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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.

  • Lauchs@lemmy.world
    26·
    11 months ago

    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.

      • kambusha@feddit.ch
        5·
        11 months ago

        Try Immortal Technique.

        • Dance with the Devil
        • Impeach the President
        • The 4th Branch

        And many more

      • Deceptichum@kbin.social
        5·
        11 months ago

        A lot of rap is political/social, for more mainstream stuff you’ve got songs like ‘This Is America’ by Childish Gambino, ‘Reagan’ by Killer Mike, or even ‘Fuck the Police’ by N.W.A.

        You’ve got even more leftist groups/rappers like ‘The Coup’, RATM/Public Enemy supergroup ‘Prophets of Rage’, hardcore shit like ‘Immortal Techniques’ or ‘Non Phixon’, ‘Dead Prez’, ‘Nas’, ‘The Fugees’, ‘Tupac’, ‘De La Soul’ just to name a few more.

        There’s also more tankie shit but I’m not gonna promote that authoritarian garbage.

        It’s almost harder to find non-political rap than it is political rap when you start breaking down the messages of many songs.

        • fellowmortal@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
          41·
          11 months ago

          Thanks! Childish Gambino - is a great example!

          I didn’t know some of these, so I’ll check them out, but they aren’t exactly new - the rest are from the ninties, right?

          • Deceptichum@kbin.social
            4·
            11 months ago

            I tried mixing it up, it’s probably more early 2000-2010s for the majority. I kinda lost interest in a lot of rap after that whole trap phase started.

            Killer Mikes a bit too centrist for my liking but Reagan from 2012 is an amazing song and one I’d recommend the most from that list.

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      11 months ago

      He won three! Imo, for the most boring song on his new album, but whatever. But that album is highly political

  • SuperEars@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    11 months ago

    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
    • Nightwatch Admin@feddit.nl
      10·
      11 months ago

      Excuse me, GenX chiming in. We had that exact same list, with the sort-of-maybe exception of climate change (pollution was really really bad though). Then again , we had the daily doom of nuclear war on our heads.

    • fellowmortal@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      1·
      11 months ago

      I guess this what I’m afraid of, but things must have felt pretty scary during the first cold war - Imagine raising children while governments were openly[edit] testing fusion weapons!

      I think that music is part of giving people inspiration and hope. Does tiktok just filter out the protest to keep us scrolling?

    • Orvorn@slrpnk.net
      1·
      11 months ago

      I’ve participated in in-person protests with various groups about a dozen times a year since 2020 and I don’t even live in a city. People are definitely out here protesting, we just don’t get any media coverage at all unless we break things.

      edit- in an attempt to actually be helpful - search the internet for any progressive or socialist activist groups near you and sign up for their newsletters/follow their socials. Try to attend a few events, and there you’ll hopefully meet people who can get you connected to local anarchists/more radical folks who go out and protest a lot. Then you can carpool with folks and share expenses and have a safe group of people to go to protests with.

  • Taco2112@lemmy.world
    13·
    11 months ago

    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.

      • jandar_fett@lemmy.world
        1·
        11 months ago

        Between the Buried and Me, a progressive metal band that is considered legendary, is philosophically political in so much as that most of their albums are about the inevitable decline of humanity and the destruction of everything due to capitalism, greed, regressive ideologies etc. If you’ve never listened to them you should start with the Great Misdirect. Spotify has a live version I think and it is phenomenal.

  • ReeferPirate@lemy.lol
    131·
    11 months ago

    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.

    • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
      71·
      11 months ago

      Sheesh, some time in June of 2023, Toxicity’s debut date became closer to 1/1/1980 than present day

    • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      System’s whole catalogue really, they’re basically Rage Against the Machine, but with an Armenian twist and flair, love them, but can’t believe the drummer is a MAGAtard.

  • jacksilver@lemmy.world
    11·
    11 months ago

    Born in the USA

    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

  • theghostie@kbin.social
    10·
    11 months ago

    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

  • UmeU@lemmy.world
    111·
    11 months ago

    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

  • mjsaber@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    101·
    11 months ago

    It’s not as punk, but the last three albums by Metric are brilliant in how they discuss the current state of the world.