I feel global political oppression or global wars usually produce great music but Macklemore might be the peak.
Nothing against him, some of his songs are good, but I expected real rage inducing stuff with everything going on. Or is this just the state of music as a whole?
Keep in mind that music lost a lot of its cultural cache since your benchmark decade of the 90’s. Mass culture isn’t really the same as it was then. I remember Weird Al talking about doing a lot fewer parody songs just because fewer people recognize any given song.
Yeah there’s still music out there, but if you don’t know it that’s not really your fault.
This is my whole point. Is streaming and music apps killing the massive songs like “Luke’s Wall / War Pigs” , “Ohio”, or “My Generation”?
I saw a report talking about if there’s a “song of the summer” this year. A lot of people said there isn’t because more than ever we’re siloed to our own music library/playlists.
Personally, I spend a few hours a week actually looking for new artists to listen to. There’s so much music out there just waiting to be discovered.
I do the same thing and have discovered some great music. However, over the months or years I seem to return to classics to rage out or have a statement song. Go to a protest and you will hear " This is America" or “Sympathy for the Devil”.
I’m just wondering if this generation will have their song or is there to many bands? Can a band cut through it all and still make something like those songs?
Maybe I’m the old man screaming at the clouds.
It’s just the internet making all media available, and streaming is the lowest friction way of giving people that access.
Most punk like Bad Religion, Dead Kennedys, Anti Flag, Black Flag, The Clash, Dropkick Murphys has been very political from the start.
I know they are older now but Dead Prez, Foo Fighters, Rise Against and System of a Down are still active. Then there is the much older Roger Waters who has been very political throughout his career. And let’s not forget the legendary Los Tigres Del Norte.
But coming back to younger artists
- Killer Mike
- Kendrik Lamar
- Childish Gambino
- Anderson.Paak
- Bambu
- Andrew Jackson Jihad
- Feminazgul
- Lowkey (British rapper)
I’m not saying there isn’t political songs, I’m saying this generation doesn’t have those as much.
I also love that you said younger artists then named killer mike. Makes me feel like a teen.lol
Haha. I tend to mix time in my head sometimes. My age is showing!
whoa Lowkey mentioned! yeah, that’s the kind of politically conscious hip-hop I meant. Immortal Technique was even moreso, but he’s been inactive for a long time and the extreme homophobia makes it hard for me to listen to, which is a shame.
Yes. I would like to think he was a product of the toxic masculinity culture, especially due to his time in the prison. It is a shame that while he was being radical on one front, he managed to dehumanize people who should have been his allies.
Bad Religion are working on a new album too
“With the instant availability of information, and content so easily obtainable, is the culture now a product that’s disposable?“
This quote goes back to 2007. 18 years later it’s not even a question anymore, music and the culture around it has become disposable.
There’s always going to be great bands and artists who have something to say! I’ve heard some of my favourite bands just in the last 10 years. But society is never going to look at music the same, it’s just something people tap on their screen and give a quick listen, or worse; just watching some idiotic lip sync to a 20 second excerpt of it on tik tok.
This is America was produced in 2018. Say the word Mustard around a lot of people and they know what you are talking about. That is my whole point. We still have massive hits but no rage against the governments or wars.
I also feel that the design of current music ecosystem is doing this as well. They can stop music being released or throw money at it.
We don’t have the bands kicking, for the most, against capitalism.
And there’s no real coming back from this. If it were me I’d raise taxes on art, particularly the big players, to reduce the monetary incentives and drive the big corporations out. That’d be a start, politically unpopular and visciously opposed by Disney but a start.
I think policing art is bad, but if all the art in the world was just made as a hobby project that would probably be a better world. Less art, more valued, more honest.
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OP was born in 1991 and was too young to have lived through the proper grunge revolution, but was just the right age to experience the corporate grunge poser revolution.
They don’t exist, at least not in Western mainstream music. Record labels have learned from those artists and will now drop anyone who doesn’t toe the capitalist/imperialist line. Like the singers being cancelled for supporting BLM or Palestine.
And it’s very specifically just for leftist messages. Kanye straight up calls himself a Nazi and sold shirts with swastikas on it and didn’t get canceled for antisemitism, but tons of pro-Palestine artists did. If an artist straight up calls themselves a socialist like Tupac did it would be career suicide.
As someone in Gen Z, I have never heard a mainstream song released in my lifetime that actually attacks capitalism beyond useless lip service or calls for any kind of anticapitalist action by the general public. They definitely exist but only by indie artists who will either never get signed onto a label or will be forced to capitulate to the capitalist propaganda machine if they do.
I’m too old to say what anything this generation is, but look up “fucked up” by Macklemore. Came out at the start of the year and it’s the most rage against the machine esque thing I’ve heard in years. Got me riled up.
Edit: I see you literally called him out in the post, so this is old news to you I’m sure. I’ll leave it for others to find!
I missed this one, spot on.
Haven’t heard it yet,but will definitely check it out.
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I love me some Ren but not the level as System of a down or crosby stills nash & young.
Thank you for introducing me to Ren. Been listening to his stuff all day, I haven’t been so emotional in a while
Expand your tastes, cousin. There’s a lot of anti-war and angry music getting made right now.
such as…
Not the most recent, but how about this ABSOLUTE BANGER by The Coup?
dope!
I’m talking more main stream. You couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing those guys.
Yes, you can point to any period and say “they made statements”.
Ren makes statements but has 2.4 mil followers on youtube. I’m talking a generation band /artist standing out in this period. Hearing Killing in the Name of playing daily, the music video was everywhere.
Your boy is good but you also pointed to a song from a decade ago which has 2.2 mil views.
My dude, no one listens to radio anymore, when you can have your own music with you on a device you carry around in your pocket all the time.
My dude, radio is just playlist and curated discover modes. A horse by a different name is still a horse.
Bob Vylan.
Kneecap have been getting massive publicity because of their pro-palestine/anti-genocide stance. I haven’t listened to much to their latest stuff, but I should re-explore them.
Great music, they could turn into that band with a few massive hits.
With the rapid rise in accessible media tuned to everyone’s personal preference there’s not really a single artist that is capturing attention across the board, but that doesn’t mean there’s not protest bangers from several artists:
- Dropkick Murphys
- Grandson
- Durry
- Otep
Seen Durry live, great fucking show. Grandson has some good stuff plus he made music with Tom Morello. Big plus.
I feel your statement is pretty accurate. With the wide spread access of music we are losing something. Just like shows, the common connection between each other. This is my main point.
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Limp Bizkit does not deserve to be anywhere near this list. They are a piss stain on the seat of the limo Kurt Kobain’s brother rented for Prom.
Architechts, motionless in white, rise against
Well recession pop is back, check out the new Lady Gaga or Kesha albums. So there is that sort of dissonance and syncopated funkier rhythms in pop music which can usually be connected to economic and social downturn.
I know that shit is worlds away from what you’re referring to, I think you’re looking for something more aggressive.
I think the 2022 Every Time I Die record Renegade goes pretty fucking hard, I listen to Planet Shit about once a month and just rage.
Planet B by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard goes pretty hard.
You can always check out whatever Napalm Death is doing, much of their stuff is political and social commentary, in fact I love ND lyrics.
No one has the " popular understanding of ‘transgender’ didn’t really exist for gen x but whatever it’s going to be, these songs are mostly about needing to transition but feeling unable to" that Kurt Cobain had, but Kurt did once say that early Nirvana was an attempt at copping Gang of Four, and Go4 is very political, critical and high energy. esp their first album “Entertainment!” and “Solid Gold”. After that they become kinda disco.
Also consider diving into the incredible wealth of protest music produced before the 60s. The 60s is kind of understood as a high water mark for protest music, but IMO a lot of Dylan and stuff was promoted more because he was actually less political than like Phil Ochs. Woody Guthrie, Victor Jara, The Almanac Singers, Odetta, etc., had much sharper politics than most well known artists who came after.
Finally, last but best, not new but largely undiscovered and forgotten, the Swedish RATM: the 1998 album The Shape of Punk to Come by the Refused. By far, one of my absolute favorite left wing records
My whole thing, that a lot of people are missing,this generation doesn’t have a lot of great music produced from the political time.
Maybe it is a rear mirror view type of thing. Billie Holiday did not shy away due to her believes.
If others don’t know, she was harassed by the federal government. Back then, it was easy for record companies to silence you compared to today
So I’m a socialist, in that I go to meetings voluntarily and get in trouble all the time. I spend a ton of time heavily invested in this political stuff. And one thing that is like desperately missing from our movements is any kind of culture. So that’s something that I’m also thinking about a lot, and I think a lot of people are. Not sure what to do really, still trying to figure that stuff out, but I’m actively trying to figure that out.
Run the Jewels def have some overtly political stuff, a few tracks with Zach de la Rocha even, although Killer Mike is a little disappointing politically, but many artists are. They have newer stuff but I just really like this song
Another group to check out is the Coup. Been making records since before the gangsta rap come up in the 90s even. Their newer stuff is pretty popular with young people too.
Both these songs are over a decade old, fuck me
Yes, that is my point. We aren’t getting this generations stop the killing or down with the president. Nixon, Reagon, and Bush all got called out by name.
Kendrick is goimg after a know groomer while a know rapist watches. We are having families riped apart by a secret police force while a netflix anime is topping the charts.
It blows my mind and confuses me. Especially when I hear younger generations complain about nothing being done, while their peers do nothing.
I guess I should be happy no one recommended country music.
nothing being done
Yeah that’s its own sort of doomer individualism. I wish I could tell you, as someone who teams up with others to do things that the view disappears in practical work, but tbh it seems like it only increases. Idk. There are def lots of young people joining the movement. Hasn’t reached a critical point but it’s growing.
I wish we had more artists since most are like political sickos
