Protest Songs

You might say that protest — the burning desire to stand up and get your voice heard — is the very backbone of popular music. Peoples' experiences differ, often wildly, and expressing these differences has delivered many incredible tracks. Here, we kick off with the folk laureate of poetic dissent, Bob Dylan, who takes on the same subject that Edwin Starr addresses on "War." The collective march towards truth continues in Next Steps.

Sometimes, a shocking statement is best made in song, where it's couched in melody. Billie Holiday's stark meditation on racial lynching, "Strange Fruit," is set over the pared-down lounge combination of piano and double bass, while the Hilltop Hoods' well-crafted "Stopping all Stations," tackling social unease and tragedy, weaves its grim narrative round a disarmingly mellow flute loop. Our songs of protest grow even fiercer as we venture into Deep Cuts.

Here, the U.S.A. comes in for a lyrical mauling: if Uncle Sam listens to Morrissey ("America Is Not the World"), Jewel ("America"), or Jackson Browne ("For America") he'll hear dissent of the sharpest and most eloquent variety. Many listeners still believe that Incubus' "Megalomaniac" is directed squarely at George W. Bush but, according to the band's frontman Brandon Boyd, it's not.

Some protesters get up on a soapbox and speak their minds till they're blue in the face. Others combine melody, lyrical poetry, and the fire of dissent into a tune that sears its message permanently onto our collective memory. Here we salute the latter group. Among their number is rap pioneer Gil Scott-Heron, who nails a turbulent era in American social history with "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"; the great Neil Young; and Phil Collins, voice of the homeless on "Another Day in Paradise." Listen, sing along, change the world.