This is a discussion about music NOT politics. Your reply can talk about the artists political views but don’t just start soapboxing yourself and break rule 6. They can/should be from any country talking about any government/political ideal. I think my favorite is either immortal technique or flobots.
System of A Down
Love them
Rage Against The Machine
Grandson
Listened to plenty of rage but never heard of grandson. Have a song or album to recommend?
Something To Hide, Despicable, Blood // Water, Dirty, Thoughts & Prayers, Darkside, Things Change, Peaches (feat. K.Flay), Is This What You Wanted, Apologize, Riptide, Zen…
This should suffice for a great musical afternoon. :)
Gonna be showing my age here, but I was heavy into the likes of Dead Kennedys, Ministry, the whole D.C. Underground punk scene (Black Flag, Fugazi, etc). Anymore, though, I don’t actively seek out music with strong political messages. I prefer to hear artists sing about their personal experiences, their struggles, triumphs, losses…and a political slant is okay as long as it’s an organic part of the song’s message and not just endless proselytizing or ruining your own music by being a political douchebag. (Looking at you, Ronnie Radke!)
Edit: Almost forgot, dude, if hip hop is your thing, check out Run the Jewels.
I love run the jewels! Agree with the rest of what you said too.
Brother Ali is also an excellent option in that genre, although his most directly political tracks are not his best IMHO.
I have the same opinion. I think his best is the collaboration between immortal technique and killer Mike “Civil war”.
Jesse Welles has been coming up on youtube lately with some very good lyrics.
Saw him a couple of months ago. Along with writing great lyrics hes also a great musician with a very fun show!
Yeah I like him
Bad Cop Bad Cop
IDLES touches on politics, but isn’t entirely focused on it.
Bikini Kill for more focused gender politics.
Neil Young
Rise Against.
Never listened to them but I’ve heard of them. Have a song or album to recommend?
A good starting point would be the songs “Re-education (Through Labor)” and “Prayer of the Refugee.” If you like those, I would recommend pretty much any of their albums from Siren Song of the Counter-Culture to Wolves. I haven’t kept up with anything more recent than those so can’t give an honest recommendation there, but I would imagine they would also be solid.
Recently discovered this fun little ditty:
That video of Carsie Blanton hooked me on her. This is folk music, y’all.
It’s like punky folk. Really fun mix.
Refused
Incendiary
Propagandhi
I appreciate you mentioned Immortal Technique. Hip hop as a genre is generally very political, and doesn’t get a ton of recognition for it.
Haven’t heard of any of the three you mentioned. Have any song recommendations?
Refused is a Swedish thrash punk band. They made a couple EPs and albums, then put out their magnum opus, The Shape of Punk to Come, and then immediately broke up. They did get back together a couple years ago, though.
Propagandhi is a Canadian post punk band. They’ve had a dozen different styles over the years, and nobody can agree on which they did best. Personality I like their heavy Thrash album best, Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes.
Propagandhi is a Canadian post punk band. They’ve had a dozen different styles over the years, and nobody can agree on which they did best. Personality I like their heavy Thrash album best, Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes.
Ohhh I’ll need to check out more of Propagandhi’s stuff if there’s variance in style over their albums. I enjoyed their lyrics, but the music style of the stuff I checked out wasn’t quite my favorite. Thanks for the comment :)
Propagandhi’s lyrics are depressingly accurate in 2026… and much of it was written more than 20 years ago
My favourite is “and we thought that nation states were a bad idea”…(thats the long-ass song title)
I find that so many punk songs can be described this way.
Yes… since as long as i’ve been listening to punk rock in the early 90s, it seems like nothing has changed… maybe even gotten worse.
As a youth punk rock made me hopeful. Gave me the sense that other people saw the same problems and writing songs and expressing displeasure… 30+ years later, i feel like we havent made much progress in our class struggle. The DIY ethic of the 90s seems to be gone. I’m still going to shows with 55 year old dudes singing about their high school girlfriends, lol…
The DIY ethic of the 90s seems to be gone.
I see glimpses of it coming back! Zines are making a come back, there’s newer punk bands joining the scene with fresh voices, and the youth are angry. I think we might be on the cusp of a big punk movement.
I feel you to my soul though. I could’ve written your comment myself. Coming of age right before the Iraq war and finding punk shaped my entire worldview.
Sorry, I should have seen and responded to this sooner.
For Refused - Rather Be Dead, Liberation Frequency, and Thought Is Blood are good starting points.
For Incendiary - Front Towards Enemy, Bite The Hook, and Echo of Nothing
For Propagandhi - essentially anything in their discography is good music and very politically charged. I find anything in their top songs to be good examples.
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Minutemen
Yes but it needs to be something like Black Flag or Rage Against The Machine where the lyrics and themes are dealing with ideals as opposed to explicitly naming candidates/parties/shibboleths.
I agree with that
I see nobody has mentioned Public Enemy.
The Future of the Left, Dog Park Dissidents, SOFT PLAY, Viagra Boys, The Toxhards, Alexisonfire (though most of their songs are about life rather than politics), Kill Lincoln, Maruja
Los Crudos and Los Crudos followed by Los Crudos
Crash Worship.
They were an anarchist art collective out of New Orleans that put on these incredible live shows.
