Are there any good protest songs from the past few years?

Submitted ⁨⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨sem@piefed.blahaj.zone⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

I was thinking about how Bruce Springsteen is the only artist I know of who has written a protest song and I was wondering if anyone else had any good recommendations since… 2016 or so.

source

Comments

Sort:hotnew top

SaraTonin@lemmy.world ⁨42⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
youtu.be/5AhdVATR9oo

source
M137@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Planet B

Lyrics:

[Verse 1] Open your eyes and light the fluid Get into it, petrol siphon Low on meals, browning fields Bury children

[Chorus 1] Urbanization Scarification Population exodus There is no Planet B Open your eyes and see [Guitar Solo]

[Verse 2] Open your eyes and shoot the dingo While this shit goes out the window Multi-factions Rusting tractors Dying hero

[Chorus 2] Only way through is colonization Acclimatization Population exodus Monetization Civilization The operation has begun There is no Planet B

[Bridge] Patient seasons Blacked out for ages Dreaming of cake Snowflakes blanket Old deserts Outskirts disperse Earth is a blank verse Last hearse Dry nurse (Oh!) [Refrain] Open your eyes and see There is no Planet B There is no Planet B There is no Planet B There is no Planet B There is no Planet B There is no Planet B There is no Planet B There is no Planet B Open your eyes and see

[Outro] Sinners are grinners, ear to ear Baby Jesus sheds a tear

source
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Dropkick Murphy just wrote one right?

source
ragica@lemmy.ml ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Just about any song by Jesse Welles these days…

A few examples:

War isn’t murder, Red, Join Ice, The Poor

source
- circuitfarmer@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I cannot tell you how happy I am that this man exists.
  
  source
- thermal_shock@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  “CEOs come and go and one just went”
  
  Referring to the United healthcare CEO in the song United Health.
  
  source
  - circuitfarmer@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    It’s the kind of wordplay boomers loved with Dylan. But it’s fresh, current, enticing, and it holds a sharp edge. In 50 years I hope we remember Welles as fondly.
    
    source
- faltryka@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Came to say this, upvoted.
  
  source
- PoopingCough@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  He had kind of a shit take after Kirk got murked tbh
  
  source
HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Jesse Welles, newer folky protest singer with early Bob Dylan/Arlo Guthrie vibes

source
- BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I’m liking him.
  
  Back in the Vietnam days, it took a while for protest songs to get written, recorded, released, sold, and finally listened to by the target audience. That could take months.
  
  But today, a songwriter can compose a response to an atrocity that day, and instantly release it on numerous platforms, and be part of the actual conversation.
  
  Now we just need more good protest songwriters.
  
  source
- fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I was going to share Jesse’s music. I second this recommendation.
  
  source
NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
massiveattack.bandcamp.com/…/boots-on-the-ground

zealandardor.bandcamp.com/…/wake-of-a-nation-ep - the opening track Vigil is flawless but the entire band’s discography is top tier.

…bandcamp.com/…/close-your-eyes-and-count-to-fuck…

source
dragontology@retrofed.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Not exactly what you asked, but I think it’s important to note how old protest songs are still so relevant. I listen to a lot of 1980s music (in fact, presently playing my 80s playlist, just went from Tiffany to Belinda Carlisle) and older music.

Listen to the 1971 song Won’t Get Fooled Again by British band The Who. I’m sure most of you have heard it. Listen to what he said 55 years ago and imagine it was written this year, and see how relevant it is.

source
- suckdings@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Agree on old songs still having power in this context. Doesn’t feel old to me, Dead Kennedys’ Soup is Good Food may as well have come out in 2025 instead of 1985.
  
  source
- bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Meet the new boss
  
  Same as the old boss
  
  source
shittydwarf@sh.itjust.works ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
m.youtube.com/watch?v=mSrDkRm7_78&list=RDmSrDkRm7…

source
ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Adenauer SPD

source
boydster@sh.itjust.works ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Check out Jesse Wells

source
Battle_Masker@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Bruce Springsteen put out this like 2 or 3 days after Pretti died

source
SuperEars@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Rise Against - Megaphone (2018)
Rise Against - The Numbers (2021)
Rise Against - The Answer (2022)
Macklemore - fucked up (2025)
Carsie Blanton - Ugly Nasty Commie Bitch (2024)
Sorry that these are all YT links.

Clearly I’m a RA fanboy, but I look at the state of the world and I hear their songs, and they’re the same picture. I can’t ignore their music.

(ehem…except for the new Ricochet album with its questionable production decisions)

source
- Itsamelemmy@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  Carsie’s newest album with the burning hell is great.
  
  youtu.be/ZhCi_AssQMg
  
  source
- EchoCranium@lemmy.zip ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  While it came out 22 years ago, State of the Union still feels like it could have been written for now.
  
  source
  - NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Prayer of the refugee holds a special place in my heart.
    
    source
AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
No$hu - Fuck I.C.E. I.C.E. Baby

source
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I don’t know, but Green Day and Rise Against are two bands I like that do political music and both are still active.

Maybe subconsciously that’s one reason I like Japanese rock; it doesn’t feel as influenced by current events as western music does.

source
Veedem@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Grandson’s entire catalog is riddled with protest songs but the latest album leaned into it fully for better or worse.

source
- HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I was hoping you were just a very supportive grandma tbh
  
  source
- insight06@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I came to make sure grandson was mentioned. Their Soundcloud tagline is something like “the soundtrack to your revolution”.
  
  source
kugel7c@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
m.youtube.com/watch?v=BdIpfwO1lVU&pp=ygUPdGV0byBh…

source
Drusas@fedia.io ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Check out the band Moon Walker. You're Next Apocalypticysm, probably all of it.

source
Redacted@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Their old stuff is much better but one that came out last week: Enter Shikari - Find Out the Hard Way…

source
tobebannedbygaymods@lemmy.zip ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Syria has a few from 2011 يا حيف - سميح شقير جامعات بلا شبيحة [ نص تفاحة - محل زغير ومسكر بدنا نعبي الزنزانات الساروت - ساقط ساقط يابشاؤ Qashush , singing in the riots Qashush in the riots again post 2012 it escalated into a Civil War and the songs became about the civil war !

source
commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
singing resistance has a collection

source
muxika@piefed.muxika.org ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Ministry’s "Goddamn White Trash"

“Indoctrinated, the facts are ignored

Manipulated into civil war.”

source
LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Pretty much the entire will of the people album by Muse: youtu.be/tCiDblgUNEA

source
Hegar@fedia.io ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Billy bragg has a great song about the twin cities. It's a spin on that "first they came for" poem, but instead of the "and i said nothing because..." bit it has "so I got in their face!"

source
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
願榮光歸香港 (Glory to Hong Kong) Protest Song during 2019 Hong Kong Protests…

(And… of course Youtube now age-restricts this video… was fine for the past 7 years… wtf)

Here’s someone’s reupload: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe1gTPcWyds

The original lyrics in Cantonese are lit, the English version doesn’t even feel the same

This song is illegal in anywhere under PRC control, but I’m lucky to have to privilage to sing this as an Overseas Chinese

source
thermal_shock@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Earth to Eve -Threat Level Orange

FUCK ice - chrissa sparkles

Control alt-right delete - the briggs

Image

open.spotify.com/playlist/1LSun9sx5j40WOV9jzcCbi?…

Lots of anti trump playlists on Spotify and deezer

source
UnimportantHuman@lemmy.ml ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Not sure if it’d be your thing I like some Nascar Aloe stuff. His stuff is pretty out there. Loud, distorted and glitchy. He’s the only more recent artist I can think of that is brutally outspoken on some of this stuff that I actually listen to.

I Throw A Fit

Move To America

Revolt

source
Grail@multiverse.soulism.net ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
A Sound Of Thunder - Els Segadors is a metal cover of the Catalonian national anthem. Catalonia was anarcho-communist during the Spanish civil war, but was defeated because the liberals betrayed them. The cover was played at the independence protests in 2018, I think

source
TheFresh16@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
The Neighborhood Kids have put out some recent bangers relevant to u.s. happenings

m.youtube.com/watch?v=oZYB5v69n7w

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg0-q8-Wy_o

m.youtube.com/watch?v=IN2N16XcGTo

source
N0t_5ure@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
No$hu Fuck ICE ICE Baby

source
vivalapivo@lemmy.today ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
youtu.be/FsRift9CRgk

source

-> View More Comments