| Top Ten All Time Protest
Songs |
| |
|
Subterranean Homesick Blues by
Bob Dylan (released 1965) |
| Dylan seems to have been heavily
influenced by the beats when penning Subterranean Homesick Blues.
The song recognizes the rise of a youth driven counterculture that
was ready to question the validity of every aspect of the "American
Dream." |
| 2. |
Say It Loud-I'm Black And I'm Proud by
James Brown (released 1968) |
| Brown addresses the truly criminal psychological,
economical and physical abuse blacks suffered in America at a time
when Black Americans were just beginning to realize some justice and
relief from their subjugation. The lyrics are full of anger, pain
and frustration, but more importantly they told Blacks something
they had never heard in mass media before: that they had a lot to be
proud of. |
| 3. |
For What It's Worth by
Buffalo Springfield (released 1967) |
| Steven Stills originally wrote this song as a
commentary on conflicts that erupted between law enforcement and
teenagers on the Sunset Strip when a popular club was closed down.
The song evolved into a symbol of the world disorder that existed in
the 60s. |
| 4. |
Inner City Blues by
Marvin Gaye
(released 1971) |
| Possibly no other song has ever captured the anguish
of poverty and class victimization quite as well as Inner City
Blues. This song oozes with the pain and futility prejudice creates. |
| 5. |
The Fish Cheer I Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die Rag by
Country Joe and the Fish (released 1967) |
| Easy to remember and easy to sing, this song became
the anti-war anthem of the 60s generation. |
| 6. |
This Land Is Your Land by
Woody
Guthrie (written 1940, released 1944) |
| Written at a time when Americans were still
suffering from the Great Depression and all the malaise that came
with it, This Land Is Your Land presents a contrarian view to the
rosy portrait of America that songs like America the Beautiful
painted. |
| 7. |
War by
Edwin Starr (released 1970) |
| War is a powerful anti-war song written in response
to the Vietnam War. |
| 8. |
Little
Boxes by
Malvina Reynolds (released 1962) |
| Little Boxes warns of the dangers of conformity and
laments the suppression of individuality and the blandness of a
world in which everyone and everything is the same. |
| 9. |
Boom! by
System
of A Down (released 2002) |
| Boom! successfully deals with all the ills our
modern world in one fell swoop. |
| 10. |
Minority
by Green Day (released
2000) |
| Green Day's response to the rise of the "Moral
Majority." Essentially the message is that it's okay to be a misfit,
to develop your own morality and express your individuality in both
thought and action. |
