State University of New York at Oneonta

Is Protest Music Dead?

Lindsey Geoghegan

Composition 100

Professor Andrew Tully

27 February 2019
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Protest music has been around since the Revolutionary War with “Yankee Doodle,” but it

thrived in the 1960’s with musicians like Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Joan

Baez. This genre is a way for musical artists to express their disdain towards events occurring

throughout the world. As of late, there are many people who believe that the protest song is a

dying phenomenon in the present climate. However, there are just as many artists today driven

by circumstances comparable to what took place in the 1960’s. People who want protest music

simply need to broaden their search because protest music is just as alive in the present as it was

in the 60’s.

It is argued that the desire for protest music has been ruined because of social media.

Folk music expert and former librarian at the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Malcolm

Taylor alleges, “there’s so much ammunition for [protest songs], and if you wrote one that

happened to catch on, you could potentially reach millions. But… today’s discontents prefer

Facebook and other social media,” (qtd. in Ellis and Luxmoore 5). However, the emergence of

social media created a platform which not only grew the protest genre but amplified the overall

amount of music accessible to the public. With the evolution of social media, it has become

increasingly more difficult to pinpoint “one problem” taking place in society. The internet has

forced such a strong stream of knowledge onto the people using it. This inspires musicians to

write about the problems they are seeing in the world. In the 1960’s, less world events were

publicized. The biggest events mainstream society had knowledge of were the Vietnam War and

the Civil Rights Movement. Today, social media has publicized tragic events like gun violence,

the opioid crisis, human trafficking, LGBTQ+ violence and movements like Black Lives Matter,

#MeToo, and #DefendDACA. The list can go on and on. Rage Against the Machine guitarist,

Tom Morello says, “There may not be that one global, unifying anthem, but certainly there are
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strands of protest music now that are a vital part of today’s fight for justice,” (Richards 8). In an

interview with Tom Barnes for Mic.com, Morello talks about creating his own label, Firebrand,

dedicated to signing artists that have “been on the front lines of some of today’s most urgent

political struggles,” (Barnes 4). One of the musicians he signed was Ramy Essam, who led the

Egyptian revolution. He demanded the president to step down in a song and was tortured for the

political work he did. Firebrand has made Ramy’s music accessible to those who need it.

Politically driven music is just as big as it was in the 60’s because of social media’s widespread

connection.

Many people insist protest music is not being made by mainstream artists because they

are afraid. However, some of the decade’s most politically driven music has been at the top of

the charts. These artists are creating songs with catchy melodies accompanied by hauntingly

honest lyrics and music videos. Childish Gambino’s This is America, The 1975’s Love It if We

Made It, and Hozier’s Take Me to Church all do a part in addressing world issues.

The music video for This Is America by Childish Gambino starts off light to mislead the

audience. In her article, Faria Arni pointed out that it seemed like Gambino’s first pose was

imitating, “Jim Crow posters from the 19th-20th century” to then pull out a gun as the camera

reveals a masked person sitting in front of Gambino (Arni 2). He then shoots the masked man as

the song transforms to trap, followed by the line “This is America.” The video follows this

theme as every time someone is shot in the video, the gunshots are followed by “This is

America.” The middle of the song and video consists of Childish Gambino dancing with black

school children dancing as the lyrics “watch me move” are sung to pose as a distraction. As

those lines occur, violence erupts but they still dance. This is supposed to show “how art is used

to distract from reality, or how media/vanity/etc. is used to distract from reality,” (Arni 3). At
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the end of the video, Gambino runs away into the dark as the lyrics are “You just a black man in

this world, you just a barcode” alluding to police brutality, the desensitizing nature of racism and

how “black people run from cops who shoot on sight,” (Arni 4).

In The 1975’s Love It if We Made It, lead singer Matty Healy addresses everything from

pollution to the prison industrial complex to Donald Trump. The video is a montage of clips

about different social issues, some taking right from the certain topic that the lyric is covering.

The video opens on plastic bag underwater, obviously indicating the ongoing environmental

pollution crisis which plastic waste is at the center of. Another line in the song is “Selling

melanin and then suffocate the black man. Start with misdemeanors and we’ll make a business

out of them.” In a video with Genius, Healy talks about how the prison system preys on young

black people to keep itself in business. The song contains the quote by Donald Trump, “I moved

on her like a bitch.” Healy said that using the quote in the song was a “weird reality” because

when the radio plays your song, they can’t play swear words, so he says, “I have to be censored

for literally quoting the leader of the free world.” (Genius, 2018 4:08-4:18). The chorus of Love

It If We Made It is the same as the song’s title. This portion of the song represents hope shining

through the cynicism of the verses. The last line in every verse is “modernity has failed us.” It’s

meant to symbolize a beacon of hope and create a contrast among the pessimistic majority view

of society and few and far between optimism.

Hozier’s Take Me To Church reached the number two spot on the Billboard Hot 100

while calling out the Catholic Church. The video depicts a gay couple in Russia and the violent

backlash the receive when they are outed. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Hozier said that,

while he was “growing up, [he] always saw the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church.” In another

interview with New York Magazine he explained that, “an organization like the church, say,
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through its doctrine, would undermine humanity by successfully teaching shame about sexual

orientation – that it is sinful, or that it offends God. The song is about asserting yourself and

reclaiming your humanity through an act of love.” Hozier is using his platform and privilege to

protest a powerful pillar of society.

Artists like Childish Gambino, The 1975 and Hozier have used their platforms to create

politically driven music just like artists like Bob Dylan and Creedence Clearwater Revival from

the 1960’s. These artists are prime examples of the livelihood of protest music in the present.

Although there is an intense presence in political music currently, there are those who

argue that it is nowhere equal to what the protest genre was fifty years ago. Considering the

transformation of music, it is understandable why many people think the protest genre is dead.

Admittedly, no one is writing music like at Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater revival, and Joan

Baez were in the 1960’s. Those in favor of the 1960’s claim, “protest songs seem to have lost

their power, potency and appeal,” (Richards 4). Dorian Lynskey believes that the chain is

broken. Protest song writing tradition was informally passed down. Lynskey claims, “If you

were of Dylan’s generation, you could look back to Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. If you were

a punk, you could look back to the angrier records of the late ’60s, as Joe Strummer did. If you

were a rapper like Chuck D, you could look back to James Brown and Curtis Mayfield,” (qtd. in

Richards 15). Dorian cites Public Enemy’s 1989 song “Fight the Power” as “the end of a decade

when musical activism felt more like celebrity do-gooding,” (Richards 12). Veteran folk artist,

Martin Carthy reckons, “There are still some good and effective protest singers and songwriters

around, but it’s not like it was in the 50’s and 60’s. Promoters have… cottoned on to the

commercial potential of protest music,” (qtd. in Ellis and Luxmoore 12). Even though many

people look at the protest genre as a dying medium, it seems that people are looking for it.
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Protest music comes in waves, the biggest one being in the 60’s with many artists

drawing inspiration from world events like the Vietnam War. It is important to keep in mind that

to see the continuation of the wave, we need to have a sense of empathy and understand what

others are going through. Some say that no music in the present can compare to what was done

in the 60’s, but present-day artists have proved that false. When used correctly, music is an

educator for the future. Society can use the songs of the 60’s to remember where we were and

how we’ve arrived here, and today’s just as prominent protest music can show us where we need

to head.
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Works Cited

Arni, Faria. “The Importance of Childish Gambino's ‘This Is America.’” Medium.com, Medium,
9 May 2018, medium.com/@farni454/the-importance-of-childish-gambinos-this-is-
america-b011fd42dba1.

Barnes, Tom. “Tom Morello Has Created a New Label Dedicated to Bringing Protest Music
Back.” Mic, Mic Network Inc., 30 Mar. 2016, mic.com/articles/121884/one-of-our-
greatest-musicians-just-created-a-new-label-to-bring-protest-music-back#.N6OEeABph.

Ellis, Jonathan Luxmoore and Christine. “Not Talkin' Bout a Revolution: Where Are All the
Protest Songs?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 22 Feb. 2016,
www.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/22/protest-songs-folk-music-nancy-kerr-martin-
carthy.

Genius. “The 1975 ‘Love It If We Made It’ Official Lyrics & Meaning | Verified.” YouTube,
YouTube, 1 Nov. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzWt3EUsqiw.

Gottlieb, Jed. “Protest Music Helped Save 20th-Century America. But Are Today's Pop Artists
up to the Task?” Quartz, Quartz, 5 Apr. 2017, qz.com/949864/protest-music-helped-save-
20th-century-america-but-are-todays-pop-artists-up-to-the-task/.

Greene, Andy. “Behind Hozier's Unlikely Rise.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018,
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/behind-hoziers-unlikely-rise-60949/.

Messitte, Nick. “Why Is Hozier's 'Take Me To Church' So Popular?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine,
3 Dec. 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/nickmessitte/2014/12/03/on-hozier-why-is-take-me-to-
church-so-popular/#3b7cfca54e21.

Munnis, Dara. “Q&A: Irish Musician Hozier on Gay Rights, Sexuality, & Good Hair.” The Cut,
The Cut, 11 Mar. 2014, www.thecut.com/2014/03/qa-hozier-on-gay-rights-sex-good-
hair.html.

Richards, Chris. “For Protest Songs, Times Are a-Changin'.” The Washington Post, WP
Company, 26 Aug. 2011, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/click-track/post/for-protest-
songs-times-are-a-changin/2011/08/26/gIQA9rAKgJ_blog.html?
noredirect=on&utm_term=.bc3815b9e31c.