Do you think there's no good protest music these days? So did I, until I started looking for it. Every month, I listen to it all, then select the best that relates to that month’s political news. Here’s the round-up for October 2024.
1. DAMIEN DEMPSEY - HOLD YOUR JOY
Amid a national housing and cost-of-living crisis, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was revealed to be the buyer of a $4.3 million coastal mansion on October 15. The move came after he put his inner-Sydney investment property on the market, sparking protests from its tenant. The media reported on October 16 that far more MPs in Albanese's supposedly left-wing Labor Party owned property portfolios than those in any other party. Meanwhile, the government refused to curb landlords' tax breaks as housing unaffordability drove fertility rates to a record low. A week later, chart-topping Irish protest musician Damien Dempsey released his latest catchy album, which showed the scale of the problem. On its track "Landlords In The Government", he sings: "The landlords in the government would have you living in a tent, they charge the most colossal rent and bow down to the vultures." LISTEN>>>
2. AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS - CARTOON DARKNESS
3. PAUL HEATON - THE MIGHTY SEVERAL
Days earlier, Lidia Thorpe showed how First Nations people feel about being colonised by the British. The Aboriginal senator hit headlines worldwide for heckling King Charles after he addressed Australia's parliament on October 21. Asked about her protest, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, from the country's supposedly left-wing Labour Party, replied that Charles was "doing a fantastic job". Best-selling British pop star Paul Heaton called for a different kind of hero worship on his new album, released on October 11. On its opener, the avowed socialist cites doctors, bus drivers and shelter volunteers as he sings: "Our country drags heels and always they scuff. Most nations like ours need fools for their heroes. They gaze into navels removing the fluff. Every place on this еarth, they celebratе heroes... Unknighted, unsung, on ladder's bottom rung. But all of them national treasures." LISTEN>>>
4. BLAK MADEEN - WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS
Starmer urged Britain to “unequivocally stand with the Jewish community” on October 7, as protesters worldwide marked one year of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. The next day, 300 people took their anti-war message to Australia's federal parliament, including a surgeon who had volunteered in Gaza and told the media: "The people of Gaza are not just headlines, they are not numbers, they are precious lives." Four days earlier, Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor released their Gaza headline-referencing album, NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD. That followed the new LP from US rappers Blak Madeen, which unequivocally stands with the Palestinian community. On lead single "History Iz Watching", they rap: "You're on the wrong side of a genocide when history records all the many men who died, the women, the children, the innocent civilians, taxes pay for terrorism by the trillions." LISTEN>>>
5. DAVID ROVICS - JABILAYA
Firmly on the right side of genocide is veteran protest musician David Rovics, who has been pumping out song after song about it for the past year. That continues on his latest album, released days before the US election with a particular focus on the policies of its two main candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. On "Ballad of Donald and Kamala (When It Comes to Israel)", he sings: "One of them’s in favor of peace negotiations, the other supports shipping arms to fight the occupation - at least in the case of Ukraine, whereas occupation’s fine if we're talking about our allies occupying Palestine." Leftists have a choice - "hold your nose and vote Democrat" as Noam Chomsky once put it, to keep Trump's Republicans out, or vote for a third candidate. On "Jill Stein", Rovics sings: "I'm voting for Jill Stein – I'm going Green. They say I'm throwing my vote away – I don't know what they mean." LISTEN>>>
6. KARDINAL BLOO - BIRDS RAP TOO
Another musician rejecting the call to elect the lesser evil is Kardinal Bloo. Discussing his leftfield rap LP with protest music website Shouts on October 26, he said: "All empires collapse and that’s really the horse I’m bettin’ my chips on. Building something new in the aftermath. The illusion of democracy is a cornerstone of the US. Once you realise the two major parties are two wings on the same bird, everything starts to make more sense... Other party options that could be better can’t exist in earnest, because a bird can’t have three wings... The idea that electoral politics, in a country designed to keep us down from its inception, will somehow save us, is the narrative I think needs to be changed. I see people that have the capacity to imagine a world outside the false binary of electoral politics... I ain’t tryna wait around til we 'lesser of two evils' ourselves into extinction." LISTEN>>>
7. DOWNUPRIGHT - MANIC EPISODE!!
On his album's opening track, "Progress Or Die", Kardinal Blue raps: "I could be anything, but I could never fucking be a cop." The title track of US saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins' new LP, Blues Blood, released on October 11, is inspired by a notorious 1964 court case of police brutality. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continued to show the narrowness of their arguments on such issues. At a CNN town hall on October 23, Harris talked up her past as a tough-on-crime prosecutor once dubbed "California's top cop". Four days later at a rally in New York City, Trump attacked her for being "an original creator of defund the police". Taking a sarcastic sidestep is the new album from genre-bending and gender-fluid US musician Downupright. On "COPS!!", he and rapper Cocaine Mitch jibe: "All cops are…" "ALL COPS ARE!!!" "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b… Brave? Oh, what did you think I would say?" LISTEN>>>
8. CARSIE BLANTON - THE RED ALBUM, VOLUME 1
Also attacking the bipartisan politics of the Democrats and Republicans is the jaunty new album from Philadelphia indie pop star Carsie Blanton, released on October 4. On "The Democrats", she sings: "The Democrats won’t save you if you’re drowning. They won’t help you if you are in pain. They’ll ask you for your vote, and tell you they are broke, then send a lot of money to Ukraine. Republicans will obviously kill you, but at least you know where they are at. They’ll shoot you in the head, ensure that you are dead, the Democrats will shoot you in the back. And this is the best democracy ever seen anywhere (if you’re a billionaire, boys, if you’re a billionaire). Oh shit! Oh dear. Here comes another election year. I’d rather have a stick in both my eyes. We’ll spend a billion dollars, everybody screams and hollers, and either way, the planet fucking fries." LISTEN>>>
9. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE - DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION 2000
Singing from the same exasperated hymn sheet are fabled protest band Rage Against The Machine, whose guitarist, Tom Morello, once worked for a Democratic Senator. Showing the lingering disillusionment from that experience, on October 18, the band released to streaming services the live album of their protest concert outside the Democratic National Convention in 2000. A fortnight earlier, Morello's hero and sometime bandmate Bruce Springsteen endorsed Harris for president, noting that Trump had promised to end voting if elected. The next day, the world's richest person, Elon Musk, appeared at a rally with Trump, where he sought to counter Springsteen's claims by saying Trump would respect the Constitution, despite the lack of any evidence. Days later, The Washington Post revealed that Musk, despite bashing "illegal immigrants", had started his career in the US by working as an illegal immigrant. LISTEN>>>
10. MC5 - HEAVY LIFTING
Tom Morello also appears on the first album in 53 years by Detroit's hugely influential punk pioneers MC5, released on October 18. The highly political, star-studded record has been hailed as their best, though, sadly, the three remaining members died just months before it came out. On its song "Barbarians at the Gate", written in response to the 2021 attempt by Trump supporters to storm the US Capitol, they sing: "They're running up the steps, blood coming out of their eyes. Pissin' into the wind, with the truth left behind. Comedy of thievery, in a red, white and blue disguise. Smell of treachery, false battle cry. Barbarians are at the gate. Barbarians are at the gate. They wanna live a lie on the edge of hate." It came as Trump's supporters prepared to take up arms and storm the Capitol again, should their candidate be declared the loser of the US election on November 5. LISTEN>>>
[Mat Ward has been writing for Green Left since 2009. He also wrote the book Real Talk: Aboriginal Rappers Talk About Their Music And Country and makes political music. This year, Mat Ward released his new album, Take The Rad Pill.]
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Read about more political albums.
Stream our new “Best protest songs of 2024” playlist on Spotify. This replaces the previous “Political albums” playlist, that was getting too big at more than 700 albums.