Music with a Message

Next weekend on Music with a Message I will be playing some heavy metal political music in the first half hour.

I will be then moving onto some tracks referring to war and hope to be playing both the Redgum and The Herd versions of ‘I was only 19’ – I have been looking into the resuse of political songs in new versions – both covers and adaptations - in recent weeks and for those that aren’t familiar with this song, the Redgum version (which I think may have been a cover as well but I am not sure) is sung in a very traditional/folk Australian way while The Herd's version, which was released much more recently, is performed in a hip hop style with a sample of the Redgum version towards the end.

I then hope to move on to a wider range of songs which cover topics including industrial relations, women’s rights, Indigenous land rights, civil rights, Apartheid and drug laws.

The radio station where I do my show is community based and largely operated by volunteers and in recent weeks there have been some equipment breakdowns. Some of these tracks are AAC encoded and last night I was unable to play these types of tracks. [Luckily all the heavy metal songs are mp3s ;-p ].

Lamb of God, Bootscraper
Lamb of God, Blood Junkie
Michael Schenker & Tim Owens (cover of Black Sabbath), War Pigs
Racer X (cover of Black Sabbath ), Children of the Grave
Nuclear Assault, Third World Genocide
Nuclear Assault, Price of Freedom

Edwin Starr, War
Sting, Russians
Sting, They Dance Alone
Redgum, I was only 19
The Herd, I was only 19
Rage Against the Machine, Killing in the Name
U2, Pride (In the Name of Love)
Bjork, Declare Independence
Buffy Sainte Marie, Universal Soldier

Gene Autry, The Death of Mother Jones
Uncle Dave Macon, We’re Up Against it Now
Tracy Chapman, Behind the Wall
Helen Reddy, I am Woman
Our Home Our Land, Solid Rock
Midnight Oil, One Country
JB Lenoir, Alabama Blues
Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit
Chuck D and the Slamjamz, Say It Loud I’m Black and I’m Proud
Simple Minds, Mandela Day
Peter Tosh, Fight Apartheid
Peter Tosh, Legalise it
Peter Tosh, Dont Want to Be Busted
Billy Bragg, Bush War Blues
Billy Bragg, Days Like These