Fifty Favorite Protest Songs
(for this, my 600th list, fifty protest songs, arranged chronologically, with 25 you probably know, 25 you don’t)
25 Songs You Probably Know
The Great Atomic Power by The Louvin Brothers (1952)
Masters of War by Bob Dylan (1963)
A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke (1964)
Mississippi Goddam by Nina Simone (1967)
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy by Pete Seeger (1967)
Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today) by The Temptations (1970)
Working Class Hero by John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) by Marvin Gaye (1971)
Sunshine (Go Away Today) by Jonathan Edwards (1971)
Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore by John Prine (1971)
Political Science by Randy Newman (1972)
You Haven’t Done Nothin’ by Stevie Wonder (1974)
The Pill by Loretta Lynn (1975)
Games Without Frontiers by Peter Gabriel (1980)
Redemption Song by Bob Marley and the Wailers (1980)
Straight to Hell by The Clash (1982)
99 Red Balloons by Nena (1984)
Dear God by XTC (1986)
Cult of Personality by Living Colour (1988)
Fast Car by Tracy Chapman (1988)
Tramp the Dirt Down by Elvis Costello (1989)
Black Boys on Mopeds by Sinead O’Connor (1990)
Fight the Power by Public Enemy (1990)
Mothers Pride by George Michael (1990)
Paper Planes by M.I.A. (2007)
25 Songs You Probably Don’t
Love Me I’m a Liberal by Phil Ochs (1966)
Dance Stance by Dexys Midnight Runners (1979)
Army Dreamers by Kate Bush (1980)
You Say That the Battle Is Over by David Mallett (1981)
Shipbuilding by Robert Wyatt (1983)
Unmarked by Yazoo (1983)
Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon (1984)
Ballad by New Model Army (1986)
July 13th 1985 (The Live Aid Song) by John Wesley Harding (1988)
Let My People Go by Diamanda Galas (1988)
Number One in America by David Massengill (1988)
Waiting for the Great Leap Forward by Billy Bragg (1988)
Devil, Take the Farmer by The Dry Branch Fire Squad (1989)
Lady of the Harbor by Si Kahn (1989)
Typical Male by Consolidated (1991)
Everywhere by Greg Trooper (1992)
Gulf War Song by Moxy Früvous (1993)
Timebomb by Chumbawamba (1993)
Fishing by Richard Shindell (1994)
Makes Good Sense to Me by Cheryl Wheeler (1995)
Sunrise by The Divine Comedy (1998)
Another World by Antony and the Johnsons (2008)
Prayer to a Landlord by Jarle Bernhoft (2008)
Look to the Skies by True Live (2009)
Hell Broke Luce by Tom Waits (2011)
— September 1, 2022