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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?

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[-] deathbird@mander.xyz 55 points 1 month ago

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.

[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 month ago

This is my whole point. Is streaming and music apps killing the massive songs like "Luke's Wall / War Pigs" , "Ohio", or "My Generation"?

[-] RunicSword@beehaw.org 14 points 1 month ago

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.

[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 1 month ago

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.

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[-] devolution@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

Off topic, why would you put Limp Bizkit with the classics?

[-] workerONE@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Maybe they did it all for the nookie

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[-] y0y0ma@lemmy.sdf.org 31 points 1 month ago

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)
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[-] BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

“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.

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[-] _lunar@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 month ago

one of those is not like the others

[-] socsa@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago

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.

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 month ago
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[-] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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!

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago

I missed this one, spot on.

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[-] AHorseWithNoNeigh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
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[-] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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.

[-] discocactus@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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...

Edit: Doechii, ffs... Gorillaz... I could go on.

[-] Nemo@slrpnk.net 15 points 1 month ago

Expand your tastes, cousin. There's a lot of anti-war and angry music getting made right now.

[-] crazycraw@crazypeople.online 20 points 1 month ago
[-] DampSquid@feddit.uk 9 points 1 month ago

Not the most recent, but how about this ABSOLUTE BANGER by The Coup?

https://youtu.be/acT_PSAZ7BQ

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[-] lemmyuser100002@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago
[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 1 month ago

He lost a few points for the Super bowl. He could have made a statement to a president but didn't. His first couple of albums made statements about life in the hood.

I would say childish Gambino made more of a major statement with one song compared to Kendrick.

[-] AMoralNihilist@feddit.uk 10 points 1 month ago

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.

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[-] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago
[-] hohoho@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago
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[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago
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[-] unmagical@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago

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
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Architechts, motionless in white, rise against

[-] socsa@piefed.social 8 points 1 month ago

Limp Bizkit does not deserve to be anywhere near this list. They are a piss stain on the seat of the limo Kurt Kobain's brother rented for Prom.

[-] brem@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

Just because the music you listed isn't new, doesn't mean it can't serve the same purpose as it did for previous generations.

[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 month ago

My personal listening doesn't effect public views. Art usually makes statements, protest, or fight the "man".

[-] brem@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Well then you can call me 'Art', 'cause I do all of that stuff

ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪

Edit: Arthur works fine, if you're not into the whole "brevity" thing

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[-] Formfiller@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Elder Millennial and gen x. Rage and nirvana are my jams.

[-] Juice@midwest.social 7 points 1 month ago

I took my daughter to a concert some years ago, when she was in middle school, and before any bands went on, "Killing in the Name Of" started up. I told her "at the end of the intro when the song starts up, everyone in the audience over 30 will start bobbing their head" and sure enough, thousands of adult chaperones all at once just start grooving

[-] Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Dropkick Murphys are killing it right now. Their last 3 albums are all great.

I also really dig Jeff Rosenstock.

[-] Juice@midwest.social 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Well recession pop is back, check out the new Lady Gaga or Kesha albums. So there is that sort of dissonance and syncopated funkier rhythms in pop music which can usually be connected to economic and social downturn.

I know that shit is worlds away from what you're referring to, I think you're looking for something more aggressive.

I think the 2022 Every Time I Die record Renegade goes pretty fucking hard, I listen to Planet Shit about once a month and just rage.

Planet B by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard goes pretty hard.

You can always check out whatever Napalm Death is doing, much of their stuff is political and social commentary, in fact I love ND lyrics.

No one has the " popular understanding of 'transgender' didn't really exist for gen x but whatever it's going to be, these songs are mostly about needing to transition but feeling unable to" that Kurt Cobain had, but Kurt did once say that early Nirvana was an attempt at copping Gang of Four, and Go4 is very political, critical and high energy. esp their first album "Entertainment!" and "Solid Gold". After that they become kinda disco.

Also consider diving into the incredible wealth of protest music produced before the 60s. The 60s is kind of understood as a high water mark for protest music, but IMO a lot of Dylan and stuff was promoted more because he was actually less political than like Phil Ochs. Woody Guthrie, Victor Jara, The Almanac Singers, Odetta, etc., had much sharper politics than most well known artists who came after.

Finally, last but best, not new but largely undiscovered and forgotten, the Swedish RATM: the 1998 album The Shape of Punk to Come by the Refused. By far, one of my absolute favorite left wing records

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this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2025
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