10 Protest Songs from the 80s

“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” -- Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

Today, promises to become an historic placard in the memory bank of Generation Y (1982-1996) and even some younger members of Generation X (1961-1981). All across the globe, they marched in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. From Occupy London to Occupy L.A., they marched against greed, environmental degradation, plutocracy and joblessness.

Joined by older generations, they marched for the American dream, a hope that has been eclipsed by the dysfunctional marriage of Democracy and Capitalism. If in fact they are wedded as we have always been told, Occupy Wall Street sides with the battered spouse.

Can this marriage be saved?


Some say Occupy Wall Street has not yet defined its demands, but this is lunacy. The demands are spelled out on 10 million posters and Facebook status updates. From Occupy Dallas to Occupy Detroit here are some of the more obvious requests:


Quality Public Education
Affordable Housing
A Safe Work Environment
Health Care
Collective Bargaining
A Living Wage
Environmental Sustainability
End to War
Crooks Brought to Justice
Judicial Reform
Publicly Funded Campaigns
Lobbying Reform

Protest Songs of the 1980s

I've been thinking all day about the protest songs of my own youth. The issues they explored were specific such as the war in the Falklands, violence in Northern Island and apartheid. But, the themes were the same as they are today. These include social justice, war, unemployment, environmental disaster, poverty and greed. 

Here are 10 of those songs, anthems of my generation, "disaffectionately" known as Generation X.                                 


1.  99 Red Balloons

99 Luftballons came out in 1983. It's by the German band Nena and it's about simple red balloons triggering a nuclear war. I've always wondered if the French film we all saw in grade school, The Red Balloon, served as some inspiration for the song. I loved that film and I love 99 Luftballons. Most Poignant Line:

Ninety-nine dreams I have had
Every one a red balloon
Now it's all over and I'm standin' pretty
In this dust that was a city




2.  Telegraph Road by Dire Straits

Telegraph Road is a song by the British band Dire Straits. At more than 14 minutes long, it is one of the longest songs of my generation. It came out in 1982, and it's about Detroit, built from scratch and destroyed by capitalism. Most Poignant Line:

Used to like to go to work but they shut it all down
I got a right to go to work, no work here to be found
Yeah and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
We're gonna have to reap from the seed that's sowed

3.  Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits

Brothers in Arms, also by Dire Straits, was released in 1985. It's about the Falklands War and was banned by the BBC in the United Kingdom. Most Poignant Line:

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die

But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms


4.  Army Dreamers by Kate Bush

Army Dreamers is an anti-war song that came out in 1980. Although I never cared for the video, the lyrics were memorable. They tell the story of a mother's grief after her son dies during military maneuvers. Most Poignant Line:

Our little army boy
Is coming home from B.F.P.O.
I've a bunch of purple flowers
To decorate a mammy's hero.

Mourning in the aerodrome,
The weather warmer, he is colder.
Four men in uniform
To carry home my little soldier.

I came across a blog post by the Acccidental Activist. He asks, "Where are the Kate Bushes of today?"

5.  Bastards of Young by The Replacements

If Generation X had a rock anthem this might be it. Most Poignant Line:

Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung

Dreams unfulfilled, graduate unskilled

It beats pickin' cotton and waitin' to be forgotten

We are the sons of no one, bastards of young

We are the sons of no one, bastards of young

The daughters and the sons...

 6.  My Hometown by Bruce Springsteen

This song is on the 1984 Born in the USA album. The title song was also a protest song, but this one I found easier to relate to. Most Poignant Line:

They're closing down the textile mill 'cross the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back
To my hometown...


7.  Belfast Child by Simple Minds

While U2 had a lot of great protest songs, I decided to pick one you may not have thought about in a long time. Belfast Child by Simple Minds came out in 1989. It's a song about Irish war. Most Poignant Line:

Brothers, sisters where are you now
As I look for you right through the crowd
All my life here I've spent
With my faith in God the Church and the Government
But there's sadness abound
Some day soon they're gonna pull the old town down

8.  Channel Z by The B-52s

Channel Z by the B-52s was released in 1989. It's packed full of references to Carter, Reagan, environmental pollution and Oliver North.  Most Poignant Line:
I want the world to change for me! Gotta get away
Away from Z---Living on the edge of Z
Space junk---laser bombs---ozone holes
Better put up my umbrella!
Giant stacks blowin' smoke
Politicrits pushin' dope


All I know---we've got to change what's happening
Something good could happen
I feel light has got to come through---and I need it
Something big and lovely

9.  The End of the Innocence by Don Henley

Although many people think this 1989 song by Don Henley is about divorce, it's actually a metaphor for farmers who struggled under Reagan's policies. Most Poignant Line:

O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie

But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind

Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence


10.  Help Save The Youth of America by Billy Bragg

This song by Billy Bragg was written in 1985, but it might as well have been written today. The blogger, The Philosopher King, agrees with me. =)

Most Poignant Line:

And the fate of the great United States
Is entwined in the fate of us all...
And the cities of Europe have burned before
And they may yet burn again
And if they do I hope you understand
That Washington will burn with them
Omaha will burn with them
Los Alamos will burn with them

What protest songs do you remember? Other Generation X anthems I liked included Weeping by Bright Blue, which was about apartheid; Subdivisions by Rush and If A Tree Falls by Bruce Cockburn.