Under The Radar's Top 10 Protest Songs Of The 21st Century
We're only eight years into the 21st Century, so it's understandable Under The Radar kept this list to 10. It's part of "The Protest Issue 2008," which comes with one of two covers, unless you go wild and buy both. One features Colin Meloy, Chris Walla, and Britt Daniel looking Presidential, the other's Michael Stipe and Isaac Brock looking older and Presidential. Yes, the sausage party's to the right, but the inside of the magazine's more balanced, featuring an array of musicians with their homemade protest signs: My Brightest Diamond, Okkervil River, Wayne Coyne, St. Vincent, Built To Spill, Sharon Jones, Akron/Family, the Dresden Dolls, Stars, Talib Kweli, Elbow, Chuck D ("Fight the Power 'of course'"), etc., all stand up and get counted. Best sign goes to Fleet Foxes: "Capitalism I$ Unethical (And We're Hypocrites)." Brock's, too: "Protests Only Work If The People You Are Protesting Give A Shit About What You Think." Hey, it's just as long as a Modest Mouse album title. OK, speaking of protest, here are those previously mentioned top 10 protest songs.
10 Bruce Springsteen - "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live" (2006)
09 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - "What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes" (2002)
08 Elbow - "Leaders Of The Free World" (2005)
07 Sleater-Kinney - "Combat Rock" (2002)
06 Arcade Fire - "Intervention" (2007)
05 Kris Kristofferson - "In The News" (2006)
04 Talib Kweli And Cornel West - "Bushonomics" (2007)
03 Tom Waits - "Hoist That Rag" (2004)
02 Jarvis Cocker - "Cunts Are Still Running The World" (2006)
01 Bright Eyes - "When The President Talks To God" (2005)
System Of A Down and Propagandhi are pissed. Actually, keeping it to the 21st Century is tough. How about Fugazi's "The Argument" or another track from that album? Wilco's "Ashes of American Flags"? Or, remember this? Anyhow, nice to get both "cunts" and Cock(er) in one line. Each selection comes with a brief writeup. This is what we get for number one, Conor Oberst:
If a protest song is sung to those who are already of the same mind, does anyone really hear it? That was of no consequence when Conor Oberst stepped onto the stage on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and performed the venomous "When The President Talks To God" for the nation. Sample lyrics: "When the president talks to God ... Does he ask to rape our women's rights / And send poor farm kids off to die?"
Remember that song? The kid's got a new album, too. You can get more info on the summer/protest issue of Under The Radar at their website.
Posted at 2:34 PM by brandon
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Before I saw the list I was hoping that "Combat Rock" would be on there. SK are sorely missed.
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David Ford's "State of the Union" should be on this list. One of the great protest songs of the last decade - "http://youtube.com/watch?v=qv4QBRS-U50
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good call on the david ford.
also, doesn't neil young have a good protest song from the last 10 years? can't remember the name...
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I love Neil but Living with War was not good (apart from "After the Garden"). Plus it felt a bit inauthentic coming on the heels of his terrible post-9/11, sub Toby Keith "let's go kick some ass" Aerosmith ripping "Let's Roll."
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Intervention should've been higher.
I mean just think. it was written the night Bush got reelected. Damn, mang.
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Good call on the Eminem. I had completely forgotten about him. To think that 5 short years ago, he was the biggest musical artist in the world. Talk about falling off the face of the Earth.
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Against Me!'s entire existance has been living for this issue and -- it looks likes their anti-protest song protest song failed to strike a power chord with Under the Radar.
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Good call, Michael. Not even any Neil Young from Living With War either. Shitty list if ou ask me.
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I had a feeling the Bright Eyes song would be #1.
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Combat Rock was my introduction to SK's music. I'm glad that it was one of the selected tracks.
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Sadly it's difficult to find many songs from this century that make me feel good about being an American. But here are a few that have from the last hundred years:
God Bless America- (Kate Smith)
My Country Tis of Thee (David Crosby)
America, The Beautiful (Ray Charles)
Battle Hymn Of The Republic (Odetta)
Courtesy Of The Red White And Blue (Toby Keith)
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toby keith is the biggest countrified, jingoistic piece of southern fried shit ever born. just the very idea of him makes me ashamed.
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HAHA Had us up until you name-dropped Toby Keith. Talk about an American shame...
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Toby Keith? Really? Why not add Lee Greenwood, then?
Jesus.
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Oh yeah, it says "Sleater-Kinner" at the top, Stosuy.
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I love Sleater-Kinner. OK, fixed. Thanks for the sharp eyes. (...though I haven't forgotten you voting me down 81 points the other day.)
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Hey man, don't diss my homies.
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C'mon... Beer for my Horses(w/ Willie) was a good song.
Who here isn't a democrat??
Crickets..
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I'm not, but "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" makes me laugh. Not the whole song, just the "we'll put a boot up your ass, its the American way." part. But the list is pretty good overall.
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I know a lot of folks like to hate on Bright Eyes but that song deserves to be tops on the list.
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This list is pretty slim on hip-hop. I would add "Georgia...Bush" by Lil' Wayne or "Time to Build" by The Beastie Boys.
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For the Beastie Boys, I'd go with "We Got The" or "In a World Gone Mad". But "tme to Build" is a good choice, too.
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fuck lil wayne. if you're going to add hip hop to this list, add 'the 4th branch' by immortal technique.
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Uncle Sam Goddamn-Brother Ali.
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good call!
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that bright eyes tune may be the worst song recorded by anyone, ever.
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Maybe you didn't realize but that song wasn't recorded to be your favorite song or something, it's a protest song, it isn't meant to be pleasant. That said I think that the number one factor for a protest song is the lyrics and I think the Bright Eyes song does very well with that.
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well, david.. the thing is.. there's absolutely nothing thought provoking about this song. i'm sure it can whip the anti-bush crowd up in a frenzy.. but that doesn't excuse the fact that it lacks any lyrical depth.
not that under the radar is actually capable of recognizing that, but whatever.
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Politically, I'm on Connor's side, more or less, but the song says nothing interesting or insightful: It's just a bunch of angry straw man arguments hurled against, perhaps, recent history's biggest straw man. Even if you want to argue that this is a necessary straw man to tear down, the song becomes irrelevant the minute Bush is out of office.
It doesn't take much intelligence or insight to do it in this way. That why I like things like "Intervention" on this list--Win's not going to win an award for lyrical skill any time soon, but at least his protest is--by comparison--more abstract (and, thus, both more subversive and durable).
Of course, I realize that people like Neil Young and Bob Dylan have written very specific protest songs that have survived the years, but come on, is anybody seriously putting Bright Eyes into that group?
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God, that Bright Eyes song is awful.
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God, that Bright Eyes song is awful.
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yay...another list for people to get worked up over! bright eyes at #1 is always a big boost
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no ted leo? really?
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theodore francis leo deserves a top ten list of his own.
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I would have put either Pearl Jam's "World Wide Suicide" or "Bu$hleaguer" on this list.
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No Ted Leo & The Pharmacists? I would nominate "The High Party" or "The Ballad of the Sin Eater." It seems they purposefully overlooked anyone without an acoustic guitar. Sleater-Kinney is the only one I feel is spot on. You could probably find nine protest songs that are better than the rest.
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now that you guys mention it, Bomb Repeat (or whatever it's called) by Ted Leo should be up there. Love that song...
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I concur with Pearl Jam's "World Wide Suicide". The National's "Fake Empire", too.
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Meh, I always figured "Fake Empire" to be a tune about a living in a daze of artificial, shallow big city life like a Los Angeles or parts of NYC. But hey, what do I know, I just penned the lyrics.
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lol. this is win.
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Matt Berninger, you are a character.
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One more song.
Somethings Gotta Give - The John Butler Trio (2004)
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suck it green day
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I'm kind of surprised that James McMurtry's "We Can't Make It Here Anymore" was overlooked. This to me is one of the top protest numbers of the 21C.
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Running The World is a seriously hilarious song. I trust that almost none of you guys have even heard it, based on all the comments about Wet Willie and Toby.
Definitely worth the purchase on iTunes or Amazon or wherever you can get you grubby paws on it.
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"sovay" by andrew bird is an intelligent, subtle, well-written anti-war song.
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I would second (third?) the call for Ted Leo to be on the list. Also a surprise not to see anything by the Thermals.
I think 'Intervention' packed a bigger punch before they added the bombastic organ to it (like how they played it on KCRW).
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I fully agree that The Thermals should be on this list. I mean how you can have the line "pray for assassination" and not be on this list?!
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tv on the radio - dry drunk emperor
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How about the "Yeah yeah yeah song" by the Lips, or "Succexy" by Metric...
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YYY Song is the worst thing the Flaming Lips have ever recorded. That's why it didn't make the list.
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bu$hleaguer with a dollar sign seems like the title of an oped article for a los angeles high school newspaper. i giggle.
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And eddie giggles at yr lack of a rock band
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I am a Bright Eyes fan and I never, ever, ever listen to When The President Talks To God. It really is completely shallow, boring, and cringe-inducing in it's simplicity and half baked political opposition. It is the kind of anti-bush rhetoric that kids in High School would make. A good protest song would at least rise up to the level of a College Freshman.
That said, the only good thing about that song is that he had the audacity to play it on Jay Leno. There are few bigger national stages, and even if the song sucks ass, it was a somewhat ballsy moment.
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One of the problems with the list is that they chose a lot of artists who have been around for decades instead of newer musicians. It would be more interesting to see a list composed of newer takes on the protest songs rather than artists who are reaching into their old bag of tricks. It seems to me that in more recent years the protest tradition has shifted from the folk singer to the punk rock.
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Sage Francis?
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I think that list is all right...I agree with most of the choices but i wish it was longer. Lots of great songs were left out. but i have to say I just got this new album of this guy Brendan James after I watched his video for his song "Hero's Song" on youtube. my god it is seriously amazing. Its like definitely one of the most haunting / moving protest songs I've heard in a long time. totally deserves to be on this list. the albums pretty new though so i guess not that many people know about him. search for the video on youtube.... recommended.
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To be honest, I would have liked to seen songs like Pink's "Dear Mr President" or the Dixie Chicks "Not Ready to Make Nice" on here. Not because those songs are that great, but because they are by artists who have more to lose by alienating a fanbase with their lyrics. But seriously, none of these songs fill me with the same righteous indignation that a song like "Strange Fruit" does. To this day I get angry when I hear it, but I don't know that out grandchildren will have the same reaction any of these tunes.
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The "boot in y'r ass" line is one of my favorites. Toby Keith and I probably wouldn't get along very well, and he probably has a very shallow understanding of national security. But, and this a BIG but, he called America to arms after 9/11 to go kick the ass of the folks who gave us the "black eye." It needed to be said to balance out these supposed 'protest songs' which were just as shallow, but on the wrong side of the issue.
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Toby Keith is whats wrong with America.
Neil Young's "Let's Impeach The President" needs to be on that list
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and where is the Ted Leo & The Pharmacists on this list?
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I like "When the President talks to God," but I have to say it's a bit overrated. I prefer Conor's more understated protest songs (i.e. "Poison Oak," "Let's Not Shit Ourselves"). "The President" too often comes off as forced and a little preachy (though who with a brain can disagree with its message?).
My favorite protest song of the decade: "Sink Florida Sink" by Against Me!....from the days before they started to suck majorly.
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"(though who with a brain can disagree with its message?)."
Bryan,
It's comments like this that cause more of the same ole same ole bickering and yelling when it comes to political disagreement. Who with a brain? Are you implying that anyone supporting the war, or President Bush is an idiot? He did when a majority vote in the election against Kerry and an electoral majority in 2000, so there obviously were a ton of Americans who supported the war. Let alone the members of our CIA, NSA, and the Armed Forces who are waging the actual fighting against terror. Come on, don't stoop to these "we're smart and conservatives aren't" levels of name-calling. It really only accomplishes making people angry and doesn't assist in the national conversation we should be having.
I do feel like the internet is changing the way we deal with disagreements in a terrifying manner. We no longer simply disagree with people different than us, we call them brainless, idiotic, evil, or some other hyperbolic perjorative. Are these really adults, on both isles? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind calling "stupid-talk" if we're having an argument and they defy the laws of reason by countering their own argument or any number of logical fallacies, but to collectively call an entire political party brainless, I'd expect that to be backed up by some serious reasoning-- and even then, what does it accomplish?
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I'm pretty liberal but I respect conservative viewpoints and I try to stay open minded as possible but it is hard to identify voting for Bush a second time in 2004 as nothing short of "not smart." It sort of pertains to that saying Bush couldn't really utter "Fool me once, shame on you..."
As for protest songs, I recommend Sage Francis' "Makeshift Patriot." I think he wrote it a couple of days after the 9/11 tragedy and it's pretty foretelling of what has gone down after this pivotal event.
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Bleeding Powers (Ted Leo)
Bu$hleaguer (Pearl Jam)
Ashes of American Flags (Wilco)
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"01 Bright Eyes - "When The President Talks To God" (2005)"
and the list was actually looking pretty good....
dont care.
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Hoist That Rag is a protest song? What about The Day After Tomorrow?
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Chase,
You're right. Speaking in absolutes is normally an unproductive argument. But this is a special case.
I don't care if you're a conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican, moderate, whatever. If you're still behind Bush at this point, you're either flithy rich or just plain dumb.
Sorry.
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"Music is worth doing just because. It doesn't have to be justified by some political point of view, and it's kind of insulting to the music to make it a tool for something else."
- Elliott Smith
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I'm behind Bush because he's kept our nation safe from terrorists who want nothing more than to murder innocent Americans for the last seven years. When was the last time America has gone as long without a terrorist attack followed through against her people? I think the economy has tanked as of lately, but that's not entirely because of the war, oil prices were going to rise regardless because of the demand in booming nations. Sure, the US Dollar has suffered because of our military exploits, but that's going to happen when you stand up to fight against evil. I think when all is said and done Bush will come off like a virtuous although unprepared president, and rank somewhere toward the top for his leadership after 9/11 and his unbroken promise to the American citizens to wage war against terror world-wide-- especially if the impending attack on Iran saves Israel from the destruction everyone knows it faces.
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Ahahahahahaha, you don't know anything about politics, do you, Chase?
Or morales.
Or common sense.
Or the War on "Terror"
Well, hide in your bunker, because when that crazy muslim lefty Osama takes office, the bombs will just rain down, won't they?
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This list has some good ones and some bad ones.
I don't think Immortal Technique has been mentioned in any post yet. What about him?
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Dilated People's Big Business is a great protest song. Smart and thought provoking rap.
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Why is it implied that I think Obama is a crazy muslim? That you even said something like that makes everything else you say without merit, and I certainly won't answer you.
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Intervention? #6? Windowstill should've been #1:
"Don't want to fight in the holy war
Don't want the salesman knockin' at my door
Don't want to live in America no more"
Classic American protest songs have always been more about abstraction and metaphor (Blowin' In the Wind, Who'll Stop the Rain) than about direct up-front criticism -- "Hey, man, the President sucks." *I* could write that. Wait, I just did; maybe I should be on the list...
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I can't believe anyone hasnt mentioned Dead Prez or Immortal technique
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I'll agree with that Wilco suggestion, and maybe BRMC's Howl...
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