Old School Pig, by Tilt.
Garbage - No gods no masters. Whole album is shamelessly political.
The men who rule the world Have made a fucking mess The history of power The worship of success The king is in the counting house He's chairman of the board The women who crowd the courtrooms All accused of being whores
You mention the UK, so I'll just drop a couple of names of folks/bands talking about racism, immigration and toxic male culture.
Bob Vylan
We live here - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VFqhJyvly1g
Wicked and Bad - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KRJ-s7jRyAM
Idles
Danny Nedelko - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF_G-RF66M
Lambrini Girls
Lads lads lads - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IuLK56UrCL0
There's a lot of good punk still happening.
Should also add Hacktivist. A few of their songs are politically charged, and several calls BoJo a cunt.
@frazorth you've got going down rabbit holes ... I wonder what I else I can do to scare a tory
Listen to Boris Johnson is a fucking cunt?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uGwCykQwgTU
Or just Fuck The Tories
I listen to a lot of punk music so obviously it's strongly political. Here's just a few off the top of my head:
- White People for Peace by Against Me!
- Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners by Against Me!
- Survivor Guilt by Rise Against
- State of the Union by Rise Against
- The Eco-Terrorist In Me by Rise Against
- 45 by Sum41
- Empty Walls by Serj Tankian
- Prison Song by System of a Down
- Christian Nationalist by Anti-Flag
- Die for your Government by Anti-Flag
- 72 hookers by NOFX
- Please Play This Song on the Radio by NOFX
- Fuck Euphemism by NOFX
- Take Back the Power by The Interrupters
- Quarantine by Blink 182
I tried to include a bit of variety and not all be anti-war songs from/about the Bush era. A couple are about the music industry specifically, and one is a musical rant about kink culture (and it's not the one you think based on the title!) I'm also a big Rise Against fan so I tried to pull out some non-singles from accross many years since basically any song by them has a good political message. I highly recommend looking up the lyrics to all of these after the first listen or better during the second listen
Sault's "Foot on Necks" is a great anti police brutality anthem, and a big chunk of all their music has messages like that
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.
I hate to break it to you but Billy Talent formed in 1993! ;)
I love this question. Perhaps there is also the record labels and mainstream media that prioritize marketability and mass appeal, which most probably would discourage artists from producing overtly political content, the stuff that may be thrown into the controversial or polarizing basket just doesn't pull in the bucks these days.
As it ever was?
edit: it does feel different now - but it has never been easy.
Is Antiflag still around?
Leslie Fish is still writing music. Plus her old works from 1980-s (eg It's Sister Jenny's Turn to Throw the Bomb and Firestorm) are as relevant now as they were 40 years ago.
Tropical fuck storm is pretty good at ranting against the bullshit and bonus they also sound awesome:
Right Now - Jesse Roper
The Offspring. Americana, Stuff is Messed up, the Kids Aren't Alright...
Moscow Death Brigade for example
La Bala - Juana Fé
Anything by flobots, old stuff or new is pretty political
revolution by Tracy chapman
This thought has occurred to me recently. What is this generation's soundtrack? What is the music everyone will look on and say it defined the time?
Despacito, the fox, Gangnam style, shape of you, cruel summer, blinding lights, etc.
I don't know if thease two are protest songs, but they are near enough: Plavi orkestar - Fa Fa Fašista, Bijelo dugme - Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo
Edit: They are yugoslavian, so not that relevant now.
Gary Clarke Jr. Has some good protest songs, especially for a blues musician, including a remake of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's Ohio.
Municipal Waste is great for some hardcore, there's actually a bunch of hardcore bands that have some excellent protest songs.
Then you have Ice-T's Body Count.
Lamb of God's albums post-Randy's time in a Czech prison have been full of social commentary, far more than the earlier albums.
I've seen people highlight Killer Mike's Grammy wins, but his other group Run the Jewels is pretty much the biggest name in protest rap these days.
Then you have Kendrick Lamar, possibly the best rapper of his generation, absolutely one of the greatest story tellers of rap, period.
Overall there's a lot of pop, metal, rock, rap and other genres who have some prominent names and many lesser known names who are putting out good angry music.
Then you have Ice Cube putting out Arrest the President then proceeding to talk about voting for that same president.🤦♂️
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