Artist: Power Trip
Song: If Not Us Then Who
Album: Nightmare Logic
Producer: Arthur Rizk
Label: Southern Lord
Year: 2017
Notes:
If you want change, you must create it. Sometimes it’s just that simple. At the very least you can rest assured nothing’s going to change without some degree of effort.
Riley Gale, Metal Hammer, 2018: “[Current politics] is just making things black and white, and that’s not the way the world operates. It’s not even black, white and grey. It’s hard for people to grasp that it’s a whole spectrum of colors – and that’s not some hippie fucking energy bullshit! People only wanna see it one way or the other, or some people are able to say, ‘Ah, it’s in between’, but really, it’s a million different things, a million perspectives. Reality as someone sees it, and how the masses perceive it and all this stuff, it’s all a very rich tapestry of what people have gone through in their lives to reach that viewpoint and to do all these things, so I think calling it ‘left’ and ‘right’ is so simplistic. I mean, you’re basically saying that our political spectrum should be easier than a standardized test that has four options, right? Like, really? Everything about our political system is just a true or false answer? ‘The left is true, the right is false’? It’s just really simple-minded to me. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Excerpt from ‘Unreality’ —
If not for the warning it would have crashed straight through the back of his head.
Lyrics:
Get up,
Out of your cave and into the fire
Time’s short, this is our last resort
To get through to you, what have I got to do?
Who’s going to be the difference?
If not us,
Then who?
If not us, then who?
Sound off,
Take a look at your life, tell me to what do you aspire?
I want to know how far you’re willing to go
Can’t stop the force of ruin, this world will run through you
If not now, then when?
If not us, then who?
If not us, then who?
—
‘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 