80 Protest Songs of 1980

As part of a music community, I recently did a 1980 deep dive. I was going to record a video highlighting my top 25 albums and songs, but not sure I’ll ever get around to it. 1980 was a solid year for protest songs. The songs feature a wide range of genres, including punk, ska, reggae, folk, rap, and metal. Many of the tunes dealt with Cold War paranoia, along with addressing other issues such as race relations and apartheid. There are also non-English tunes that protest injustices from a global perspective. Here is a playlist of 80 protest songs from 1980.