Jon Ewing
Playlists
Let Him Dangle – Elvis Costello
9 July 2018
In 1998, Derek Bentley was finally pardoned for his part in the death of a British police constable during a bungled burglary 46 years earlier. Bentley, who suffered from learning difficulties, was proved innocent after years of campaigning by his sister, Iris. His story is the inspiration for this chilling song by Elvis Costello…
The Kids are Alt-Right – Bad Religion
2 July 2018
Legendary Californian hardcore punks Bad Religion enter the Trump era with their first new material since 2013’s True North album, a mosh-friendly 150 second burst of upbeat agit-pop, speeding up the riff from London’s Burning by The Clash, with sneaky references to the Solomon Burke soul classic Everybody Needs Somebody and of course the Who’s mod anthem The Kids Are Alright.
Call Me Baby – Charlotte Morris
18 June 2018
Enough is enough. This anthem for the Time’s Up generation draws on a lifetime of catcalls and vulgar remarks from men who treat women like sexual objects. And this is the moment when one woman can’t take any more. “I’m a strong resilient woman who knows how to kick your ass in,” warns New York singer-songwriter Charlotte Morris. “So call me baby one more time and then we’ll see who’s walking away laughing”…
Hot Topic – Le Tigre – Every Name-Check Explained
10 June 2018
This long-lost end-of-the-century dance track is nothing less than a reading list of feminist and LGBT cultural and counter-cultural icons. A chorus of female voices chants noteworthy names to a hypnotic beat and the message to those who were still living at that time was clear and unequivocal: “Don’t you stop / I can’t live if you stop”.
Read My Rights – Mike Frazier
30 May 2018
When you think of the archetypal protest singer, the image that comes to mind is probably a weary, earnest, lank-haired folk troubadour gently strumming a battered acoustic guitar with all the energetic tempo of your geography teacher on a Monday morning. But along comes Mike Frazier to wipe the slate clean with a take-no-crap four-to-the-floor protest song powered by the Energizer Bunny with Tony the Tiger on lead guitar.
Music to Fight Evil – Year One Retrospective
23 May 2018
A little over a year ago I started adding inspirational music to a Spotify playlist. In that time I’ve been discovering emerging new artists as well as revisiting old favourites and learning about classic songs, all with one thing in common – the artists have something to say beyond boy-meets-girl, something about the state of their nation and the world…
Smalltown Boy – Bronski Beat
15 May 2018
Rejected by your family and community, your life becomes so unbearable that you would rather give up everything and run than spend another day amongst people who despise you for being who you are. That’s the story behind Smalltown Boy, a UK No.3 hit single in 1984, with an accompanying video that spelled out unflinchingly the emotional agony and physical danger of being one of society’s outcasts in an age of intolerance.
Thrill Pill – Pacing the Cage
6 May 2018
Imagine David Lee Roth had finally discovered his inner feminist and you’ll have a sense of what to expect from this riffing glam metal juggernaut from Melbourne, Australia in which the primitive thought processes men use to sexualise women are summed up in nine words: “I will beat my chest / Until you are undressed”.
Political Puppets – Second Hand Arms Dealer
29 April 2018
From the city of Bristol’s vibrant music scene comes an unequivocal call for revolution from a guitar rock trio steeped in rage: “We don’t have to accept what our democracy’s become,” shouts frontman and bassist Joe Spurrell of Second Hand Arms Dealer. “Let’s Revolt now, before we’re smouldering ashes / The 1% cannot stand up to the masses”.
To Be Young, Gifted and Black – Bob and Marcia
23 April 2018
Bob Andy and Marcia Griffith’s joyful ska version of this powerful civil rights anthem was brought to the world by the hugely influential British-based Jamaican record label Trojan – an offshoot of Island Records – reaching No.5 in the UK charts in 1970 at a time when Jamaican music was just beginning to make its irrevocable mark on British culture.
Freedom – Rival
17 April 2018
Generations before us have laid down their lives to protect it and now we’re giving it away in return for “likes”. Freedom is an essential ingredient of justice and democracy, but those of us lucky enough to live in a free country risk squandering it in return for free access to social media. In their gently funky blues song Freedom, Montreal rock band Rival remind us to be alert to the danger: “How could we ever have a right to complain / when we’re the ones that said it’s okay / to take our freedom away?”
Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2
3 April 2018
If a shot did ring out in the Memphis sky early on the morning of April 4th 1968, it wasn’t because Martin Luther King Jr was being shot dead – that didn’t happen until past 6pm. There are those who would forgive Bono for his slapdash recollection of one of the saddest days in the history of civil rights (he was, after all, only seven years old at the time)…