Artist: Pro-Pain
Song: Contents Under Pressure
Album: Contents Under Pressure
Producer: Pro-Pain
Label: Energy/Concrete
Year: 1996
Notes:
Formed from the remnants of Crumbsuckers, Pro-Pain made its intentions clear by titling their debut album ‘Foul Taste of Freedom.’ By the time ‘Contents Under Pressure’ was released four years later (with ‘The Truth Hurts’ in between), the needle hadn’t moved much. The central question posed by the title track remains relevant today given how en vogue it is to paint millennials as some sort of lazy, entitled, resource-draining plague on the country: Who made us this way? We didn’t create ourselves. And if we did, it’s even more on you olds.
Excerpt from ‘Unreality’ —
Doug rejoined the circle in the sand, placed his frisbee in his lap, and dumped the contents of his baggie into it.
Lyrics:
This court is in session
So stand erect
The case persecution
Of generation X
A taste of pollution
To make you choke
En masse execution
Behind the smoke
Discarded and thrown by the wayside
Endorse this punishable act
Blame us if we are what you made us
Die slowly but leave us intact
They buried the treasure
And burned the map
They cut down the trees
And drank the sap
The earth is a prison
With nowhere to go
Contents under pressure
It’s bound to blow
—
‘Protest 100’s mission is two-fold: dispelling the myth that heavy metal is a brainless, socially unaware music genre, and raising awareness of the issues facing our country in the Nov. 3, 2020 election. The path won’t be exclusively metal—some punk and rap and other stuff will be in here too, including the classics—and is not a ranking. All songs are songs I’ve heard while putting this list together, ordered in a manner designed to entertain and educate.
Chris Smith, Author 