5 Protest Songs of the Beastie Boys

On May 4th, 2012, Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys lost his battle to cancer, at the age of 47 years old. He was more than just a founding member of one of the most influential groups in hip hop history. Yauch was also a political activist, a devout Buddhist, and was heavily involved in the Tibetan independence movement, […]

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Daily Dose of Protest: Tateworm – Muddy Summers and the Dirty Field Whores

This is a demo version of a tune by the UK folk-punk band, which ultimately appeared on their latest album, One Foot in Front of the Other. Featuring an amusing animated video, this rollicking ditty is a derisive verbal beatdown of self-proclaimed misogynist and sex trafficker Andrew Tate. It also uses Tate as a broader representation of toxic masculinity and […]

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Daily Dose of Protest: War Is a God – Jesse Welles

This video, posted by the prolific topical singer-songwriter, is from a recent live performance at The Chapel in San Francisco. This incisive anti-war tune appears on his recently released album Middle. The lyrics allude to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and analyze religions role in war. The viral artist has been starting to receive increased mainstream attention, including his live TV debut […]

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Protest Music Hall of Fame: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil Scott-Heron

“You will not be able to stay home, brotherYou will not be able to plug in, turn on and drop outYou will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skipSkip out for beer during commercialsBecause the revolution will not be televised” This proto-rap classic was influential in the development of socially conscious hip-hop.  Jazz poet Scott-Heron originally recorded […]

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10 Chris Cornell Protest Songs

Early morning on May 18, 2017, Chris Cornell was declared dead. Cornell played an important part of my teen years and young adulthood. The first concert I ever attended was a Pearl Jam & Neil Young double bill and Soundgarden was one of the opening acts. This was in support of their 1991 album Badmotorfinger and just before the release […]

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Daily Dose of Protest: A Change Is Gonna Come – Lonnie Holley

This powerful tune is off the recently released album Tonky by the 75-year-old experimental musician. Like previous albums, it taps into Holley’s experience with dealing with hardships associated with systemic racism. This tune shares a title with the Sam Cooke classic, but it is a different tune. But it does cover similar themes of optimism despite hardships.

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