A history of protest music: How protest music can make an impact

Music. Music is around us all the time, and it’s something we carry with us through life, whether it’s the first song you heard when driving the car at 16, singing along with thousands of people at a concert, all the way to picking out a first dance song for your wedding. It’s become evident that music is used to connect people and plays in the background of many of life’s fondest memories.

But one thing to note about today’s world and our people is how divided it has become as a result of politics. In the dictionary, the word “world” is defined as – the earth, together with all of its countries, people and natural features. Notice how it says together? Well, it’s become evident we’ve begun to stray from this definition, as our political parties and cultural background have become a deciding factor in whether we can form a relationship with one another. And if one thing can bring our people together, it is the power of music. 

Already this year, there have been over 300 anti-ICE protests held across the country, and the number of left-leaning US protests has jumped significantly since Trump’s first term, making this a very historic time. Many of the past protest songs can be very relevant to our world today.

The Beginning

Protest music has been a part of American culture longer than you think, with the first known protest song being the 1774 song “Free America,” written by Dr. Joseph Warren. The song was composed to the sound of the “British Grenadiers” march. This song was written in response to the British government imposing the “Intolerable Acts” on the American Colonies and was a popular protest song played during the American Revolution. 

1940s-1950s

Many protest songs would continue to follow, but what would be marked as the first great protest song of the 20th century is “Strange Fruit” performed by Billie Holiday. Though Holiday made this song famous, it was written as a protest song by a white, Jewish high school teacher from the Bronx. 

The “Strange Fruit” in this song references the lynching of African Americans and exposes American racism. According to naacp.org,  there were around 4,743 known lynchings that occurred in the U.S. between 1882 and 1964. 

This song was known to be very controversial for its time, and it took Holiday multiple tries to record the song, as many people feared the negative repercussions. The song was then produced by her friend Milt Gabler, and history was made.

Other famous protest songs of this time period include the very well-known “This Land is Your Land,” by Woody Guthrie. When I think of this song, I remember learning it in Elementary school music class and hearing it during Veterans’ Day assemblies, though it is often used to express patriotism, it was originally written as a protest song. 

At the time, “God Bless America” was playing all over the radio, and Guthrie couldn’t stand it. He saw the song to be too far from the truth of the life Americans were experiencing, as it was the 10th year of the Great Depression. Guthrie wrote “This Land is Your Land” as a way to relate to Americans, rich and poor.

1960s-1970s 

Now, whenever somebody mentions protesting and protest music, the counterculture hippie movement is always the era that first pops into my mind. With the Vietnam War occurring from 1955 to 1975 and the Kennedy assassination, people were done with the massacre of America. Behind a facade of bell-bottoms and peace signs, this era was fueled by protest music, with musical icons like Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Marvin Gaye and many more, using melodies to make a change. 

Bob Dylan was one of the first artists to speak out against the anti-war movement, through his songs, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” Many of the lyrics in these songs can be especially relevant to today, like “how many deaths will it take ‘til he knows that too many people have died?” sung in “Blowin’ in the Wind,” questioning how long it will take humanity to learn compassion.

Obviously, you can’t talk about this era without mentioning The Beatles. Many of the Beatles’ songs had an underlying political meaning. The one that stands out the most is “Revolution.” Lennon wrote this song in opposition to the revolution and Vietnam War and told Rolling Stone in 1970, that he felt it was time they “f*****g spoke about it.”

After The Beatles broke up, Lennon continued to use music to voice his opinion, as he released “Imagine” in 1970. The lyrics illustrate what the world would look like if it were a utopia of peace and freedom. The song was deemed to be controversial due to its idealistic standards. Lennon himself even described the song to be an “anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-capitalistic” anthem.

1980s-1990s

With the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, we began seeing people trade peace signs for anarchy signs as punk subculture was on the rise. The punk subculture era was about protesting against conformity and representing individualism. 

Metal-rock band Twisted Sister released the song “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” Though it didn’t reference anything political, it has been used as a rally song for many protests. In 2018, teachers striking in Oklahoma and Arizona used the song to demand higher pay and an increase in school funding.

Though the Vietnam War was over, the “second” Cold War had begun in the ’80s, as it lasted from 1945 to 1991. To protest against the Cold War, German pop group Nena released the 1984 song “99 Luftballoons.” The song tells a story about what would happen if they sent red balloons over the Berlin war, and they became mistaken for UFOs or enemy missiles, ultimately resulting in fear of annihilation.

Present day

As our politics have continued to shift, musical artists of today are still using music to make a change. Like we previously mentioned, today’s society has been faced with a divide, so it’s important for artists of today to continue creating.

In 2020, we saw a spike in protests, as people began protesting against racism, and it was the start of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The BLM movement resulted in artists speaking up, like Childish Gambino’s “This is America,” and Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar’s “Freedom.” 

With the rise in school shootings and around 78 happening in 2025, artists have voiced their concern. In 2020, Taylor Swift released the hard-hitting track “Only the Young” to raise awareness on the unfortunate spike of school shootings. In 2025, Gracie Abrams, Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver released a charity single “sold out,” available for $5 only on Bandcamp, where all  proceeds are donated to the charity “Everytown for Gun Safety.”

So, as we continue to see our country protest for their rights and what they believe in, remember the songs of the past and today that have continued to encourage us to speak up for what’s right.

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