We love us a playlist article around here. Our ultimate goals here are to turn people on to music they may not have heard, music that they have forgotten about, and also for me to just write a lot of words. Mission accomplished here on all fronts.
Criteria
What makes for a great political song? Probably different things to different people. But what I’m looking for are more original observations instead of cliched generic takes on politics. A song with lyrics like "Trump is an asshole" or "Jimmy Carter is a pussy" are not political. They’re just stupid. But bonus points here to songs about specific political issues instead of lyrics basically talking about society in general.
My other main criterion here is that that I want to listen to the song, it shouldn’t be homework. So many political songs are just simple guitar strumming. Don’t get me wrong, Bob Dylan’s "Masters Of War" is a killer protest song, but that doesn’t mean that I want to listen to it here in 2022.
This list is pop and rock, so that takes rap out of the equation. There really is fantastic hip hop with overtly poltiical lyrics. But that’s another list for another time.
Three Favorite Political Albums
* The Style Council - Our Favourite Shop Only Billy Bragg has written more songs directly about socialism, but those can’t hold a candle to this Style Council album musically. "Homebreakers" and "Come To Milton Keynes" crack this top 100 list but the whole album is great stuff. "Walls Come Tumbling Down" is as much a call to revolution as anything else. Every song is economic, socialist or geopolitical funk & R&B. If you take anything from this article it should be that you revisit this album.
* Randy Newman - Good Old Boys Probably the most complete album from my favorite artist. Kind of a concept album about the south, it’s a whole album of highlights. "Marie" and "Guilty" are garden variety songs about regret that fit in. "Louisiana 1927", "Every Man A King" and "Kingfish" dive deep into the Huey Long south. And "Rednecks" is quite possibly the ballsiest song that any artist has put their name on.
* Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On? Yes, it’s probably obvious but things are usually obvious because they’re true. You could easily have "What’s Going On", "Mercy Mercy Me" and "Inner City Blues" all in a Top 10 political songs, but also don’t sleep on "God Is Love" and "Wholy Holy". It’s hard to appreciate in retrospect what a left turn this was for Gaye to turn from a career of makeout songs and emotional duets towards defining of the most intense times in American history.
The Spotify Playlist
Hope you like it & discover some new music here.
Top 20 Songs With Comments1. The Clash - Know Your Rights (1982)
This song comes in hot and stays there the whole time. Nothing whiny about this one. It calls BS on who actually gets to take advantage of their rights as a citizen. The Clash could make a case as the best political rock band of alltime. You’ll recognize the music here sampled as the basis for M.I.A.’s "Paper Planes".
2. Ben Folds - Mister Peepers (2018)
So many political rock songs are just generic observations about a generation, like "For What It’s Worth" by Buffalo Springfield. This song is at the opposite end of the spectrum: It’s hyper-specific about Attorney General Rod Rosenstein letting Donald Trump violate U.S. law, and ends up also being about how bullies get away with their shit.
3. Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1971)
This is the epitome of 60’s/70’s black spoken word poetry over congas, but it’s so much better than that. You get constant lyrical gems like "The revolution will not be right back after a message about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people" over the funkiest flute you’ll ever hear.
4. Randy Newman - The World Isn’t Fair (1999)
Randy Newman was where I learned that you don’t HAVE to write love songs, you can write about anything. His album "Good Old Boys" is a masterpiece on Southern politics. This late-period Randy masterpiece channels Karl Marx and what he would make of rich Angelenos.
5. Muse - United States of Eurasia (2009)
As far is I can tell, the lyrics here are somewhere between Orwell and the invetability of the U.S. as superpower superceding individual nations. More importantly for me, this song sounds incredible.
6. Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On (1971)
You know this song and you love this song, so I shouldn’t have to make much of a case for it. If you were a musician witnessing the violence and political turmoil of the Vietnam era and trouble at home and NOT writing some kind of protest song, there’s something wrong with you. But this was the best protest song by making a case for love.
7. Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost Of Tom Joad (1995)
Springsteen has written countless great political songs and took a hard look at economic hardship (e.g. "Seeds"). Here he’s channeling his hero Woody Guthrie and making the case that plenty are struggling today just like some Dust Bowl era people did. But what takes this to another level is the guitar from Tom Morello on this. Absolutely transcendent.
8. Bruce Hornsby - The Way it Is (1986)
Yup, this is the Bruce who’s my musical hero. This song put him on the map and has been sampled like crazy. It’s a killer song musically. The politics are also tops. Here’s Bruce’s brother and co-writer on it: "The song is mainly about compassion, about understanding racial and social types, and beliefs and practices that are different from your own. It’s about a status quo that’s so complacent in its narrow-mindedness and bigotry that it seems it’ll never change. That’s why the line ’Ah, but don't you believe them’ is so important"
9. Arcade Fire - Intervention (2007)
Think military "intervention" here and how conceivably good intentions towards bad actions in the world really don’t end up having the intended effect. Again, this is a great song even if you never listen to the words. That’s what it takes to be high on this list: great music, not just Bob Dylan strumming to The Times They Are A-Changing.
10. The Style Council - Homebreakers (1985)
I regret not having this song higher. Where The Jam was vaguely political, The Style Council was more specifically political, which is much harder to do. Their 1985 album "Our Favourite Shop" has a ton of political gems. "Homebreakers" throws Britain’s Conservative Party’s shitty advice (to tell unemployed Brits simple to move towns to get a job) back in their face while sounding like a million bucks.
11. Elvis Costello - Peace In Our Time (1984)
Torching the mistaken "Peace in our time" from Neville Chamberlain’s failed appeasement of Hitler is just the jumping off point to talk about what a mess geopolitics was in the 1980s. German disco bombings, Reagan, Grenada and the other things mentioned weren’t as bad as Nazi Germany, but this song gently reminds us the world is NEVER politcally stable.
12. Lily Allen - Fuck You (2009)
This song is not hard to unpack. It’s literally a "Fuck you" to George W. Bush. That said, if you just go with the choruses, this song doubles as a simple "fuck you" in any non-political situation: "Fuck you - Fuck you very very much. Cause we hate what you do and we hate your whole crew, so please don’t stay in touch."
13. Randy Newman - Political Science (1972)
Yeah the song is jokey. But it gets to the bottom of what the U.S.’ Monroe Doctrine really says about us -- we’re the defensive ones about the rest of the world (except for Australia and their kangaroos). Completely toe tapping melody during worlds like these: "Asia’s crowded, and Europe’s too old, Africa’s far too hot, and Canada’s too cold. South America stole our name �""
14. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son (1969)
I’m not always in the mood for CCR. Full disclosure: I’ve always loved the Grateful Dead. But this song does an incredible job of poking a hole into privledged hippies in Marin County and Haight-Ashbury while blue collar kids from John Fogerty’s neighborhood were the ones actually fighting in the war.
15. Les McCann & Eddie Harris - Compared To What (1969)
Gene McDaniels wrote this song and I loved it musically since I was in kindergarden when my dad played it. It’s got all of the wide-ranging rant and angst of "Like A Rolling Stone" but moves 5x faster and funkier.
16. Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come (1964)
Allegedly inspired by being turned away from a Louisiana hotel for racist reasons then hearing a white Bob Dylan’s "Blowin In The Wind" for the first time, Sam Cooke wrote this incredibly beautiful song. I think of it as having all of the positivity of "What A Wonderful World" but better because it’s realistic about what needs to be overcome.
17. David Byrne - Miss America (1997)
I love this song. I choose to see it as one of the most patriotic songs about the U.S. that I know since it fully recognizes that America fucks up and isn’t perfect, but we still love it anyway.
18. Stevie Wonder - Village Ghetto Land (1976)
The music is a little odd on this one, not a Stevie funk fest. But it’s a super visual take on what the inner city really looks like. It does not pull any punches.
19. Janelle Monae - Turntables (2020)
Monae wrote this in 2020 deep into COVID quarantine and Trump’s fourth year in office. She was reportedly feeling pretty hopeless. But when Stacey Abrams commissions you to write a song, you try your best. This song is inspirational and groovy as fuck. This is part of my holy trinity of "I’m gonna triumph over this shit" songs along with "I Will Survive" and Sondheim’s "I’m Still Here".
20. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Ohio (1970)
Neil yanked this from Spotify but I’m sure you can find it. He wrote it after seeing photos of the National Guard killing students at Kent State. Again, very specific and great guitars, as opposed to the acoustic strumming of most protest songs at the time.
The Rest Of The List21 Joe Strummer - Johnny Appleseed
22 The Band - King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
23 Pink - Dear Mr. President
24 U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
25 The Specials - Nelson Mandela
26 Peter Tosh - Equal Rights
27 Elvis Costello - Tramp The Dirt Down
28 Warren Zevon - Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner
29 The Decemberists - 16 Military Wives
30 Bob Dylan - The Hurricane
31 Was (Not Was) - 11 MPH
32 Green Day - American Idiot
33 Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
34 Neil Young - Mideast Vacation
35 Rufus Wainwright - Going To A Town
36 M.I.A. - Paper Planes
37 Talking Heads - The Democratic Circus
38 Bruce Springsteen - Youngstown
39 Nellie McKay - Inner Peace
40 Living Colour - Cult Of Personality
41 Bob Marley - Get Up, Stand Up
42 Randy Newman - Louisiana 1927
43 Paul McCartney - Give Ireland Back To The Irish
44 Stevie Wonder - You Haven’t Done Nothin’
45 Peter Gabriel - Family Snapshot
46 The Clash - Straight To hell
47 Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
48 Graham Nash - Chicago
49 Gil Scott-Heron - Whitey On The Moon
50 Cream - Politician
51 Warren Zevon - Veracruz
52 Bruce Springsteen - American Skin (41 Shots)
53 The Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man
54 Bright Eyes - Road To Joy
55 Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam
56 Randy Newman - A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country
57 World Party - Ship Of Fools
58 Buffalo Springsteen - For What It’s Worth
59 Bob Marley - I Shot The Sheriff
60 Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People
61 Bob Marley - Buffalo Soldier
62 Bruce Springsteen - Sinaloa Cowboys
63 Talking Heads - Puzzlin’ Evidence
64 Tom Waits - Day After Tomorrow
65 Parliament - Chocolate City
66 Ani DiFranco - My Name Is Lisa Kalvelage
67 Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine
68 Fela Kuti - Zombie
69 James Taylor - Shed A Little Light
70 The Flaming Lips - The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
71 Macy Gray - It Ain’t The Money
72 The Clash - The Guns Of Brixton
73 Eurhthmics - Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves
74 Drive-By Truckers - Babies In Cagies
75 Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
76 Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction
77 Randy Newman - Mr. President (Have Pity On The Working Man)
78 Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life
79 The Style Council - Come To Milton Keynes
80 The Kinks - Get Back In Line
81 Los Lobos - Revolution
82 Chuck Prophet - Nixonland
83 The Police - Re-Humanise Yourself
84 Death Cab For Cutie - Million Dollar Loan
85 Paul Simon - American Tune
86 The English Beat - Stand Down Margaret
87 Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar - Freedom
88 Dramarama - What Are We Gonna Do?
89 Tom Russell - Who’s Gonnaa Build Your Wall?
90 The Jam - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
91 James Brown - Funky President (People It’s Bad)
92 The Clash - London Calling
93 Don Henley - A Month Of Sundays
94 Chicano Batman - Freedom Is Free
95 Van Dyke Parks - Yankee, Go Home
96 Steel Pulse - Ku Klux Klan
97 Tears For Fears - Sowing The Seeds Of Love
98 Gary Clark Jr. - This Land
99 Billy Bragg - Waiting For The Great Leap Forward
100 The Beatles - Revolution
Let us know what we omitted!
