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.
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.
Macklemore & Foxy Shazam aren’t full political, but are on the blessed outskirts of mainstream media, as the good ones from every generation are (and collaborated for a song: Eric Nally (Foxy’s singer) & Macklemore on Downtown (by Macklemore & Lewis)).
I’m glad I’m not the only one advertising Jesse Welles on here. He’s probably my favourite musician right now and I feel like no one is talking about him. His lyrics align perfectly with the average lemming I feel like.
Also Ren is cool. I don’t like rap but I like him. He’s got great lyrics.
I love me some Ren but not the level as System of a down or crosby stills nash & young.
Bob Vylan?
His music is good but I wouldn’t say the same level. Give him a few more years.
Alright but have you heard this one though?
My history on lemmy says 👏👏👏
Speaking as someone who’s been into Nirvana and RatM since the early '90s, there’s more anger and protest in ‘We Live Here’ than in the entirety of Nirvana’s catalogue.
Sure, Nirvana were angry, but mostly in a depressed, teenage way, lashing out at an unfair world. They were angry on a personal level, mostly. Bob Vylan are angry on a social level, in the way RatM were. They’re demanding the world look at the inequality they see, rallying us to take it on board and do something about it.
If that isn’t protest, then I don’t know what it is you’re looking for.
It’s a duo. Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan.
Thought it was just named after the singer. My bad
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.
Along with Grandson, I highly highly highly recommend KFlay. I love her. They’re friends and tour together
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)
Kendrick Lamar.
He lost a few points for the Super bowl. He could have made a statement to a president but didn’t. His first couple of albums made statements about life in the hood.
I would say childish Gambino made more of a major statement with one song compared to Kendrick.
Dropkick Murphys are killing it right now. Their last 3 albums are all great.
I also really dig Jeff Rosenstock.
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!
Nice, this has soul. I don’t like rap, but in this song is acceptable.
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.
RTJ
Seconded. Close Your Eyes goes unbelievably hard. 1000 bonus points for featuring Zack De La Rocha
They’re sellouts now that make Paloma’s and play on tax commercials. Fuck them.
Regarding Palestine, a number of groups have done stuff on stage or donated money and so on, but there don’t seem to be a ton that have written music specifically about the war. I’m guessing this is partly due to a lot of record labels supporting Israel on top of just so much other horrible shit going on in recent years. You could probably find more stuff if you looked for music by people from the countries directly involved.
Pretty much the same situation for Ukraine I think. Bands like Jinjer are vocally pro-Ukraine.
It’s much easier to find one-off songs about a specific issue than like entire albums right now AFAICT (again probably partially because of how much crap is going on). A lot of groups also seem afraid to really hammer on specific points to avoid alienating fans I think, so it’s sort of just the state of music as well IMO.
I feel like, with all the music apps and direct access to music, we would see more. Less label control because patreon, facebook, instagram, youtube, etc allows money to change hands.
It feels like we are losing voices on major issues either by lack of skill or lack of interest. Not trying to be super political but Ukraine and Palestine is very unpopular , that’s not including the leaders.
I think it’s actually much harder for small artists to succeed now, even with the proliferation of stuff like social media sites and music apps. Most streaming services pay artists practically nothing, and from what I understand, touring is less profitable than it used to be because the artists are getting a smaller cut of the profit than they used to from merchandise.
Stuff like Bandcamp and Patreon help, but those platforms are pretty small compared to something like Spotify. It’s probably easier to get your name out there because of social media/Youtube, but I don’t think it usually makes up for how little money they make from listeners. This is also ignoring piracy.
As with so many things, the barrier to entry has been lowered so far that literally anyone can have a go. And that’s good. But it does mean that the vast, vast majority of art is now being experienced by an audience of maybe 20 people.
You can spend hours crafting a beautifully soundscaped podcast that truly gets to the heart of what you need to talk about. And ten people will listen to it.
But I suppose it was ever thus. Someone would spend a year painstakingly working on a painting, getting all the details just so. And then it would sit in their studio because they had nowhere to display it, or no one to buy it.
So we are only talking about a hand full of artist that make money. Even then it has only been the last 25? years that bands have made money.
Bands in the, pick a decade outside of the last 90s-2010s, didn’t make a lot and still spoke out. It feels like everything is now algorithm sterile. And we haven’t touched the massive sellouts. Views>money>music
Grandson’s new album seems to be shaping up to have those tones. First released tracks hit them pretty pointedly. He’s not as refined as some of the artists you mentioned, though.
Those are the artist I am talking about. Not everyone will have a massive first album. Look at System of a down. Their second album is the start of their pure rage.
Death Grips
Locals, Ill check them out for sure
Gasoline by Måneskin
Will check out the band. I feel the euro metal bands are killing it right now. Check out Zeal&Andor
I’m a 90s kid and I never got into music like this. I always had single songs I liked, including from RatM, Nirvana etc but I never really cared about more than 1 or 2 songs of any individual artist, or albums. I just didn’t like the other songs.
I assume the reason why you have these “recognizable” names was solely because music was sold in albums. People couldn’t reaaaally get music conveniently any other way. And only the biggest ones could afford to produce albums in the first place. So even if you liked 1 or 2 songs only, you were “forced” to buy the whole album and since you got it already, why not listen to the rest. And since you didn’t have infinite money to buy infinite albums you listened to the same ones again and again.
I never really did that. I bought an album and actually only listened to one song or I bought compilations. I never cared about a particular artist, only about songs. The current music acquisition process is perfect for me, I find plenty of amazing songs everywhere. Do I know the artist of my songs? Not really, and I don’t care. When I meet someone, we listen to each other’s music together. I vibe with and pick single new songs from them. We don’t bond over artists, we bond over music. I think everything is perfect that way.
Edit: just one German example of a popular song that many people here know that criticizes shit here in the country: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y-B0lXnierw
I didn’t listen to these bands when I was younger. I listen to a lot of rap (southern rap). I thought Nirvana sucked when I listened to them. The older I get the more relevant the music has become. 60s and 70s music as well. The 80s has its moments but rhip-hop really shines through.
I just feel like todays music is so tame at times. Especially from the “top” performers. No one has a stance or rally cry. It is just remixes and pointless shit.
So music for you only means something if it’s political?
Like 30% of my music is instrumental, many others who have voices but no distinguishable words, and some of those are my most favorite music ever. I almost never listen to the words in music.
Thay was never my statement. I said we usually get great music when it is like this. Even classical music makes statements with no word.
What kind of “statements” does classical music make? For me instrumental music just sounds nice, or it doesn’t. No statement involved.
Classical music had plays attached to them. They 100% made political statements for their times.
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That guy is a Hardcore Zionist. He released a song with his band last year called October in Europe where they had texts like:
Since 07.10. I no longer want to seek the conversation
Surprise: Even Greta hates Jews
Back then, the perpetrators were gone in no time
Today, the greatest anti-Semites are
All anti-racists, against hate and for peace
…
It was supposed to be “Never again powerlessness”
October is coming to EuropeTo add to the discussion, watch out for bands getting banned all the time. The British rapper Lowkey, for example, has some hard-hitting lyrics and beautiful melodies. Very political, too!
