Progressive Music Mix Vol. 2

Music can be a great source of inspiration. Music allows people who don't always get along or know each other to bond. Music can make situations lighter and more enjoyable.

A few points before I get to the list of songs. I limited the numbers of songs by Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, because although I could make an entire list just of the songs of any one of them I felt that I should try a get a variety of songs on the list. The only real criterion was that it speak about progressive values, regardless of in which era the music was written or by what artist or the style of music. The songs are in no particular order.

And on to the list:

Pete Seeger - We Shall Overcome
I am not sure why this wasn't on the first list. To me there are very few songs that really signify progressive values more then this classic. This song goes hand in hand with the civil rights movement.

John Lennon - Imagine.
John Lennon gave us a vision of the future for us to work for. As a movement it's our ultimate goal to make the world better. The second link is a link to a cover song by the band A Perfect Circle and it puts a different twist on the song.

Bruce Spingsteen - Mrs McGrath
Yeah, this is a cover of a Pete Seeger song, but the video done by a fan is a compilation of anti-war images and this was off Springsteen's last album, which is just a great album full of songs with progressive values and amazing sound.

Dead Kennedys - Kill the Poor
An ironic Punk song about the conservative war on America's poor. "Kill the Poor" was the leadoff track to the 1980's classic "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" and is considered a classic of the early punk era as well as one of the Kennedys' best-known and most-loved songs.

Neil Young - Shock and Awe
Another Classic artist singing a great anti-Bush/anti-war song. Any song that mocks Bush and the war in Iraq is great in my book.

System of a Down - Boom
It is a protest song with a video of the protests against the war in Iraq. This video has some great crowd scenes and a wonderfully humorous cartoon. There is a chance if you protested this current war that you are in this video.

Tom Petty and Heartbreakers - Won't Back Down
We are looking to change this country for the better and we will find obstacles whereever we go. Progressives have pushed for all the great things about our country, including an end to slavery, universal sufferage, and everything else, and conservatives have fought us at every turn. They'll continue to fight us, but we can't stop or back down.

Edwin Starr - War
There is still nothing good about war.

Faithless - Weapons of Mass Destruction.
There is no subtlety in this song and its references to Halliburton and Tony Blair, amongst others, make this a poignant song. Nuclear bombs are not the only weapons of destruction we need to worry about.

Tom Paxton – Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation
Our President lied to us about war, we have to prevent that from happening again, oh wait...

Patti Smith - People have the power.
This is a people powered movement.

What do you think?