For many of us, today is a pretty depressing and dark day. Tomorrow, millions of women and men will march in protest and for equality. Millions will raise their voices and speak out against oppression and hatred. All day I’ve had a set of songs running circles in my head–songs of resistance, of change, and of love. I’ll be tweeting about them all day but for those who want to just jump into the music, I’ve created a playlist on YouTube called Fight the Power.
We’re talking everything from Billy Joel to Bob Marley and The White Stripes (“Why don’t you kick yourself out? You’re an immigrant too!”). Lots of eras of music. You can also see the list of songs below the video in no particular order.
The playlist, which will auto-play through all 52 songs, is HERE, or you can hit play in the video below and stream the entire list without leaving my site.
1. For What It’s Worth — Buffalo Springfield
2. Fight the Power — Public Enemy
3. My City was Gone — The Pretenders
4. Icky Thump — The White Stripes
5. We Didn’t Start the Fire — Billy Joel
6. Blowin’ in the Wind — Bob Dylan
7. Sunday Bloody Sunday — U2
8. Aenemia — Tool
9. London Calling — The Clash
10. The End is the Beginning is the End — Smashing Pumpkins
11. What’s Goin’ On — Marvin Gaye
12. Beds are Burning — Midnight Oil
13. Fortunate Son — Creedence Clearwater Revival
14. I’m Afraid of Americans — Trent Reznor and David Bowie
15. Pancake — Tori Amos
16. Rise Above — Black Flag
17. It’s the End of the World — R.E.M.
18. Apocalypse Please — Muse
19. Here Comes the Flood — Peter Gabriel
20. Killing in the Name — Rage Against the Machine
21. Earth Died Screaming — Tom Waits
22. Gimme Shelter — The Rolling Stones
23. 99 Luftballoons — Nena
24. Strange Fruit — Billie Holiday
25. Black Hole Sun — Soundgarden
26. All Along the Watchtower — Cover by Jimi Hendrix
27. Blackstar — David Bowie
28. American Idiot — Greenday
29. Mercy, Mercy Me — Marvin Gaye
30. Red Skies — The Fixx
31. Well Thought Out Twinkles — Silversun Pickups
32. We Will Become Silhouettes — The Postal Service
33. Gimme Some Truth — John Lennon
34. Respect — Aretha Franklin
35. Born in the U.S.A. — Bruce Springsteen
36. Pink Houses — John Mellencamp
37. War — Bob Marley and the Wailers
38. Hallelujah Money — Gorillaz
39. The Arsonist — Puscifer
40. Same Love — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Mary Lambert)
41. One Love — Bob Marley
42. One Day — Matisyahu
43. A Change is Gonna Come — Sam Cooke
44. Imagine — A Perfect Circle (Cover)
45. Mississippi Goddam — Nina Simone
46. Brown Girl — Aaradhna
47. Down Rodeo — Rage Against the Machine
48. Free Your Mind — En Vogue
49. Your Racist Friend — They Might Be Giants
50. U.N.I.T.Y. — Queen Latifah
51. W. M. A. — Pearl Jam
52. I Will Survive — Gloria Gaynor