A brief history of musicians being political

And the repercussions they faced

Jul 03, 2025

Back in April, I wrote this piece asking: “Is music finally political again?” and, honestly, I have been doing everything in my power not to revisit this subject out of fear of flogging a dead horse.

Not everyone shares my special interest in the intersection of politics and pop culture, so I am wary of this newsletter turning into a digital version of sitting across the table from me in a coffee shop, infodumping about how the media and authorities have treated KNEECAP as a scapegoat during a time of government-backed genocide.

However…

I’ve always promised to write about what is on my mind here, and not what I think people want to read. Otherwise, it quickly becomes disingenuous.

… so, I couldn’t let Glasto'25 pass by without a little bit of analysis.

What’s going on?

All eyes were on Worthy Farm last weekend as the event promised to bring together musicians, many of whom (not Rod Stewart) have shared arguably ‘controversial’ views in recent months. So, the hundreds of Palestinian and trans pride flags were a surprise to no one.

The BBC was so nervous about what my lads KNEECAP were going to do that they decided not to broadcast their set live, instead posting it largely unedited on iPlayer later in the evening (they even kept in the Fuck Keir Starmer chant, which surprised even me.)

However, punk duo Bob Vylan made the headlines, having led a chant of “Death to the IDF” — the IDF being the Israeli Defense Force, the country’s national military, which over the Glastonbury weekend alone killed hundreds of men, women, and children in Gaza.

To argue semantics, saying “death to…” an entity like the IDF is calling for the end of said entity, not the violent death of the soldiers (Bobby didn’t say ‘death to IDF soldiers’). Obviously, recognising and acknowledging nuance is not the media’s strong suit at this point, and lead singer Bobby did really hand Starmer’s government the next sacrificial lamb on a plate (perfect timing to distract from the story that the UK’s High Court ruled that our export of fighter jet parts to Israel is lawful.)

Anyway, the furore of this year’s festival got me thinking about times when musicians have put their necks on the line for politics, and what consequences they faced as a result.

It’s time for a history lesson.

Black Sabbath - War Pigs (1970)

In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh, Lord, yeah
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor, yeah

Ozzy and his crew protested the US’s role in the Vietnam War, echoing the fear felt by many young men, including Sabbath’s bassist Geezer Butler, that they might be called up to fight in the jungle.

In my research, I couldn’t find any real significant consequences felt by Black Sabbath following the release of this anti-war protest song. Perhaps, due to the band’s placement in the metal genre and privilege as white men, they didn’t face the same attention or backlash at the time?

It’s also worth noting that the last fifty years have scrambled Ozzy’s wife Sharon’s brain, as she was one of the first to demand KNEECAP’s US visas be revoked.

Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen (1977)

God save the Queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
A potential H bomb
God save the Queen
She ain't no human being
There is no future
In England's dreaming

The London punk-rockers released this anti-monarchy anthem on Queen Elizabeth II’s silver jubilee. In the 2000 documentary The Filth and the Fury, lead singer Johnny Rotten said of the song: “You don't write 'God Save The Queen' because you hate the English race, you write a song like that because you love them; and you're fed up with them being mistreated…"

It seems Rotten and crew faced significantly more backlash than Sabbath for this release. The song was immediately banned from BBC TV and radio, and many retailers refused to stock the record.

Despite the attempts at censorship, the record reached No. 2 in the charts that week behind Rod Stewart’s I Don’t Want To Talk About It— a fact I find particularly funny now given his political views.

Some sources believe God Save the Queen was actually the best-selling record of the week, but censorship pushed it down. Either way, it was an impressive effort given this was the pre-Internet days, meaning people would have to go hunting for the record in stores physically.

Age has not done Rotten any favours either, as he was recently quoted saying the Belfast rappers “need a bloody good kneecapping”— perhaps they really did make him a moron.

N.W.A - Fuck Tha Police (1989)

We have a warrant for Eazy-E's arrest
Get down and put your hands right where I can see 'em!
Man, what the fuck did I do? Man, what did I do?
Just shut the fuck up and get your motherfucking ass on the floor!
But I didn't do shit
Man, just shut the fuck up!
Eazy-E, won't you step up to the stand
And tell the jury how you feel about this bullshit?

It’s a wonder anyone even heard the track as only one radio station in the entire world was playing it— triple j, a youth radio station in Australia, hammered Fuck Tha Police for six months in an incredible effort to challenge censorship. They were eventually banned, and the station staff went on strike in protest.

The way this tune spread across the entire planet before the internet is truly remarkable and cannot be understated. While it referred to local events in the band’s hometown of Compton, it clearly echoed the global sentiment that the authorities were not on the side of the people.

This iconic song shocked almost everyone at the time, with the FBI writing to N.W.A’s record company to push them to be dropped: "Advocating violence and assault is wrong and we in the law enforcement community take exception to such action." The original letter is now on display in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Sinéad O’Connor - War (Bob Marley cover performed live on SNL in 1992)

That until the basic human rights are equally
guaranteed to all, without regard to race
A dis a war.

That until that day
the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
rule of international morality
will remain in but a fleeting illusion
to be pursued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war.

Irish singer-songwriter and political activist Sinéad O’Connor committed career suicide on Saturday Night Live after performing an a cappella cover of Bob Marley’s iconic anti-war protest song.

O’Connor tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II, stolen from her mother’s bedroom, and said: “Fight the real enemy.” This referred to the child abuse scandal facing the Catholic Church.

A few weeks later, a 30-tonne steamroller crushed O’Connor’s albums outside the Rockefeller Center in New York City (her record company’s HQ) in a counterprotest. This was the start of a steady decline for O’Connor’s mainstream career, although she retained a loyal fan base until her death in 2023.

The sacrifice she made was never forgotten. Like artists facing visa battles and other significant efforts to silence them now in 2025, Sinéad O’Connor always stood by her views, even when they meant her career suffered as a result.

Rage Against The Machine - Bulls On Parade (performed live on SNL in 1996)

Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes
Not need, just feed the war cannibal animal
I walk the corner to the rubble that used to be a library
Line up to the mind cemetery now
What we don't know keeps the contracts alive and movin'
They don't gotta burn the books they just remove 'em
While arms warehouses fill as quick as the cells
Rally 'round the family, pockets full of shells

Another SNL classic, RATM performed their single Bulls On Parade on the show in front of two USA flags, hung upside down across the amplifiers— typically used to signal dire distress. This was a protest against the show’s host of the week, Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes.

The band was escorted from the building mid-way through their two-song performance.

This is just one of many examples I could use for RATM’s anti-establishment antics, and a great example of how media silencing (like that facing KNEECAP and Bob Vylan) will only draw more attention to the performers, who are not afraid of the consequences when they know they’re doing the right thing at the time.

Green Day - American Idiot (2004)

Don't wanna be an American idiot
One nation controlled by the media
Information age of hysteria
It's calling out to idiot America

Most readers will remember the release of this anti-war song first-hand. I saw Billie Joe and the crew perform it live in my second-ever gig when I was just 13.

Likely due to the fact that society was pretty used to angry white men playing guitar at this point, the backlash wasn’t particularly significant for this record despite its strong sentiment.

I will say, unlike Osbourne and Rotten, Billie Joe Armstrong has kept his integrity, and regularly uses this song to protest whatever is irking him at the time (having changed the lyrics to mock Elon Musk, for example).

I could share examples like those above for hundreds more words, but Substack is warning me I’m about to hit a character limit.

The moral of this story is that the messaging is most powerful when artists are unafraid of the consequences of their actions. Like with Sex Pistols’ chart success, no efforts by authorities will ever successfully silence bands that are echoing the sentiment of the listeners and, if anything, the internet is only making this harder for them to do anyway.

Please share your favourite protest song with me below!

💌 About this email

I’m Ellen, and I write about mental health for the chronically online. I am a freelance copywriter, strategist and web designer, and I work from home with my husband, Craig, at Content By The Sea. We have two rescue greyhounds, Potter and Harmony, and a toddler.

I started this newsletter in March 2020 and have sent over 200(!) emails; currently, I have over 1,300 subscribers. I write about a wide variety of topics, including diet culture, my love of running, jealousy, my life falling apart, mam guilt, and this dystopian world we all live in.

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