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?
Regarding Palestine, a number of groups have done stuff on stage or donated money and so on, but there don’t seem to be a ton that have written music specifically about the war. I’m guessing this is partly due to a lot of record labels supporting Israel on top of just so much other horrible shit going on in recent years. You could probably find more stuff if you looked for music by people from the countries directly involved.
Pretty much the same situation for Ukraine I think. Bands like Jinjer are vocally pro-Ukraine.
It’s much easier to find one-off songs about a specific issue than like entire albums right now AFAICT (again probably partially because of how much crap is going on). A lot of groups also seem afraid to really hammer on specific points to avoid alienating fans I think, so it’s sort of just the state of music as well IMO.
I feel like, with all the music apps and direct access to music, we would see more. Less label control because patreon, facebook, instagram, youtube, etc allows money to change hands.
It feels like we are losing voices on major issues either by lack of skill or lack of interest. Not trying to be super political but Ukraine and Palestine is very unpopular , that’s not including the leaders.
I think it’s actually much harder for small artists to succeed now, even with the proliferation of stuff like social media sites and music apps. Most streaming services pay artists practically nothing, and from what I understand, touring is less profitable than it used to be because the artists are getting a smaller cut of the profit than they used to from merchandise.
Stuff like Bandcamp and Patreon help, but those platforms are pretty small compared to something like Spotify. It’s probably easier to get your name out there because of social media/Youtube, but I don’t think it usually makes up for how little money they make from listeners. This is also ignoring piracy.
So we are only talking about a hand full of artist that make money. Even then it has only been the last 25? years that bands have made money.
Bands in the, pick a decade outside of the last 90s-2010s, didn’t make a lot and still spoke out. It feels like everything is now algorithm sterile. And we haven’t touched the massive sellouts. Views>money>music
As with so many things, the barrier to entry has been lowered so far that literally anyone can have a go. And that’s good. But it does mean that the vast, vast majority of art is now being experienced by an audience of maybe 20 people.
You can spend hours crafting a beautifully soundscaped podcast that truly gets to the heart of what you need to talk about. And ten people will listen to it.
But I suppose it was ever thus. Someone would spend a year painstakingly working on a painting, getting all the details just so. And then it would sit in their studio because they had nowhere to display it, or no one to buy it.
Gasoline by Måneskin
Will check out the band. I feel the euro metal bands are killing it right now. Check out Zeal&Andor
one of those is not like the others
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.
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.
This is my whole point. Is streaming and music apps killing the massive songs like “Luke’s Wall / War Pigs” , “Ohio”, or “My Generation”?
It’s just the internet making all media available, and streaming is the lowest friction way of giving people that access.
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.
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.
Fontaines D.C. comes to mind.
I’m surprised someone finally brought them up. I feel kneecap and Bob Vylan is brought up to the recent news postings.
My point is mainstream is not speaking out, not lesser know groups. Think Farm Aid, Live Aid, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stone, NAS, Boogie down productions, etc… at their peak speaking out.
Some got blacklisted, some got arrested, some had the U.S. federal government come after them, and some died (Bob Marley) bc they dared to challenge the system. I haven’t seen that since the 90s. 2000-to now, feels like money stops the current generations from taking those steps.
Fuck, Taylor Swift makes sure ever word is so starile before say she would vote for a democrat. Instead of ripping apart a child molester. Killer Mike goes from destroying Reagen and Bush to Obama. One of those are not the same.
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.
Jesse welles
Sorry, but his music is pretty bad. Sounds like the guy that brings guitar to a party and clears out the place.
His most popular song by the charts is “Horses” which is a change to most of his other stuff. If he continues down this path he could be a voice for a generation but we will see.
Maybe you don’t like his music, but there’s plenty of us that do. “United Health”, for example, was the best piece of art on that subject, bar none.
Don’t know who us is. Only heard of him through my post.
Plenty of bands take time to get going.
Zeal & Andor, Manuel Gagneux has been through a lot of wide changes.
Wunderhorse, Jacob Slater seems unrecognizable from past work.
Durry, Austin Durry was in coyote kid for 12 years which was a nothing band by comparison.
Jesse Welles aka Welles aka dead indian aka Cosmic-American… seems like he is trying to find his sound. A few more adjustments, I can really see him blowing up and still having a message.
Edit: Rock N Roll is a very good song and he kills it on the guitar.
Kendrick Lamar.
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.
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
Along with Grandson, I highly highly highly recommend KFlay. I love her. They’re friends and tour together
Seen Durry live, great fucking show. Grandson has some good stuff plus he made music with Tom Morello. Big plus.
I feel your statement is pretty accurate. With the wide spread access of music we are losing something. Just like shows, the common connection between each other. This is my main point.
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Kneecap. If you’re even partly plugged in you know about Kneecap.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/arts/music/kneecap-glastonbury.html
Kneecap has 3 cds and the first one seems like a throwaway. They could use the Glastonbury controversy to leap into that brand but only time will show.
They need to clean up the gay phobia/slurs.
Nirvana, Limp Bizkit and Tupac, all famous for not using slurs
You understand that things change over a period of time? It’s not the 90s anymore.
Expand your tastes, cousin. There’s a lot of anti-war and angry music getting made right now.
such as…
Not the most recent, but how about this ABSOLUTE BANGER by The Coup?
dope!
Nice, this has soul. I don’t like rap, but in this song is acceptable.
I’m talking more main stream. You couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing those guys.
Yes, you can point to any period and say “they made statements”.
Ren makes statements but has 2.4 mil followers on youtube. I’m talking a generation band /artist standing out in this period. Hearing Killing in the Name of playing daily, the music video was everywhere.
Your boy is good but you also pointed to a song from a decade ago which has 2.2 mil views.
My dude, no one listens to radio anymore, when you can have your own music with you on a device you carry around in your pocket all the time.
My dude, radio is just playlist and curated discover modes. A horse by a different name is still a horse.
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.
Great music, they could turn into that band with a few massive hits.
How on god’s green earth did limp bizkit make it on this list?
Bob Vylan?
His music is good but I wouldn’t say the same level. Give him a few more years.
Speaking as someone who’s been into Nirvana and RatM since the early '90s, there’s more anger and protest in ‘We Live Here’ than in the entirety of Nirvana’s catalogue.
Sure, Nirvana were angry, but mostly in a depressed, teenage way, lashing out at an unfair world. They were angry on a personal level, mostly. Bob Vylan are angry on a social level, in the way RatM were. They’re demanding the world look at the inequality they see, rallying us to take it on board and do something about it.
If that isn’t protest, then I don’t know what it is you’re looking for.
Nirvana was depressed rage but it also tought a who generation about the evils of capitalism. It sparked a new style of music and it did it within a 4 year period. Nothing against Vylans but they became noteworthy due to a chant. I feel they can be a voice for this generation but they need a little bit more time and a global hit.
It’s a duo. Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan.
Thought it was just named after the singer. My bad
The singer is Dylan
Alright but have you heard this one though?
My history on lemmy says 👏👏👏
