...certainly the most joyous Protest Song I can recall.

There's a couple by Iris DeMent on her 1996 album The Way I Should which are powerful and not preachy, just constructed from observation. "There's a Wall in Washington" based around the Vietnam memorial and the impact of war on the families of the fallen, and "Wasteland of the Free" which is a bitter and emotional critique on the state of the USA at the time

then a lot of great songs are political.

Call me a pathetic idealist but I find the sight of crowds of kids going apeshit to Gossip's 'Standing In The Way Of Control' to be a wonderul, rousing, hopeful thing. Forget all the "roly-poly squirrel-munching hillbilly Beth Ditto" tabloid guff - the fact that this is a song by an openly gay, working-class woman about celebrating diverse individual identities (and the right to gay marriage) in the face of ugly conformism which doesn't preach or lecture but instead rocks like a MUTHA is, I think, a deeply political statement.

'Ghost Town' was political as hell. Green Day's 'American Idiot', whatever you might think of them as a band, and however blunt its message might be, was a massively political act to release, coming as it did in a period of terrifying conformism and complacency in the States. In context, even dance music can be political, whether it was disco and house music's defiant expression of racial mixing and diverse sexualities, or the furious anti-authoritarianism and self-organisation of things like the Exodus raves and the community actions that spun out from them in the 90s. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, political is as political does - and songs and musical styles as part of wider cultural movements have very often played an important part in social and political shifts. 'Dancing In The Streets', anyone?

plenty of Jam, Clash, Bragg, might even be one or two Dylan songs.

loads of Curtis' songs, both with the Impressions and solo - Choice of Colours, We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue, all of the album "There's No Place Like America Today".

A great Kent compilation : "Change Is Gonna Come - The Voice Of Black America 1963-1973" - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Change-Gonna-Come-Various-Artists/dp/tracks/B000...

including "Forty Acres & A Mule", "Stay With Your Own Kind" & "To Be Young, Gifted & Black".

Brother James

"Tramp The Dirt Down" is, I believe, as song about the death of Thatcher and how Costello will visit her grave after her death and trad in the dirt just toi make sure she is in there and that she isn't coming out again. That's pretty political, and it's a great song, too.

...I know, but let's examine 'Shipbuilding' a bit. Clever lyrics, without doubt (although, like 'Pills and Soap', way too obscure to have any significant impact beyond a knowing clique), but their power lies in whether or not you accept the 'is it worth it?' line. The thing is, if the British government had followed the same line as in the years before of totally ignoring the Falklands and turned a blind eye to an Argentinian takeover, you can just as easily imagine a protest from the left that they were in league with a fascist Junta and had cynically abandoned its own citizens.

Also, whenever Costello is held up as a paragon of virtue I feel compelled to point out that this is the same person who called James Brown a 'jive-ass nigger' and Ray Charles a 'blind, ignorant nigger'. Yes, he was drunk, but ask yourself whether you've felt you couldn't stop yourself shouting racist abuse whenever you've had a few too many. No? me neither.

...despite it's reputation. "Won't Get Fooled Again", too.

the 70s and 80s were not just a magical time of Spangles, space-hoppers and swing-your-pants dancing to Abba as presented in so many rosy spectacled re-imaginings of our recent past but also a time of unrest, upheaval and rebellion - taking place in Bristol, Liverpool and Brixton, London. One of the most characteristic political trends of that time was the emergence of a distinct Black British voice. This voice had it's authentic realisation in the indigenous reggae of Steel Pulse, Aswad and Linton Kwesi Johnson.

It was a voice raised in anger

..fucking..tastic. Had that LP since it first came out.

As a couple posters have mentioned the Specials it's worth pointing out that the FB3 continued in that vein, eg, "The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum", and "The More I See The Less I Believe" which is probably the best pop song ever written about the Troubles (not that the competition in that category is particularly fierce).

Lots of good examples of how music can make a point in non-clunky ways - but what I had in mind is stuff like this.

Oh I see its all a right wing conspiracy and war is a bad thing. I get it now