Are protest bands / singers still current ? Are any mainstream other than RATM ?

19 comments

1. Sure. Half of current punk bands probably qualify. They may not count as mainstream, though.

2. I think we’re seeing more politically aware artists going mainstream, but explicit protest music like Rage isn’t that hot. Run The Jewels comes to mind. Kendrick Lamar isn’t a protest artist, but a lot of his music and videos touch on heavy political issues. He’s also one of the biggest rappers of a generation.

3. Lots of political artists, like Flobots and Joey Bada$$, but I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head who is both as popular and as fiercely anti-establishment as Rage.

4. RATM made it pretty obvious that the only protesting they do is against Republican run governments when they were requiring vaccines at their shows even if the venue didn’t.

5. I’m not sure I understand what you mean by mainstream? Top 40 perhaps- which isn’t protest music, no.
   I just saw the Dead Kennedys are on planning a tour. That’s very exciting. I guess if you want protest music you’ll need to dig deeper into alternative, hip hop, and some Americana.
   Animal collectives albums can also be considered statements of social justice imho.

6. Bad Religion, Jello Biafra, and others like them are still making music. Then, you’ll have other bands, which have typically shied away from protest type songs, who feel so strongly about something, they’ll write one that’s missed by many. [Descending by Tool](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PcSoLwFisaw) is one of those.

   *To the quickened, dissolution. Pray we mitigate the ruin. Calling all to arms and order. Drifting through this boundlessness, this madness of our own making. Sound our dire reveille. Rouse all from our apathy lest we cease to be. Stir us from our wanton slumber, mitigate our ruin. Call us all to arms and order, sound the dread alarm. Through our primal body, sound the reveille, to be or not to be. Rise. Stay the grand finale. Stay the reading of our swan song and epilogue. One drive to stay alive, it’s elementary. Muster every fiber. Mobilize. Stay alive. Stir us from our wanton slumber. Mitigate our ruin. Call us all to arms and order.*

7. System of a Down were very mainstream when they were active.

8. System of a Down were very mainstream when they were active.

9. Tons of artists have politically themed lyrics.

   Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell, Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Kendrick Lamar, Public Enemy, Bad Religion, Run The Jewels, The Chicks, Anderson .Paak….

   Here’s a [Spotify playlist of 2020 protest music](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/05SQ8b6jYEO7nNQx54YHrW?si=3339a96789564cd6)

10. There’s plenty of it out there, but I don’t know how mainstream it could be these days. With the internet and streaming we consume music way differently than we used to.

11. Not really, most modern stuff is with what’s popular, not against it.

12. Tune into anything other than country music and you’ll find something that has a politically versed message. At the current climate it’s harder to find apolitical music than the other way around.

13. Bad religion.

14. Rise Against, though they were more late 00s/early 10s. They did release a new album last year.

15. I can’t think of any that would qualify as mainstream, and judging by the other comments here, most other people can’t either.

16. Go to a Pearl Jam concert and let Eddie Vedder get good and drunk. He did 6 minutes of singing the words “no more war” a month before I shipped out to boot camp lol. That was interesting.

17. RATM…..LOL

    They are capitalists that stump for communism.

    Odd thing, if you ask me.

18. I mean, Tom Paxton is still going strong.

19. Tom macdonald