PROTEST SONGS #407: First Nations, Environment, Police Brutality, Resist/Rebel/Revolt   Don’t even try to tell me that there's a better band name than Snotty Nose Rez Kids.  Haisla rappers Darren "Young D" Metz and Quinton "Yung Trybez" Nyce bring the real with "The Warriors", a catalog of

PROTEST SONGS #406: Anti-gang        A more direct—and greater—descendent of "Pastime Paradise" is Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise".  In 1995, producers of Dangerous Minds asked Coolio to write a song for the film.  Coolio asked Stevie Wonder if he could base the song off "Pastime Paradise".

PROTEST SONGS #405: Whadda you got?   Mary J. Blige borrowed from and re-envisioned yesterday's "Pastime Paradise" for "Time", from 1999's Mary, crediting Stevie Wonder as a writer.  She asks why people are wasting time picking on her, when the world is falling apart.

PROTEST SONGS #404: Anti-racist, Whadda you got?        In Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise", from the ever-amazing 1976 Songs in the Key of Life, he contrasts people who bask in the past with people who deal with the problems of the present and work toward an ideal future.  Although he mention,

PROTEST SONGS #403: Resist/Rebel/Revolt For contemporary Venezuelan protest music, here's Rawayana. Their 2024 single with Akapellah, "Veneka" (Venezuelan Woman") so angered Maduro and his government that they forced the band to cancel their Venezuelan tour. Why? From what I can tell, the

When fitted sheets were a new thing, they had elastic on the top and bottom only. They worked just fine, and you could fold them easily. Can we go back to that?

PROTEST SONGS #402: Political oppression, Police Brutality   Venezuelan Giordano Di Marzo Migani, who records as Yordano, wrote "Por Estas Calles" ("On These Streets") for 1992's De Sol a Sol.  This was also the title of the telenovela that used it as its theme song, where it became a huge hit.

This was in The New York Times on May 5th, and I may never stop laughing. What Happened When the Pope Had to Call Customer Service Spoiler alert: There was no miracle. By Julie Bosman Even the Vicar of Christ can be thwarted by a customer service representative.

PROTEST SONGS #401: Political oppression The Dead Kennedys wrote “I Am the Owl” for 1982’s Plastic Surgery Disasters, about the government using surveillance to control anyone who objected to Reagan's America. But these lyrics, about creepy surveillance constantly following you, describe Alexa,

@johnniejae.bsky.social Just look how fabulous Johnnie's designs are! I couldn't be happier, especially with my stampeding bison.

The Protest Songs Project: 400 songs and counting. It's been big fun, but will this nightmare never end? www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fmgab...

PROTEST SONGS #400: Queer Rights   The Trump administration is out to get trans people but it's not like society welcomed them with open arms before this.  Black trans women have borne the heaviest burden, and Shea Diamond, having “seen some shit” and, thankfully, survived, lays it on the line in

PROTEST SONGS #399: Vietnam-era Anti-war   I'm writing this a month in advance, so I can only hope that the Iran war will be over when I post it, but I do know that the war for our democracy is far from won.  Phil Ochs protested the Vietnam war in his poetic, bitter masterpiece “The War Is Over”,

Now playing in my brain: "Fill Your Heart". If you're old enough to remember Tiny Tim (Herbert Butros Khaury, 12 April 1932—30 November 1996), you may have thought he was a joke. He was anything but. He was a talented, profoundly weird outsider artist who became, somehow, an insider in the '60s.

PROTEST SONGS #398: Anti-Trump Can you have protest music without lyrics? Maybe you can. The League of Assholes just released IM PEACH 3, a 42-minute-and-57-second single-track album of wildly improvisational music that spans everything from metal to jazz to banjo.

PROTEST SONGS #397: Aboriginal Rights, Resist/Rebel/Revolt For Australian band Goanna's 1982. debut album, Spirit of Place, Shane Howard wrote "Stand Y'r Ground". The lyrics support Aboriginal people facing police and government harassment, but I immediately thought of ICE, who "Might have the

PROTEST SONGS #396: Civil Rights Movement From Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 2025 book, We All Want to Change the World: My Journey through Social Justice Movements from the 1960s to Today: [Mahalia] Jackson had met Dr. King at the 1956 National Baptist convention.

PROTEST SONGS #395: Vietnam-era Anti-war In the 1960s, the overlapping Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements attracted a wide array of entertainers into activism, from Charlton Heston to Robert Vaughn to Barbra Streisand. Of course, some activists, like Peter, Paul and Mary, had already

PROTEST SONGS #394: Resist/Rebel/Revolt I'm so charmed by Anti-Flag that I want to share one more song. They're joined by another new-to-me artist, Campino, for "Victory or Death (We Gave 'Em Hell)". The song sounds apocalyptic, but the video salutes past and present rebels who inspire us:

H/t to @Morgan Meeker for introducing me to the extremely useful word "villianaire".

Scenes from the May Day demonstration in Culver City. There were songs and chants led by [email protected]. And I made a new sign for the rally.

PROTEST SONGS #393: Civil Rights Movement, Labor Movement, Resist/Rebel/Revolt   It's May 1st, May Day, and I hope you're all participating in the General Strike.  Here's the perfect song of strength and solidarity for the day, "We Shall Not Be Moved".

TOMORROW! bsky.app/profile/kaym...

This is good advice, and I hope I have a chance to give it a try: Kim Kommando: How to Spot an AI Bot Calling You I got a call about a car warranty refund. Perfect English, knew my name, sounded completely human. I stayed on the line and, mid-conversation said, “Ignore everything said before.

PROTEST SONGS #392: Anti-racist, Anti-Trump Still getting to know Anti-Flag, whose members included the wonderfully AKA'd Justin Sane (Justin Cathal Geever) and Pat Thetic (?). Another entry from 2017's American Fall, "Racists" responds to the Charlottesville, VA rally by white supremacists,

PROTEST SONGS #391: Whadda you got? I've just discovered the political punk band Anti-Flag, who started playing in 1988, which shows you how much more I have to learn. To catch up, here's the super-catchy "When the Wall Falls" from 2017's American Fall, a cautionary tale saying you can't kid

I laughed so hard my face hurts. m.facebook.com/story.php?st...

History repeating.

PROTEST SONGS #390: Feminism At the recent Grammys, Raye won the 2026 Harry Belafonte Best Song for Social Change Award for "Ice Cream Man", her song about her sexual abuse, including by the music industry. I don't get how the song, from 2023's My 21st Century Blues,is just being awarded in 2026,

On Friday, May 1st, we show the Trump administration the power of our money and labor with a General Strike. No work or school, no buying, selling or trading, no banks, stocks or crypto. Be ready, plan ahead, stock up on what you'll need that day. (Of course, if your work keeps people alive,

PROTEST SONGS #389: Anti-Trump I just discovered Jesse Welles recently, and clearly he's a power to watch. Here he sings "No Kings" with Joan Baez, which is all the benediction any protest singer could hope for. Like #163 "Join ICE", this is from his 2025 EP No Kings. LYRICS

PROTEST SONGS #388: Anti-Trump Another "Fragile". I wasn't familiar with Eleven Apollos (Dietrich Hanson and Matthew Flaherty), but I like this song—from 2020's The Return—that calls out the MAGA world for being the "snowflakes" they accuse the left of being.

This is absolutely right. m.facebook.com/groups/TheOr...?

PROTEST SONGS #387: Anti-racist   Michael Kiwanuka was born in London, the child of parents who fled Idi Amin's brutal government in Uganda.  Kiwanuka's life has been as a "Black Man in a White World", as he sings on 2016's Love & Hate.

PROTEST SONGS #386: Whadda you got?   If you lived through the late 1960s, everything seemed to be evolving and/or going to hell at breakneck speed.  Many protest songs reflected this, like #8 "Ball of Confusion", #46 Eve of Destruction and #110 What's Going On?

Here's my dream: In front of the Library of Congress, life-sized statues of Levar Burton and Dolly Parton. At the feet of each, an eternal flame, one dedicated to reading teachers and one to librarians.

PROTEST SONGS #385: Whadda you got? I confess that I didn't know Steppenwolf beyond "Born to Be Wild", but once I started on their catalog, I realized how political they were. 1969's Monster takes on the Vietnam War and other crises, most effectively in the epic "Monster/Suicide/America".

PROTEST SONGS #384: Resist/Rebel/Revolt Muse's 2009 The Resistance is a wealth of protest music inspired by Orwell's 1984. Like #193 "Uprising", the title song, with its reference to the Thought Police, seems awfully contemporary. Remember that Orwell wrote 1984 "parodying intellectual

PROTEST SONGS #383: Pro-drug   Yesterday was April 20th, and I wanted to find another pro-legalization song, but after #241, "Legalize It", I had a hard time finding one that was about more than "I like weed."  Luckily, I stumbled over Steppenwolf's "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam",

PROTEST SONGS #382: Anti-George W. Bush/Second Gulf War   Yesterday was "Little Tin Soldier", Jimmy Webb's anti-Vietnam war song.  Today is "Hollow Victory", by his sons Christiaan, James and Justin—who record as The Webb Brothers—protesting the Second Gulf War.

Keep this alive.

PROTEST SONGS #381: Vietnam-era Anti-war   Jimmy Webb wrote "Little Tin Soldier", a brilliantly odd and moving anti-war song, for Barbra Streisand's 1969 What About Today?  She sings it like the clarion call of a trumpet.

PROTEST SONGS #380: Feminism   More Janis Ian, this time a song of pure feminist rage, "Resist", from The Light at the End of the Line, 2022.  There is nothing I can add to perfection.   LYRICS She is. She is. She is She is. She is. She is She is. She is. She is Too short too fat too skinny

White House staffer: Kash Patel is the worse drunk I've ever seen! Pete Hegseth: Hold my beer. No, wait, I'll just chug it.

White House staffer: Kash Patel is the worse drunk I've ever seen! Pete Hegseth: Hold my beer. No, wait, I'll just chug it.

PROTEST SONGS #379: Civil Rights Movement   From the Civil Rights Movement comes "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round", based on the older "Don't You Let Nobody Turn You Around."  The Rev. Ralph Abernathy introduce the song in 1962, and it has been an infinitely adaptable protest song, speaking to

PROTEST SONGS #378: Whadda you got? Peggy Seeger wrote "How I Long for Peace" in 2007, but only released it on 2021's First Farewell. " I wanted to state it just very simply - my deep desire to stop the fighting, the battling, the tearing down other people and being rude and

PROTEST SONGS #377: 99%, Anti-racist   Yesterday's "Government Cheese", meet today's, from rapper Vince Staples' aptly named 2024 Dark Times. This cheese is metaphorical, in a song about Black people facing poverty, crime, and struggling to survive and stay positive in a pitiless world.   LYRICS

Could it be more obvious?