lot of their or Killer Mike's songs)
Gang Shit - Marlon Craft
The Guillotine - The Coup
I Wish I Was a Riot Grrrl - Destructo Disk
Nobody's Biz - Four Fists
Some of these being older than 10 years is a real bummer lol
It's not as punk, but the last three albums by Metric are brilliant in how they discuss the current state of the world.
Pokemon Liberation Army https://pokemonliberationarmy.bandcamp.com/album/tm101
Billy Talent
Distillers
Bad Cop, Bad Cop
So many more but I gotta dip
Sharptooth
The Baboon Show
The Halluci Nation - (Pretty cool Hip Hop group)
Bella Ciao and Sixteen Tons are perennial favorites.
Both of those are good but old songs, I think OP was wondering where the current protest music is.
one of my favorite groups is Mischief Brew from Philly. Very folksy, anti-cop, anti everything government lol
For the UK specifically I'd recommend Bob Vylan
Bob Vylan is top notch.
Like most or even all of punk
Wait… we should be outraged?
I feel like I should. (edit:accent)
Womanarchist by Bad Cop/Bad Cop is pretty excellent
Poor Man's Poison has put out a few good political/social songs recently, I'm not sure if I would call them "protest" but still fairly close
I've always liked "universal soldier" by Donovan
Some of the classical ones
-
L'internationale, which is still relevant today
-
La banderra rosa
-
Bella Ciao, which despite becoming a pop hit is a struggle song
-
El pueblo unido
-
La butte rouge
-The Red army choir have a ton of great ones
Then on more recent, just look at the punk and rap scene, there is a lot
Check out Propagandhi
Billy talent are great for political, fuck the government/ big corporations type songs. Not protest songs so much. But it feels pretty on theme. Their messages are great.
Surprise surprise and viking death march are two of my personal favourites songs by them.
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