Things Have Got to Change, Part III

Where, oh where, are the protest songs of 2026? Don't tell me Rage Against the Machine - they're cool and all, but they were 1990s, not today, even if they're still together and performing. Bruce and Neal get political at times, but neither is channeling the rage or leading the people to a popular uprising. They're also both old.

At Big Ears 2026, jazz guitarist Marc Ribot led a group after a show to a nearby No Kings event, which is cool, but most people don't even know who Marc Ribot is (hint: he's not Mr. Robot or Marc Rebillet), and he's directing the people to other, sanctioned events, not leading the charge himself. And he's also old, too. 

In 1969, the Jefferson Airplane declared, "All your private property is target for your enemy," as direct an expression of Marxism as any at the height of their popularity (and incidentally of their profitability). And in case there was any ambiguity, their next line was "And your enemy is me."   

"We are forces of chaos and anarchy," they sang. "Everything they say we are, we are, and we are very proud of ourselves."  It's not subtle stuff. "We are all outlaws in the eyes of America," they continued. "In order to survive, we steal, cheat, lie, forge, fuck, hide, and deal. We are obscene, lawless, hideous, dangerous, dirty, violent . . . and young."

I haven't heard lyrics like that since The Clash. I don't understand a lot of rap lyrics these days so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but outside of that, I mostly hear self pity and complaints about society, but I don't hear calls for revolution, now, when we need it the most. Where's, say, the Antifa Orchestra or the Howard Zinn Memorial Band?  Who's singing Luigi Mangioni Blues or Burn the Ballroom Down? 

Leading the charge: In 2001, yes, 25 years ago, young Sara Menuck, the daughter of Godspeed and Silver Mount Zion guitarist Efrin, sang, "When we finally cross the barricades with the angels on our side, when we finally deny all the popular lies, when we finally let doubt and worry die - how will it feel?" (The Triumph of Our Tired Eyes from Born Into Trouble As the Sparks Fly Upward).  

We need someone to lead the charge across the barricades, to make some John Lewis "good trouble," but the problem may be, as Efrin himself sang in the same song right before Sara's lines, "Musicians are cowards."