I promise not every ‘Top 10 Picks’ will be as deep and as depressing as what you are about to read!

 

A lot of negative things are happening in the world right now. You have a government fucking us over, you have terrorists making the world a living hell and you have One Direction happening.

 

The great thing about music is that you can release a lot of raw emotion listening to it. Unfortunately, in my eyes, there’s a dying breed – the protest song. Certainly in mainstream music I can’t think of one artist that can pull off a protest song.

 

Gone are the days of sticking it to ‘The Man’, nowadays you have decent, well-established artists like Ed Sheeran making idiotic decisions like dedicating a song to David fucking Cameron! A man who clearly couldn’t give a toss about the live music scene – the proposed closure plans of Kazimier and the rest of Wolstenholme Square in Liverpool being one example.

 

It would be nice to see a band or two be a bit ballsier and stick two fingers up to The Man!

 

I have picked songs from various forms of protesting; protesting against war, protesting against racism, protesting against homophobia and protesting against socialism.

They’re hard topics to talk about and that’s why I think the protest song is a dying breed.

 

With that in mind here are my top 10 protest songs from the past...

 

 

1. Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name

 

“Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me”

 

2.  John Lennon – Imagine

 

“You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one."

 

3. U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday

 

“And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters 
Torn apart”

 

4. Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changing

 

“Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand”

 

5.  Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter

 

“War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Rape, murder!
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away”

 

6. Sex Pistols – God Save the Queen

 

“Oh God save history
God save your mad parade
Oh Lord God have mercy
All crimes are paid”

 

7. Public Enemy – Fight the Power

 

“Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant shit to me you see”

 

8. Manic Street Preachers – If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next

 

“And on the street tonight an old man plays
With newspaper cuttings of his glory days”

 

9. The Wailers – Get Up Stand Up

 

“Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!”

 

10. Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control

 

“Standing in the way of control
Yeah live your lives
By the only way that you know, know”

 

 

LISTEN TO OUR PLAYLIST: TOP 10 PICKS: PROTEST SONGS