"American Anthems" - John Mellencamp's favorite "protest songs" . . .

[OneBlueSky]

happened to run across the November, 2004, issue of Vanity Fair, which includes a Mellencamp article on protest songs and social conscience . . . can't find it online, but here's his "Top Ten," without the commentary . . .

1. Woody Guthrie
This Land Is Your Land
Deportee (Plane Wrect at Los Gatos)
Do-Re-Mi
Vigalante Man
This Train Is Bound for Glory

2. Bob Dylan
Masters of War
A Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall
Only a Pawn in Their Game
The Times They Are A-changin
Blowin' in the Wind

3. John Lennon
Imagine
Give Peace a Chance
Working Class Hero
Woman Is The Nigger of the World

4. Buffy Sainte-Marie
Universal Soldier

5. Billie Holiday
Strange Fruit

6. Marvin Gaye
What's Going On

7. Neil Young
Ohio

8. Bob Marley
Get Up, Stand Up
(co-written with Peter Tosh

9. Les McCann & Eddie Harris
Compared To What

10. Pete Seeger
We Shall Overcome

good selection, imo, but I'd also include Seeger's Waist Deep In The Big Muddy, Phil Ochs' I Ain't Marching Anymore, and Country Joe and the Fish's Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag . . .

for you younger DUers who may not be familiar with a lot of these, it would be well worth your while to look them up and give a listen . . .

and for us older folk, it's great nostalgia . . . :)

[AngryAmish]

1. Walk This Way by Run-DMC

[SteppingRazor]

2. Kinda sucks that it's got nothing new on there...

lots of great antiwar songs written in the last few years, everyone from Steve Earle to Neil Young to Dixie Chicks ... hell, even Pink had a pretty good one.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Fortunate Son will always be one of my faves