Political mainstream pop songs

And "Eve Of Desctruction" by Barry McGuire, to add something that isn't from the 80s.

Hongroe - Kill All Jews

God Save the Queen

The 1960s to thread?

"9 to 5," Dolly Parton

"She Works Hard for the Money."

Wham! - "Wham! Rap", "Young Guns Go for It"
Scritti Politti - "HI DERE WE ARE CALLED SCRITTI POLITTI GUESS WHAT OUR SONGS IS ABOUT?"
Blow Monkeys - "Smirking Sophisticated Soul Pastiches About How Awful Thatcher Is"
Chas and Dave - "Send the Buggers Back"

gon-na whi-drah mah lay-bah!

Blow Monkeys, good call.

As for Scritti Politti, they haven't had more than three songs that could be considered mainstream hits, and they were all lovesongs, however in a somewhat subtle way.

"God Save The Queen" was obviously a mainstream hit in that it hit (offically...) UK #2. But just how many housewives and teenage girls did it appeal to?

Anyway, some more obvious pop songs with political lyrics:

Gimme Hope Jo'anna - Eddy Grant
Jesus He Knows Me - Genesis
The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum - Fun Boy Three
Enola Gay - OMD

Scritti's songs are about much more about the politics of "love" than they are about love.

Style Council obviously have several entries here too. This thread is basically LOL Red Wedge.

Ive had relations with girls from many nations
Ive made passes at women of all classes
And just because youre gay I wont turn you away
If you stick around Im sure that we can find some common ground

Chorus:
Sexuality - strong and warm and wild and free
Sexuality - your laws do not apply to me

A nuclear submarine sinks off the coast of sweden
Headlines give me headaches when I read them
I had an uncle who once played for red star belgrade
He said some things are really left best unspoken
But I prefer it all to be out in the open

Sexuality - strong and warm and wild and free
Sexuality - your laws do not apply to me
Sexuality - dont threaten me with misery
Sexuality - I demand equality

Im sure that everybody knows how much my body hates me
It lets me down most every time and makes me rash and hasty
I feel a total jerk before your naked body of work

Im getting weighed down with all this information
Safe sex doesnt mean no sex it just means use your imagination
Stop playing with yourselves in hard currency hotels
I look like robert de niro, I drive a mitsubishi zero

Sexuality - strong and warm and wild and free
Sexuality - your laws do not apply to me
Sexuality - come eat and drink and sleep with me
Sexuality - we can be what we want to be

i thought this was a pisstake at first, but no:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-z2D9lo9-8

And just because youre gay I wont turn you away
If you stick around Im sure that we can find some common ground ass to pound

Original draft.

American girls and american guys
Well always stand up and salute
Well always recognize
When we see old glory flying
Theres a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our head

My daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
Until the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy
In the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love
Has fallen under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flyin in
From somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world
Like the 4th of july

Hey uncle sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the statue of liberty
Started shakin her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, its gonna be hell
When you hear mother freedom
Start ringin her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue

Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
And youll be sorry that you messed with
The u.s. of a.
cause well put a boot in your ass
Its the american way

Hey uncle sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the statue of liberty
Started shakin her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, its gonna be hell
When you hear mother freedom
Start ringin her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue

This thread is basically LOL Red Wedge.

I guess Tory Hadley would have refused to sing political lyrics written by the Kemps though.....

http://weheartmusic.vox.com/library/audio/6a00cd970e4cda4cd500d09e841abfbe2b.html

I think It Bites' "Calling All the Heroes" was probably meant to be political or sump'n. Was "Sun City" a reasonable sized hit somewhere? My brother's probly still got that album.

Was "Sun City" a reasonable sized hit somewhere?

Sort of here at least. The acts behind it were considerably less "pop" than the ones behind "Do They Know It's Christmas" and "We Are The World" though.

Madness: Embarrassment, Grey Day, One Better Day, Yesterday's Men, Ghost Train...

american_idiot.jpg pt.94

Add "Uncle Sam" in the case of Madness.