The Nation talks about Anti-Flag, Green Day, Springsteen, Neil Young and the return of protest music

Posted by aubin on Saturday, April 29, 2006 at 11:15 AM (EDT)

An interesting look at the the return of protest music has been published by popular left-leaning magazine, the Nation. The article, titled Songs of Protest covers recent releases by Anti-Flag and Green Day as well as socially concious musicians like Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young.

The article explains:

For years, Justin Sane, lead singer of the political punk band Anti-Flag, said it was "left to artists to make the statements that should be getting put into the public discourse." But Anti-Flag is no longer shouting from the sidelines. The band's new CD, For Blood and Empire, features the song "Depleted Uranium Is a War Crime." It was inspired by an appearance at a 2004 Punk Voter rally in Seattle with Representative Jim McDermott, a Vietnam-era vet who has introduced legislation calling for an investigation of the military's use of DU. McDermott is on the CD, and the band is spearheading a drive to get Congress to act on the bill.

You can check out the article here.

Politics (47 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

kingofpain (April 29, 2006)

Did protest music ever really go away, though?

Coldwaffles (April 29, 2006)

No.

Sick_Nick (April 29, 2006)

No that's the thing, since more mainstream artist are actually having political agendas, the public takes notice.... sad but true.

strungoutferriswheel (April 29, 2006)

why is that sad?
the public takes notice of the mainstream. thats why its the mainstream. i think it is a good thing that a band with the incredibly large audience of green day is making a statement

Someone (May 7, 2006)

Someone (April 29, 2006)

Anti Flag they stick it to the man by working from the inside, or so Justin Sane would have you and me believe.

xrobotcorex (April 29, 2006)

My friend who plays bass for Me Just Being Me ran into Justin at ABC Storage the other day.

colin (April 29, 2006)

a lot of people are gonna flame this article i bet, but this sort of thing has always been important. socially conscious musicians are incredibly important in trying to have a more politically minded popular culture that takes note of the issues at hand.

Godfather (April 29, 2006)

i predict 173 comments from 17 different posters...and not one of them will have a fucking clue what they're talking about

colin (April 29, 2006)

and they'll all have the same name.

Godfather (April 29, 2006)

and they'll all use the word, "fascists"

skaboom (April 29, 2006)

shut up, fag.

Someone (April 29, 2006)

Sorry, that was me.

Someone (April 29, 2006)

Anti- Flag are Fagcists

CellarDoor (April 29, 2006)

Fucking commies !

Off-topic: lmao @ the Houston Texans.

Someone (April 29, 2006)

Dummies...they should have traded there first round pick, they could have done alot better!

Kid_Dynamite_ (April 29, 2006)

Neil Young is THE punk

FuckYouOiOiOi (April 29, 2006)

Scruffy (April 29, 2006)

I think you mean TEH punxors.

jamalxbearings (April 29, 2006)

AHAHAHAHA

Pink, more like Punk, amirite?

BizzleBrizzle (April 29, 2006)

As others have said this retarded article assumes that protest music has gone away.

All that's really happened is that it has become economically profitable to sell it as pop-music again.

Someone (April 29, 2006)

puNx is dead!!

BizzleBrizzle (April 29, 2006)

This wasn't even about punk jackass.

Someone (April 29, 2006)

it is relevent dickwad. remember those slogans "punk is dead" ,"punk is not dead" etc etc.? yeah thats because you were sperm then. punk never died, it went further underground. same with metal and many other forms of music including.....what? any kind of protest music. so now you can see i was agreeing.

BizzleBrizzle (April 29, 2006)

I don't think you get what I was saying, but whatever.

Someone (April 29, 2006)

The new bouncing souls is fucked up!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its awsome...speaking of protest music "Letters from IRAQ" is awesome!

FortyMinutesWesterberg (April 29, 2006)

The sky is falling.

miniblindbandit (April 29, 2006)

long live revolution rock

Someone (April 29, 2006)

when will punks learn that it's no use trying to change the government?

Someone (April 29, 2006)

Green Day is not "protest" music. WTF?! Just because they happen to make a video with a war theme (which btw had nothing to do with the lyrics of the song) does not make them political.

FuckYouOiOiOi (April 29, 2006)

but they make political statements at their shows.

LarsBars (April 29, 2006)

Well, almost the entire American Idiot album has political overtones, as well as alot of more subtle lyrics that hint at politics. So, you're wrong.

Someone (April 29, 2006)

do you have to run for some kind of office to be making some sort of politcal statement?

Someone (April 29, 2006)

Hey, knobface, try looking a little more deeply into the songs, try Holiday for instance...a little extreme in it's message, but all the same, politically charged...and Wake me up...has been written withe the intent of a double meaning....

blinkrules (April 29, 2006)

where did Justin Sane go to college? George Bush went to Yale, so I think I'll believe him.

Someone (April 29, 2006)

his daddy bought for his son's ticket to Yale. cuz we all know that George Jr. isn't exactly, how should i say...uhm...SMART!

blinkrules (April 29, 2006)

well obviously Justin Sane's daddy wasn't very smart. Who names a kid Justin when you have the last name Sane

fallingupwards84 (April 29, 2006)

hahaha you're a genius. i love you.

BizzleBrizzle (April 29, 2006)

going to yale don't mean shit

blinkrules (April 29, 2006)

i think you mean "doesn't" mean shit. better work on you're grammar.

Someone (April 30, 2006)

you are grammar?

Someone (April 30, 2006)

says the yale graduate

Someone (April 29, 2006)

one of the best colleges you can buy!

FuckYouOiOiOi (April 29, 2006)

fuck the president and fuck the cia. leak all those motherfuckers' names. i don't give a shit.

Scruffy (April 29, 2006)

You can't be...
You just broke my brain.

The Plame leak is important because it could unearth evidence of treason, evidence tampering, blackmail, etc... as far up as the President. It's within reach that we could find proff of an impeachable offense committed by all parts of the executive branch.
It doesn't matter realistically, because even if the Democrats win the Senate in the fall, the House will still be republican. But it would be enough to totally change the tide of public opinion.

thirtyseconds (April 29, 2006)

I don't actually read Nuts magazine, but I was reading through a mate's copy and the fuck ups described Anti-Flag's new one as a "debut" and also to "think Michael Moore fronting Rage Against The Machine". What a bunch of intimate wipes

Someone (April 29, 2006)

intimate wipes?! hahahaha

Someone (April 29, 2006)

it's cool that the nation is mentioning anti-flag, but thats not that great of an article.