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Protest 100: Public Enemy – ‘Can’t Truss It’

Posted on by dugtheship

Artist:          Public Enemy

Song:           Can’t Truss It

Album:        Apocalypse 91…The Enemy Strikes Black

Producer:    Gary G-Wiz, The Bomb Squad

Label:          Def Jam/Columbia

Year:           1991

Notes:
Don’t believe what anyone in power tells you. You might get sold into slavery. Or find someone trying to help you out of it, but only for their own purposes. And good luck getting money together when you start off at the bottom. As Chuck D told Melody Maker in 1991: “’Can’t Truss It’ is about how the corporate world of today is just a different kind of slavery. We don’t control what we create. And because of the media, we don’t control the way we think or run our lives. We’ve got to limit working for a situation that’s other than ours. We have no ownership of anything. If you don’t own business, then you don’t have jobs. White people have jobs because they have business. They have institutions that teach them how to live in America. Black people don’t have institutions that teach them how to deal with s–t. The Number One institution that teaches you how to deal is the family, but slavery f–ked that up. So the song is about the ongoing cost of the holocaust. There was a Jewish holocaust, but there’s a black holocaust that people still choose to ignore.”

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
It wouldn’t be too long before they’d start wondering anew about each other, trying in vain to figure out who could and could not be trusted. The entire circle would be made whole again; rival schools trying to outdo each other rather than face a common problem.

Lyrics
[Intro: Chuck D (& Flavor Flav)]
(Confusion)
Here come the drums
Alright, alright, yeah, yeah
Alright, alright
Here come the drums
Alright, alright, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Alright, alright

[Chuck D]
Bass in your face, not an eight track
Gettin’ it good to the wood
So the people give you some of that reactin’ to the facts
That I kick and it stick and it stay around
Pointin’ to the joint, put the Buddha down
Goin, goin, deep to the roots
Ain’t givin’ it up, so turn me loose
But then again I got a story that’s harder than the hardcore
Cost of the holocaust, I’m talkin’ ’bout the one still goin’ on
I know where I’m from, not dum diddie dum
From the base motherland, the place of the drum
Invaded by the wack diddie wack
And fooled the black, and left us faded
King and chief, probably had a big beef
Because of that now I grit my teeth
So here’s a song to the strong
‘Bout the shake of the snake and the smile went along
With that, can’t truss it

[Break: Flavor Flav]
You can’t truss it
Let them know
You can’t truss it
Yo, let them know
You can’t truss it
Let them know

[Chuck D]
Kickin’ wicked rhymes like a fortune teller
Cause the wickedness done by Jack
Where everybody at divided and sold
For liquor and the gold
Smacked in the back for the other man to mack

[Break: Flavor Flav]
What?
Wicked man, wicked man
Get back, step back, kick it man

[Chuck D]
Now the story that I’m kickin’ is gory
Little Rock where they be dockin’ this boat
No hope, I’m shackled, oh plus, gang tackled
By the other hand swingin’ the rope “god damn”
Wearin’ red, white and blue, Jack and his crew
The guy’s authorized beat down for the brown
Man to the man, each one, so I teach one
Born to terrorize sisters and every brother
One love who said it, I know Whodini sang it
But the hater taught hate that’s why we gang bang it
Beware of the hand when it’s comin’ from the left
I ain’t trippin, just watch your step
Can’t truss it

[Break: Flavor Flav]
Can’t truss it
Yo, let them know
Can’t truss it
Yo, let them know
Can’t truss it
Yo, let them know
Can’t truss it, can’t truss it
Can’t truss it, can’t truss it
Can’t truss it, can’t truss it

[Chuck D]
And I’ll judge everyone, one by the one
Look here comes the judge, watch it here he come now
(Don’t sentence me judge, I ain’t did nothin’ to nobody)
I can only guess what’s happenin’
Years ago he woulda been the ship’s captain
Gettin’ me bruised on a cruise, what I got to lose
Lost all contact, got me layin’ on my back
Ugh, rollin’ in my own leftover
When I roll over, I roll over in somebody else
90 damn days on a slave ship
Count them fallin’ off 1, 2, 3, 4 hundred at a time
Blood in the wood and it’s mine
I’m chokin’ on, spit, feelin’ pain
Like my brain bein’ chained
Still gotta give it what I got
But it’s hot in the day, it’s cold in the night
But I thrive to survive, I pray to god to stay alive
Attitude boils up inside
And that ain’t it, you think I ever quit
Still I plan to get my hands around the neck of the man with the whip
3 months passed, they brand a label on my ass
To signify our owned, I’m on the microphone
Sayin’ 1555, how I’m livin’
We been livin’ here, livin’ ain’t the word, I been givin’
Haven’t got, classify us in the have-nots
Fightin’ haves cause it’s all about money “damn”
When it comes to Armageddon mean I’m getting mine
Here I am turn it over Sam
427 to the year, do you understand
That’s why it’s hard for the black to love the land

[Chuck D]
Once again, bass in your face, not an eight track
Gettin’ it good to the wood
So the people give you some of that reactin’ to the facts
That I kick and it stick and it stay around
Pointin’ to the joint, put the Buddha down
Goin, goin, gettin’ to the roots
Ain’t givin’ it up, so turn me loose
But then again I got a story that’s harder than the hardcore
Cost of the holocaust, I’m talkin’ ’bout the one still goin’ on
I know where I’m from, not dum diddie dum
From the base motherland, the place of the drum
Invaded by the wack diddie wack
And fooled the black, and left us faded
King and chief, probably had a big beef
Because of that now I grit my teeth
So here’s a song to the strong
Bout the shake of the snake and the smile went along
With that, can’t truss it

[Outro: Flavor Flav]
Can’t truss it, can’t truss it
You can’t truss it, you can’t truss it
You can’t truss it, you can’t truss it
You can’t truss it, you can’t truss it
You can’t truss it, you can’t truss it

[Chuck D]
Watch him, here he comes now
Watch him, here he comes now

—

‘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.

Protest 100: Power Trip – ‘Manifest Decimation’

Posted on by dugtheship

Artist:          Power Trip

Song:           Manifest Decimation

Album:        Manifest Decimation

Producer:    Arthur Rizk

Label:          Southern Lord

Year:           2013

Notes:
Check the time stamp on this one. Yes, things are worse now. But the oppressor has always been active. The shepherd can be the wolf. Vigilance is a full-time job. Nothing changes without it. Look away and the game is reset.

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
More troubling than their transparency is that they include simple gestures and turns of phrase most use naturally and unconsciously, but which he contemplates as if they were some secret code of behavioral control that he alone has tapped into.

Lyrics
Under the boot of great oppression we slither and crawl.
On the path for annihilation but in the name of god?
Manifest Decimation, we stumble and fall.
Manifest Decimation, to suppress us all.

Under the boot of great oppression, a dark figure conquers us.
Manifest Decimation, when all hope is crushed.

Crushed.

—

‘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.

Protest 100: Nailbomb – ‘Sum of Your Achievements’

Posted on by dugtheship

Artist:          Nailbomb

Song:           Sum of Your Achievements

Album:        Point Blank

Producer:    Alex Newport, Max Cavalera

Label:          Roadrunner

Year:           1994

Notes:
You are what you do; as a person and as a society. Science is value neutral. Until you do something with it.

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
To which the beast replied, with its typical cunning, ‘no money shall be thine. Your path is paved with riches beyond wealth.’

Lyrics
Children burning, crawling, dying
Knowledge and science used like toys
Splitting neutrons we made us a bomb
No advances, just death of man

Sum of your achievements
Sum of your achievements
Sum of your achievements
You call this something to be proud of?

Achieve destruction, obliteration
How the west has won
Going further back to discover new arms
Science is working to destroy us all

Sum of your achievements
Sum of your achievements
Sum of your achievements
You call this something to be proud of?

Sum of your achievements
(Nagasaki)
Sum of your achievements
(Hiroshima)
Sum of your achievements
(All of us…)
Sum of your achievement

—

‘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.

Protest 100: Anti-Flag – ‘Racists’

Posted on by dugtheship

P100 – Racists

Artist:          Anti-Flag

Song:           Racists

Album:        American Fall

Producer:    Benji Madden

Label:          Spinefarm

Year:           2017

Notes:
Pittsburgh’s Anti-Flag wrote and released this song in the wake of the 2017 violence in Charlottesville, Va., later including it on their ‘American Fall’ album. “We stand in solidarity with those fighting racism and fascism in the streets of Charlottesville and beyond. We believe it is time for the removal of all monuments to the confederacy and the racism for which they stand. We must put these symbols of white supremacy into places where the proper context can be provided for what they actually are; outdated, backwards, and antithetical to what we believe the values of humanity should be. It is past time to have real conversations on systemic racism and America’s history of it. There are museums memorializing the Holocaust all across Europe, while America continues to try to hide from its racist and murderous past and present.” – Anti-Flag

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
He dug the idea of restitution and didn’t care one way or the other what the fate of any of the individuals on the ship was, but he was in no way down with blanket racism.

Lyrics
It’s in the things that you say and you don’t say
You don’t know it ’cause you’re such a fucking cliche
The way you define them and us
Those you fear and those you trust

You know a black guy and he’s very articulate
You know a mexican and she’s honest and diligent
You don’t see color
But some people need discipline
And thug is a thug
Some people need to learn a lesson

Your justifications
One dead give away
Your qualifications
One dead give away
You’d never endorse the Jim Crowe days
But the malice in your voice is a god damn give away

Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
A bigot with a check list
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
You don’t get a pass when you’re talking your shit
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
A bigot with a check list
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
You don’t get a pass, get a pass for your ignorance

Black lives matter and you don’t know why
And reverse racism isn’t a real thing
No, you weren’t alive in the time of slavery
But that’s no excuse to ignore its legacy
Not afraid of refugees
But don’t want a mosque built on your street
Offended by the claim of bigotry
More than the racism in your face

Your justifications
One dead give away
Your qualifications
One dead give away
You’d never endorse the Bull Connor days
But the malice in your voice is a god dams give away

Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
A bigot with a check list
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
You don’t get a pass when you’re talking your shit
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
A bigot with a check list
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
You don’t get a pass, get a pass for your ignorance

You fly the flag of the confederacy
You say to celebrate your history
The south was fighting to save slavery
To preserve and protect white surpremacy

Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
A bigot with a check list
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
You don’t get a pass when you’re talking your shit
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
A bigot with a check list
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
You don’t get a pass, get a pass for your ignorance

Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re sexist
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re fascist
You don’t get a pass for your ignorance
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re racist
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re sexist
Just ’cause you don’t know you’re fascist
You don’t get a pass, get a pass for your ignorance

—

‘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.

Protest 100: Heathen Beast – ‘F**k Your Police Brutality’

Posted on by dugtheship

https://heathenbeast.bandcamp.com/track/fuck-your-police-brutality

Artist:          Heathen Beast

Song:           Fuck Your Police Brutality

Album:        The Revolution Will Not Be Televised But It Will Be Heard

Producer:    Heathen Beast

Label:          self (Bandcamp)

Year:           2020

Notes:
We’re not alone in facing the challenges of the day. Heathen Beast hails from India. Every song title on their new album begins with the word ‘Fuck’ and then offers a new target for their derision. The BJP, self-proclaimed godmen, and Whatsapp University are just some of the subjects aside from excessive police force. As one local put it on Reddit: “I am an Indian and I can vouch for every single fucking kind of governmental brutality that’s been mentioned in this album. This album aptly describes the kind of massive fuck up the current Indian society is. Hatred, dirty religious radicalism, paranoia, disgusting thought processes of the majority, etc., are rampant in the country thanks to the current government. And it doesn’t seem to be subsiding soon.”

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
“You know where the fuck Sarge is? Do you?!? Fucker is dead. Fucker is D-E-A-D.”

Lyrics
Shoot to kill, only Muslims
Shoot to hurt, only students, Direct orders.
Shoot to kill, disperse protesters
Shoot to kill, Who controls the police? Home minister.

To control a crowd you lathi charge you hit on the legs
The police chooses brutality smashing students on the head
Entering the library and shooting tear gas shells
Police breaking the CCTV makes it clear who is innocent.

Who will save us from those meant to protect us?
Where is the honour of the uniform and the oath you took?

Shooting, hurting, bleeding, killing
Unchecked police brutality
Tear gas, lathi charging, stone pelting
Fucking Delhi Police!
Violence, disorder, when the police
Under the rule of the BJP
Hindu terrorists hand in glove
No police accountability

When the police is pelting stones who will stop the riots
When Hindu terrorists burn Muslim homes, they don’t bat an eyelid
Gujarat model, police watch while rioters run free
When no one’s watching the police try to break the CCTV

We’ve seen the videos, we’ve seen through the lies
All our news sources are fucking verified.
Not the saffron manufacturing fake news
Every day trying to portray the victims are Hindus

Let’s be clear the agenda from day 1
Dissent will not be tolerated, beware

It’s such a shame all the lives that are lost
But you created a hatred, a fire you cannot stop
People injured, people died, policemen too
All on the behest of powerful men, who don’t give two hoots.

The job of the police is to protect the people
Not be slaves to political goons
No one should have to die for this
While politicians sit safe in their cocoons.

Even during the riots only the innocent suffer
Let the politicians come enact the hate they monger
Let’s give them weapons and send them to war
Why should anyone lose their lives, when the politicians have no balls

—

‘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.

Protest 100: Machine Head – ‘A Thousand Lies’

Posted on by dugtheship

Artist:          Machine Head

Song:           A Thousand Lies

Album:        Burn My Eyes

Producer:    Colin Richardson

Label:          Roadrunner

Year:           1994

Notes:
Machine Head was political way before current events and ‘Stop The Bleeding.’ The band came out of the box swinging, with this track featuring on its 1994 debut. Robb Flynn told Kerrang! about it in an interview last year marking ‘Burn My Eyes’ 25th anniversary: ““We’d just gotten into the first Iraq war, so Bush senior was president, and that song was a really strong anti-war, anti-racism statement. We were listening to a lot of punk rock at the time, and we were practicing in a shared space with five punk bands, so it was very political and that was really seeping into what we were doing, for sure.”

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
Johnson was startled out of his contemplations by what sounded like a thousand roman candles going off at once.

Lyrics
What is a man that stays true to the game
But has to cheat a little to get by
Well that’s a person that I know too well
Don’t want to know but I don’t have to ask why
Everyone like a loaded gun
You want some shit I’ll fuckin’ pound you, son
Don’t need a reason, pain I’m feelin’
I gotta vent or else I blow inside

Introspection, termination
Can’t tell right from wrong
Fed up with this whole system
It’s gone on far too long

You tell a thousand lies been told a thousand times
Your words we hear but we cannot sympathize
Thousand lies been told a thousand times
Hard as nails the power to survive

What’s a man that stays true to the game
But can’t believe some of the things he sees
Anger’s a gift and I won’t be kept down
In poverty there is no democracy
Used needle and a crack vile
A broken bottle and a bullet shell
This urban life is so volatile
An inner city or a concrete hell

Introspection, termination
Can’t tell right from wrong
Fed up with this whole system
It’s gone on far too long

You tell a thousand lies been told a thousand times
Your words we hear but we cannot sympathize
Thousand lies been told a thousand times
Hard as nails the power to survive

So pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, get up

What is a man don’t stay true to the game
Don’t care for no one, only cares for his greed
He’s playin’ God killin’ thousands of people
‘Cause the power is the fix that he needs
Racist goal of the white devil
I watched our soul burnin’ over oil
A politician got no feelin’
It makes my motherfuckin’ cold blood boil

Introspection, termination
Can’t tell right from wrong
Fed up with this whole system
It’s gone on far too long

You tell a thousand lies been told a thousand times
Your words we hear but we cannot sympathize
Thousand lies been told a thousand times
Hard as nails the power to survive

Slow
Slow
Slow

—

‘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.

Protest 100: Killswitch Engage – ‘Numbered Days’

Posted on by dugtheship

Artist:          Killswitch Engage

Song:           Numbered Days

Album:        Alive and Just Breathing

Producer:    Adam Dutkiewicz

Label:          Roadrunner

Year:           2002

Notes:
If a structure gets too top-heavy it falls. When the fall occurs the light, shelter, whatever else it provided disappears. But this is only temporary. New life rises from the dust. This is the same whether you’re talking about a barn, distant cosmic objects, or the body politic. But in two of these three cases, the fall can be averted. Steps can be taken. Existence rolls on either way. So let’s pick the path that keeps us here with it.

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
Their austere-yet-comfortable nature stemmed from a compromise between prison hawks who had pushed for stiffer sentencing and other citizens whose primary concern was still the weal of those being detained.

Lyrics
The Time Approaches
Fall!

This is the voice of the Voiceless
We have learned about making choices
Not of persecution or dilution
We have severed the solution
To build our foundation on natural elements to preserve life
We will rise and battle on

Chanting inspiration for the righteous
Dislocation from the social order
Kingdoms will rise to power
But kingdoms fall to dust
To ashes of the dead
Will be a sign
The time approaches

Arms raised (raised)
Eyes gazed (gazed)
Tongues of fire whisper
This life (life)
Will soon (soon)
Slip away!

Babylon you will fall
Your days are numbered
Who will hear your cries as you fall

—

‘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.

Protest 100: Bob Marley – ‘Get Up, Stand Up’

Posted on by dugtheship

 

Artist:          Bob Marley

Song:           Get Up Stand Up

Album:        Burnin’

Producer:    Chris Blackwell

Label:          Tuff Gong/Island

Year:           1973

Notes:
Though overtly Rastafarian, this song has been adopted over the years as a universal call to action. Division is bad. It is the power broker’s tool. Once you understand this you need only walk towards the light to claim your spot in a newly united world. But the time to act is now. This was the last song Bob Marley ever performed on stage.

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
This last contemplation returned him to the heart of the matter. He had to get to work.

Lyrics
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your right
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your right
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your right
Get up, stand up
Don’t give up the fight

Preacher man don’t tell me
Heaven is under the earth
I know you don’t know
What life is really worth

He said all that glitters is gold
Half that story ain’t never been told
So now you see the light, hey
You stand up for your right
Come on

Get up, stand up
Stand up for your right
Get up, stand up
Don’t give up the fight
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your right
Get up, stand up
Don’t give up the fight

Most people think
Great God will come from the sky
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high

But if you know what life is worth
You would look for yours on earth
And now a you see the light
You stand up for your right
Jah!

Get up, stand up (Jah, Jah)
Stand up for your right (oh-hoo)
Get up, stand up (get up, stand up)
Don’t give up the fight (life is your right)
Get up, stand up (so we can’t give up the fight)
Stand up for your rights (Lord, Lord)
Get up, stand up (keep on struggling on)
Don’t give up the fight (yeah)

We’re sick and tired of your ism-schism game
Dy’n’ and go to Heaven in-a Jesus’ name, Lord
We know when we understand
Almighty God is a living man

You can fool some people sometimes
But you can’t fool all the people all the time
So now we see the light (watch you gon’ do?)
We gonna stand up for our rights (yeah, yeah)
So you’d better

Get up, stand up (in the morning) give it up
Stand up for your right (stand up right now)
Get up, stand up
Don’t give up the fight (don’t give it up, don’t give it up)
Get up, stand up (get up, stand up)
Stand up for your rights (get up, stand up)

Get up, stand up
Don’t give up the fight (get up, stand up)

Get up, stand up
Stand up for your right
Get up, stand up
Don’t give up the fight
Get up, stand up

—

‘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.

Protest 100: T. Rex – ‘Children of the Revolution’

Posted on by dugtheship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpVqWS-cUKc

Artist:          T. Rex

Song:           Children of the Revolution

Album:        n/a

Producer:    Tony Visconti

Label:          Reprise

Year:           1972

Notes:
Let’s lighten things up a little bit. Time was, when you hit the spot after a day on the front lines thwarting the man, some fun could be had with your fellow free thinkers. Those days will be back. And when the needle drops on this one, I’ll meet you at the bar for a Jim Beam, Lone Star back. No way, yeah, wow…

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
…all the children of all ages laying peacefully together. What wasn’t to like about that?

Lyrics

Yeah

Well, you can bump and grind, it is good for your mind
Well, you can twist and shout, let it all hang out

But you won’t fool the children of the revolution
No, you won’t fool the children of the revolution, no no no

Well, you can tear a plane in the falling rain
I drive a Rolls Royce ’cause it’s good for my voice

But you won’t fool the children of the revolution
No, you won’t fool the children of the revolution, no no no, yeah

But you won’t fool the children of the revolution
No, you won’t fool the children of the revolution

No, you won’t fool the children of the revolution
No, you won’t fool the children of the revolution, no way, yeah, wow

—

‘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.

Protest 100: Dropdead – ‘Torches’

Posted on by dugtheship

Artist:          Dropdead

Song:           Torches

Album:        Demo 2019

Producer:    Trevor Vaughn

Label:          Armageddon Label

Year:           2019

Notes:
Dropdead have been performing Rhode Island political hardcore (their label) on a DIY basis since 1991, touring the US, Europe, Australia, and Japan along the way. Anti-authoritarianism, pacifism, and animal rights are among their focuses, but ‘Torches’ seems uniquely crafted for the here and now. The song has since been included on the band’s 23-songs-in-24-minutes new album, produced by Kurt Ballou, who also has remixed the band’s 1990s output.

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
“That shifty little fuck decided I was ‘the man’ or something. He was gonna torch me!”

Lyrics
Hail the leader of racists
Bow down to his wisdom so vain
Demagogue rules from his throne made of gold
While the common man suffers in vain

Self serving rule of the pious
Feeding their greed til their gain
Crushed under foot, society falls
Again and again, again and again

The time has now come to rise from your knees
Hatred is with us again
Torches of bigotry alight in the streets
Igniting the hatred of man

Fascist messiah, leader of fools
Rules from his kingdom of lies
Army of ignorance, violence rules
They execute those who defy

Behold the church of bigotry
Where the fools in power reign
While blood runs red within the street
Where the activists were slain

They use Nazi propaganda
Disguised as country pride
To divide and and rule the populace
Pure hatred… glorified

—

‘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.