What is this generations Nirvana, Limp Bizkit, Tupac, or Rage against the machine?
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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.
wrote last edited by [email protected]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:
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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.
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I am pretty old and I barely knew the top 40 wishy washy back then... If you are interested in different it was there, streaming helps some, and true a lot is at your finger tips, but most people will still drop into a top 40.
Spotify doesn't even have much of the music I listen to, I find it mostly useless so there is that.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I agree, but that's on the users and their choices. Most people just dgaf about music anymore, it's been "surpassed" by tiktoks in their mind. Video killed the radio star etc etc.
The paternalistic studio system limited both discoverability and the potential creativity and integrity of artists, and I'm glad it's gone, most music I listen to either would not have existed, or I would've never found it without streaming.
It's funny, I find a good chunk of music I listen to is just plain unavailable anywhere else for purchase, piracy or streaming.
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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
Respectfully, i think this is the wrong conclusion. There are more sophisticated listeners today than there have ever been and sub-genre communities are great at spotting new gems. But while the number of listeners grew linearly, the number of bands has grown exponentially, making discoverability very difficult to achieve. That's not anyone's fault unless you consider musicians are at fault for creating so many good bands.
Absolutely fair point, and I agree with you to some degree. I imagine that it's somewhere in the middle, where bands have flooded the space so that if no technical means exists for discovery, we've traded off friction points. Instead of the 90's version where people would drive 40 minutes to the cool reord store in the next town over, now discerning listeners looking for gems have to wade through more and more bands they don't like. It's no one's fault, it's just how it is.
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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.
Oh hey look, it's me!
Are you looking for the gems? Or making the gems? Either way, you're doing the Lord's work.
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top 40 studio bullshit which is all you would’ve known about before
While I agree with you overall, this just isn't true.
We had university radio which would play whatever the DJ was into, because it wasn't programmed.
We had local record stores, which while stocked a lot of top 40, would also bring in albums from small and indie bands that would never get played on radio. They would play it in the store, and have listening stations with headphones so you could listen to an album before you bought it, because you would not have heard it on the radio.
We had clubs that would book bands from everywhere. The club I hung out at had a band every night of the week, and no matter when you went, you would hear someone new.
The music was out there. You just had to get your ass out of the house to find it.
Edit: Also, top 40 stations played what was selling. They were not the problem, it was the stations that were not top 40 that were playing the pablum for the masses, and when it would sell, then it would appear on a top 40 station. By definition, a top 40 station played the 40 biggest selling singles of the previous week. They didn't pick what was sold.
I often heard great bands show up in top 40 because they somehow managed to break through to the masses. I remember when Pink Floyd released an album in the 90s, and the first single on the album got played on the top 40 station because it was selling. This being a time when groups like Ace of Bass, Salt-n-Pepa and Boyz II Men were popular and what a lot of people were listening to. Right there nestled in the hip-hop and dance music was Pink Floyd. Again, because it was selling.
Edit 2: I picked Pink Floyd because it stood out. At that time, in the 90s, it was not a band that young people listened to much of unless they were really into prog rock, classic rock or blazed all the time.
wrote last edited by [email protected]We had local record stores
Keyword being "local". We had no record stores. Which ones were there stocked mostly overpriced Beatles represses. They still do to this day.
We had university radio which would play whatever the DJ was into, because it wasn't programmed.
We too, and the DJ had dogshit taste and played random generic autotune rap.
would also bring in albums from small and indie bands
Ah yes, the small and indie bands that could afford to checks notes - press on actual honest to god vinyl.
We had clubs that would book bands from everywhere. The club I hung out at had a band every night of the week, and no matter when you went, you would hear someone new.
No, you had clubs. We had fuckall and a half and what was there was for the bourgeoisie cisheteronormative folks to listen to bland dance music in and fry out their brains on molly that was 90% caffeine and 10% undiscovered synthetic that will kill you.
None of it was about the music, and of course it wasn't - it was a place for cliques to flex fashion.
If you lived in some kind of fantastical Life Is Strange-esque world - I'm happy for you, really, truly, and I'd like to hear more stories, but most of us didn't, at least not those of us born after '97.
Nowadays discovering music is really quite a lot simpler, there's no one you gotta know, there's no place you have to know to go to, there's no subcultures you gotta be part of, there's nowhere you have to be to know specific artists.
You're completely unbound by your immediate geography, whether you're in Pakistan or one of those places 'Jesus of Suburbia' was about or a dense European city, all you need is an internet connection, which even in extreme poverty is much more affordable than going much of anywhere IRL.
Even if I lived in ye olden times, there's no way in hell I would've known about even bands from the time like Cleaners from Venus or like 13th Floor Elevators, and in my own time I wouldn't have known about Sweet Trip or Cats Millionaire, and I love how much there is and how much more is left to discover, all without needing to be part of something or being somewhere, it's more democratic, and more fitting for a global world.
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Hell yeah! The whole "For the People" album just released is fantastic and just what op is looking for I bet. I was just at a show with them, Bad Religion, and the Mainliners, all three kicked ass
Cool. They did a free show in my city a few weeks ago. Right downtown. Fun stuff!
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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.
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Are you looking for the gems? Or making the gems? Either way, you're doing the Lord's work.
Making them! https://jimmyhalliday.bandcamp.com/
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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?
wrote last edited by [email protected]Ren Gill is british, makes music.
Hard to encapsulate. Elements of Eminem, Prince, Springsteen, Dylan, Shakespeare, Gershwin, et al. Very insightful writing. Crazy talented.
As for political commentary, Money Game trillogy is an entry point.
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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?
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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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?
In terms of explicitly stating issues, almost every genre of rap counts. Even some bs like Michigan trap can be interpreted as dudes talking about how shitty their lives are because of the social structures they live in.
In the same vain, every time an artist makes something completely new it’s a political statement. For example, right now there’s a lot of trans artists making extremely over the top pop music that would only be possible with modern music making techniques. And although the lyrical quality is often stuff like repeatedly saying “cunt” I can’t help but interpret it as a form of protest.
Because of the internet there isn’t one voice of protest music. Everyone is getting a different feed and exposure to different artists. But so much of it is a form of protest, you just have to look between the lines.
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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!
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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?
wrote last edited by [email protected]Artists turned into regime whores after 2pac and biggie got shot and Cobain OD.
It is now all either prosperity gospel or just empty bullshit with no meaning.
I guess Tom McDonald calls it but he is kinda fringe.
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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?
wrote last edited by [email protected]Kneecap
Bob Vylan
Both got in trouble for speaking out about the Palestinian genocide.
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They're not so prolific or relevant now but I feel Rise Against deserves a mention. I did my senior essay on their work in high school and honestly it changed a lot of my political opinions doing research/listening for that.
I almost forgot, rise against and Tom Morello did this song live together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5hLetyUToI
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
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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.
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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?
wrote last edited by [email protected]What are you calling "this generation"? Mellenials are the largest generation and span from like late 20's to 40ish. Zoomers are graduating and entering the workforce. The generation younger than gen z (idk what their name is) are school aged and often the driving force behind what is and ist popular.
As a mellenial who considers RATM, Nirvana and 2pac as more gen x derived, id say the whole underground skateboard/snowboarding rap scene was the closest to those 3 bands when it comes to originality and music with a message. Off the top of my head I can think of Brother Ali, Atmosphere, Immortal Technique, Coremega, Jedi Mind Tricks
Less underground but still goats would be Nas, J.Cole, Eminem, Mac Miller, Jay Z. You cant name an artist more original than Lil Wayne with his whole never writing a single song down and saying whatever comes out of his mouth in the booth gets recorded.
As for bands, id go with, System of a Down, Jack White/White Stripes/Raconteurs/whatever other side projects Jack White has in the works, Green Day, American Idiot was pure blooded mellenial rebellion eventhough I would put them half in gen X (Dookie) and half in mellenial bucket (American Idiot). I was never an emo fan but My Chemical Romance's Black Parade album is one of the best rock opera albums ever released.
If you are using Limp Biscuit as an example of taking over the radio kind of popularity then id have to go towards country artists like Swift, Toby Kieth, Eric Church etc. Country went from being the red headed bastard of all music genres to becoming the most widely listened to genre accross all demographics in less than a decade.
Notable mentions that didnt make the list for near misses or for being too generationally ambiguous:
- Beyonce
- Foo Fighters
- No Doubt
- Sublime (even tho chronologically 100% gen x but I dont know a single peer in the mellenial gen that didnt have ever sublime album on hand with one cd always playing round the clock)
- ska bands like Pepper, Butthole Surfers, O.A.R., Badfish
- Red Hot Chilli Peppers
- Johnny Cash (his late in life album that he remade Hurt by NIN is arguably some of his best work)
- Blink 182
- the whole catalog from all the Dipset artists
- Outkast
- DMX
- Lupe Fiasco
- Common
- Mos Def
- hate him or love him you cant deny his influence on the entire music scene... Kanye "Benjamin Franklin didnt win 21 Grammys" West
I feel like this is a question entire music history courses are built off of. Especially being a mellenial, myself. All the generations before us could count music genres on one hand with subgenres not even a thing yet. And maybe im just old but I feel like the generation that has followed so far has completely checked out on making new music. I 100% admit I dont count EDM as meeting any definable characteristic of musical art. I mean I guess gen Z can have credit for the mellenial's left over hip hop evolution with Kendrick, Chance, and .... idk i guess mumble rap. I even looked up genZ musical artists and didnt find much else. Which isnt to say its bad but I certainly wouldn't include it with the names being tossed around in my main comment to the question cuz they could all battle for a spot on music's mount Rushmore of music lol.
Edit: I know im missing some big names but im not guna edit my list everytime kne pops in my head lol
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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!
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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!
wrote last edited by [email protected]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!)
