15 Political Songs to Get You Through Election Week

No one really knows how to feel right now. This week was chaotic, stress-inducing and somewhat traumatic for nearly everyone, and even if Joe Biden wins, we’re still left with structural issues that’ve been seemingly ignored by both political parties.

2020 had a pretty apocalyptic aura, but so many of the struggles we’re facing as a country, and as a human race, have been festering and solidifying for decades. This stuff isn’t new. Harmful aspects of our American system have been so disregarded that it felt like 2020 shattered our reality, but after this election, it seems like it just confirmed how many deep-rooted issues we have to face.

It’s difficult to know what to think and do this week as our nation decides its executive identity for the next four years. But we certainly knew we couldn’t put out another article like normal. It wasn’t the time to hear another music opinion or learn about a new artist. So, last night, we pivoted and decided to crowdsource this list by reaching out to friends, artists, and anyone else willing to try articulating the emotional and social messages they find embedded in these politically-charged records. The tracks below were compiled to express the feelings of this week through music that speaks for us during a time when it’s hard to know what to say.

We all found some sort of solace in these songs, whether they justified our grief or frustrations, or whether they gave us hope. Scroll down to check out 15 political records that might help you get through the week.

Gil Scott-Heron “A Sign of the Ages” (1971)

“The world’s full of children who grew up too fast.”

With the confusion of a lost child, Heron croons through my headphones as I struggle to make sense of this year’s strife. Many look to songs of hope and inspiration in times where salvation is far, to a point where it can sometimes feel impermissible to wallow in grief. Today, however, in a “nation haunted by the past” as the “gods are all angry,” this song serves as a premonition from fifty years ago, and a permission to wallow in the bleakness before one can make room for hope. — Karan Marwah

Open Mike Eagle “Dark Comedy Late Show (feat. Toy Light)” (2015)

Underground Chicago art-rapper Open Mike Eagle calls this track “the monologue that would get him fired if he had a talk show.” Despite being released in February 2015, his relentless 3-minute freeverse is a painfully applicable rumination on the way late capitalism and neoliberalism have bled into our daily lives. Equal parts humor and grief, Open Mike Eagle lambastes the racism and social inequity that’s buried itself deep within American pop culture, and it’s even more relevant today than it was five years ago.

“I can see the Super Bowls of the future / the Ferguson blacks vs. Missouri State Troopers.”

As the election results make the ideological disparity between “middle America” and the coasts painfully obvious, we’re being forced to reckon with the reality that this willful ignorance is the ethos of our country. Nearly half of the American people opted in for another four years of Trump — probably the most blatant perpetrator of social, physical, and emotional violence against minorities that we’ve ever seen. Open Mike Eagle uses humour to transform the track into something as non-soul-crushing as possible, but what he’s describing is anything but funny. — Zach Aumueller

Rage Against the Machine “Freedom” (1991)

"So long as [a] system's only true motive is profit interest and not the maintenance and betterment of the population to [meet] human needs, then that society should not stand. It should be challenged and questioned and overthrown. Waking up to the long legacy of brutality of American history and subjugating the world's population has been something we wanted to challenge through music." - Zach De La Rocha, 1997.

On November 3rd, 1992, Rage Against the Machine's Debut Album took America by storm with an unconventional mixture of rap, hard rock and political activism that had never been heard before. In its entirety, the album seeks to criticize and expose the extortion of the western proletariat by the combination of capitalism and distorted governance.

Nearly 30 years later, aspects of these distortions have not been eliminated, but have been exacerbated by an administration and enablers who choose to serve themselves at the expense of society. As such, this album is perhaps even more appropriate to be included as an essential song for Election Day.

To reduce this album to a concept, Rage Against the Machine is a cathartic scream that vocalizes the frustration of the people. The album's fourth track, "Freedom," is the embodiment of these frustrations, not in lyrics, but in tone. De la Rocha's explosive method of attack shrieks for the unheard. While we watch an attempted destruction on the integrity of our democracy, it seems that there exists no mood more appropriate than the call to anger of "Freedom.” Anger is a gift. — Matt Gonzalez

Sonic Youth “Youth Against Fascism” (1992)

Released in 1992, Sonic Youth’s “Youth Against Fascism” still rings true. The catchy post-punk lyrics are unfortunately on-the-nose in today’s political and social landscape.

“You got a stupid man, you got a Klu Klux Klan / Your funky battle plan, it’s the song I hate, it’s the song I hate.”

It rings even truer in the lyrics referencing Anita Hill, an American lawyer who accused Clarence Thomas, her supervisor and Supreme Court nominee at the time, of sexual assault.

“Black robe and swill, I believe Anita Hill / Judge will rot in hell, it’s the song I hate, it’s the song I hate.”

I could go on, but I figure you get the picture. — Elise Miguel

Public Enemy “Fight the Power: Remix 2020”

“People, people, stronger than this evil / Smashin' your power structure, melanin royal, regal / System designed to kill and unprotect / Worldwide, hit the streets just to get some respect / Our fight and our rights for freedom will never waver / But justice Breonna Taylor, salute Chuck and Flava / Feel the same anger since Radio Raheem died / Black power to the people, push forward, pride.”

Public Enemy’s original rendition of “Fight the Power” was released in July of 1989. The song was the anthem for the Spike Lee classic, Do The Right Thing. The film portrays the racial tensions between black and white people on the hottest day of the year until things hit a boiling point. The entire track is a rallying cry for people to “fight the powers that be” and stick up to racial injustice and oppression. Later on in the film, during a riot (SPOILER ALERT, but it has been out for like thirty-one years), one of the black characters dies after being put in a chokehold by a white police officer, summing up the entire record in one brief action.

Even though it was released three decades ago, “Fight the Power” and the film it accompanies have arguably never been more relevant than they are right now, and Public Enemy took note of that. They released an updated version of the song in August, featuring Black Thought, Nas, Rapsody, YG, and Jahi. This song encapsulates the seemingly increasing racial oppression in our society today, and how there’s been very little change in the thirty years since the hit was conceived. — Ryan Conway

Woes “Ashamed in AmeriKKKa” (2020)

The title and video say it all.

My thoughts have been incredibly heavy seeing the current state of unrest across America. I contemplated speaking on my headspace, but decided against it as ...

“My thoughts have been incredibly heavy seeing the current state of unrest across America. I contemplated speaking on my headspace, but decided against it as I did not want to take away from the voices around me who need to be heard. I began writing and came to the conclusion that if I did not speak on what is unfolding in this country, I would be just another white, opportunistic rapper in this genre using it when it is convenient for me. Freedom is not free.” - Woes, July 2020.

Spillage Village “Ea’alah (Family) [feat. Hollywood JB]” (2020)

We keep hearing on news cycles and in our daily lives: “these are unprecedented times.” “Ea’alah” presents the complications of what maintaining hope means during the year of 2020. Between a global pandemic, racial injustice protests, and an audit of the United States’ entire lens of existing in this world, so many things have been called into question.

“I pray for my family, I pray about money, I pray about peace, I pray it’s all love...”.

When I first heard JID’s hook, it was positive. It made me feel connected, as if I’m one with humanity in that we all pray for the same things. However, as the song continues in this light and airy fashion, it’s interrupted by a phone call where Johnny Venus injects important insight into why praying and “good vibes'' are simply not enough. He quotes to God, “If it's the end of days, end of times, then here's my last request, I pray for power / To strike these cowards down and send 'em straight to You / that fear disappears and love brings again, clear and truth and peace...”

This declaration instantly brings us back to consciousness from the original lullaby chorus. He reminds us that it’s important to know we can derive hope from our connections with fellow humans who just want to survive and care for their loved ones. However, we have to make sure we do not let the myth of “collective humanity” blind us from speaking truth to those who use “feel-good” rhetoric to shut down progress and preserve a violent status quo. — Morgan Felberbaum

Kanye West “Lost in the World” (2010)

“Who will survive in America?” I haven’t experienced a time when those words ring louder than today. A haunting question not solely because of its bleakness, but its reality. — Sergio Morrison

Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On” (1971)

Obie Benson of the Four Tops wrote “What’s Going On” after he witnessed 1969’s Bloody Thursday, an incident of police brutality against anti-war activists in Berkeley, California.

“Picket lines, and picket signs, don’t punish me with brutality / Talk to me, so you can see what’s going on.”

The title is a question: “What’s going on?” However, Gaye is not really asking what’s going on, because he already knows from personal experience. Instead, he’s asking someone from the outside to listen to him without judgment so they, too, can understand the gravity of the brutality that is occurring in America. Even though the song was performed over half of a century ago, Marvin Gaye’s requests for understanding and empathy as a means to stopping violence remain disturbingly relevant. — Erica Thill

Bon Jovi “American Reckoning” (2020)

Bon Jovi’s “American Reckoning” is a somber and chilling reflection on the reality of America as history continues to repeat itself in 2020. Between the mournful tone and overtly powerful lyrics, this song embodies this dark year in history — particularly the murder of George Floyd and the nationwide protests that followed.

“God damn those eight long minutes / Lying face-down in cuffs on the ground / Bystanders pleaded for mercy / As one cop shoved a kid in the crowd / When did a judge and a jury / Become a badge and a knee / On these streets?”

“American Reckoning” tries to depict the fear of black people being disproportionately criminalized in America, and more importantly how our system constantly fails to protect its people. — Kyle Dandrea

“Is this a moment or movement? / Is this the tide or a flood? / Is our American reckoning / Our story written in blood? / Or in love? / Or in peace?”

Bob Dylan “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (1964)

Released at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in 1964, this quintessential protest song has remained relevant for generations because of its universally relatable lyrics about progress.

“Don’t criticize what you can’t understand / Your sons and daughters are beyond your command / Your old road is rapidly aging / Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand / For the times, they are a-changin”

I could not think of more apt words to describe the current political climate. It has felt like we’ve been on the precipice of significant change for years now. Progress is not linear, as we’ve seen in recent years. It’s often stifled by powerful reactionaries. But as more people continue to push for a better world, progress will hopefully become inevitable. — Tate Schwab

Sam Cooke “A Change Is Gonna Come” (1964)

Another anthem for the Civil Rights Movement, Cooke wrote “A Change Is Gonna Come” after a hotel denied him entrance in 1963. In the distorted minds of some, race was, and unfortunately still is, reason enough to justify the maltreatment of another human being. One would think, after centuries, mankind would see through the menacing folly of racism. One would assume better-educated, more sympathetic generations would destroy the lineage of racist and discriminatory teachings in the home.

One would think, and hope, that our federal, state, and local administrations, the bodies of civil servants charged with protecting the people, would have created programs that disincentivize racist behavior and educate rising generations on the moral and scientific merits of equality and diversity. Instead, our country faces a federal administration that shrugs away empiricism and calls Critical Race Theory “racist.” One would think. One would hope. And yet, here we are.

“It’s been a long time / A long time comin’, but I know / A change gon’ come / Oh, yes it will.”

To the benefit of humanity, Sam Cooke channeled such hatred into lyrics that propagate perseverance and optimism. It is hard, I will admit, to maintain such an outlook in the age of misinformation. But even as we see a surge in neo-Nazism, white supremacy, and the spread of a dangerous conspiratorial disease, it’s important to heed Sam Cooke’s simple message as it still holds true. — Nick Roche

“In joined hands there is still some token of hope, in the clenched fist none.” - Victor Hugo

The Style Council “Walls Come Tumbling Down” (1985)

A joyous and empowering anthem celebrating the power of uniting together to make change. A reminder that change is possible. And a rallying call for the working class that is catchy enough to (fittingly) make you want to join in and sing along. — Chris Daly

Bocafloja “Memoria” (2012)

A gritty and reminiscent feeling of early hip-hop, this piece reflects Boca’s profound ability to pen sincere reflections and examinations of the constructs and ideologies that pervade our Western world. His passion radiates both through his vocal performance and the depth of his pen. The fact that he rhymes en español is a powerful statement as well, articulating a voice and perspective that is oftentimes discounted or completely neglected in our general experience of hip hop music (and music in general). To me, Bocafloja’s music is a beautiful representation of the intersections of art, politics, and consciousness. — Leif Womack

will.i.am “It’s a New Day” (2008)

“I went asleep last night, Tired from the fight / I've been fighting for tomorrow, All my life / Yeah I woke up this morning, Feeling brand new / 'Cause the dream that I've been dreaming, has finally came true.”

When I hear this song, I feel empowered, and I do feel proud to be an American. I know we have so much to fix within this country, but when I hear the first verse, I’m hopeful that change can happen. This is more than a great instrumental matched with poetic lyricism. This is a song about pushing for change and staying hopeful for something new. When I listen, I think about all of my ancestors who couldn’t vote and were oppressed because of the color of their skin. I realize how far we have come, but I still understand that work needs to be done to keep pushing for better.

The fight my ancestors have fought and died for has not ended. There is still inequality and people that are disenfranchised in this nation. We need more than thoughts and prayers at this point — people need to fight for that beautiful tomorrow. We have seen so many leaders push for a better America and die. This isn’t a war on race, this is a fight that has been brewing in America since it originated.

This song is my anthem and a battle cry to anyone that feels like they are misrepresented or like their rights may be taken away. It’s about fighting for your natural freedoms, just like they did in the American Revolution and in the Civil War. Why should we stop doing that now? I say keep fighting for tomorrow, because there will be a new day when everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be. Don’t give up the fight. There will be a “New Day.” — Chris Buxton