Geobits t1_je9pm4t wrote on March 30, 2023 at 1:11 PM

>...all the radio pop/rock bands...

That's most of the problem, right there. If you're just listening to the radio, you're missing out. Radio is only going to play what their owners want, and it's not really in their interests to stir things up right now. Keep in mind that the vast majority of radio stations are owned by just a very few corporations, and they make literal tons of money with the status quo.

If you want to find protest music, or music with social commentary, look for that. Google it up and you'll find plenty available to stream or buy.

FunintheSunn-O- t1_jea1i9p wrote on March 30, 2023 at 2:40 PM

I get what you're saying but I get really tired of the "then just don't listen to mainstream" argument.

Mainstream music media is literally the only way to reach any sort of real audience. It's the only way for artists to be seen or heard by a large enough group of people in order for a protest song to make an actual impact.

The fact that they refuse to ever deviate from the pop/rap formula is not only extremely harmful to music as an art medium (especially when it comes to historical preservation of songs) but also its detrimental to our culture as a whole because the once great medium for societal protest known as mainstream music is completely gone, at a time when we could really use it.

If it were as easy as just not listening that would be great but its so very much more complicated than that.

Geobits t1_jea8urc wrote on March 30, 2023 at 3:33 PM

I agree with you in general, but the OP was asking about a specific type of music. The sad fact is that mainstream music today really doesn't do much social commentary (there are a couple exceptions that others have pointed out, but in a general sense), so it's hard to give good answers besides "you need to broaden what you're listening to". If OP wants to know where it is and it's not on the radio, what other answers are there?

The angle that the lack of mainstream social commentary is most likely by design is another topic, but even if you don't buy into that, it's still not on most radio stations.