Don’t you hate lists compiled by music mags claiming to have the 50 Greatest Rock n Roll Artists of all time and the like? As though there is some objective test one can apply to music. As though these people are somehow more expert than us on the topic of rock n roll, the music of the ordinary people. Don’t you just hate shit like that? I hope so, cos here is my list of the 20 best Protest songs ever written. No, but seriously, these are just a list of protest songs and songs of social commentary that mean a lot to me and have really affected me when I’ve heard them. I think there should be more protest songs. They are a great way to use our freedom of expression. These are often the powerful and passionate songs where people really belt out the things that are in their hearts that are important to them. I loathe apathy in democratic societies and these songs are the works of people who exemplify what it is to be a good citizen in my view....
1. Treaty ‘98 by Yothu Yindi
Australia’s Aborigines and Australia’s then-Labor Government were talking a lot in 1988, the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Australia’s first illegal immigrants (the British). The supposedly left-wing Labor Party talked a lot about the possibility of signing a treaty with the Aboriginal people. The treaty would come to some agreement about land rights in the wake of the sudden realisation that we were in possession of stolen property: namely, the land of Australia. (Yes, we’re not a very quick bunch us Anglos, it takes us about 200 years to start catching onto fairly simple concepts, but there you have it). The original Treaty was highly critical of the Balanda who had taken over, but was full of hope about the promise of a Treaty and offered a common person’s perspective on watching the issues discussed through our modern media:
Well I heard it on the radio
and I saw it on the television
Back in 1988, all those talking politicians
10 years down the track the song was rewritten to become Treaty ‘98. The subtle lyrical change showed how subtlety can often say more than banging people over the head:
Well I heard it on the radio
and I saw it on the television
Now it’s 1998 .... all you talking politicians.
One of the saddest truths about Australia is that 16 years after Treaty first burst onto our airwaves, it’s still extremely relevant.
2. Written on a Bark by the champions of protest singing: Yothu Yindi
This song is a chilling reminder of how often white society indulges itself in token gestures that can never amount to true multiculturalism. Mandawuy’s powerful turn of phrase reminds us that his people have a proud set of traditions in this country and that his connection to the land is not something that can be given a monetary value.
They talk and they squark
to please the rich
Forget the poor black man’s rights
Written on a bark there in the hallway
3. Blow Up the Pokies by the Whitlams
The studio version was a little too cheesy but the Live at the Wireless version was stunning. This ordinary story makes a bigger point. Many years ago, The Whitlams used to play at a pub called the Sando. These days the Sando doesn’t support live music, unless you count the ker-ching of the poker machines. One day, Tim Freedman was walking past the Sando and saw his former bandmate, Andy Lewis wondering into the Sando to pour money into the machines. Months later, Tim’s good friend Andy got himself into debt and became so depressed he killed himself. This song is about the way businesses and Governments play on people’s weaknesses for their own financial gain.
Flashing lights, it’s a real show
and your wife, I wouldn’t go home
The little bundles need care
and you can’t be a father there, father there
4. 400 Miles from Darwin by the Whitlams
I don’t know a lot about what happened in East Timor, but this song has a lot to say about people’s attitudes and hypocrisy and inaction to a lot of issues. 400 Miles was critical of the Whitlam Government’s stand-back-and-watch stance on East Timor back in the ‘70s. The greatest ever Australian Government stuffed up on this one, and this led to the horrific deaths of many East Timorese people. Then, as a listener, just when you’re feeling like you’ve got the moral high ground to be criticising Whitlam’s inaction, Tim Freedman has this to say:
And can you see in twenty years
We’ll pay to shed the same cheap tears
In a film about an island,
watch our hero take a stand
Pay our money gladly to wash our hands
5. 77% by the Herd
This straight-talking song begins with a news clip stating that recent polls show that 77% of Australians supported locking up refugees who don’t come through the proper channels, including children. This spiteful ocker rap was the first song I ever liked in the ocker rap genre (By ocker rap, I mean rap sung in an Australian accent). Every moment of these lyrics is brilliant, biting and often humorous.
77% of Australians are racist
If you’re here, I’ll tell it to your faces...
Captain Cook was the very first queue jumper
It was immigrant labour that made Australia plumper
Enough is enough -- whiteys, go pack your stuff
Don't wanna live in England? that's f**kin tough
6. Bomb the World by Michael Franti & Spearhead
A beautiful message of peace. Franti’s style took a while to grow on me, but this strange version of reggae is a truly beautiful cultural crossover.
Violence brings one thing: more violence...
We can bomb the world to pieces
But we can’t bomb it into peace
7. Ignorance by Kasey Chambers
Maybe you think Kasey has a whiney voice, but she has good reason to sound like she’s crying in this song. Here Kasey talks about wanting to close her eyes and ears to the news as she watches the world go crazy with violence and abuse. But she just can’t bring herself to become apathetic, because she has a little thing called a conscience. In its entirety, a brilliant poem.
I’ve got something to say and I thought it might be worth a mention
If you’re not pissed off at the world, then you’re just not paying attention...
We risk our lives, we hit our wives, we act like everything is funny
We hide our pain while we go insane, we sell our souls for money
We curse our mums, we build our bombs, we make our children cry
we watch the band while Vietnam just watch their children die
8. Tribal Voice by Yothu Yindi
Mandawuy Yunupingu lashes into apathy amongst Aborigines “waiting for a perfect day”. He tells them to look into themselves and find their tribal voice and to speak up for their rights. As always, Mandawuy writes in English and the beautiful Yolngu language. This is one of the many ways in which Mandawuy is never afraid to express his true inner feelings of spirtuality and Aboriginality. He also brilliantly combines elements of rock music with indigenous music to provide some good hard edged rock.
equal 8th. a song by Billy Bragg
I have only heard one song of his and only once. He performed it live on the brilliant Enough Rope programme. He altered the lyrics for his Australian tour. For the benefit of Americans, you should know that Advance Australia Fair is our national anthem and John Howard is our Prime Minister. I do not know what song it was, but this lyric stuck out for me for its cutting humour.
So Australia’s reputation’s improved now that Pauline Hanson’s in jail
But outside Johnny Howard sings Advance Australia Fair-skinned.
9. Prisoner of Society by the Living End
These Melbourne neo-punks wrote the quintessential statement of teenage rebellion. It came along at a time when it said everything I wanted to say about the ageism I was facing, and it said it with all the anger and venom that I had at the time. Even today, I find it an incredibly releaseful song. It also made brilliant use of irony to point out the ridculousness of adults:
Cos I’m a brat,
and I know everything,
and I talk back
Cos I’m not listening to anything (you say)
Equal 9th. Friday on my Mind by the Easybeats
The quintessential song of release for the working class. This is about sticking it to the man, about longing for the weekend, when real life begins.
Do the five day drag once more,
Know of nothing else that bugs me
More than working for the rich man,
Hey I'll change that scene one day
10. Like a Dog by Powderfinger
In this bizarre-sounding rocker, Balanda Brisbanite Bernard Fanning points out that after 216 years of reinforcing racial differences, perpetuating racial violence and abuse, dispossessing people of everything they have, including their way of life, reconciliation is not as easy as ceasing to take their children away and then saying “No hard feelings ay?”. Balanda (white) people are often very critical of Aborigines for being ‘drunken layabouts’ who often engage in crime. You might call Bernard an apologist, I call him a realist. This is not a meritocracy for them and we have done almost nothing to mend the fences between our cultures, that we built in the first place.
Now we’re trying to reconcile a history of shame
While we reinforce the barriers that keep it the same
If you treat me like a dog and keep me locked in a cage
I’m not relaxed or comfortable, I’m aggravation and rage
Equal 10th. What ever Happenned to the Revolution? by the Skyhooks
About all the hippies who promised much rebellion but "all got stoned and they drifted away". Gotta love those Right Wing Baby Boomers! (hint hint Da)
And it don't mean nothin' to have long hair
So when you're ready to make a stand
Open your mouth and raise your hand
When you're sick of your parties and sick of your sweets
Get off your arses I'll see you out in the streets
Still, at least, unlike my generation, they actually promised something in the first place!
11. Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
Covered beautifully by the Counting Crows recently. We all know this one. It questions many Westerners’ ideas of progress. It reminds us of a time when food had taste, when people could breathe real air, and when cities were not concrete jungle monstrosities. It also is the perspective of a Greeny who’s prepared to make a few sacrifices to live in a clean world, free of poisons. Hard to pick one quote.
Hey farmer, farmer, put away the PVT
I don’t care about spots on my apples, leave me the birds and the bees
12. Kate Kelly by the Whitlams
Much has been written about the tragic life of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang. Here, Tim Freedman considers what life was like for Ned’s sister as she watched the most important people in her life destroy themselves. Kate turned to drink and made a crust by performing in freak shows. The music chillingly evokes the period and if you close your eyes you can see Kate crawling about on the floor, reaching for the bottle, crying for her dead brother and her dead lover. A great piano riff and gorgeous screeching guitar.
They had to shoot out his legs Kate
and if you could sleep
You could forget that they cut off his head
for the warden’s paperweight
13. Lies by the Waifs
A really catchy folk song done in a beautifully ocker accent, which is a statement in itself in these days of highly-Americanised art forms, where many Aussies adopt Yank accents in some vain attempt to capture the US market. This song is about people (like myself?) who watch the news and passively accept its bias so that they don’t have to think for themselves.
14. The Sex Pistols’ entire catalogue
The ultimate rebels against Britain’s class structures and elitism in music. When Glam Rock and Prog Rock were taking rock n roll over and turning it into the pretentious domain of those with enough money to attend stadium rock concerts, the Pistols came along. Their do-it-yourself attitude provided the antidote to the overproduced music of the day and returned rock n roll to the ordinary people. We could do with another Johnny Rotten today. The Pistols also broke down a lot of pious taboos of the time and they did it with a great pisstaking sense of humour. A great use of irony and anger. My faves are the Great Rock n Roll Swindle, Anarchy in the UK and God Save the Queen.
People said we couldn´t play
They called us foul-mothed yobs
But the only notes that really count
Are the ones that come in wads
15. The entire Midnight Oil’s catalogue
Before Peter Garrett sold out to the Labor Party machine, he cared about Tasmanian old growth forests, the US’s arrogance and violence, Aboriginal land rights and everything else that matters. Short Memory, Redneck Wonderland and John Howard’s favourite, Beds Are Burning are notable.
The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share
16. Save the Day by the Living End
In a world increasingly dominated by family breakups and arguments, this song expressed the anger of a generation of kids who grew up trying to keep their families together, while many of their parents copped out without any effort to look at their own actions.
They say it’s the only way, but they only want it when it’s there.
We’re not going on a holiday, we do a lot of work and we don’t get paid.
Stand up, don’t walk away, take your pride and swallow.
17. Roll Over DJ by Jet
Roll Over Beethoven by Chuck Berry
Berry’s statement of rebellion was an amusingly smartarsed slap in the face to classical music purists who claimed that Beethoven was rolling in his grave as Berry played rock n roll upstairs. Years later, Aussie rock revivalists Jet made a big statement against the threat to rock n roll provided by the ecstasy-fuelled electronic dance music industry, and gave a nice little nod to Berry in the process.
Well I know that you think you’re a star
A pill-poppin jukebox is all that you are
18. From Little Things, Big Things Grow by Paul Kelly
A beautiful story of how one man sat down on the land that white farmers had taken control of, and he then demanded his rights. He waited for 8 years, and eventually, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam came and started the long process of reconciliation when he gave approval to native title claims. This is a pertinent reminder of how a very simple action by a single man CAN make a difference, no matter what pessimists like to tell you.
That was the story of Vincent Lingairri
But this is the story of something much more
How power and privilege can not move a people
Who know where they stand and stand in the law
19. Monsters by Something for Kate
The news can be pretty depressing at times. What can be done to change it? What can be done to change the past as it spins rapidly before our eyes like the scenery on a fast train ride? Here Paul Dempsey turns his disgust upon the world. Upon people with a million excuses. Upon people who perpetuate monstrosities. Upon people with a barrel load of meaningless rhetoric.
Trying to be 10,000 years younger
so I could excuse myself from human kind
20. The Chariot by the Cat Empire
A delightfully quirky Aussie band singing in an Australian accent about the power of music to mend the barriers between people. Peace. I wanted to finish the list with a positive message:
See maybe if the world contained
more people like these
then the news would not be telling me
about all that warfare endlessly and
Our weapons were our instruments
made from timber and steel
Honourable Mentions go to:<BR>
Morrissey and the Smiths - esp. Meat is Murder and America is Not the World. (Useless trivia for those of you who know me personally: look at what Morrissey's name spells backwards!)
Gilbert and Sullivan - the original political, social and musical satirists
I Don’t Like It by Pauline Pantsdown - a satirical and apparently defamatory shot at the awkwardly-spoken, uninformed, unthinking racist, Pauline Hanson. Our defamation laws need to be changed to protect those irreverent Australians continuing our great sense of humour.
Thou Shalt Not Steal by Kev Carmody - Kev says white man came to Australia with a set of 10 really great rules and then set about breaking every one.
Tracy Chapman - excellent depiction of working class life. Best lyric: Please give the President my honest regards, for disregarding me
Marilyn Manson - funny man
Intuition by Jewel - a delightful pisstake on pop consumer culture and music
Minority by Green Day - Right wing, but at least they’re expressing an opinion
Eve of Destruction - on war
War, what is it good for
The Day You Come by Powderfinger - on Pauline Hanson
Get Together by the Youngbloods - on the Vietnam War
Jerusalem by Steve Earle - on people who kill in the name of God, whoever He is
Come Undone by Robbie Williams - on hypocritical paparazzi and fans
Parasite by the Gadflys - on record execs who want to steal musos’ moola and dreams
George - whose music I have only just come to. I do not know their music well enough yet to put them in this list but their music is the most interesting I have ever heard. I’d like to quote this lyric:
Life’s far too important to be taken too seriously
They entered into the English language the beautiful word: Polyserena. Poly meaning much/many. Serena meaning peace. May the world find
Polyserena