Is music with a message still able to become mainstream? 3


If you listen to the radio here in the Netherlands, you don’t hear music with a message, unless the DJ put it on by mistake. When I think of 20 to 50 years ago, I think of many songs with a message with mainstream success, from Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin'” in support of the civil rights movement, through “God Save The Queen” by the Sex Pistols against monarchy, to “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine against institutional racism.

There’s a lot going on nowadays too. There are many protest songs too, against the police actions in Ferguson, for peace in the middle east, against right-wing terrorists. After some digging I could find them. But none has made it to mainstream in the Netherlands. What’s the situation in your country? What modern protest songs do you know?


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3 thoughts on “Is music with a message still able to become mainstream?

  • Danny Ironstone

    I think Hoozier’s song, “Take Me to Church” blows the lid off, obliterates,exposes, and condemns the Church in the most honest, humorous, and unholiest of ways. By that I mean Hoozier has traded in his guilt finding his own truth~~~ in between the arms (& legs) of a woman~In any case, it could be a protest exposing
    the lies, the conspiracies, the corruption, and the historical abuses of the Church in one sense. On the other hand, he has found redemption, religious, sexual or otherwise~~~~That’s the way I understand his song. So, yes, it is a protest song, a redemptive song, an enlightening song, and a very very spiritual song in all the above contexts.