Five reasons why it seems there isn’t any new protest music.
There are a million questions facing the world today, and I aim to answer the most important, most pressing question of our era: where is all the protest music? Popular music has a lengthy tradition of being the counterculture and fighting the man, so where are the Marvin Gayes, the Rage Against the Machines? I have a few reasons why it seems there’s no protest music in these turbulent times.
1: Political Styles are unpopular.
When I think of protest music, there’s four genres I think about: folk, rock, soul, and hip-hop. If you look at the top hits of the past few years, you’ll find all of those lacking. The teenagers are not picking up guitars, they’re downloading FL Studio and trying to sound like Billie Eilish or Playboy Carti. Hip-hop is at an all-time low since its breakthrough, and the acts that remain popular have either left broad politics behind (Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, etc.) or they avoid politics and focus on making bangers (Future, Travis Scott, Playboy Carti, etc.). It doesn’t help that hip-hop’s hitmakers have no qualms about continuing the genre’s tradition of misogyny.
The most popular genres are pop and country. Both genres have a tradition of politics, but neither are well-equipped to meet the moment. Pop music is the machine, and there’s only so much raging the machine can do against itself. Country music has a tradition more closely tied to politics, but only somewhat. Yes, the genre is about the working class, and yes parts of country had ties to the counterculture of the 60s, but country music is also insular and guarded. Much of the political country music people think of are universal- you could listen to “9 to 5” whether you were a republican or a democrat- and the political country that isn’t universal gets a strong backlash. If the country music establishment rejects you, there isn’t much room to go elsewhere. There’s little incentive to get political and lots of incentive to stay quiet, so the result is either that country singers stick to songs about love and drinking or they’re openly conservative.
2: Political messaging in music is subtler.
Most of modern music’s politics are done through example. Chappell Roan, for instance, hasn’t made any music about gay rights, but you’d be a fool to say her music isn’t political. Just being an openly queer woman who sings about queer love is a political statement in a heteronormative society. Similarly, Sabrina Carpenter doesn’t write about feminism or sexual liberation, she just sings about being liberated.
Hip-hop does similar things. While J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar are not writing direct political commentary, their wisdom and braggadocio is aspirational. They made it out from underneath society’s thumb, and you can too. Context is crucial for songs becoming statements- Pop Smoke’s “Dior” is almost all bragging, but it became a protest song during the George Flloyd protests. The reasons why are simple; the song was already popular, listening to it makes you feel invincible, and a Dior store being burnt down made the song at least tangentially related to the movement.
Most blunt politics in music feel phony. Rebellion doesn’t feel real from a corporate rock band, and neither does feminism from corporate pop stars. In the internet age, authenticity is everything, and tying yourself to a cause you have nothing to say about is a surefire way to get hate.
3: The music industry is much smaller
Despite it being easier than ever to release music, it might be harder than ever to make a living as a musician. With the death of radio and the dawn of streaming, just releasing music is unlikely to make enough money for it to be a career. Moreover, Livenation’s monopoly on live music performance makes touring more difficult, especially for smaller acts. All of this combined with young adults lacking in money for the concerts, drinks and merch that makes touring viable means the already slim chances of music stardom are currently awful.
With this, niche acts have fallen on the wayside. Artists have moved away from genre-specific sounds so their songs are put in a variety of Spotify playlists. Labels are hesitant to push young, new, and perhaps controversial talent because they’re risky investments compared to their established stars, so new names don’t get much marketing. All of this combined with the algorithm-driven social media landscape which often opposes left-wing viewpoints means that a band that centers politics is fighting an uphill battle.
4: Protest music was never actually very popular
Yes, the 60s and 70s saw a great deal of political music see success. But little of that was on the back of the music’s politics. The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and many more made political music, but only after years of largely uncontroversial success. There were also hits like Edwin Starr’s “War” and Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction,” but neither of them saw success beyond those hits. Even Bob Dylan, perhaps America’s most iconic political musician, didn’t see much commercial success.
There are exceptions to this idea- Springsteen saw his commercial peak with Born in the USA, a very political album. The issue is that Born in the USA wraps itself so firmly in the flag that it’s easy to miss its meaning. Moreover, the alternative revolution in the 90s saw a few political bands break through, but again, you could listen to Pearl Jam and miss the band’s political point. Even Rage Against the Machine, the most blunt, unmistakably left-wing band imaginable, has swathes of conservative fans who are shocked to learn the band’s politics.
One artist who took a political turn was Macklemore, who released an anti-cop, pro-Palestine song called “Hind’s Hall,” and some people did pay attention. But the song is not a hit, because Macklemore an artist people rarely talk about in present-tense. If the hits are there, you can bring people along for a cause. But politicians and musicians have different jobs- if you don’t have incredible music or a preexisting audience you’re commercially better off writing about less contentious topics.
5: Politics are more contentious than ever
It is easier than ever to end up on people’s shit list. I listened to “Hind’s Hall” for the first time for this article, and I was shocked to hear Macklemore declare he wasn’t going to vote for Biden in the fall. Part of it is that even political music tends to avoid directly mentioning specific people and specific actions, but the much larger point is that a debate over whether people should or should not vote for a “lesser of two evils” candidate is a highly debated talking point online. Or consider Killer Mike, a highly political Atlanta rapper who got a lot of hate for rapping, “I’m a landlord bitch, pay rent.” It’s a tone deaf line for someone so socialist-minded, but does it really undo “Reagan” or “Walking in the Snow”?
Of course, twitter is not real life. People don’t actually care much about Macklemore’s thoughts on the 2024 election or about Killer Mike being a landlord. But twitter and similar online spaces still reflect real life. That should tell you quite a bit about the state of American politics. This moment is not one where a proper response is contemplative music, people are too exhausted to have deep thoughts about the state of the world or to listen to lectures about how bad everything is. The reaction to Trump’s second term’s many injustices has not been an action-spurring righteous anger, but an overwhelming frustration.
With those messy feelings, the art that meets the moment requires mediums more complex than three-minute songs. Films like Sinners, One Battle After Another, or television shows like Andor have room to explore the many interlocking factors that weigh down on all of us. Blunt songs like “Respect,” “Say it Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud),” “Ohio,” and “Give Peace a Chance” are legendary and they have their place, but the Americans that oppose our fucked up government are not (buy and large) fighting, they are grieving or surviving. That’s tragic, but it doesn’t make for compelling protest music.
One final consideration: if hip-hop and rock are falling/have fallen behind the times, what comes next? The answer is impossible to say, but based on my knowledge I have a few ideas. For one, it’s likely to be heavily internet-influenced- meaning songs will be short, hooky, and have big moments that can be remixed for tik-toks and the like. It’s also likely to be abrasive. I think about artists like 100 Gecs or 645AR who divide general audiences or Playboy Carti’s loud, agressive style. Whatever comes, I hold onto hope that I can live and enjoy it. Both the music and the country.
Happy Fourth of July.
