The Greatest Protest Song Ever?
Midnight Oil raised an interesting point upon receiving their induction into the hall of fame. The style of protest music from which the Oils drew their massive success, is lacking in today’s music scene.
That is a slightly contentious statement. Yes the popular music industry is saturated with meaningless, pre-packaged commercial crud, BUT, even when Peter Garrett was spasming on stage, spouting this and that about how his bed is on fire (which probably explains the dance moves) there was still a steaming pile of claptrap pop music that dominated the music charts.
Today, protest music is still alive and kicking authority right where it hurts….the ears. Punk music is still a thriving haven for protest music – bands such as Anti-Flag, NOFX and Sum-41 often use their musical talents in order to put shit on the government, globalisation and pretty much anything that was on the news the night before. Veteran punk rockers Green Day found massive success with American Idiot, and The Offspring went and re-released Tehran, a protest song originally about the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 80’s, by simply changing the name to Baghdad in order to keep up with the times.
So, with that in mind, I’m wondering what is the greatest protest song of all time? What songs made a difference, or what songs were so damn catchy that you were astounded to learn that there was a strong political subtext? Here are a few of my nominations:
Hurricane – Bob Dylan:
A wonderfully told story about “The Hurricane” – an African American boxer by the name of Rubin Carter, who was the victim of some serious racial prejudice and falsely tried for murder in the late 60s. It was an infamous case, and Dylan turned it into a piece of folk protest art.
Power to the People – John Lennon
John Lennon dabbled in a bit of protest music with The Beatles’ Revolution – but once he went solo – his inner-hippy truly flourished. This song was used as the Socialist Party of Australia’s theme song at the last election. Actually, I made that up – but if the Socialist Party of Australia did have a theme song – Power to the People would be an ideal choice.
Treaty – Yothu Yindi
The Aboriginal community are lucky to have Midnight Oil on their side, and as much as seeing Peter Garrett’s shiny head bobbing around stirs up interest in the Aboriginal cause – there is a slightly more credible feel to Yothu Yindi. Treaty is a blunt, blatant and incredibly catchy song, and one that makes us whites feel rather guilty for our shitty founding fathers.
Killing in the Name – Rage Against the Machine
Choose any song by Rage, and you could feed an angry army of suppressed, rebellious young people. Killing in the Name is the song that will make anybody want to kick a hole through a wall if they thought that wall was suppressing them. And who can forget Zach de la Rocha’s defining, eloquent piece of lyrical artistry, with the subtle – but urging line: “Fuck You I won’t do what you tell me” repeated several hundred times.
American Idiot – Green Day
“Don’t want to be an American Idiot “ cries Billie Joe Armstrong. Fuelled by Michael Moore’s persuasive literature, Green Day joined Jesus and yo-yos in the resurrection club with this hit song a couple of years back. Listeners need to listen intently to find the hidden political message in this song, but there are a few subtle hints, eg: ”Redneck agenda”, “idiot nation” and “fuck America”.
Feel free to put forth your own suggestions.
That is a slightly contentious statement. Yes the popular music industry is saturated with meaningless, pre-packaged commercial crud, BUT, even when Peter Garrett was spasming on stage, spouting this and that about how his bed is on fire (which probably explains the dance moves) there was still a steaming pile of claptrap pop music that dominated the music charts.
Today, protest music is still alive and kicking authority right where it hurts….the ears. Punk music is still a thriving haven for protest music – bands such as Anti-Flag, NOFX and Sum-41 often use their musical talents in order to put shit on the government, globalisation and pretty much anything that was on the news the night before. Veteran punk rockers Green Day found massive success with American Idiot, and The Offspring went and re-released Tehran, a protest song originally about the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 80’s, by simply changing the name to Baghdad in order to keep up with the times.
So, with that in mind, I’m wondering what is the greatest protest song of all time? What songs made a difference, or what songs were so damn catchy that you were astounded to learn that there was a strong political subtext? Here are a few of my nominations:
Hurricane – Bob Dylan:
A wonderfully told story about “The Hurricane” – an African American boxer by the name of Rubin Carter, who was the victim of some serious racial prejudice and falsely tried for murder in the late 60s. It was an infamous case, and Dylan turned it into a piece of folk protest art.
Power to the People – John Lennon
John Lennon dabbled in a bit of protest music with The Beatles’ Revolution – but once he went solo – his inner-hippy truly flourished. This song was used as the Socialist Party of Australia’s theme song at the last election. Actually, I made that up – but if the Socialist Party of Australia did have a theme song – Power to the People would be an ideal choice.
Treaty – Yothu Yindi
The Aboriginal community are lucky to have Midnight Oil on their side, and as much as seeing Peter Garrett’s shiny head bobbing around stirs up interest in the Aboriginal cause – there is a slightly more credible feel to Yothu Yindi. Treaty is a blunt, blatant and incredibly catchy song, and one that makes us whites feel rather guilty for our shitty founding fathers.
Killing in the Name – Rage Against the Machine
Choose any song by Rage, and you could feed an angry army of suppressed, rebellious young people. Killing in the Name is the song that will make anybody want to kick a hole through a wall if they thought that wall was suppressing them. And who can forget Zach de la Rocha’s defining, eloquent piece of lyrical artistry, with the subtle – but urging line: “Fuck You I won’t do what you tell me” repeated several hundred times.
American Idiot – Green Day
“Don’t want to be an American Idiot “ cries Billie Joe Armstrong. Fuelled by Michael Moore’s persuasive literature, Green Day joined Jesus and yo-yos in the resurrection club with this hit song a couple of years back. Listeners need to listen intently to find the hidden political message in this song, but there are a few subtle hints, eg: ”Redneck agenda”, “idiot nation” and “fuck America”.
Feel free to put forth your own suggestions.
Formula 1
The Social Centre
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poetryatrics
possibly the most subversive lyrics i've ever heard the song it'self is essentially a protest about globalisation control and the methods by which the few control the many