Get Up!

I encourage everyone to do as the song says and GET UP!

Stop sitting around on your iPhone and MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

The environment, corruption, and human rights are all causes you can donate to with just the click of your mouse.

 It only takes one click; that same click that would normally go toward your narcissistic Facebook page.

Here's a few good places to start:
https://www.aclu.org/ for those who are concerned with their rights to freedom, privacy, and everything else covered by our Constitution.

http://www.hrc.org/the-hrc-story for those who are most concerned with LGBT equality.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/ for those who are concerned with human life and protecting it.

http://musicwam.org/ for those who play music with a message

Today's Problems in Song

Rise Against are the current kings of political punk. Their causes include freedom of speech, animal rights, and humans rights issues, from immigration reform to a worker's right to unionize.

The song "Re-Education(Through Labor)" is about your everyday worker, working 9-to-5, slaving away so a big man can get even richer. You struggle to make ends meet stay there with fear of being homeless. You can't leave the thing that will be the death of you. The song also parallels the mentality of sweatshop workers and their abysmal working conditions.

The song "Help is on the Way" is about the victims of Hurricane Katrina and how George W. Bush and FEMA failed to handle this tragedy properly, the government's efforts to bring the neighborhoods back to normal, as well as how they handled the BP oil spill.

Punk in the 90's

Bad Religion had already been on the L.A. punk scene for 10 years before they hit it big with their album Recipe For Hate. The hit single, "American Jesus", is about how George H.W. Bush thought we would win the Gulf War because "we had God on our side".

The Offspring released Smash in 1994. The song that made people take notice was "Come Out and Play". It's debated as to what its lyrics actually are talking about, but it obviously has to deal with guns and the safety of children, a topic which is still being debated today.

Modern Punk's Roots

In the 1980's, liberal minds felt much animosity toward the policies being implemented.

There were also loose ends that needed to be tied. After the infamous Vietnam War, a band known as the Dead Kennedys wrote what has become their most famous song, "Holiday in Cambodia". It satirizes the idealist American while depicting the brutal genocide done by Pol Pot in Cambodia.



The Dead Kennedys also talked about domestic problems. Another song from the same album as the aforementioned, "California Uber Alles", discusses the "hippie-facist" fantasy then and current governor of California Jerry Brown wanted for his state.

If you've ever heard California referred to as "Commiefornia", Jerry Brown is the reason why.

The Musical Revolution

Music can change people. Music can bring people together. At concerts, nobody cares what you look like. Everyone's there to share in the joy of liking the same king of music.

Combine this power with a political message, and you have the power to change the world.

Punk and politics have gone hand-in-hand since the 70's, with bands such as the Sex Pistols promoting songs about anarchy.



Music can make people care about anything, and many bands have used this in order to pertain to an educated audience that is aware of corruption and social injustice.

Bands have made careers out of writing about problems in the world. These include Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, Rise Against, Minor Threat, The Clash, and Anti-Flag. Bands like Green Day, The Offspring, and NOFX have also taken a crack at enlightening their listeners.

This blog contains examples just a few of these artists, and I encourage everyone reading this to give these bands a try.