This is America - Childish Gambino

Well, not sure about "good" but punk is and always has been about politics.

Personally, I love the folk punk end of things like AJJ's 'Normalization Blues': https://youtu.be/0EDVM73bU-w?si=_mtGGyFhrmeMRlpZ

In a similar vein, Matt Pless's "where the frayed wind blows" is 5 minutes of angry goodness.

There's also a lot of protest hip hop but I don't know the newer stuff particularly well.

Bro Killer Mike just won a Grammy

Well, NPR did an entire article of 20 protest songs that came out in 2020. Looks like they might have made a Spotify playlist of them at one point too.

Here are 30 protest albums that came out in the first half of 2022

Here are 50 protest songs from 2023.

These are just results from pretty simple Google searches. 'protest songs year'.

I'm a big fan of Rise Against. Try these tracks out:

• Architects
• Welcome to the Breakdown
• A Gentleman's Coup
• Megaphone
• Holding Patterns

and Bad Religion:

• American Jesus
• Meeting of the Minds
• The Resist Stance

If you like Rage Against the Machine, Tom Morello did a solo project called The Nightwatchman that had a lot of great protest songs. I think it’s closer to 15 years old, so not the last 10.

Toxicity - System of a Down was an incredible album about American exceptionalism and war hungriness. The towers were hit a week after the album was released.

This might not be everyones cup of tea, but metal and hardcore are full of protest music. Heaven Shall Burn for example is lyricly anti-fascist and environmentalist (live video because that show is fucking legendary).

Gojira also slaps.

you mean everything rage against the machine has ever done?

• IDLES
• AJJ (formerly "Andrew Jackson Jihad")
• Some of Jeff Rosenstock's stuff gets political.

Born in the USA

I didn't see this mentioned so wanted to add it. Most people think of it as pro USA, but the lyrics paint a very different message.

For example:

Got in a little hometown jam So they put a rifle in my hand Sent me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man

Nofx - you’re wrong:

You're wrong about virtues of Christianity And you're wrong if you agree with Sean Hannity If you think that pride is about nationality, you're wrong

You're wrong when you imprison people turning tricks And you're wrong about trickle down economics If you think that punk rock doesn't mix with politics, you're wrong

You're wrong for hating queers and eating steers If you kill for the thrill of the hunt You're wrong 'bout wearing fur and not hating Ann Coulter Cause she's a cunted cunt

You're wrong if you celebrate Columbus Day And You're wrong if you think there will be a Judgement Day If you're a charter member of the NRA, you're wrong

You're wrong if you support capital punishment And you're wrong if you don't question your government If you think her reproductive rights are inconsequent, you're wrong

You're wrong fighting Jihad, your blind faith in God Your religions are all flawed You're wrong about drug use, when its not abuse I hope you never reproduce

You're getting high on the downlow A victim of Cointelpro You're wrong and will probably never know

Uncle Sam Goddamn - Brother Ali
Ju$t - Run the Jewels (and a lot of their or Killer Mike's songs)
Gang Shit - Marlon Craft
The Guillotine - The Coup
I Wish I Was a Riot Grrrl - Destructo Disk
Nobody's Biz - Four Fists

Some of these being older than 10 years is a real bummer lol

It's not as punk, but the last three albums by Metric are brilliant in how they discuss the current state of the world.

Goddamn White Trash by Ministry is my go-to song for 2024.

anything by the coup

Pokemon Liberation Army https://pokemonliberationarmy.bandcamp.com/album/tm101

Billy Talent

Distillers

Bad Cop, Bad Cop

So many more but I gotta dip

Sharptooth

The Baboon Show

The Halluci Nation - (Pretty cool Hip Hop group)

Bella Ciao and Sixteen Tons are perennial favorites.

Billy Bragg is still making bangers

For the UK specifically I'd recommend Bob Vylan

Like most or even all of punk

one of my favorite groups is Mischief Brew from Philly. Very folksy, anti-cop, anti everything government lol

boycott me

Old Tyme Memry

Farewell Goodfellows

Roll me through the gates of hell

Every Town will Celebrate

Thrash metal has a lot of politics, if that's your thing.

A lot of German ones these days, hip hop / rock / metal / pop-punk

Check out Propagandhi

Some of the classical ones

• L'internationale, which is still relevant today

• La banderra rosa

• Bella Ciao, which despite becoming a pop hit is a struggle song

• El pueblo unido

• La butte rouge

-The Red army choir have a ton of great ones

Then on more recent, just look at the punk and rap scene, there is a lot

Poor Man's Poison has put out a few good political/social songs recently, I'm not sure if I would call them "protest" but still fairly close

Feed The Machine

Give And Take

I've always liked "universal soldier" by Donovan

Womanarchist by Bad Cop/Bad Cop is pretty excellent

Dead kennedys:

https://youtu.be/amTAIjhUjDk?si=qfjvkyGwlgFXoEqs

New, political, angry

Spy - Bootlicker

https://youtu.be/z57PP1Kh00s?si=gTT0NMamA4Dy7HH_

Sault's "Foot on Necks" is a great anti police brutality anthem, and a big chunk of all their music has messages like that

I listen to a lot of punk music so obviously it's strongly political. Here's just a few off the top of my head:

• White People for Peace by Against Me!
• Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners by Against Me!
• Survivor Guilt by Rise Against
• State of the Union by Rise Against
• The Eco-Terrorist In Me by Rise Against
• 45 by Sum41
• Empty Walls by Serj Tankian
• Prison Song by System of a Down
• Christian Nationalist by Anti-Flag
• Die for your Government by Anti-Flag
• 72 hookers by NOFX
• Please Play This Song on the Radio by NOFX
• Fuck Euphemism by NOFX
• Take Back the Power by The Interrupters
• Quarantine by Blink 182

I tried to include a bit of variety and not all be anti-war songs from/about the Bush era. A couple are about the music industry specifically, and one is a musical rant about kink culture (and it's not the one you think based on the title!) I'm also a big Rise Against fan so I tried to pull out some non-singles from accross many years since basically any song by them has a good political message. I highly recommend looking up the lyrics to all of these after the first listen or better during the second listen

Garbage - No gods no masters. Whole album is shamelessly political.

The men who rule the world Have made a fucking mess The history of power The worship of success The king is in the counting house He's chairman of the board The women who crowd the courtrooms All accused of being whores

The Muslims - Fuck These Fuckin Fascists

Is Antiflag still around?

Billy talent are great for political, fuck the government/ big corporations type songs. Not protest songs so much. But it feels pretty on theme. Their messages are great.
Surprise surprise and viking death march are two of my personal favourites songs by them.

You mention the UK, so I'll just drop a couple of names of folks/bands talking about racism, immigration and toxic male culture.

Bob Vylan

We live here - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VFqhJyvly1g

Wicked and Bad - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KRJ-s7jRyAM

Idles

Danny Nedelko - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF_G-RF66M

Lambrini Girls

Lads lads lads - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IuLK56UrCL0

There's a lot of good punk still happening.

Old School Pig, by Tilt.

"George Floyd" by the Log Bay Ramblers is some nice and direct bluegrass folk music

I love this question. Perhaps there is also the record labels and mainstream media that prioritize marketability and mass appeal, which most probably would discourage artists from producing overtly political content, the stuff that may be thrown into the controversial or polarizing basket just doesn't pull in the bucks these days.

The fast paced Ukrainian version of In The Army Now which protests military marketing and conscription (directed at USA)

Laga Reh (translations required lol) which protests Pakistani government complacency in allowing foreign powers (cough USA cough) to dictate the country at the expense of progress and "disappearing" of any local opposition.

Leslie Fish is still writing music. Plus her old works from 1980-s (eg It's Sister Jenny's Turn to Throw the Bomb and Firestorm) are as relevant now as they were 40 years ago.

revolution by Tracy chapman

Dégénération

A French Quebec song about how the world is going and how Gen Z has been neglected

Anything by flobots, old stuff or new is pretty political

Oskar Barnack ∞ Oscar Grant -Blue Scholars

Bonus in Dutch - Bent Je Bang - Hang Youth

Right Now - Jesse Roper

This thought has occurred to me recently. What is this generation's soundtrack? What is the music everyone will look on and say it defined the time?

La Bala - Juana Fé

2020 Visions by Michael Guy Bowman is about the insurrection

Moscow Death Brigade for example

The Offspring. Americana, Stuff is Messed up, the Kids Aren't Alright...

Gary Clarke Jr. Has some good protest songs, especially for a blues musician, including a remake of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's Ohio.

Municipal Waste is great for some hardcore, there's actually a bunch of hardcore bands that have some excellent protest songs.

Then you have Ice-T's Body Count.

Lamb of God's albums post-Randy's time in a Czech prison have been full of social commentary, far more than the earlier albums.

I've seen people highlight Killer Mike's Grammy wins, but his other group Run the Jewels is pretty much the biggest name in protest rap these days.

Then you have Kendrick Lamar, possibly the best rapper of his generation, absolutely one of the greatest story tellers of rap, period.

Overall there's a lot of pop, metal, rock, rap and other genres who have some prominent names and many lesser known names who are putting out good angry music.

Then you have Ice Cube putting out Arrest the President then proceeding to talk about voting for that same president.🤦‍♂️

Say She She's "Norma" is all about the end of Roe v Wade

Tropical fuck storm is pretty good at ranting against the bullshit and bonus they also sound awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_jxKD7X7pw

Maybe I'm late but I recommend Speak by Queensryche, it's about revolution. The entire album Operation Mindcrime is a rail against religion and capitalism told through a character recruited into an underground revolution. It's very good and a song that contains the lines "educate the masses" and "burn the Whitehouse down" gets a thumbs up from me

GRANDSON, GRANDSON, GRANDSON EVERY DAY. You've probably heard them, I love Dirty

Body Count, Ice T Rage Against the Machine Green Day Tool,more about religion

Freedom is a Verb by Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird is a favorite of mine

Riot Time - Powerman 5000

I don't know if thease two are protest songs, but they are near enough: Plavi orkestar - Fa Fa Fašista, Bijelo dugme - Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo

Edit: They are yugoslavian, so not that relevant now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJufERGv9Sk

Rap Against Dictatorship. Check out their other videos.

Since I haven't seen him mentioned yet, Ted Leo is still making albums.

This thread should be a Spotify playlist!

How about some Billy Talent? Love them musically, but lyrically they are equally strong. Some songs that come to mind are: -Reckless paradise -Kingdom of Zod -Surprise surprise -Dead silence

Additionally I'd add Paramore's 'The news' from their recent album.

Given that Tiktok is a corporation with likely ties to a government that is not particularly fond of protest, perhaps it is not the best place to find protest music. Having said that, Muse continues to make protest music as they always have. I suppose the problem is that protest music doesn't often get included on music platforms, leaving us with a sanitized version of the musical landscape.

Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture

Chat Pile - God's Country

2 recent albums I've been slapping. Dangerously spicy at times, and unapologetic.

Pretty much anything by minutemen but a personal favorite https://youtu.be/7zjcut9IQRM?si=aAh3wqGp2WjzqwGA

Stand Out Riot is an incredible ska/hardcore band with mostly political lyrics. They are from UK so I don't get all of the references, but they are fucking awesome anyway.

Ren Gill is a lyrical genius. Highly recommend.

Tyler Childers - Long Violent History

It's the worst that it's been since the last time it happened It's happening again right in front of our eyes There's updated footage, wild speculation Tall tales and hearsay and absolute lies

Been passed off as factual, when actually the actual Causes they're awkwardly blocking the way Keeping us all from enjoyin' our evening Shoving its roots through the screens in our face

Now, what would you get if you heard my opinion Conjecturin' on matters that I ain't never dreamed In all my born days as a white boy from Hickman Based on the way that the world's been to me?

It's called me belligerent, it's took me for ignorant But it ain't never once made me scared just to be Could you imagine just constantly worryin' Kickin' and fightin', beggin' to breathe?

How many boys could they haul off this mountain Shoot full of holes, cuffed and layin' in the streets 'Til we come into town in a stark ravin' anger Looking for answers and armed to the teeth?

Thirty-ought-sixes, Papaw's old pistol How many, you reckon, would it be, four or five? Or would that be the start of a long, violent history Of tucking our tails as we try to abide?

Or would that be the start of a long, violent history Of tucking our tails as we try to abide?

Does this count?

Someone sent me this one recently, and the lyrics are interesting.

"Rich Men North of Richmond" by Oliver Anthony

Most stuff mentioned here is from artists few people know. We need the big names to step up and take a stand.