Artist: Power Trip
Song: Power Trip
Album: Manifest Decimation
Producer: Arthur Rizk
Label: Southern Lord
Year: 2013
Notes:
These are perilous times. Lines have been drawn. Even if you haven’t drawn them, others are more than willing to let you know which side you’re on, often fueled by fabricated information. Their lies, your life. Your mind, not mine.
Riley Gale, Aug. 27, 2018 (Revolver): “This band was born out of the frustration that I was dealing with going into college in a time where we were involved in two wars. I’m sitting there going, ‘I’m going to see some fucked-up shit. I’m going to see something that 9/11 will pale in comparison to.’ I don’t know if it’s World War III. I don’t know if it’s some kind of food epidemic. I have this sense of impending doom — not that the human race will be wiped out, but it’s going to completely shift the status quo. It’s gonna make me being in a band completely irrelevant. It may turn it into a fight for survival. Who knows?”
Excerpt from ‘Unreality’ —
The solution as Rusty saw it was for the networks to re-empower the people. A wrong had been committed, justice must be done.
Lyrics:
Buy into the bullshit with your head as the price
The system is broken what choice can you make?
Pick up a gun, or catch some fucking chains
We ride as one
We’re ruled by none
As long as I’m free I’ll live illegally
Smoke and mirrors until they catch me
We ride as one
We’re ruled by none
Their lies, your life
Your mind, not mine
Earth’s moral compass pointed south
Forever broken, the good cast out
Join or die; there is only two sides to take:
The rebel evil or the police state
We ride as one
We’re ruled by none
As long as I’m free I’ll live illegally
Smoke and mirrors until they catch me
We ride as one
We’re ruled by none
Their lies, your life
Your mind, not mine
Not mine
Perennial paranoia:
A paradox for every thought
But the endless chase is better than being left to rot
Pride and fear has brought us here
A catalyst to an endless abyss
Every toe-tag; a price tag
I pledge deviance from under the flag
Their lies, your life
Your mind, not mine
—
‘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 