10 Political Songs that Moved the Masses

Music has the potential to inspire change, raise awareness on controversial, difficult and sensitive topics, and more. The following are amazing songs by great artists, who used their creativity to take a stand against injustice. All these songs are unfortunately more than relevant in our time, as the dark side of humanity is becoming more prevalent, as opposed to less.

1. War - Edwin Starr

According to The Rolling Stone soul singer Edward Starr, also known under his real name Charles Hatcher, recorded this anti-war anthem in 1970 after he had been enlisted in the army for two years. 13 years later Bruce Springsteen released a cover version of "War". Music has the potential to inspire change, raise awareness on controversial, difficult and sensitive topics, and more. The following are amazing songs by great artists, who used their creativity to take a stand against political issues. All these songs are unfortunately more than relevant in our time, as some things haven't changed.

2. Blowin in the Wind - Bob Dylan

As NPR states, the song was released in 1963, Dylan himself claimed that it only took him 10 minutes to write the lyrics to the song, and described "Blowin' in the Wind" as spiritual in nature. The track has a philosophical touch on it, and centers around war, peace, and Freedom. Subsequently, it was adopted as the anthem for the Civil Rights Movement.

3. F**k the Police - N.W.A.

This track by N.W.A. was released on their album '"Straight Outta Compton" in 1988, and is a clear statement against police brutality, as reported by The Daily Beast.

4. Sun City - Artists United Against Apartheid

54 Musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Ringo Starr, Steven Van Zandt, and more protested Apartheid in South Africa on this song.

5. Fortunate Sun - Creedence Clear Water Revival

Creedence Clear Water is a group that showed their disdain of wealthy political sons whom avoided the draft and war due to their affluent parents.

6. Georgia Bush (George bush) - Lil Wayne

Georgia Bush is an amazing, modern protest song against George Bush, released in 2006. Lil Wayne also critiques how Hurricane Katrina was dealt with by the administration.

7. Ohio, Find the Cost of Freedom - Crosby Stills and Nash

This song is about the Kent University student sit-in were shot and killed during a protest of the Vietnam war.

8. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye is an r & b musician who sang about the Vietnam war. Marvin's songs also included many other political and social issues such as poverty, war, family relationships, race, crime, and more.

9. Sunday, Bloody Sunday- U2

This classic by legendary rock band U2 is about the slaughter of the Catholic protesters in Northern Ireland perpetrated by British Soldiers.

10. Spanish Bombs - The Clash

According to Wikipedia contributors, "Spanish Bombs",sung by The Clash, a popular English punk rock band in 1970's. Joe Strummer, lead singer of The Clash wrote the song, in 1979, about the ETA Basque separatist bombings in Spain of which he noted similarities with IRA bombings in Northern Ireland.

Spanish bombs illuminates the disparity between the droves of average, mentally void tourists in today's Spain versus the sea of revolutionaries and heroic poets (namely, the anti-fascist Federico García Lorca in 1939) who gave up their lives to transform Spain. The song shows Strummer's disdain for tourists because when they travel to countries, they are utterly oblivious to the the previous sacrifices made and specifically the history behind a country such as Spain.