It's king gizzard y'all sleeping
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2025
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They're basically the Pink Floyd of our generation. Too bad they'll never have the same reach as PF or older bands due to the heavy current cultural fragmentation.
I listen to a lot of weird punk and am not particularly good at knowing what's popular, but I'd guess Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino and/or Run the Jewels?
RTJ is so fucking good at bringing that class conscious fire in the belly that RATM did. To be honest though, I think acts like Brass Against are keeping the music and the message alive and deserve a lot more visibility.
Brass against is so much fun!
(Admittedly, I have a soft spot for brass acts like March Fourth n Too Many Zoos.)
Fully agree, RTJ is probably the closest in terms of RATM fire but sadly generally figure them as the least popular of the three? (Though I am ignorant as hell about what's popular)
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The algorithm won't boost anything trying to rage against the machine. Gotta make generic bullshit to get clicks. Only way to make money these days is to get clicks
The "algorithm" is not some conspiranoic mastermind, it just serves whatever retains the most attention and generates clicks for advertisers. It's users who don't want to listen to because they prefer bland pop or whatever kids listen to these days.
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So you're saying that no one listens to music that isn't spoon-fed to them?
My friend, algos won't show me Swedish power metal, I gotta go find it. No one waited for Rage to come on the radio, you sought it out at the record store or from friends that had copied demo tapes and mix tapes.
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Jesus Christ you people will bitch about anything.
Please explain to me how an algorithm is worse than having to bribe execs to get on the radio and wait for the song to be played. And then if lucky it'll get played 40 times in repeat.
I'm sure this will be a coherent answer 🙄.
You're exactly right.
WTF algorithm was there to serve us on demand copying mix and demo tapes? We had to touch physical media to get the songs. It took effort, sometimes $5 in gas money, a stack of blank tapes at home, and working two-deck stereo.
Not just for Rage-type alt music and punk, but the entire early hip-hop and rap scenes were almost exclusively bootlegged and home-made.
This isn't about "kids today have it so easy" - this is about good songs overcoming massive headwinds to get popular and simply heard. Music discovery was word of mouth, rumors, and who had what on hand. The thrill of the hunt got you amazing results.
Right now there's probably someone making killer music and posting to YT or peertube with like 3 views because everyone just accepts the algo slop and no one looks for the gems.
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Run the Jewels
👉🤛
Zeal and Ardor.
An absolute top tier band that stand for human rights and who's lyrics reflect their beliefs.
Created by a black metal artist from Sweden who made one of the best black metal albums of the past 5 years, who have since released banger after banger.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/racist-4chan-comment-album/
Also seconded/thirded on Run the Jewels. "Close your eyes and count to fuck" is on the forever playlist.
Kneecap
Bob Vylan
Both got in trouble for speaking out about the Palestinian genocide.
100% agree with you.
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Good protest music is coming out now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZYB5v69n7w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpNDaMc02Eg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlIREcAu0PI
More mainstream artists like Macklemore, Bob Vylan, Kneecap are also out there fighting the good fight.
Check out Jesse Welles for more folky protest music.
He also has non-protest music too, but some good recent protest and political songs include:
Love this!
RTJ?
RTJ4 coming out right when the pandemic and George Floyd being murdered was magical. That album is straight gas. Saying this as a 48 year old white dude.
And then the tour getting cancelled for COVID and then Zack fucking his ankle was a real bummer.
Kneecap
100 Gecs maybe? Great as they are, I doubt it tbh. This gen is spoiled with choice more so than any before them (those lucky ducks). The internet-boom turned this game right on it's side and media companies are still trying to figure out how to get back to business as usual. Sure, they've got their superstar acts like Swift and Lamar, but even those two huge names are vocal about rejecting that same old order in a way that just wasn't feasible for similar acts a couple decades ago.
I think trying to find one singular act like your Nirvanas or Madonnas of the past just isn't going to work from now on. These days, tastes and takes are just too splintered to reach a satisfying consensus on something like this.
I’ve had this conversation with one of my older friends. We used to have a lot more of a monoculture when it came to media. You could joke about last night’s popular TV shows because nearly everyone you knew was watching them.
There just wasn’t as much stuff being produced at the time. Now, you can always be listening to something new, 24/7, and you still won’t even begin to tap the potential of “what’s popular”. And once you step outside the US, that blows up to a whole new proportion.
I feel like we need to define 'this generation'. Are we talking young people, currently popular artists? Because I'm at the age where you realize that you're not that young anymore xD
Apart from that I'd like to mention Doechii. Some of her songs are about black trauma and reflection on her live
Muse, maybe? Or even just those bands from the past again. Nirvana and Soundgarden and shit are constantly used in gen z tiktok memes.
But this generation is also more outside the box with where their content is coming from. There are musicians on Tiktok that are not present literally anywhwre else and have yet to release commercial albums I know are at least particularly popular on the platform from everyone I know who actually uses tiktok.
casual Muse fan and listened to a few RATM songs, I guess? Muse still do political songs but even their old songs isn't as charged as RATM old songs. That's the era where when they were smaller they'd be more daring is my reasoning for that comparison.
When Muse returned to perform in Malaysia on the WOTP tour, heard rumors that they took out We Are Fucking Fucked upon request. But even when I fainted for the last 4 songs listening back to the setlist that song doesn't seem to fit IMO
edit: I'd l0ve to explore TikTok musicians but the problem is they're on TikTok. still holding on not making an account there
IDLES
I dont think there is one. Many listening to so many artists.
But naethan apollo is one of my favorits!
It's hard for me to think of one as many artists may come out with a couple political songs, but it isn't necessarily their whole discography.
Macklemore and Childish Gambino come to mind for me as both have had political songs and somewhat politically active.
They're not so prolific or relevant now but I feel Rise Against deserves a mention. I did my senior essay on their work in high school and honestly it changed a lot of my political opinions doing research/listening for that.
I almost forgot, rise against and Tom Morello did this song live together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5hLetyUToI
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Reading all of this and not seeing Visgra Boys or Mannequin Pussy is weird. Shout out to Lamborghini Girls too.
I'm 40 so idk what the kids like.
I have never even read those names before, and I think this illustrates the issue.
Protest songs used to reach world wide top charts because that's what people bought. This was ruined by commercialization, so that charts now only show what labels want to sell. People who actually choose what music to consume will scatter out into online bubbles that are completely detached from the mainstream and public view.
This makes it almost impossible to reach as big an audience as done by RATM and others did in previous decades.
Perhaps young people ought to do protest TikToks instead of protest songs.
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