Matt Zeitlin

Amanda is trying to think up some good protest songs.  Now, as someone who (would have been) of the left since the 60s, I should be a fan of protest songs.  And songs like “A Change is Gonna Come”, “Blowin’ in the Wind” and, of course, Edwin Starr’s “War” are classics of the genre.  In recent years, however, mainstream protest songs have just been awful.  From Green Day’s bitching about the “redneck agenda” (American Idiot) to Conor Oberst’s incomparably whiny “When the President Talks to God,” many protest songs today are basically the left wing equivalent of Toby Keith.

Salvation, as always, comes from Texas…by way of Montreal.  Arcade Fire’s Intervention is a protest song par excellence.  Every lyric is a shot at the Bush administration and the current state of American culture and politics.  The song has genuine feeling and emotion, without treating its listeners like morons.  The message is at the same time subtle and blindingly clear.  And unlike many protest songs, the actual song writing is very solid, you can hum along, dance and hate on the Bush administration all at the same time.  This is how protest songs should be done: