Joe Strummer died on December 22nd, 2002. Fifteen years later and his music is as vital as ever. As the front-man and lyricist of The Clash, he composed some of the most important socially conscious music ever. “Straight To Hell” appears on The Clash’s 1982 album, Combat Rock. Like many of The Clash tunes, it is a protest against many […]
Learn more →False Advertising is a three piece indie rock band from the UK and “Not My Fault” appears on their 2017 EP, I Would Be So Much Happier If I Just Stopped Caring. Concerning the motivation of the tune, front woman Jen Hingley stated: “We wrote this song whilst lamenting the loss of opportunity and hope that this last year’s political developments have […]
Learn more →Jello Biafra is no stranger to creating political music. It started with the seminal hardcore punk band Dead Kennedys and he continues to rage on, championing many causes. “Werewolves of Wall Street” is one of many anthems for the Occupy Wall Street Movement that appeared on Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine 2013 album, White People and the […]
Learn more →Some would argue that social media is a powerful platform for protest and social change. Others would contend that it encourages passiveness and it actually hinders meaningful political activism. This subject was addressed by the song “Slackvivist” by Desparecidos (a side project of Bright Eyes Conor Oberst). “Slacktivist” addresses those that delude themselves into thinking they are activist because they […]
Learn more →Hamell On Trail is the performance name of Ed Hamell, who is known for his political and satirical brand of folk-punk. On his tenth studio album, Tackle Box, Hamell is as sharp-witted as ever. One of the album’s highlight and potentially most controversial tunes is “Not Aretha’s Respect (Cops)”. The song deals with different dealings he had with cops while also […]
Learn more →As far as protests go, this is pretty straight forward. Fiona Apple composed this chant for the Women March on Washington which took place on January 21st, 2017. “We don’t want your tiny hands anywhere near out underpants” just doesn’t apply to Trump and recent efforts to re-shine the light on the sexual allegations against him, but that refrain takes […]
Learn more →Later today there will be a Senate election in Alabama. The Republican nominee Roy Moore is not only an accused child molester, but he has a long history of promoting racist and homophobic behavior. One example was when asked by a black man during a September campaign rally when he thought that America was last great and he responded with: […]
Learn more →In this tune, Ice-T starts off with a spoken word intro, discussing why Black Lives Matter instead of All Lives Matter. From there he goes one step further and states that in the eyes of the elite, “No Lives Matter”. Then the rest of the band kicks in, and over an aggressive beat, Ice-T takes a no hold barred approach […]
Learn more →On October 10, 2017, Eminem performed an anti-Trump freestyle during the BET awards entitled “The Storm”. On December 7th, Eminem furthers attacks Trumps and tackles systemic racism in the polarizing “Untouchable”, the second single to his upcoming album, Revival. For those commenting on this supposed new-found “wokeness” and him suddenly becoming political, this isn’t his first foray into political commentary. For example, […]
Learn more →One of the better anti-Trump protest songs was written about Donald Trump’s father. It featured lyrics by the iconic folk singer Woody Guthrie, who died in 1967. During a two-year period starting in December 1950, Guthrie lived in an apartment owned by Fred Trump. In his journal, he wrote bitterly of Trump’s racist attitudes. One of the more biting entries […]
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