Test Dept made an album with the ‘South Wales Striking Miners Choir’ called Shoulder to Shoulder. It contains the track ’ Shockwork ’ which starts with a speech, rallying up the protestors. Test Dept is an industrial band with an emphasis on percussion. Another track on the album is called ’ Fuel to Fight '. They accomplish exactly that with their music. I can’t imagine a more appropriate band to be at such a rally.
I sometimes miss the sort of politically engaged anger of the 80s. I was born in the 90s so perhaps it’s just a romantic look at a past that never was. People are angry now too, but I wonder if it’s not, more than in the past, fused with algorythmically induced hatred of the ‘other’, instead of honest, rightful anger. Like the difference between: ‘I am angry because there is this injustice, and we’re not going to tollerate you standing in our way to solve this injustice’ and ‘I am angry at you because there is this injustice, which is your fault and therefor I hate you’. Clearly the first version leaves room for the ‘unjust person’ to change and choose to go along with this new move towards justice. The second one leaves the ‘unjust person’ feeling, "wait, what… I am not deserving of such hate, I am not evil, you must be crazy for hating me, and therefor I will hate you in return and together we will spiral down into the depths of civil war’.
Here’s another one for the sexy time
There are about 14,000 coal miners in West Virginia.
We could give each of them a million dollars and close all of the mines for a little more than the cost of a single aircraft carrier.
You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
cipő did it better
Geoff Castellucci (the bass singer from Voiceplay) made a great cover version of that one btw ❤️
that’s the first version I heard and tbh the original can’t hold a flame to his voice
Damn, that was really good. I’ve only ever heard the original, but brava
Right?! I highly recommend that you rabbit hole the shit out of both his solo stuff and Voiceplay! So damn good!
Love this one. Absolute banger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9j91-18Kb4
That one’s the best by far.
I sing that at the company karaoke every year, and just replace ‘company’ with our company’s name. It usually gets good chuckles from the workers and scowls from the sycophantic managers.
Not about striking but still a good one
Are there even enough Billy Bragg albums to do this?
After listening to his rendition of She’s Leaving Home, does there need to be even be one Billy Bragg album
But the banks are made of marble
With a guard at every door
And the vaults are filled with silver
That the miners sweated for
deleted by creator
Mine is just sixteen hours of this:
deleted by creator
God don’t venture down here
The Devil’s lost your name
Your life hangs in the balance
on this fragile human chain
And when your spirit’s waning
The fear is yours to tame
When you feel the darkness closing
Turn up your carbide flameSo tell God and the Devil they can try
But today’s not gonna be the day we dieI also like this one: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=whdzP0GHuc4
Barry White’s growly rendition of “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
