The influential and controversial Irish singer-songwriter first received international success with her 1987 debut The Lion and the Cobra, which sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. Her 1990 follow-up, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got was even more massive, selling over 7 million worldwide, and featured her mega-hit rendition of Prince’s “Nothing Compare To You”. But her most important impact goes beyond […]
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“We shall live in peaceWe shall live in peaceWe shall live in peace, some day Oh, […]
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“Southern trees bear strange fruitBlood on the leaves and blood at the rootBlack bodies swinging in the southern breezeStrange fruit hanging from the poplar trees“ One of the most important songs ever composed and recorded, Strange Fruit” was written by Abel Meeropol as a poem under the pseudonym Lewis Allan. He penned it in 1937 under the name “Bitter Fruit”, […]
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In 1955, Johnny Cash released the single “Folsom Prison Blues,” a tune that resonated with inmates, many of whom wrote him letters requesting that he perform at their prison. The first time that Cash performed at a prison was at Huntsville State Prison in Texas in 1957. Afterward, he continued to perform several prison concerts. Cash long intended to record one of […]
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“Don’t waste time mourning, organize!” Joe Hill was born Joel Hägglund in Sweden before immigrating to America in 1902. He changed his name to Joseph Hillstrom, which was shortened to Joe Hill. He joined the Industrial Workers of the World, commonly referred to as the Wobblies. The Wobblies strived to organize the workers ignored by mainstream unions, such as the […]
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“The Only Band That Matters” The promotional tagline bestowed upon them by their record label may seem like hyperbole, but at times, they came close to scaling the lofty heights of being “The Only Band That Matters.” One of the reasons why they’ve mattered is that they were able to address real-world issues in fresh ways. Their music continues to […]
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The history of protest music is filled with tunes that are often misinterpreted. One example is Woody Guthrie‘s “This Land Is Your Land”. Originally composed as “God Blessed America for Me”, instead of being a patriotic tune, it was meant as a caustic critique of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”. The tune’s most potent lyrics often get excluded: “There was a […]
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Released in 1940, Woody Guthrie’s first commercial recording Dust Bowl Ballads is widely cited as the first concept album. Based on both his personal experiences and John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath it details the 1930s Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression when farmers were dispossessed of their land due to weather conditions and bank foreclosures. This resulted in […]
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“This machine kills fascists” It would be impossible to overestimate Woody Guthrie’s impact on American folk music. His contributions to the canon of protest songs are undeniable. His music rallies against fascism, racism, and other injustices. Even though Woody’s initial attempts at a music career began in the early 1930s, he started to gain a wider audience in 1937 when […]
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Rage released their self-titled landmark debut on November 3rd, 1992, which appropriately was the day of the US Presidential election. The band’s explicit political views were also well exemplified by the album cover, which featured Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, self-immolating as an act of extreme protest. The band’s radical views were also conveyed through the music on […]
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