Hey, kids, where is your protest music?

[elehhhhna]

Y'all are really sucking on that front.

[Prophet 451]

1. Protest music seems to have gone the way of the dodo

The last one I can remember (although given my memory, that's very unlikely to be the last one that got big) was Queen's "Put Out The Fire", an anti-gun protest song. Modern music doesn't seem to do protest songs.

[wavesofeuphoria]

2. This doesn't suck.

Ferguson’s Tef Poe Drops a Powerful ‘War Cry’

http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/11/fergusons_tef_poe_drops_a_powerful_war_cry_audio.html

None of these suck either ...

The 10 Most Powerful Protest Songs of the 21st Century
http://flavorwire.com/143568/the-10-most-powerful-protest-songs-of-the-21st-century

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. "Young wolves, show us your teeth." John Steinbeck K&R

[FSogol]

4. Translation: I only listen to music that is at least 3 decades old.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. ROFL

Exactly. I always want these people to name 5 songs that the "kids" listen to today and exclude pop radio hits.

"Where's your protest music?" so often means "I don't know fuck all about contemporary music, but I think the music of my own youth was better anyway."

Ooooof. Enough already.

[former9thward]

54. It was better.

Every night I go to bars in the biggest college 'town' in the country. They are filled with people in their 20s and 75% of the time they are playing stuff from the 60s and 70s.

[FSogol]

56. Yawn. The baby boomers are the most conceited generation in the history of the Earth.

Not only do they demand that their music and culture is the best, they require everyone else to agree and they whine when people don't.

[former9thward]

57. No one demanding 20 year olds to play classic rock.

But they do even though that irritates you.

[FSogol]

58. It doesn't irritate me, it bores me. There is much better music.

Also, what you consider classic rock is a slim picking of stuff over a large period of time. During those years, the worst stuff has been left off and forgotten. Look at the top 40 lists in the classic rock heyday. There is as much dreck around the few gems as there is today.

[gratuitous]

5. What, "Waiting on the World to Change" doesn't cut it?

"We keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change" not quite "We shall overcome" or "I ain't a-marchin' anymore."

[marym625]

6. There are quite a few

In this thread. Though most are the older ones, there are a bunch of new ones. And because of Ferguson, there have been more since this post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025605906

[LeftyMom]

8. Oh god, not this thread again.

[Man from Pickens]

15. Boooooring

even my cat yawned at that

Sad truth is that when people say today's music sucks they are not just being nostalgic.

I could stack 1966-1992 era videos along these lines all day. Ever since 1992 I got no idea what the hell happened but it's like the soul was ripped from the music industry, and they simply stacked fashion models with guitars in their hands.

Even country music has suffered a horrible fate of pathetic formulaic commercialization. I don't even like country music but this practically made me cry, how bad the situation has gotten: http://www.avclub.com/article/mashup-popular-country-songs-confirms-how-formulai-213620

I would LOVE to see the new, fresh stuff that's been made in the past 20 years, but I just don't see it. I have begged over and over again for someone to prove me wrong on this, and to date no one has been able to do it.

[arcane1]

27. Media consolidation really took off in the 1990's

Ultimately, there are now only a small number of actual companies that own every record label, tv channel, etc. Dull sameness was the predictable outcome

[mythology]

35. Including U2 as a great band?

Ugh, they are so bloody bland and boring and Bono is a smarmy sanctimonious putz who doesn't actually do much good in my opinion.

That's kind of the beauty of music. You may not like Rise Against, but that's an opinion. If you want to go find music that you like, it's out there, go find it. This is a golden age of music as it's easier than ever for a band to get their music out. They aren't reliant on radio stations or big labels. If you say you can't find something in the last 20 years that moves you, you aren't actually looking.

[Man from Pickens]

38. Not as a band, no - but that song, yes it's pretty damn good

U2 did what way too many bands do, they were creative and original early then they went formulaic and sucked from there. I call it the "Eddie Vedder Effect". War and Rattle and Hum were quality albums.

[PaddyIrishman]

48. I'm Irish and I hate that song

Listen to it again.

It blames the victims and glosses over what actually happened on 31 January 1972 and finishes off with a bit of Jesus loving.

[bigwillq]

9. Do I need an AARP card to post in this thread?!

[marym625]

10. Hey!

Not all of us who are old enough for AARP are that out of it.

Just posted one of my favorite protest song yesterday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017238661

[dilby]

11. What type of protest music? There is a lot of anti-war songs done in the last 10 years.

There was also a lot of anti Bush songs as well.

[brooklynite]

12. Feel free to share the titles you've produced...

...or is it someone else's job?

[Codeine]

13. Hey, old people! Where is your cultural awareness?

Y'all are really sucking on that front.

[abakan]

28. Generalize much?

Just because one person asks an ageist question, does not mean everyone over 50 feels the same. I don't know your music but I'm sure there are many truly talented people making it. In the midst of all that music there has to be social commentary addressing your world just because I haven't heard it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Lighten up...

[mythology]

36. I assume that was mocking the original post

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Because everyone loved protest songs ...

[Denzil_DC]

25. I'll see your Neil Innes, and raise you a Hugh Laurie

(long may they both sing):

[VScott]

16. Because protest songs just don't have that same feel when using Autotune.

[Brigid]

17. This is still the protest song by which all others shall be judged:

[fishwax]

18. isn't this covered on the FAQ?

[elias49]

19. What good are protest songs

when they're played on those tiny IPhone speakers.


Anyone play music on good old-fashioned component stereo systems any more?
I still use 2' tall Sansui speakers and a direct-drive turntable.

[Codeine]

20. God, you people are silly.

Hipster kids are fucking infamous for their love of vinyl and bells-and-whistles stereo systems.

The age-related myopia in this thread is goddamned laughable.

[elias49]

21. Hey! Lots of people over 60 develop myopia

cheap shot!
At least I can hear the music!

[marym625]

23. selective reading

And why infamous? I see nothing negative about the hipsters. Maybe you're just too myopic to see the positive.

Peace

[marym625]

22. Another favorite

Call the Cops - Rob Hustle ft. Bump:

[Bluenorthwest]

24. They do? I think there have been some good protest songs in recent years

[thucythucy]

29. This is absolutely beautiful.

Thanks for posting this.

Makes this whole thread worth while.

[Bluenorthwest]

34. That song saved the genre for me

nt

[Behind the Aegis]

46. There is this too...

azmom

[TM99]

26. The younger generation are producing some.

You just can't find them on iTunes or on a Clear Channel driven radio station.

Genres like Hip Hop, Dubstep, Industrial, etc. are producing some great anti-war, anti-racism, pro-LGBT music.

But like I said, you have really got to search it out. I have been grooving recently on independent artists on bandcamp.com and mixtapes.net.

Check those out for starters.

[DonCoquixote]

30. here ya go

and a non 60's
classic that is more timely than ever

[Autumn Colors]

31. How about a couple from an Iranian ex-pat in Switzerland?

Lyrics are in Farsi, but if you choose the larger video viewer, there are English subtitles on the bottom. BTW, I'm a 54-year-old female posting this....

PERSROCK - Amoo Azadi ("Uncle Freedom&quot

PERSROCK - TV

[Inkfreak]

32. Nothinface had some great stuff out during the Bush years.

But metal doesn't play to the masses, I guess. It's a shame.

http://m.

[marym625]

33. Don't forget

Green Day American Idiot Uncensored Music Video:

[Man from Pickens]

40. Can't quite make out the words

is there an apology to Joan Jett for ripping off "Bad Reputation"?

[marym625]

42. Not so much

And since Joan Jett often plays with Green Day and has opened for them, I think she's good.

[Arugula Latte]

37. I'm no kid, but here's something:

You better toss your bullets
You better hide your guns
You better help the children
Let 'em have some fun
You better count your blessings
Kiss mom and pa
You better burn that flag
Cause it ain't against the law!

You better pledge your allegiance
You're not the only one
Listen up forefathers
I'm not your son
You better save the country
You better pass the flask
You better join the army
I said: "no thank you, dear old uncle Sam!"

You better toss your bullets
You better hide your guns
You better help the children
Let them have some fun, some fun, some fun!

[cemaphonic]

39. Well, there's this genre called rap for one.

Even at the popular radio hits, rap tends to seesaw between party anthems and social/protest type music. Dig any deeper, and there's tons of protest rap. On the rock front, there's bands like Drive-By Truckers that have been chronicling the Walmartization of the South for the last 15 years.

There's even some some newish stuff in the Woody Guthrie/Bob Dylan protest song tradition like this:

[BumRushDaShow]

41. Interesting article on that

<...>

In December, Roots drummer and in-house member for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Questlove wrote on Instagram, “I urge and challenge musicians and artists alike to push themselves to be a voice of the times that we live in … I really apply this challenge to ALL artists. We need new Dylans. New Public Enemys. New Simones.” He went on, “Songs with spirit in them. Songs with solutions. Songs with questions. Protest songs don’t have to be boring or non danceable or ready made for the next Olympics. They just have to speak truth.”

Since then artists like Alicia Keys have released the video "We Gotta Pray" and just this past Sunday, Common and John Legend won the Golden Globe for their song “Glory” in the movie Selma – a song that quite consciously merges the protests in Selma with those in Ferguson. And in the same spirit of collaboration, another song quietly appeared on the Internet this week. One that is even more poignant because of its deeply personal nature. In memory of Eric Garner, his daughter Erica and family member Stephen Flagg recorded "This Ends Today". In the song, we hear Garner’s final words “I Can’t Breathe” looped throughout – making it both an elegy and anthem for a country desperately in need of change.

http://time.com/3672318/protest-song-returns/

The next generation's stuff is coming...

(Won Golden Globe "Best Original Song in a Motion Picture", nominated for Academy Award for "Best Original Song&quot

[DemocraticWing]

43. I'll join all the other people leaving examples

[cemaphonic]

45. Oh yeah, Brother Ali! Forgot about him.

Good stuff.

Blues Scholars:

[oneview]

44. Well if the government was pulling their iPhones out of their hands and dropping them in Vietnam

for a year to fight a war whether they wanted to go or not, I think you might hear more protest songs. What do you want?

[uponit7771]

47. Marvin Gaye is hard to top..."... it aint easy being greasy..."

[kelliekat44]

49. It's all about that bass. nt

[ND-Dem]

50. Treble Army: Pay to live (pay to die)

actual song starts after 'matrix' introduction

Green papers calculate how much you're valuable
Lincoln, Franklin, Washington and Hamilton
Read tha bank slip, insufficient capital
(Latido, they got some nerve callin' YOU a radical!)
Dinin' is denied without dinero
Behind on rent? Evict! Foreclosure peril
What's in tha cards for poor? Consult tha tarot
Can't blame ya, black man, bank heist, double barrel
'Cause they gangsta, it's tha land they steal
We compete with Wall Street banker bandit breed
We sell our labor for basic standard needs
Tomorrow sure seems hollow on this hamster wheel

A boss tries 'til you're fired (pay to live...pay to die)
To work you to your bones (live to die...don't ask why)
From 5 to 9 we survive (pay to live...pay to die)
To earn food, shelter, clothes (live to die...don't ask why)

Legal tender is the perfume of serfdom
Odor bordering on feudalism it's so foul!
Fiat cash is a con game camouflaged
Owner in control, a proven pimp gorilla style
Why are weekends tha recess that they are?
Cool off tha human property with a shopping spree
Weekdays display tha trinkets that we bought
Tools of tha oligopoly!

Money dominates our lips!
'Cause ya gotta pay to live!
Tha economy is rigged
'Cause ya gotta pay to live!
Forever poverty persists
'Cause ya gotta pay to live!
Yeah, tha jobless rate can dip
STILL gotta pay to live!

Can ya college major fit?
'Cause ya gotta pay to live!
In an automated shift?
'Cause ya gotta pay to live!
We an army laborin'
'Cause ya gotta pay to live!
You a sovereign citizen?
STILL gotta pay to live!

Exhausted energy these days, 21st century slave,
is boss expectin' Grateful marchers to our graves?
I'm caught between tha Pages of a periodical.
It's my fault I'm Way too over and underqualified,
modified my Resume, listed all my office jobs.
Why I feel I'm Marketing myself on an auction block?
These folks never Met me, but control my destiny,
read it and never Called back, all that to reject my plea?!
(GED) Part-time always seem like fool time
(CEO) Full-time always seem like pool time
(But ya free) No choice but overwork 'til we die
(To go broke) Be homeless in cold weather freeze time
Ulcer recommend I see intestine surgeon
Debt prevents me from gettin' med insurance
On borrowed credit purchase, tomorrow left uncertain
Now how did my life end so early?

A boss tries 'til you're fired (pay to live...pay to die)
To work you to your bones (live to die...don't ask why)
From 5 to 9 we survive (pay to live...pay to die)
To earn food, shelter, clothes (live to die...don't ask why)

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/amie...
Amazon: http://amzn.to/ArKtD4

[Erose999]

51. You asked for it. Here it is:

[cyberswede]

52. System of a Down has a few

PLUCK, Prison song, Boom, ADD, BYOB, Holy Mountains

[aikoaiko]

53. I think DU is pretty much an over 30 year old crowd. We're geezers.

[Arugula Latte]

55. But, ya know, a lot of us geezers like new music.

I am more into new music now than when I was in my mid- to late-20s in the 90s.

[TheSarcastinator]

59. What sucks is this cluless OP

There are many, many political "protest" bands making music right now.

For starters, I recommend listening to a band called Against Me. Their punk music explores, in part, the struggles of their transgender lead singer. Or you could move on to Rise Against, another great political punk band that speaks to progressive values and sells a f*ck-ton of records in the process. Or Anti-Flag. Or Trash Talk. Or Jello Biafra and the Guantanomo School of Medicince.

Or you could move on to hiphop: from the Flobots to Lupe Fiasco, Brother Ali, Immortal Technique, Mos Def, The Coup, Dead Prez, Talib Kwali....the list goes on and on and on.

Your failure to keep up with contemporary music does not mean political protest music no longer exists. Claiming that it does not exit because you have not heard it is an appeal to ignorance.