Music to Fight Evil
seek inspiration from 50 years of protest with Jon Ewing
featuring artists like
Bad Religion, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, Mavis Staples, Grace Petrie, The Clash, Woody Guthrie, IDLES, She Drew the Gun, Nina Simone, The Specials
Tolerance is good. There should be more of it. And whether you’re from the Left or the Right, don’t be fooled into thinking you have the monopoly on it. But we need to draw a line.
Let’s be clear: tolerance means accepting opinions and beliefs that conflict with your own. It doesn’t mean accepting prejudice in place of evidence, nor injustice in place of equality. And when the opinions and beliefs of others lead to deprivation and suffering – yours or anyone else’s – you don’t have to be tolerant any more. It’s time to rise up and act. The songs in this list shouldn’t have to exist. We should all just get along. Until that happens, seek inspiration from 50 years of protest, by way of a lot of anger and a little love.
Dear Mr President – Pink and the Indigo Girls
7 March 2017
The more things change, the more they say the same. This song from 2006 could have been written in 2017, which is not to say that protest is futile, but rather a solemn reminder that the fight for equality and justice against greed and brutality never ends.
Erupt and Matter – Moby with The Void Pacific Choir
7 March 2017
Moby despises Donald Trump and everything he stands for. If you’ve watched the video for Erupt and Matter, you’ll know that, even if you don’t follow the veteran DJ and activist on social media. The sheer venom and anthemic roar of the music would be enough to tell you how he feels, even if the words weren’t written in letters that fill the screen. This is a pounding techno incitement to riot under the banner “we don’t trust you any more”.
Fighting Times – The Neurotics
7 March 2017
When Neurotics frontman Steve Drewett wrote this song for the 1986 mini-album Repercussions, its chief target was the South African apartheid regime and thankfully that has long since been overturned. But every other point of reference in this rallying cry against inaction sounds depressingly contemporary. “Why are you so quiet?” Drewett asks in the chorus, “when these are fighting times?”
P.O.W.A – M.I.A.
7 March 2017
“Say this is people power / Throw up my finger and I’m taking on the Tower”. Taking pot shots at The Donald is all fine and good but it is so much better when it’s done by a daring, eclectic, unpredictable original like Ms Maya Arulpragasam. An activist and a true artist of rap, MIA’s POWA is a unique mix of doo-wop loops, laid-back, bitter rhymes and Tamil folk percussion.
Fight the Power – Public Enemy
7 March 2017
If you’ve ever seen Spike Lee’s extraordinary 1989 comedy drama Do The Right Thing, then you’ll never forget the scene where Italian-American pizzeria owner Sal (Danny Aiello) squares off with Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) as Fight the Power blares out of his boombox, lyrically laying down the gauntlet, drawing a line at which Sal’s racism has to stop and, as it turns out, laying his life on that same line.
Goodnight America – Until the Ribbon Breaks
7 March 2017
As immigrants living in the USA, British trio Until the Ribbon Breaks released this anthem during the US presidential campaigns in 2016, insisting that it’s “pro-America”, but clearly frustrated with a nation that is “sucking on its thumb” with its refrain of “goodnight goodnight goodnight” as the electorate drifted off to sleep when it most needed be awake, on the brink of doom.
Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
7 March 2017
For almost 50 years, the words “meet the new boss / same as the old boss” have rung true, but perhaps for once that’s not quite true, with the leader of the free world who refuses to play by history’s rules. And yet one constant remains: those who lead us only ever seem to listen to us when it suits their own agenda.
Demagogue – Franz Ferdinand
7 March 2017
Smooth Scots pop art geeks Franz Ferdinand supplied this song for the excellent awareness-raising 30 days 30 Songs project in the lead-up to the US Presidential election, organised by Secretly Group’s Phil Waldorf.
I Give You Power – Arcade Fire
7 March 2017
For their first new material since 2013’s Reflektor, indie art collective Arcade Fire recruit legendary gospel singer Mavis Staples to present a clear and simple warning to our leaders: I give you power and I can take it away. This is not a threat, Mr Trump. it’s a promise.
How to Fight Evil in Everyday Life
1 February 2017
What this playlist is, what it definitely isn’t, and a few suggestions for how to use everyday decisions to fight evil in your daily life, inspired by some of the most rousing and exciting musicians in the world.
