It's that time once again, where we get our vote on — and hopefully change the downward direction of this country. So let's do it. Early and often, and with songs of change playing loud.
In compiling a solid playlist, we'll need tunes from the following tried and true political musical genres:
The Man:
Sex Pistols — "God Save the Queen"
God bless the Sex Pistols. You can just about hear the spit and bile coming from Johnny Rotten's maw.
God save the queen
She ain't no human being
There is no future
In England's dreaming
Five Man Electrical Band — "Signs"
Sure, I could substitute Gil-Scott Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," (which I do most definitely dig, brother) but it would be too predictable in that self-consciously hip sort of way. So I'll roll with a tune I used to love back when I was pissed off that I'd surely been born in the wrong decade — namely, this one-hit wonder's fantastic anti-ode to The Man.
And the sign said, "Long haired freaky people need
not apply"
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went
in to ask him why
He said, "You look like a fine upstanding young
man, I think you'll do"
So I took off my hat, I said, "Imagine that- huh-
me working for you..."
Billy Bragg — "It Says Here"
There are loads of other Billy Bragg songs to pick from, but I'm a big fan of this bare-bones critique of the press. The simplicity of the voice, electric guitar, and the message rocks.
Those braying voices on the right of the House
Are echoed down the Street of Shame
Where politics mix with bingo and tits
In a strictly money and numbers game
Where they offer you a feature on stockings and suspenders
Next to a call for stiffer penalties for sex offenders
Civil Rights:
Marvin Gaye — "Inner City Blues"
Make me wanna holler I wish Marvin was still hollering. The message never sounded so soulful.
Crime is increasing
Trigger happy policing
Panic is spreading
God know where we're heading
Oh, make me wanna holler
They don't understand
Sly and the Family Stone — "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey"
The name says it all. It took all of Sly and company's interracial funk kung fu to pull off these straightforward, confrontational lyrics (not to mention that wah-wah pedal) in this 1969 classic that surely made Richard Pryor proud.
Well I was down, across the country
And I heard two voices ring
They were talkin' angry to each other
And neither other could change a thing
Don't call me "nigger," whitey
Don't call me "whitey," nigger...
Public Enemy — "Fight the Power"
This tune plays like a Greek chorus (and to excellent effect) in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. Chuck D has the strongest and most authoritative voice in rap.
Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant shit to me, you see
Straight up racist that sucker was
Simple and plain
Motheruck him and John Wayne
Cause I'm Black and I'm proud
I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped
Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps
War:
Stiff Little Fingers — "Wasted Life"
I first heard this song on an old mix tape. It got cut off after about a minute, but that minute of raw power introduced me to SLF and their outstanding brand of Belfast punk, and made me run out to buy the album.
I could be a soldier
Go out there and fight to save this land
Be a people's soldier
Paramilitary gun in hand
I won't be a soldier
I won't take no orders from no-one
Stuff their fucking armies
Killing isn't my idea of fun
U2 — "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Another classic against The Troubles in Northern Ireland and about the Derry incident in particular.
Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street
But I wont heed the battle call
It puts my back up
Puts my back up against the wall
Bob Dylan — "Masters of War"
While most of these songs of protest type lists cite "Blowin' in the Wind," it's not anywhere close to my top 25 Dylan tunes. So for my money, I'll take one that is.
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
The Cult of Personality:
The Ramones — "My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)"
Boy, that early-'80s 1–2 punch of Reagan and Thatcher did nearly as much to inspire great music as bad relationships. About Reagan's ill-advised 1985 trip to Bitburg cemetery — where several dozen SS troops are buried — this isn't the most rocking Ramones' tune, but it's arguably the one with the most soul driving it.
Shaking hands with your highness
See through you like cellophane
You watch the world complain, but you do it anyway
Who am I, am I to say...
Bonzo goes to Bitburg, then goes out for a cup of tea...
Dead Kennedys — "California Über Alles"
Great song despite the fact that the lyrics are a bit flawed,
message-wise. Still, a campy, witty, anarchic, fantastic look at
unchecked power from the far left.
I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles
And never frowns
Soon I will be president...
Carter Power will soon go away
I will be Fuhrer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will meditate in school...
Eminem — "Mosh"
A bit of an odd pick for me. I'm not a huge fan of Eminem, but this is a particularly excellent rant against Bush the younger. I remember well when this video came out before the 2004 elections, and it looks as good and has as much power now as it did then.
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an AK-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare, to trick us to thinking that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country, we're patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes its all lies
The stars and stripes, they've been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face....
Alright, which other tunes have I missed? Think on it while you listen.
Billy Bragg — It Says Here
Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey — Sly & the Family Stone
Wasted Life — Stiff Little Fingers
Mosh — Eminem