I feel global political oppression or global wars usually produce great music but Macklemore might be the peak.
Nothing against him, some of his songs are good, but I expected real rage inducing stuff with everything going on. Or is this just the state of music as a whole?
Keep in mind that music lost a lot of its cultural cache since your benchmark decade of the 90’s. Mass culture isn’t really the same as it was then. I remember Weird Al talking about doing a lot fewer parody songs just because fewer people recognize any given song.
Yeah there’s still music out there, but if you don’t know it that’s not really your fault.
This is my whole point. Is streaming and music apps killing the massive songs like “Luke’s Wall / War Pigs” , “Ohio”, or “My Generation”?
I saw a report talking about if there’s a “song of the summer” this year. A lot of people said there isn’t because more than ever we’re siloed to our own music library/playlists.
Personally, I spend a few hours a week actually looking for new artists to listen to. There’s so much music out there just waiting to be discovered.
I do the same thing and have discovered some great music. However, over the months or years I seem to return to classics to rage out or have a statement song. Go to a protest and you will hear " This is America" or “Sympathy for the Devil”.
I’m just wondering if this generation will have their song or is there to many bands? Can a band cut through it all and still make something like those songs?
Maybe I’m the old man screaming at the clouds.
It’s just the internet making all media available, and streaming is the lowest friction way of giving people that access.
Most punk like Bad Religion, Dead Kennedys, Anti Flag, Black Flag, The Clash, Dropkick Murphys has been very political from the start.
I know they are older now but Dead Prez, Foo Fighters, Rise Against and System of a Down are still active. Then there is the much older Roger Waters who has been very political throughout his career. And let’s not forget the legendary Los Tigres Del Norte.
But coming back to younger artists
- Killer Mike
- Kendrik Lamar
- Childish Gambino
- Anderson.Paak
- Bambu
- Andrew Jackson Jihad
- Feminazgul
- Lowkey (British rapper)
whoa Lowkey mentioned! yeah, that’s the kind of politically conscious hip-hop I meant. Immortal Technique was even moreso, but he’s been inactive for a long time and the extreme homophobia makes it hard for me to listen to, which is a shame.
Yes. I would like to think he was a product of the toxic masculinity culture, especially due to his time in the prison. It is a shame that while he was being radical on one front, he managed to dehumanize people who should have been his allies.
Bad Religion are working on a new album too
I’m not saying there isn’t political songs, I’m saying this generation doesn’t have those as much.
I also love that you said younger artists then named killer mike. Makes me feel like a teen.lol
Bob Vylan and Kneecap seem to be pulling their weight.
Haha. I tend to mix time in my head sometimes. My age is showing!
Off topic, why would you put Limp Bizkit with the classics?
Maybe they did it all for the nookie
Come on
OP wasn’t asking about classics, was asking about protest music
Fred Durst is and has always been a boot sucking poser. He has never protested anything beyond a groupie telling him “no.”
In all fairness, back in the day it was limp Bizkit that got me into rock and the much better stuff. Not listening to them anymore (maybe every now and then something from their very first album) but still, without LB I would never gotten into rock the way I’m today
OP could have used Rise Against instead of Limp Biskit
didn’t realize until just this moment that Rise Against ≠ Rage Against The Machine
They are one of the classics lol
Wes Borland is one of the most underrated guitar players easily
Woodstock 99’ explains it all. Play “break stuff” or “my way”, shit gets you going.
Limp Bizkit isn’t anywhere close to the others on the list, might as well listed Papa Roach.
I love that people hate on them and try to hold them down. They were a massive band. Look at their collaboration, everyone wanted to be on there. They were pure rage.
Just because they were big for a couple years doesn’t mean they produced anything of value. Angsty music for middle class white boys is nothing special.
You should really look up woodstock 99 and see the lineup. They headlined the whole show. Doing music with Emenim, Wu-Tang, and Korn, all 90s and 00s icons. Fred Durst help out staind and puddle of mudd. You might not like them but you can’t ignore what theu brought to music.
I was in highschool when they came on the scene. I’m well aware of Woodstock 99. Nothing you said counters my point. Looking back they didn’t belong in the same breath as the other bands you listed except puddle of mudd.
- 24 mil. With 10 mil highest sold over 4 cds
- 28 mil. With 14 mil highest sold over 4 cds
- 11 mil. With 6 mil highest sold over 4 cds
- 9 mil. With 6 mil highest sold over 5 cds.
- 27 mil. With 14 mil highest sold over 4 cds.
- 29 mil. With 13 mil highest sold over 4 cds.
Tell me which one of these bands had the most influence. Also what does race have to do with it?
nirvana, tupac, and rage against the machine all had something meaningful to be raging about
limp bizkit was just misogynistic bro music
I feel limp bizkit was the end off a period of rage. All the pent up anger that was put into just fuck shit up.
Side note. People really hate Limp Bizkit.
It’s not even hate, I listened to their music, but I never thought they were great music. I read a lot of books mostly litrpg, I’ll never pretend they are great literature but it’s enjoyable, fast food books. Limp Bizkit is fast food music.
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I wouldn’t say pure rage… They were certainly high energy but not super focused on being angry. This may in part be due to Fred Durst adding major frat boy vibes.
I have no idea what they’re like these days.
Funny since Durst was a tattoo artist before starting the band. Kinda the opposite of frat boys.
one of those is not like the others
OP was born in 1991 and was too young to have lived through the proper grunge revolution, but was just the right age to experience the corporate grunge poser revolution.
Bob Vylan?
His music is good but I wouldn’t say the same level. Give him a few more years.
Speaking as someone who’s been into Nirvana and RatM since the early '90s, there’s more anger and protest in ‘We Live Here’ than in the entirety of Nirvana’s catalogue.
Sure, Nirvana were angry, but mostly in a depressed, teenage way, lashing out at an unfair world. They were angry on a personal level, mostly. Bob Vylan are angry on a social level, in the way RatM were. They’re demanding the world look at the inequality they see, rallying us to take it on board and do something about it.
If that isn’t protest, then I don’t know what it is you’re looking for.
Nirvana was depressed rage but it also tought a who generation about the evils of capitalism. It sparked a new style of music and it did it within a 4 year period. Nothing against Vylans but they became noteworthy due to a chant. I feel they can be a voice for this generation but they need a little bit more time and a global hit.
It’s a duo. Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan.
Thought it was just named after the singer. My bad
The singer is Dylan
Alright but have you heard this one though?
My history on lemmy says 👏👏👏
“With the instant availability of information, and content so easily obtainable, is the culture now a product that’s disposable?“
This quote goes back to 2007. 18 years later it’s not even a question anymore, music and the culture around it has become disposable.
There’s always going to be great bands and artists who have something to say! I’ve heard some of my favourite bands just in the last 10 years. But society is never going to look at music the same, it’s just something people tap on their screen and give a quick listen, or worse; just watching some idiotic lip sync to a 20 second excerpt of it on tik tok.
This is America was produced in 2018. Say the word Mustard around a lot of people and they know what you are talking about. That is my whole point. We still have massive hits but no rage against the governments or wars.
I also feel that the design of current music ecosystem is doing this as well. They can stop music being released or throw money at it.
We don’t have the bands kicking, for the most, against capitalism.
How many indie punk bands do you listen to? In the 80s and 90s counter culture and anti-establishment is what sold music, and that’s why bands like Rage were able to go mainstream. Producers and promoters don’t support bands like that anymore because they know they won’t make as much profit.
My counter point is music is way easier to consume now. You can find no name bands everywhere. Durry is a great example of a band born out of the pandemic. Older group that is anti “normal” life. Seen them in concert amd have really hit a groove in their music. Indie bands have a way as before you heard them on some AM station.
It feels like less and less big artist are less vocal against what is happening. They will speak or make a post but their music is still the same ol same ol.
It feels like less and less big artist are less vocal against what is happening. They will speak or make a post but their music is still the same ol same ol.
My point is that artists who are vocal don’t make as much profit for the record labels as they used to, so they’re not being promoted as much as they used to. RAtM only became as big as they are because they were profitable for Sony. Ironic, isn’t it?
Most people are anti-war or anti-genocide. It seems like an easy payout for artist right now. Kneecap and Vylan showed that. Most people never heard of them until the BBC stuff recently.
There’s also the wider political angle to consider. The 90s was very safe for media companies to push revolutionary talk, there was no chance it’d actually turn into revolution. Now, shit’s starting to go down, and media companies don’t want the government to think they’re encouraging revolution.
Please remember that Parental Advisory and TV Parental Guidelines started in the 90s. 2 Live Crew was taken to court and declared legally obscene by a federal judge in 1990. Every generation has been through this.
I’m sad about how right you are.
And there’s no real coming back from this. If it were me I’d raise taxes on art, particularly the big players, to reduce the monetary incentives and drive the big corporations out. That’d be a start, politically unpopular and visciously opposed by Disney but a start.
I think policing art is bad, but if all the art in the world was just made as a hobby project that would probably be a better world. Less art, more valued, more honest.
I’m too old to say what anything this generation is, but look up “fucked up” by Macklemore. Came out at the start of the year and it’s the most rage against the machine esque thing I’ve heard in years. Got me riled up.
Edit: I see you literally called him out in the post, so this is old news to you I’m sure. I’ll leave it for others to find!
I missed this one, spot on.
Haven’t heard it yet,but will definitely check it out.
Macklemore & Foxy Shazam aren’t full political, but are on the blessed outskirts of mainstream media, as the good ones from every generation are (and collaborated for a song: Eric Nally (Foxy’s singer) & Macklemore on Downtown (by Macklemore & Lewis)).
I’d say based on his last 3 songs he is now fully political. I mean we’ll see what he does next, but Hind’s Hall 1 and 2, and Fucked Up are all super political and powerful songs.
They don’t exist, at least not in Western mainstream music. Record labels have learned from those artists and will now drop anyone who doesn’t toe the capitalist/imperialist line. Like the singers being cancelled for supporting BLM or Palestine.
And it’s very specifically just for leftist messages. Kanye straight up calls himself a Nazi and sold shirts with swastikas on it and didn’t get canceled for antisemitism, but tons of pro-Palestine artists did. If an artist straight up calls themselves a socialist like Tupac did it would be career suicide.
As someone in Gen Z, I have never heard a mainstream song released in my lifetime that actually attacks capitalism beyond useless lip service or calls for any kind of anticapitalist action by the general public. They definitely exist but only by indie artists who will either never get signed onto a label or will be forced to capitulate to the capitalist propaganda machine if they do.
Childish Gambino? Yasiin Bey? Kendrick? Killer Mike? Hip hop alone has never stopped being critical of the machine… You must be living with your head under a rock or in headphones that only play top 40 or something. There is an absolute wealth of music that takes on the various hierarchies that dominate our world…
I’m glad I’m not the only one advertising Jesse Welles on here. He’s probably my favourite musician right now and I feel like no one is talking about him. His lyrics align perfectly with the average lemming I feel like.
Also Ren is cool. I don’t like rap but I like him. He’s got great lyrics.
I love me some Ren but not the level as System of a down or crosby stills nash & young.
Thank you for introducing me to Ren. Been listening to his stuff all day, I haven’t been so emotional in a while
Expand your tastes, cousin. There’s a lot of anti-war and angry music getting made right now.
such as…
Not the most recent, but how about this ABSOLUTE BANGER by The Coup?
Nice, this has soul. I don’t like rap, but in this song is acceptable.
dope!
I’m talking more main stream. You couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing those guys.
Yes, you can point to any period and say “they made statements”.
Ren makes statements but has 2.4 mil followers on youtube. I’m talking a generation band /artist standing out in this period. Hearing Killing in the Name of playing daily, the music video was everywhere.
Your boy is good but you also pointed to a song from a decade ago which has 2.2 mil views.
My dude, no one listens to radio anymore, when you can have your own music with you on a device you carry around in your pocket all the time.
My dude, radio is just playlist and curated discover modes. A horse by a different name is still a horse.
Kneecap
Kneecap have been getting massive publicity because of their pro-palestine/anti-genocide stance. I haven’t listened to much to their latest stuff, but I should re-explore them.
Great music, they could turn into that band with a few massive hits.
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Residente as well
Bob Vylan.
Love those guys
With the rapid rise in accessible media tuned to everyone’s personal preference there’s not really a single artist that is capturing attention across the board, but that doesn’t mean there’s not protest bangers from several artists:
- Dropkick Murphys
- Grandson
- Durry
- Otep
Along with Grandson, I highly highly highly recommend KFlay. I love her. They’re friends and tour together
Seen Durry live, great fucking show. Grandson has some good stuff plus he made music with Tom Morello. Big plus.
I feel your statement is pretty accurate. With the wide spread access of music we are losing something. Just like shows, the common connection between each other. This is my main point.
