I have heard over and over again how there's no good protest music these days, and it bewilders me, because I've been hearing it all over the place.
So I've gone to the trouble of compiling a list of the first few albums that came to mind. Some of them I'm sure you've heard of, some you probably haven't. Some are explicitly protest albums, some are a bit more subtle. But these are all mainstream albums, on mainstream labels...
*Update [2005-10-23 15:55:53 by peacemonger]:*
Lots of good recommendations in the comments, including Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle, Burt Bacharach, System of a Down, and others.
For more artist info, click the artist's name. Clicking the album thumbnail will link you to the album's page on Amazon.com. I would prefer that you buy the album from your local record store, or from the artist at a concert. But for the lazy, or those who just want to read some reviews, I provided the Amazon link.
I want to give three honorable mentions: the Dixie Chicks for telling the truth, and standing up to the backlash, the Rolling Stones, for their new song, Neocon, and Dolly Parton, who is in NYC this weekend, filming the video to her new cover of John Lennon's Imagine. I have had a chance to hear the track, and it is quite good. Rumor has it that Yoko Ono will make a cameo in the video.
On to the albums...
Rickie Lee Jones
Evening of My Best Day
Rickie Lee Jones is a venerable female singer-songwriter who was originally billed as the new Joni Mitchell, but never quite lived up to it, coming across as a bit too quirky and weird, not unlike her ex-husband, Tom Waits. Rickie has always had her rabid fans, but existed just outside the mainstream. But this 2003 release features Rickie at the top of her game musically, and includes some subtle, and not so subtle jabs at the Bush Regime, trickle down economics and the Patriot Act. Some example lyrics from Ugly Man:
And he'll tell you lies
He'll look at you and tell you lies
He grew up to be like his father
Ugly inside
Hey - ugly man
What's the plan?
If people knew
What would they do
To the ugly man?
Nellie McKay
Get Away From Me
Nellie is another quirky female singer-songwriter. Her Shirley Temple looks belie the sailor mouth on this woman that earned her the explicit lyrics sticker on her 2004 double-length CD.
This is not a protest album per say, but the title track, David, does feature this gem:
Mister bushie says
"I'm your president
I have lots to say
Hey hey hey"
And click goes the remote
There you have my vote
Catchin' the next boat out of here
Radiohead
Hail to the Thief
The title to this album insinuates that it will be full of angry political commentary, but that is not the case. Instead, listeners are treated to a landscape of powerlessness and sorrow that perfectly captures how so many of us felt leading up to the war in 2003, when this album came out. A lyric example from The Gloaming:
Genie let out of the bottle
It is now the witching hour
Genie let out of the bottle
It is now the witching hour
Murderers, you're murderers
We are not the same as you
John Prine
Fair & Square
John Prine is one of those old souls like Mose Allison, or Dave Frishberg, that seems to write a classic every time he sits down with a pen and his instrument. His 2005 album Fair & Square features one of my favorite new love songs, "She Is My Everything," and great political stuff as well, including these choice lines from "Some Humans Ain't Human:
Have you ever noticed
When you're feeling really good
There's always a pigeon
That'll come shit on your hood
Or you're feeling your freedom
And the world's off your back
Some cowboy from Texas
Starts his own war in Iraq
Some humans ain't human
Some people ain't kind
They lie through their teeth
With their head up their behind
You open up their hearts
And here's what you'll find
Some humans ain't human
Some people ain't kind
Incubus
A Crow Left of the Murder
Their previous album, Morning View, was one of my favorite rock albums of the last five years, despite the immature breakup lyrics that dominated. "A Crow" is nearly as good musically, and lyrically is much more mature. The band delves into politics and the ills of corporate media on several of their songs, including Megalomaniac, Made for TV Movie, etc. Here is a lyrical example from Talk Shows On Mute:
pay an audience to care
'impress me' personality
Still and transfixed
the electric sheep are dreaming of your face
enjoy you from the chemical comfort of America
Come one, come all
into 1984
yeah, three, two, one
lights, camera, transaction
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Everyone Deserves Music
This irrepressibly cheerful, reggae-influenced 2003 pop album features plenty of social consciousness, (check out the opening track, "What I Be") and a few overtly political moments including Bomb The World:
You can chase down all your enemies
bring them to their knees
you can bomb the world to pieces
but you can't bomb it into peace
Green Day
American Idiot
By now I'm sure every Kossack knows about this album, Which Kos has frontpaged, but if not, it's definitely worth checking out.
So what do you think? Does the new music stand up, or still get its ass kicked by Dylan, Lennon, Baez, and all the good old sixties tunes?