We often think of protest music as intense, stoic affairs, à la Bob Dylan in the 1960s. But just because a song is speaking out against social injustices doesn’t mean that it has to be stuffy and boring. In fact, some of the best protest songs make you think and groove simultaneously. And that is exactly what these one-hit wonders from the 1980s do.
“Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant
Thanks to movies like Pineapple Express, many of us associate Eddy Grant’s 1983 track “Electric Avenue” with feeling good, high spirits, and funky reggae fusion. But the backstory to this chart-topping hit is far darker than its music would have you believe.
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Grant was watching news footage of the 1981 Brixton riot, a three-day period of heightened tensions between the police and the Black community of Brixton, London, when he was inspired to write “Electric Avenue”. Speaking to The Guardian years later, Grant said, “The song just flowed from there. I had been talking to politicians and people at a high level about the lack of opportunity for Black people. And I knew what was brewing. The song was intended as a wake-up call.”
“Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats
While Men Without Hats’ protest was about something far less socioeconomically significant than Eddy Grant’s hit, the group’s 1982 song, “The Safety Dance”, was, technically, a protest song. Specifically, this one-hit wonder was protesting certain forms of dancing associated with the new-wave movement being banned at nightclubs.
Speaking to Sam Tweedle in 2012, frontman Ivan Doroschuk said, “Pogoing was the first sort of punk dance. Slam dancing and the mosh pit all kind of grew out of pogoing. I got thrown out of a lot of clubs because of that. So, that’s basically the origin. I was kind of mad that they wouldn’t let me dance if I wanted to. So, I took matters in my own hands.”
“Beds Are Burning” by Midnight Oil
Australian rock band Midnight Oil had no idea that their song protesting against Aboriginal communities’ land rights being taken from them would turn into an international hit, but turn into an international hit it did. Midnight Oil released “Beds Are Burning” in 1987, which topped the charts in New Zealand and Canada. It also broke into the Top 20 in Australia and on the Billboard Hot 100 in the States.
“We hoped the chorus would send a real shiver down the spine,” drummer Rob Hirst told Songwriting Magazine in 2019. “Land rights are something that appear in so many countries around the world, New Zealand, Canada, the United States. But we were determined that Midnight Oil wouldn’t be seen as one of those international bands, writing songs that could have come from anywhere. We were determined to put places, names, and other specific bits and pieces in all our songs.”
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