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In making my choices I’ve tried to avoid songs that have already appeared on this blog at some point in the past. So that has ruled … Continue reading Protest Songs Day 10 – Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Bob Marley, Archie Roach, King Crimson, The Who & XTC
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Has there ever been a Protest Song more misunderstood than ‘Spasticus Autisticus’ by Ian Dury? Released in 1981 to mark the International Year of the Disabled, … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Nine: Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Asian Dub Foundation, Skyhooks, The Farm & Cyndi Lauper
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As we have established, not all protest songs are about global realpolitik, some operate at a very basic human level and the message of Aretha Franklin’s … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Eight: Aretha Franklin, Gossip, Midnight Oil, The Herd & The Wonder Stuff
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A protest song about poor quality satellite television? Well I do work around the TV industry, what did you expect? True, the song started life as … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Seven: Bruce Springsteen, Manic Street Preachers, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Elvis Costello & The Specials
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I’m currently reading the Johnny Marr autobiography and I must be one of the few reading it actually thinking “enough of this Smiths … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Six – The The, Dead Kennedys, The Saints, Kevin Gilbert, The Jam & The Housemartins
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Protest songs come in many shapes and genres, as the last four days have so ably demonstrated. Our correspondents have nominated variously punk, rap, soul, folk, … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Five: Pet Shop Boys, M.I.A., Billie Holliday, Nellie McKay, Public Enemy & Tracy Chapman
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Timezone is a one-off collaboration from 1984 between John Lydon, Afrika Bambaataa and Bill Laswell. I have this somewhere on a 7 inch single which fades … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Four: Timezone, The Temptations, Public Image, Ian Gillan, Yes & Sting
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Whilst Band Aid was truly a remarkable event at the time, it’s dread legacy was the charity single in which artists gather to sing a single … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Three: Artists United Against Apartheid, Faithless, The Pogues, Billy Bragg, Marillion & Cher
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‘African Children’ is a song I have loved and returned to regularly for over 30 years. Recorded in 1981, musically the song is a glorious dub … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Two: Aswad, The Equals, Bob Dylan, The Staple Singers, Paul Kelly/Kev Carmody & Ralph McTell
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It may seem wholly obvious to start a blog about protest songs with Rage Against The Machine, but I make no apologies. However I’m resisting the … Continue reading Protest Songs Day One: Rage Against The Machine, Helen Reddy, Nina Simone, Woody Guthrie, The Clash & Lou Reed.
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There’s something in the air this summer. The times are a changin and to catch the mood from next Wednesday (July 11th) for ten days we … Continue reading Coming soon: Protest Songs
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Slightly later than usual, due to a much later Easter than normal, here is a quick rundown of my favourite tracks of the years far. Eighteen in … Continue reading Best of 2017 so far…
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We’ve been exchanging these lists of our favourite tracks of the year for a couple of decades now and decided to do this more recently in a daily … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 – Our Number Ones: Michael Kiwanuka, Teleman & David Bowie (again)
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Yesterday Andy described what David Bowie meant to him and chose ‘I Can’t Give It All Away’ from the amazing Blackstar album. My choice today is … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #2 – David Bowie, The Wedding Present, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
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Some music becomes irrevocably linked to the year or the events it accompanied – Ghost Town, Shipbuilding, What’s Going On, Ball Of Confusion, even Nessun Dorma. We’ve questioned on this … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #3 – Radiohead, David Bowie & Underworld(again)
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Earlier in the countdown, Roy nominated Primal Scream’s ‘100% Or Nothing’ from the ridiculously named but ludicrously good ‘Chaosmosis’ album. I usually allow myself at … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #4 – Primal Scream, The Wytches, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
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Into the all important Top Five with a track from my favorite album of the year. This is a tricky one. A recent GQ list has … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #5 – Suede, Massive Attack & Radiohead
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Something a bit more upbeat for my number seven choice, a great pop song and classic Pet Shop Boys. I play the ‘Super’ album a lot and … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #7 – Pet Shop Boys, Mogwai & Last Shadow Puppets
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My second British synth duo in a row. My first ever music post on this site, when we started doing these lists online in 2012, was … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #6 – Underworld, P J Harvey & Black Mountain
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Twenty eight tracks nominated so far by three pundits across twenty-eight different artists and finally we come to our inevitable artist overlap. As nominated by Roy at #10, this is the sublime Daughter, but a different track from the same … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #8 – Daughter, Syd Arthur & Jaguar Ma
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I am sticking with the political theme of my last choice with this video for the James track ‘To My Surprise’. The video was made much earlier … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #9 – James, Toy & PJ Harvey
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We are into the top ten. I can hear the TOTP countdown music in my head as I type. I first heard this track over the … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #10 – DJ Shadow feat. Run The Jewels, DIIV & Daughter
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Are videos still a ‘thing’ now? This year I saw the wonderful film Sing Street – all about a young Irish band in the 80s and their … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #11 – The Kills, Temples & Primal Scream
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No stranger to our lists over the years, Beck released what seemed to be something of an ‘orphan’ single earlier in this year which apparently indicated … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #12 – Beck, Slaves & Trentemøller
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The best soundtrack of the year has to be that for ‘The Get Down’, the Netflix series in which fictional protagonists become entwined with the Bronx disco scene … Continue reading Top Tracks of 2014 #13 – Herizen Guardiola & Two Door Cinema Club
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This one is a current favourite , as heard only this morning on the excellent Huey Morgan Show – ‘We The People’ by the legendary A … Continue reading Top Tracks of 2016 #14 – A Tribe Called Quest & Chemical Brothers
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From Steve Mason’s wonderful ‘Meet The Humans’ album this is ‘Alive’. I could have picked any number of tracks off the album, but this has an … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #15 – Steve Mason & Palace Winter
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After a tranquil visit to an Icelandic church yesterday it’s time to dive back into the global madness of 2016 with this track from Jean-Michel Jarre’s … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #16 – Jean-Michel Jarre, Edward Snowden & Warpaint
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It’s been the year from hell, but just for 4 minutes lets head to a church in a remote Icelandic valley and seek sanctuary from a year … Continue reading Top Tracks 0f 2016 #17 – Ólafur Arnalds & Life
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At number 19 we had a supergroup made up from three other like-minded groups (Minor Victories) and at 18 we also have.. a supergroup made up … Continue reading Top Tracks of 2016 #18 – Prophets of Rage & Jamie T.
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Three pretty convincing reasons ensured this track would be in my Top Twenty for the year: a) The band features members of Slowdive, Editors and Mogwai (and … Continue reading TOP TRACKS OF 2016 #19 – Minor Victories & Shearwater
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I am going to get our 20 day musical advent calendar underway with Bat For Lashes and Joe’s Dream. I first heard it on Mary Anne Hobb’s Sunday show whilst surfacing on a Sunday morning and had to track it … Continue reading Top tracks of 2016 #20 – Bat For Lashes & Green Day
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Well ladies and gentleman we made it. The list is complete. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions – we are nothing if not eclectic. You … Continue reading Trans Europa Express – It’s a Wrap
