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?
I listen to a lot of weird punk and am not particularly good at knowing what’s popular, but I’d guess Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino and/or Run the Jewels?
RTJ is so fucking good at bringing that class conscious fire in the belly that RATM did. To be honest though, I think acts like Brass Against are keeping the music and the message alive and deserve a lot more visibility.
Brass against is so much fun!
(Admittedly, I have a soft spot for brass acts like March Fourth n Too Many Zoos.)
Fully agree, RTJ is probably the closest in terms of RATM fire but sadly generally figure them as the least popular of the three? (Though I am ignorant as hell about what’s popular)
I hadn’t heard of those two, loving them both already! I love brass mixed into other music but I’ve never been much of a ska fan, which is the first place you usually expect to get that. It’s hard to know where to look and I’m always delighted to find it.
Stuff like Gwar’s Saddam A-Go-Go (even when Brockie was poking fun at ska he did it well) and N.A.S.A.'s Spacious Thoughts where the brass takes an already heavy sound and makes it soar - it gives me life every time.
Haven’t heard Spacious Thoughts, sounds like a fun time, I’ll blare some while working today!
Oddly, I dug ska growing up but my more recent delve into brass bands are no doubt the result of my buddy watching Treme and getting really into New Orleans brass! So, if you’re looking for more, for me that was a great jumping off point to the likes of the Dirty Dozen Brass band and the Rebirth Brass band.
It’s just one track from an otherwise great album. Still can’t recommend it enough - it’s a Kool Keith and Tom Waits collab.
Hadn’t heard ol Tom Waits in forever, that was great! Thanks!
😁
The algorithm won’t boost anything trying to rage against the machine. Gotta make generic bullshit to get clicks. Only way to make money these days is to get clicks
The “algorithm” is not some conspiranoic mastermind, it just serves whatever retains the most attention and generates clicks for advertisers. It’s users who don’t want to listen to <insert your favorite rebel> because they prefer bland pop or whatever kids listen to these days.
Algorithms are definitely biased to push whatever agenda they want.
That’s what I said. The agenda they want just happens to be “money”, not whatever political conspiracy every political group comes up with.
Jesus Christ you people will bitch about anything.
Please explain to me how an algorithm is worse than having to bribe execs to get on the radio and wait for the song to be played. And then if lucky it’ll get played 40 times in repeat.
I’m sure this will be a coherent answer 🙄.
You’re exactly right.
WTF algorithm was there to serve us on demand copying mix and demo tapes? We had to touch physical media to get the songs. It took effort, sometimes $5 in gas money, a stack of blank tapes at home, and working two-deck stereo.
Not just for Rage-type alt music and punk, but the entire early hip-hop and rap scenes were almost exclusively bootlegged and home-made.
This isn’t about “kids today have it so easy” - this is about good songs overcoming massive headwinds to get popular and simply heard. Music discovery was word of mouth, rumors, and who had what on hand. The thrill of the hunt got you amazing results.
Right now there’s probably someone making killer music and posting to YT or peertube with like 3 views because everyone just accepts the algo slop and no one looks for the gems.
Nobody tell this guy about mps3 🤣
None of that went away. Music discovery is easier than ever. Sharing music is a link and you’re done. Either you’ve forgotten or are too young to remember the same artists played over and over again.
However you got here, your understanding of the music industry pre internet is rose tinted at best.
Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch! I was there when MP3s were new. If it wasn’t for a HD crash in 2003, I would still have MP3s from the 90s.
Plus, I was agreeing with you. WTF?
I’m not talking about sharing in particular, I’m talking about friction involved in discovery. You have to know someone to share the link, even today. So someone is out there spending 10 hours a day listening to random stuff on YT just to get something to share, not waiting around for the algorithm to give them music.
If it wasn’t for a HD crash in 2003, I would still have MP3s from the 90s.
You just made me sad thinking about the huge music library I used to have. I’ve recently started downloading again, but my tastes were so different back then I don’t think I’ll ever remember it all.
So you’re saying that no one listens to music that isn’t spoon-fed to them?
My friend, algos won’t show me Swedish power metal, I gotta go find it. No one waited for Rage to come on the radio, you sought it out at the record store or from friends that had copied demo tapes and mix tapes.
algos won’t show me Swedish power metal
Any algorithm that won’t let someone discover Sabaton, is a defective algorithm.
No idea about today, but Pandora used to be cool for this in the “Music Genome Project” days.
Ahhh, yes Pandora. The Good Ol’ Days.
And I’m the only algorithm I need for finding Swedish power metal, because I put in the hours to find what I like. But, admittedly, my taste in music is generously called “eclectic” by some, and “trash” by my loved ones, so there’s no algorithm that’s ever even believed I was a real person and not just 3 raccoons in a trench coat.
It doesn’t if you don’t use services and algorithyms… But damn crap like Spotify is popular. I would never, but it’s like they hand it out when you turn 5 and say this is the default!
I haven’t used it for a while, but I remember Spotify recommending some pretty neat and niche stuff. It just really depends what you feed it to begin with.
If you start with “Popular top 40 corporate-bred pop artist of the month”, it will swiftly taylor the algorithm to more of the same, and once it’s got an idea it mostly goes one direction and it’s really difficult to get it to recommend other styles that aren’t Harry.
Fun puns and anecdotal evidence aside: Spotify sucks especially because of how it pays artists next to nothing.
I personally skim Freegal from my local library, Bandcamp on Fridays, and buy MP3s from 7 Digital if I want to support the artist. (I don’t know 7 Digital’s revenue take, but I at least get to own the music forever, and in FLAC if I want!)
It’s king gizzard y’all sleeping
They’re basically the Pink Floyd of our generation. Too bad they’ll never have the same reach as PF or older bands due to the heavy current cultural fragmentation.
Run the Jewels
👉🤛
Kneecap
100 Gecs maybe? Great as they are, I doubt it tbh. This gen is spoiled with choice more so than any before them (those lucky ducks). The internet-boom turned this game right on it’s side and media companies are still trying to figure out how to get back to business as usual. Sure, they’ve got their superstar acts like Swift and Lamar, but even those two huge names are vocal about rejecting that same old order in a way that just wasn’t feasible for similar acts a couple decades ago.
I think trying to find one singular act like your Nirvanas or Madonnas of the past just isn’t going to work from now on. These days, tastes and takes are just too splintered to reach a satisfying consensus on something like this.
I’ve had this conversation with one of my older friends. We used to have a lot more of a monoculture when it came to media. You could joke about last night’s popular TV shows because nearly everyone you knew was watching them.
There just wasn’t as much stuff being produced at the time. Now, you can always be listening to something new, 24/7, and you still won’t even begin to tap the potential of “what’s popular”. And once you step outside the US, that blows up to a whole new proportion.
Good protest music is coming out now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZYB5v69n7w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpNDaMc02Eg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlIREcAu0PI
More mainstream artists like Macklemore, Bob Vylan, Kneecap are also out there fighting the good fight.
Check out Jesse Welles for more folky protest music.
He also has non-protest music too, but some good recent protest and political songs include:
Love this!
Muse, maybe? Or even just those bands from the past again. Nirvana and Soundgarden and shit are constantly used in gen z tiktok memes.
But this generation is also more outside the box with where their content is coming from. There are musicians on Tiktok that are not present literally anywhwre else and have yet to release commercial albums I know are at least particularly popular on the platform from everyone I know who actually uses tiktok.
casual Muse fan and listened to a few RATM songs, I guess? Muse still do political songs but even their old songs isn’t as charged as RATM old songs. That’s the era where when they were smaller they’d be more daring is my reasoning for that comparison.
When Muse returned to perform in Malaysia on the WOTP tour, heard rumors that they took out We Are Fucking Fucked upon request. But even when I fainted for the last 4 songs listening back to the setlist that song doesn’t seem to fit IMO
edit: I’d l0ve to explore TikTok musicians but the problem is they’re on TikTok. still holding on not making an account there
Kneecap
Bob Vylan
Both got in trouble for speaking out about the Palestinian genocide.
I AIN’T JUST A VILLIAN I’M THE MOTHERFUCKEN MAN
100% agree with you.
RTJ?
RTJ4 coming out right when the pandemic and George Floyd being murdered was magical. That album is straight gas. Saying this as a 48 year old white dude.
And then the tour getting cancelled for COVID and then Zack fucking his ankle was a real bummer.
I feel like we need to define ‘this generation’. Are we talking young people, currently popular artists? Because I’m at the age where you realize that you’re not that young anymore xD
Apart from that I’d like to mention Doechii. Some of her songs are about black trauma and reflection on her live
IDLES
It’s hard for me to think of one as many artists may come out with a couple political songs, but it isn’t necessarily their whole discography.
Macklemore and Childish Gambino come to mind for me as both have had political songs and somewhat politically active.
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Ha, cool! I need to give them a more thorough listen.
I wonder who else’s first exposure to them was that incredible “Urban Ninja” video that was really popular when YouTube was cool…20 years ago 😨
Reading all of this and not seeing Visgra Boys or Mannequin Pussy is weird. Shout out to Lamborghini Girls too.
I’m 40 so idk what the kids like.
I have never even read those names before, and I think this illustrates the issue.
Protest songs used to reach world wide top charts because that’s what people bought. This was ruined by commercialization, so that charts now only show what labels want to sell. People who actually choose what music to consume will scatter out into online bubbles that are completely detached from the mainstream and public view.
This makes it almost impossible to reach as big an audience as done by RATM and others did in previous decades.
Perhaps young people ought to do protest TikToks instead of protest songs.
