Protest songs are having a moment again. A big one

In May 1970, Neil Young saw reports of the Kent State massacre on the evening news.

The blatant killing of four students by National Guard troops during an anti-war protest enraged him. And when he saw photos in Life magazine a few weeks later that would become famous, he couldn’t stay silent. He grabbed his guitar, went for a walk in the woods and a few hours later presented his bandmates, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash with the bones of a new song called Ohio.

That night, May 21, 1970, they moved from Laurel Canyon to Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles and recorded it using their new rhythm section. Recording live off the floor, they had it done in a few takes. Atlantic, CSN&Y’s record label, rushed it to radio and record stores. It was everywhere by June 1970, a remarkable feat of songwriting, recording, mastering, pressing and distribution. Ohio remains one of the greatest protest songs/anti-war anthems of all time.

The late ’60s and early ’70s were a golden era for protest music, driven by the Vietnam War, the administration of former U.S. president Richard Nixon, and millions who had had enough with the status quo. Radio was social media back then, and the message in a song like Ohio was spread to vast populations very quickly.

Such song accomplishments are rare today, not because no one writes protest songs anymore, but because music consumption is so fragmented and news cycles move incredibly fast. But if you’re looking for protest music, you’ll find that it’s everywhere. And with the recent killings involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during its immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, this music is having a moment.

For example, Billy Bragg, someone who has never shied away from singing about social and political injustice, was appalled by the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, both recently shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis. He wrote, recorded, and released this song in just 24 hours, which has to be some kind of speed record.

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Bruce Springsteen wasn’t far behind with last week’s release of Streets of Minneapolis, for which he brought in the E-Street band for a fast recording session.

“I wrote this song on Saturday [January 24], recorded it yesterday [January 27], and released it to you today [January 28] in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis,” he said in an online post. “It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors, and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free.”

Springsteen doesn’t pull any punches, either.

Their claim was self defense, sir / Just don’t believe your eyes
It’s our blood and bones / And these whistles and phones / Against Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem’s dirty lies.

More artists are protesting loudly through music. Dropkick Murphys, no strangers to calling out injustice, have been very vocal about the Trump administration. Earlier this month, they joined about a thousand labour union workers and members of the community in Boston. Ken Casey, the frontman, is the son of a union worker and teamster. He and the band went after ICE — hard.

“Hell yeah, abolish ICE,” he told Working Mass. “They’re coming door to door, going to people’s houses, snatching people off the street, taking people who are taking part in the immigration process the way they’re supposed to … How do you show up and snatch someone when they’re showing up for their hearing?” He’s part of a call for a nationwide general strike.

Tom Morello, guitarist with Rage Against the Machine, one of the most fiercely political American bands of the last 35 years, quickly organized a benefit called Rise Against at First Avenue, the Minneapolis club made famous by Prince, which took place on Jan. 30. He’d already written songs like this.

A quick search on SoundCloud using the term “anti-Trump” brings up hundreds of songs critical of U.S. President Donald Trump and MAGA, many of which are strongly NSFW. You can find tracks from Bad Religion, Drive-By Truckers, FEVER 333 (a spiritual successor to Rage Against the Machine) and dozens of others.

The hip-hop world is also seeing a rise against Trump. Eminem, The Game, YG, Anderson .Paak, Ty Dolla $ign, Will.i.am, Chance the Rapper, and many others have all dropped anti-Trump/anti-MAGA tracks over the last year. Trump might have been something of a hero in some sectors of the hip-hop world — the part that glamorized wealth and money — but not so much anymore.

I’m heartened to see a lot of songs coming from Canadians pushing back at all the annexation and 51st state threats.

It seems the U.S. is at some kind of inflection point when it comes to angry music. The worse musicians feel about the state of their country, the more they seem to be prepared to speak out.

I can’t wait to see what will happen at the Super Bowl on Feb. 8. Green Day playing the opening ceremonies? The NFL does know that the band is behind American Idiot, one of the biggest-selling and most successful politically charged albums of the century, right? Does anyone think they’re going to behave and not use this platform to speak out as they’ve always done? This is from just a few weeks ago.

And in case you thought this was just performative, check out these comments from Billie Joe Armstrong.

And with Bad Bunny playing the halftime show — the Puerto Rican singer and rapper who is avoiding touring in the U.S. because he fears ICE agents will turn up at his shows to capture and deport fans — things have the potential to be even more explosive, especially if he performs (as rumoured) wearing a dress. No wonder Trump is skipping the game.

So if you’ve ever asked, Where are all the protest songs? Look around, they’re everywhere. More are coming.

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