There Was A Post Yesterday Complaining That There Were No Good Protest Songs During The Bush Years

[lame54]

This is one of many great anti-bush songs from this decade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqAvv1lvAtU

NOFX

"USA-Holes"

It's like seeing a car crash from inside the car
The driver's got his head craned back he's telling you a joke
You see the bus on collision course
You point your arm and turn your head and wait for the impact
This is the feeling we learn to live with in North America
The morning headlines always accompanied with sweat and nausea
Every week another puzzle piece gets permanently glued into place

We see the iceberg from 15 miles away
The captain orders the ship to "stay the course"
"Full speed ahead" shouts the accurst
The next thing we heard was, "rich women and children first"
The ship is listing, the captain's placing blame on the iceberg
"That berg attacked us, I am declaring war on the Arctic"
Who could ever have predicted the greatest ship could so easily sink (duh)

Lifeboats are useless without rescue
The only ships show up for salvage
When setting sail on the St. Louis
We all knew what consequences could be
With the crew we had at the controls
There's no harbor age for the USA-holes
I doubt there's a benign God to save our souls
Cuz no one else is gonna save the USA-holes

[liberalmuse]

1. Good one.

I listened to System of a Down alot. And Tool. System of a Down took direct digs at Bush, and so did Incubus, for that matter. Tool takes digs at the entire corrupt, bullshit establishment.

[Warpy]

2. Oh, there were plenty

but this one is my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWRfBZY-ng

[lame54]

4. Check out the vid I made for that song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTW0y6kazWM

[LeftyMom]

3. I hate when people say that, because it's a load of shit.

Here are two good ones off the top of my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujiEXFRA4N0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3zTBB_hRa8&feature=related

[Journeyman]

5. Richard Thompson had a vicious song against the IraqAttaq. . .

"Dad's Gonna Kill Me" from Sweet Warrior


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyV8gV7HYp4

[backscatter712]

6. Ministry's another good band!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBGMW86u1Qk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXIVoKrn9uQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87b4a4a2wmY

[LeftyMom]

16. Can't forget this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNqDtEZtI34

[ComtesseDeSpair]

7. My Favorite - From 2002

"Combat Rock" by Sleater-Kinney

They tell us there are only two sides to be on
If you are on our side you're right if not you're wrong
But are we innocent, paragons of good?
Is our guilt erased by the pain that we've endured?
Hey look it's time to pledge allegiance
Oh god I love my dirty Uncle Sam
Our country's marching to the beat now
and we must learn to step in time

Where is the questioning where is the protest song?
Since when is skepticism un-American?
Dissent's not treason but they talk like it's the same
Those who disagree are afraid to show their face

Let's break out our old machines now
It sure is good to see them run again
Oh gentlemen start your engines
and we know where we get the oil from

Are you feeling alright now
Paint myself all red white blue
Are you singing let's fight now
Innocent people die, uh oh

There are reasons to unite
Is this why we unite?
If you hate this time
Remember we are the time!

Show you love your country go out and spend some cash
Red white blue hot pants doing it for Uncle Sam
Flex our muscles show them we're stronger than the rest
Raise your hands up baby are you sure that we're the best?

We'll come out with our fists raised
The good old boys are back on top again
and if we let them lead us blindly
the past becomes the future once again

[backscatter712]

8. Oh, and the reason people think there's not any good protest music.

The right-wing media, especially companies like Clear Channel, refused to air any anti-war music.

[BalancedGoat]

9. There's plenty of good protest songs out there.

"Guantanamo" by State Radio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YwzvUk8c9g

[TBF]

10. I liked that post and offered one of my favorites, Holiday, off

Green Day's American Idiot in 2004. It was released as a single in 2005:

"Holiday"

Say, hey!

Hear the sound of the falling rain
Coming down like an Armageddon flame (Hey!)
The shame
The ones who died without a name

Hear the dogs howling out of key
To a hymn called "Faith and Misery" (Hey!)
And bleed, the company lost the war today

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday

Hear the drum pounding out of time
Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!)
To find, the money's on the other side

Can I get another Amen? (Amen!)
There's a flag wrapped around a score of men (Hey!)
A gag, a plastic bag on a monument

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday

(Hey!)
(Say, hey!)

"The representative from California has the floor"

Sieg Heil to the president Gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang bang goes the broken glass and
Kill all the fags that don't agree
Trials by fire, setting fire
Is not a way that's meant for me
Just cause, just cause, because we're outlaws yeah!

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives

This is our lives on holiday

[nbsmom]

11. I can think of two with fairly mainstream artists

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V4c1nsjc9o


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFgvJ_0Bmew

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

12. I like this one a lot:

"The Idiot Son of an Asshole"

http://www.punkvoter.com/anim/anim-idiot.html

[alfredo]

13. Steve Earle

"John Walker's Blues."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISFNTRaXRiI&feature=related

Setve Earle "Rich Man's War."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4bCVoMCeYY

"Fuck the FCC"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Af5SahC1DE&feature=related

"The Revolution Starts Now"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR80U_DQwFE&feature=related

Love this song "Jerusalem"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU278yFdvgQ&feature=related

Something wonderful and hopeful "City of Immigrants." I get chills every time I hear it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWnGctWs4JM&feature=related

[Starbucks Anarchist]

14. "Supadubya" (rap song) by 40 del Tren.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7khc9Pz_QWg

[HarveyDarkey]

15. Don't forget Michael Franti and Spearhead

Time To Go Home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSeuLsNV4CA

YELL FIRE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7WASrQFg8o

on edit, to add his DVD "I Know I'm Not Alone": In 2004 Michael Franti decided to ‘walk his talk’ and traveled to the war zones of Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This wasn’t a USO green zone sponsored visit – Franti and his team organized a trip that would take him to the core of the red-zoned, war torn neighborhoods of Baghdad, the West Bank and Gaza Strip armed with only a guitar, video cameras and the intent to experience first hand the human cost of war. Throughout his journey he shares his music with families, doctors, musicians, soldiers and everyday people who in turn reveal to him the often overlooked human cost of war. Out of this expedition, Franti has produced and directed a compelling documentary film titled I Know I’m Not Alone. With its guerrilla style footage captured in active war zones, the documentary is unlike the many academic and politically driven pieces in the marketplace, instead offering the audience a sense of intimate travel and the opportunity to hear the voices of everyday people living, creating and surviving under the harsh conditions of war and occupation

http://www.amazon.com/I-Know-Im-Not-Alone/dp/B000G8NX9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1235437685&sr=8-1

[TexasProgresive]

17. There may be protest songs but they

aren't being sung by large groups of people. For a protest song to have power it must have the people.

[jmowreader]

18. I liked a couple...

"Franco Unamerican" by NOFX, and "Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums" by A Perfect Circle.

[lame54]

19. Of course there is this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTW0y6kazWM

Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one's paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget's stretched so thin
And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war
We can't make it here anymore

That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They're just gonna set there till they rot
'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore

The bar's still open but man it's slow
The tip jar's light and the register's low
The bartender don't have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day

Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can't make it here anymore

High school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what'll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it's way too late to just say no
You can't make it here anymore

Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
'Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can't make it here anymore

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the da$% little war
And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore

And that's how it is
That's what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper
Read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind
If you're listening at all
Get out of that limo
Look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone
Tell us all why

In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That's done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There's rats in the alley
And trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can't make it here anymore

[lame54]

20. .