Ask Lemmy

Dropkick Murphy's

Grandson has some pretty good ones

Ren Gill is british, makes music.

Hard to encapsulate. Elements of Eminem, Prince, Springsteen, Dylan, Shakespeare, Gershwin, et al. Very insightful writing. Crazy talented.

As for political commentary, Money Game trillogy is an entry point.

Sharptooth has some lovely rage and very political lyrcis. They might fit this question. Then again they aren't super popular

Jesse Welles has been prolific.

What are you calling "this generation"? Mellenials are the largest generation and span from like late 20's to 40ish. Zoomers are graduating and entering the workforce. The generation younger than gen z (idk what their name is) are school aged and often the driving force behind what is and ist popular.

As a mellenial who considers RATM, Nirvana and 2pac as more gen x derived, id say the whole underground skateboard/snowboarding rap scene was the closest to those 3 bands when it comes to originality and music with a message. Off the top of my head I can think of Brother Ali, Atmosphere, Immortal Technique, Coremega, Jedi Mind Tricks

Less underground but still goats would be Nas, J.Cole, Eminem, Mac Miller, Jay Z. You cant name an artist more original than Lil Wayne with his whole never writing a single song down and saying whatever comes out of his mouth in the booth gets recorded.

As for bands, id go with, System of a Down, Jack White/White Stripes/Raconteurs/whatever other side projects Jack White has in the works, Green Day, American Idiot was pure blooded mellenial rebellion eventhough I would put them half in gen X (Dookie) and half in mellenial bucket (American Idiot). I was never an emo fan but My Chemical Romance's Black Parade album is one of the best rock opera albums ever released.

If you are using Limp Biscuit as an example of taking over the radio kind of popularity then id have to go towards country artists like Swift, Toby Kieth, Eric Church etc. Country went from being the red headed bastard of all music genres to becoming the most widely listened to genre accross all demographics in less than a decade.

Notable mentions that didnt make the list for near misses or for being too generationally ambiguous:

• Beyonce
• Foo Fighters
• No Doubt
• Sublime (even tho chronologically 100% gen x but I dont know a single peer in the mellenial gen that didnt have ever sublime album on hand with one cd always playing round the clock)
• ska bands like Pepper, Butthole Surfers, O.A.R., Badfish
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers
• Johnny Cash (his late in life album that he remade Hurt by NIN is arguably some of his best work)
• Blink 182
• the whole catalog from all the Dipset artists
• Outkast
• DMX
• Lupe Fiasco
• Common
• Mos Def
• hate him or love him you cant deny his influence on the entire music scene... Kanye "Benjamin Franklin didnt win 21 Grammys" West

I feel like this is a question entire music history courses are built off of. Especially being a mellenial, myself. All the generations before us could count music genres on one hand with subgenres not even a thing yet. And maybe im just old but I feel like the generation that has followed so far has completely checked out on making new music. I 100% admit I dont count EDM as meeting any definable characteristic of musical art. I mean I guess gen Z can have credit for the mellenial's left over hip hop evolution with Kendrick, Chance, and .... idk i guess mumble rap. I even looked up genZ musical artists and didnt find much else. Which isnt to say its bad but I certainly wouldn't include it with the names being tossed around in my main comment to the question cuz they could all battle for a spot on music's mount Rushmore of music lol.

Edit: I know im missing some big names but im not guna edit my list everytime kne pops in my head lol

Artists turned into regime whores after 2pac and biggie got shot and Cobain OD.

It is now all either prosperity gospel or just empty bullshit with no meaning.

I guess Tom McDonald calls it but he is kinda fringe.

In terms of explicitly stating issues, almost every genre of rap counts. Even some bs like Michigan trap can be interpreted as dudes talking about how shitty their lives are because of the social structures they live in.

In the same vain, every time an artist makes something completely new it’s a political statement. For example, right now there’s a lot of trans artists making extremely over the top pop music that would only be possible with modern music making techniques. And although the lyrical quality is often stuff like repeatedly saying “cunt” I can’t help but interpret it as a form of protest.

Because of the internet there isn’t one voice of protest music. Everyone is getting a different feed and exposure to different artists. But so much of it is a form of protest, you just have to look between the lines.

Billie Eillish seems like the biggest star with anti establishment messaging in their music right now

Maybe some rappers, i don't listen to rap tho

We didn’t have a Britney Spears since MadMax or whatever that black haired girl with the monotonous voice calls herself

Dead Pioneers

I'm pretty sure none of those are particularly "raging" against any "oppression", they were just popular, at least in Nirvana's case, in which case I guess Lil Peep would be comparable in popularity, impact and the immediate drama surrounding his suicide.