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Protest music, then and now A history of political activism in music, from Woody Guthrie to Sam Cooke to Lady Gaga.
With hits like “This Land is Your Land” and “Ain’t Gonna Be Treated This Way,” folk singer Woody Guthrie is one of America’s best-known political musicians. He frequently played a guitar with a sticker that said “This Machine Kills Fascists.”
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The Washington Post archives
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Folk singers Joan Baez and Bob Dylan perform during the March on Washington in 1963. Baez led the crowd in singing “We Shall Overcome.”
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National Archive/Newsmakers/Getty Images
Singer Sam Cooke became an activist in the civil rights movement with his hit song, “A Change is Gonna Come.”
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AP
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young wrote protest music about the Vietnam War and shootings at Kent State University. Neil Young continues to make protest music, most recently writing the song “Let’s Impeach the President,” about George W. Bush.
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Atlantic Records/The Washington Post archives
Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” remains a seminal protest song. The album “What’s Going On” is a concept album told from the perspective of a Vietnam War veteran.
Rogers, Cowan, and Brenner Inc.
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The Washington Post archives
Members of the British rock band The Clash — Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon, and Mick Jones — espoused leftist views in their music, paying tribute to Nicaraguan Sandinistas and encouraging disaffected youths to become politically active.
Mario Cabrera
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AP
Gladys Knight, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Theresa Cropper joined Stevie Wonder in song on the steps of the Capitol in 1982. Wonder’s protest song “Living for the City” addresses the disadvantaged conditions that African Americans endured in the 1970s.
Fred Sweets
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The Washington Post
Rock star Bruce Springsteen accompanies himself on the guitar while singing "Born in the U.S.A." as he completed his world tour at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in September 1985. Though the song is often mistaken for a patriotic anthem, it is actually about the aftereffects of the Vietnam War.
Lennox McLendon
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AP
Public Enemy's Chuck D, Terminator X, and Flavor Flav pose in Los Angeles. Washington Post critic Chris Richards says: “Public Enemy’s definitive 1989 hit ‘Fight the Power’ might have been the last great, galvanizing American protest song. Sonically innovative and lyrically trenchant, it arrived at the end of a decade when musical activism felt more like celebrity do-gooding.”
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Deacon Chapin
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong performs in Berlin at the Live 8 concert, a 2005 performance to press wealthy nations to help Africa. Armstrong and Green Day recorded the album “American Idiot,” a concept album about American apathy and ethics.
Jan Bauer
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AP
Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes performs at a concert to benefit the ACLU’s effort to repeal a Fremont, Neb., anti-immigrant law. Oberst’s protest song, “When the President Talks to God,” is about George W. Bush’s presidency.
Nati Harnik
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AP
MIA, a dance musician of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, often addresses politics, war and immigration in her songs. In a short film for the song “Born Free,” she depicted redheads as members of an opposition movement in a political allegory for freedom fighters across the world.
Chris Hyde
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Getty Images
Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock band U2, has a long history of political activism, beginning with the 1983 song ”Sunday Bloody Sunday,” about the 1972 Derry, Ireland, incident that resulted in the deaths of unarmed protesters.
Alexandre Meneghini
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AP
Zack de la Rocha and his band, Rage Against the Machine, is known for polemical songs about corporate America and oppression — most famously, the song “Killing in the Name,” which rails against societal ills.
Chris Pizzello
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AP
Lady Gaga’s song “Born This Way” touts equal rights for the LGBT community. Gaga has spoken out against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and regularly advocates for the gay community.
Wong Maye-E
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AP
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