Political Music Thread - it really makes u think 🎵🤔🎵
38 replies, posted
I love songs where the lyrics have something deeper going on, and in 2018 what better topic to write a song about than the current political malaise??? So here are some songs I know that are sure to activate your almonds and get your noggin joggin
ITT post music that is confirmed to intentionally reference current political events
Older political songs are ok too
Everything Everything - Knight of the Long Knives
(Released in August 2017)
When Britain voted to leave the EU and the US voted to elect Trump, I took solace in the fact that my favourite politically-driven indie rock band Everything Everything would probably make some good songs out of it. The opening track of their fourth album "A Fever Dream" jumps right into it, with lyrics speaking to Brexit and the rise of populism. It's almost a sequel to "The Wheel" from their last album, which charted the rise of UKIP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR3nXuBwGcI
There's a flood on the street, there's a tide and it's coming in now
Yet the concrete burns at the back of your skull
And they say it's a wave but it feels like a dribbling mouth
There's a light bulb flicker but it never goes on
Yes, the bomb may be falling, if it lands where you're stood
Man, I know it's a real big shame about your neighbourhood
I'm the wrong kind of people, why'd you listen to me?
Just the island a-breathing in and out and
It was a long time coming
Katy Perry - Chained to the Rhythm
(Released in February 2017)
Hot off the heels of campaigning for Hillary in 2016, Katy Perry announced that she'd been changed by the experience and that her forthcoming album would take her lyrics in a newly political direction. In the end it basically didn't, except for this lead single which studies a population trapped in a pop culture bubble and numb to the creeping authoritarianism around them. Also check out the single frame in the opening shot of the music video where the CGI model vanishes - I hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um7pMggPnug
Turn it up, it's your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Come on, turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we're free
Drink, this one is on me
We're all chained to the rhythm
Paloma Faith - Guilty
(Released in October 2017)
From her album "The Architect", on which one of the tracks is just a 54-second political address by Labour Party activist Owen Jones, "Guilty" is Paloma Faith's breakup song about Brexit, told from the perspective of a Leave voter who feels they were duped by the campaign's lies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDFu4iCpTo8
I've been a criminal, I made a mistake
Believed in the fictional
Then let everything slip away
I can't accept my fate
Thought the alternative looked so crystal clear
Drowned in the muddy waters
And I'm living in my worst fears
Begging you back through tears
The 1975 - Love It If We Made It
(Released in October 2018)
With lyrics raging against a litany of Trump-era political issues, this track could almost be 2018's answer to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wl1B7DPegc
"I moved on her like a bitch!"
Excited to be indicted
Unrequited house with seven pools
"Thank you Kanye, very cool!"
The war has been incited
And guess what, you're all invited
And you're famous
Modernity has failed us
Share your own political bangers!
Get some oldies.
https://youtu.be/-MkRuV0aCcI
https://youtu.be/Bn1Ca8izXto
https://youtu.be/I2Hpo39FivM
Oldie but a goodie
https://youtu.be/U06jlgpMtQs
Kitty Kitty - De Staat
(Released October 2018)
“The song is very much based on when Trump arrived,” explains Torre. “It’s a collection of words and sentences which came into my head during that campaign – it’s about the creation of different groups in society and how they’re completely in their own bubble.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWM9DC-31Xo
Big deal maker
Orange entertainer
Swamp it up, gator
Follow the tweeter
The red red noosed leader
The great white white white preacher
Long live the enemy
Here kitty kitty, the fantasy
Make it feel, make it feel real
Sing that simple melody
Music for comrades™ only
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ibmNGpqU_Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwYb2HR2iCw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol5pDNjQ_tc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8O2ToQ_Dok
Green Day's American Idiot was originally a response to George W Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq, mass media fearmongering, and the general political division that had taken hold of America. It's still pretty relevant today.
https://youtu.be/a1BS7XnEZqc
Another favourite is Rage against the Machine. Here's a couple of solid songs that have been eminently relevant to American domestic affairs since Reagan.
https://youtu.be/Q3dvbM6Pias
https://youtu.be/w211KOQ5BMI
They're all older songs but seem fairly relevant to modern politics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NEP0GE0SY0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_8rt1PSck8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3dvbM6Pias
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w211KOQ5BMI
Our rap scene is full of these, due to the politicized nature of our underworld, some sort of political reference can be found in almost any, but these are the first that come to mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEBKeps9HMM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3A7ifR6n6E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkSzmPnzF-o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP1DUANKI7M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwjeD0nfkao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CzNOD7ukMA
saw this live and went fucking mental
[i]blighty wants his country back
Fifty-inch screen in his cul-de-sac
Wombic charm of the Union Jack
As he cries at the price of a bacon bap[/i]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0oGmFMZDjs
"I was in my comfort zone
I was singing selfish songs
I've been taking for granted everyone understood how easy trouble comes
But it's not enough anymore
We can't turn just around and close the door on the world
It's asking uneasy questions
We should be asking ourselves uneasy questions
Are you afraid of the darkness?
Are you afraid of the darkness?
I'm afraid of the darkness too
We're all caught in a blackout
Trying to feel our way out
Wait for the morning
I'll be waiting for you"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE1ct5yEuVY
Still a big mood decades later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY6SLEBM19M
I don't know what annoys me more: this thread or that people are posting Green Day and Rage Against the Machine
don't u talk shit about rage
but OH BOY political music thread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHHJF2cUwyY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O59JNz7rdIU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-njK73bC4w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slO8lwP6nuQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nXF99fI6cg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlk7o5T56iw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqVLhYoWQGo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gSYDI2XRDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkJJ47Lx0Jk
Parquet Courts new album is pretty "woke" if you get me
https://youtu.be/sP9l9HBJ1o0
https://youtu.be/eZXS8Jpkiac
Also we have IDLES in the UK at the moment, lyrics criticizing politics, cultural identity and austerity
https://youtu.be/BuQG6_evFc8
https://youtu.be/7Oxqf_15k0w
Two of my favourite albums of this year too, actually
https://youtu.be/durkzwaEknk
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