Songs by Tosh, Marley and Junior Murvin make Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time
KINGSTON, Jamaica -Music publication Rolling Stone on Monday rolled out its list of the “100 Best Protest Songs of All-Time” and two songs by Bob Marley and the Wailers, one by Junior Murvin and one by Peter Tosh, were ranked among the list.
The number one spot is occupied by Sam Cooke’s 1964 classic, A Change is Gonna Come.
According to Rolling Stone, its list spans nearly a century and includes everything from pre-World War II jazz and sixties folk to eighties house music, 2000s R&B, and 2020s Cuban hip-hop.
Said the publication, “Some of these songs decry oppression and demand justice, others are prayers for positive change; some grab you by the shoulders and shout in your face, others are personal, private attempts to subtly embody the contradictory nature of political struggle and change from the inside. Many of our selections are specific products of leftist political traditions (like Pete Seeger’s version of We Shall Overcome), but just as many are hits that slipped urgent messages into the pop marketplace (like Nena’s anti-nuclear war New Wave bop 99 Luftballons).”
Police and Thieves, a 1977 hit by Junior Murvin, is ranked at number 66 on the list. This reggae classic is about violence in the streets of Kingston be it from police brutality or warring street gangs.
Peter Tosh’s 1976 pro-marijuana anthem Legalize It, ranks at number 54 on the list. Following his exit from the Wailers, Tosh launched his solo career with what would become the most timeless pro-marijuana anthem of them all. Over a languid pulse, Tosh speaks of cannabis’ medicinal benefits and cross-cultural impact creating a song and slogan that have lit up decriminalisation movements across countries and decades.
A 1975 hit, Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley and the Wailers, takes the number 35 spot on the Rolling Stone ranking.
Marley wrote Get Up, Stand Up after witnessing poverty on a trip to Haiti. Co-written with Peter Tosh and built off a melody from American funk rockers War, this plainspoken call to arms insists that you shouldn’t wait for peace in the afterlife but demand it right now.
Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) by Marley and the Wailers, is number 12 on the list. This 1974 recording is featured on the Natty Dread album.
Among the other songs that made the list are:
Talkin About a Revolution by Tracy Chapman, Fight the Power by Isley Brothers, I am Woman by Helen Reddy, Freedom by Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar, Sound of Da Police by KRS-ONE, I Can’t Breathe by H.E.R., War by Edwin Starr, What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye, Say it Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud) by James Brown and Respect by Aretha Franklin.
