Yess, I’ve been trying to explore punk. Give me punk bands with lyrics I can understand, and who are vocally critical of conservatism and fascism please.
For myself -
A lot of RATM has floated to the top for me in the past few years. They are in heavy rotation now, and weren’t really for about fifteen years prior to that. The songs you don’t immediately think of when I say RATM have lyrics that are just as true and just as biting. If you like their sound but aren’t familiar with most of their work, this is a good time.
Brother Ali - particularly songs like Uncle Sam Goddamn
Dropkick Murphys, particularly most of the Album “This Machine Still Kills Fascists”
Anti-Flag. I know they have proven to have done some shady things with regard to harassing some women at their shows, but I only just discovered them recently (and learned this about them afterwards.) Unfortunately I like their songs and lyrics. “Victory or Death” comes to mind immediately.
Public Enemy - By the time I get to arizona, Black steel in the hour of chaos, fight the power (obv), fight the power 2020, really I don’t think they do a song that’s not good for the current state of affairs. Over and over in recent years I have concluded that the hip hop community saw what was and what was coming long before (decades before) the rest of us. I wonder why. 🤔
Last couple Arrested Development albums. Good tracks off the top of my head “And This I know” “The Meek” “Amazing” “Fire” “Moses” Gotta listen to these, most aren’t going to leap out with the expected energy if you don’t pay attention to the lyrics all the way through. There are others. Their last three albums have a high percentage of gems IMO.
Really old one by B. Dolan called “Which side are you on?” (loosely based aoround Guthrie song) which is congruent with a lot of today’s issues, though I think it was written primarily in support of this woman. Gonna link it here because I just listened to it again and damn does it slap.
A lot of what I listed above is unsurprisingly posted by me or others in !music@lemmy.world
Probably a lot of obvious choices on here, but I like to think of it as honoring the classics of the genre, and hopefully there are a few entries which are new to folks.
Crime Mob - Knuck if You Buck (this goes at the start of the playlist, because, in my experience, playing this to a crowd of significant size will result in hands being thrown somewhere, it is a statistical inevitability)
Oh Jesus fucking Christ. Thank you for letting me know, I’ll edit that immediately. The worst part is that I’ve conditioned myself to cope with the news I’ve just received by listening to Pantera.
I’ve known about KMFDM for a long time but discovered Free Your Hate about this time in 2017, it’s too bad it’s that relevant again but at least we’ve got some good Nazi-punching music.
In all honesty, I have no idea how I came across that song. Despite some of the other selections that are also in that mold, industrial metal isn’t actually a genre I fuck with that much. I’m open to it, especially as I’ve continued to get comfortable in some of the less melodic subgenres, but the actual wave of popularity these bands were riding on missed me as a kid and ive come to it later.
I assume that it must have been included in a video game soundtrack of some kind? In fact, as I’ve been writing this comment, I think it may have been a part of the Brutal Legend soundtrack, and I had all of that stuff on my iPod at the time.
+1 for State of the Union and Sentry the Defiant. I also see your Waking the Demon and raise you one You want a Battle? (Here’s a War). I don’t know if we’re all against Anti-flag with Justin Sane being a trash human, but their catalogue is still good for this situation.
I almost don’t want to know, especially given what someone else shared with me about Pantera’s lead singer; but, given what I’m sure you’ve inferred from my selection, Anti-Flag was very much in my rotation for a couple of years. So, in the interest of doing the bare minimum necessary to claim I haven’t been ostriching the WHOLE time since the election, what revelations have come to light about this guy?
My read on it was that onstage he’d ogle underage girls/attendees, really flexing the rockstar swagger or whatever. He’d somehow relay to them an invitation to meet him after the show, and he’d bring them onto the tour bus where he’d pressure or trap them into having sex.
A silver lining is, as I read it, the rest of the band immediately disavowed him. Some fans/ commenters alleged the other band members had to have been aware he was doing this, particularly citing the close quarters of the tour bus. Yet, the band holds its stance that they really did not know.
Of that list, I know TMBG. Always a fav of mine, and I appreciate their attempts to educate and promote science. The sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma!
Okay commenting again to tell you I just looked this up and was reading the info for the artist and learned the term “filk” (science fiction folk) so I’m soooo in.
That whole proapgandhi thing about then regretting the lyrics to Halle salasse up you ass for talking shit about Rastafari was dumb. That religion is nuts.
Maybe Im basic but Rise Against still hits. Sudden Urge goes hard. Also turns out they just released a new song within the last 24h that I need to listen to
I slept on most of the post-Endgame catalogue except for maybe 5 songs, and this was not one of them. I eased up on the skip button one day in the car recently and got to hear it again, for what felt like the first time. It gave me chills.
I need to poke at their newer stuff. I kinda stopped paying attention to their new releases after Black Market and the one single they released a couple years after that, but there’s a few songs that hit that older style like The Eco Terrorist in Me that still go hard. I do respect that even as the sound left my general preferred punk sound, their lyrics remained as complex and literary as always (seriously how often are you looking up words from song lyrics in a dictionary?)
From old timey union fight songs (ex Workers of the world, Awaken) to protest rock. The Swedish band Nationalteatern have a great banger “Staten och Kapitalet” about that the state and the capital sit in the same boat, but it is not those who row and the whip does not lick their fat necks.
Dead Prez been radical and vocal about social and political issues since long before everyone else got there. Music is probably dated by now but their messages have always been consistent and they are very applicable today.
Basically anything off of Idles’ 2020 masterpiece, Ultra Mono. Grounds is probably the most direct fight song. My other favorites are War, Mr. Motivator, and Carcinogenic.
I wanna hear everyone’s fight music! I’ve been leaning on RTJ the last few days.
Yess, I’ve been trying to explore punk. Give me punk bands with lyrics I can understand, and who are vocally critical of conservatism and fascism please.
For myself -
A lot of RATM has floated to the top for me in the past few years. They are in heavy rotation now, and weren’t really for about fifteen years prior to that. The songs you don’t immediately think of when I say RATM have lyrics that are just as true and just as biting. If you like their sound but aren’t familiar with most of their work, this is a good time.
Brother Ali - particularly songs like Uncle Sam Goddamn
Dropkick Murphys, particularly most of the Album “This Machine Still Kills Fascists”
Anti-Flag. I know they have proven to have done some shady things with regard to harassing some women at their shows, but I only just discovered them recently (and learned this about them afterwards.) Unfortunately I like their songs and lyrics. “Victory or Death” comes to mind immediately.
Public Enemy - By the time I get to arizona, Black steel in the hour of chaos, fight the power (obv), fight the power 2020, really I don’t think they do a song that’s not good for the current state of affairs. Over and over in recent years I have concluded that the hip hop community saw what was and what was coming long before (decades before) the rest of us. I wonder why. 🤔
Last couple Arrested Development albums. Good tracks off the top of my head “And This I know” “The Meek” “Amazing” “Fire” “Moses” Gotta listen to these, most aren’t going to leap out with the expected energy if you don’t pay attention to the lyrics all the way through. There are others. Their last three albums have a high percentage of gems IMO.
Really old one by B. Dolan called “Which side are you on?” (loosely based aoround Guthrie song) which is congruent with a lot of today’s issues, though I think it was written primarily in support of this woman. Gonna link it here because I just listened to it again and damn does it slap.
A lot of what I listed above is unsurprisingly posted by me or others in !music@lemmy.world
Probably a lot of obvious choices on here, but I like to think of it as honoring the classics of the genre, and hopefully there are a few entries which are new to folks.
Pantera - WalkPhil Anselmo is a Nazi shit weasel and I was unaware.Two nautical themed metal/hardcore songs which get me ready to tussle isn’t a lot, but it is weird that it happened twice.
That seems like enough brainstorming for now. Hope someone finds something they vibe with.
Definitely need to take Pantera off your Nazi fighting list.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/26/pantera-shows-cancelled-after-frontmans-nazi-salute-prompts-fan-backlash
Oh Jesus fucking Christ. Thank you for letting me know, I’ll edit that immediately. The worst part is that I’ve conditioned myself to cope with the news I’ve just received by listening to Pantera.
I’ve known about KMFDM for a long time but discovered Free Your Hate about this time in 2017, it’s too bad it’s that relevant again but at least we’ve got some good Nazi-punching music.
In all honesty, I have no idea how I came across that song. Despite some of the other selections that are also in that mold, industrial metal isn’t actually a genre I fuck with that much. I’m open to it, especially as I’ve continued to get comfortable in some of the less melodic subgenres, but the actual wave of popularity these bands were riding on missed me as a kid and ive come to it later.
I assume that it must have been included in a video game soundtrack of some kind? In fact, as I’ve been writing this comment, I think it may have been a part of the Brutal Legend soundtrack, and I had all of that stuff on my iPod at the time.
Song do go pretty hard tho, don’t it?
+1 for State of the Union and Sentry the Defiant. I also see your Waking the Demon and raise you one You want a Battle? (Here’s a War). I don’t know if we’re all against Anti-flag with Justin Sane being a trash human, but their catalogue is still good for this situation.
I almost don’t want to know, especially given what someone else shared with me about Pantera’s lead singer; but, given what I’m sure you’ve inferred from my selection, Anti-Flag was very much in my rotation for a couple of years. So, in the interest of doing the bare minimum necessary to claim I haven’t been ostriching the WHOLE time since the election, what revelations have come to light about this guy?
My read on it was that onstage he’d ogle underage girls/attendees, really flexing the rockstar swagger or whatever. He’d somehow relay to them an invitation to meet him after the show, and he’d bring them onto the tour bus where he’d pressure or trap them into having sex.
A silver lining is, as I read it, the rest of the band immediately disavowed him. Some fans/ commenters alleged the other band members had to have been aware he was doing this, particularly citing the close quarters of the tour bus. Yet, the band holds its stance that they really did not know.
State of the Union has been one of my favorites to the point I honestly forgot it’s not a single
Propaghandi is a big one for me since they’re from my city, but also Dead Kennedys, NoFX, Stray From the Path, Jeff Rosenstock
Edit:
I have more 😈:
Sorry, music and finding it is a special interest.
Don’t be sorry ✊
Of that list, I know TMBG. Always a fav of mine, and I appreciate their attempts to educate and promote science. The sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma!
I love the fact that the song you quoted is a kind of retraction of another, less scientifically accurate song of theirs.
The sun is a mass of incandescent gas…
It is, but they adopted it. It was originally written by Hy Zaret. They give him credit, of course, but it became theirs to steward.
They’ve definitely been one of my faves as well since I was a kid and found them while watching Malcom in the Middle
Add Leslie Fish to the list!
Okay commenting again to tell you I just looked this up and was reading the info for the artist and learned the term “filk” (science fiction folk) so I’m soooo in.
Thanks so much! I’m building a playlist so I’m always happy to take suggestions :)
That whole proapgandhi thing about then regretting the lyrics to Halle salasse up you ass for talking shit about Rastafari was dumb. That religion is nuts.
Ya can’t say I disagree with you there
Maybe Im basic but Rise Against still hits. Sudden Urge goes hard. Also turns out they just released a new song within the last 24h that I need to listen to
+1 Sudden Urge!
I slept on most of the post-Endgame catalogue except for maybe 5 songs, and this was not one of them. I eased up on the skip button one day in the car recently and got to hear it again, for what felt like the first time. It gave me chills.
I need to poke at their newer stuff. I kinda stopped paying attention to their new releases after Black Market and the one single they released a couple years after that, but there’s a few songs that hit that older style like The Eco Terrorist in Me that still go hard. I do respect that even as the sound left my general preferred punk sound, their lyrics remained as complex and literary as always (seriously how often are you looking up words from song lyrics in a dictionary?)
The dork in me loves when Tim does not end a line with a preposition.
From old timey union fight songs (ex Workers of the world, Awaken) to protest rock. The Swedish band Nationalteatern have a great banger “Staten och Kapitalet” about that the state and the capital sit in the same boat, but it is not those who row and the whip does not lick their fat necks.
I’ve been loving the old Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, Billy Bragg, and Barbara Dane
This music just hits so hard
Dead Prez been radical and vocal about social and political issues since long before everyone else got there. Music is probably dated by now but their messages have always been consistent and they are very applicable today.
Basically anything off of Idles’ 2020 masterpiece, Ultra Mono. Grounds is probably the most direct fight song. My other favorites are War, Mr. Motivator, and Carcinogenic.