While working on The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, an idea for a critical installment of the feature came to mind: a list of the best protest albums and songs, as presented to us by someone who knows their stuff. That person is Mark Goodman, who handles vocals, lyrics and composition for Major Spark. Goodman also had tenure in the band Magnet, which also featured Moe Tucker of The Velvet Underground. While Goodman was still a member of the band, Magnet guested for Madonna’s Erotica. (Just a reminder: Today is not April Fools’ Day.)
Meanwhile, multi-instrumentalist Brian Charles – whose friendship with Mark Goodman has lasted almost their entire lives – is the other central figure in Major Spark. The Bad Penny recently interviewed him as well. We’ll post a feature detailing much more about the band and its two central members in the near future. But in the meantime, Goodman gave us a very diverse and undisputed high-quality batch of the best protest songs ever made. We couldn’t hold off sharing the list until October 2, which marks the day Major Spark‘s next album, Kill the Truth, will be out.
1. Billy Bragg and Wilco’s “All You Fascists”
(with lyrics by Woody Guthrie)
Obvious choice.
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