I feel like there are lots of parallels between the eighties and now (recession/inflation, yuppies/inequality, skin-heads/fascists, hot-cold wars etc.) but there used to be protest music! Where is that stuff now? Music that’s intelligent and outraged - like we should be!
I’m out of touch now, so if it exists, educate me! Or have the protest songs been removed from tiktok by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (UK specific, but suppression of protest seems to be everywhere)? (I’ve linked to the Levellers - maybe it really was better back in the day?)
edit: Maybe not the right audience, but if the song is old enough to vote then I might already know it! What’s happening now? Any songs from the last 10 years!
edit: Thanks for everyone’s insights. I’ve spent the day discovering music that I’d never have found otherwise. Really enjoying a load of these, but thanks to everyone! It seems like protest music is confined to certain genres/places, and lots of older songs - maybe they just last longer… which is maybe a little interesting.
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.🤦♂️