Dissent, 1974-2004, or what were the best British protest songs of the 1980s

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Off the top of my head - and these are just obvious ones - I'd say:
Billy Bragg, Between the Wars
The Specials, Ghost Town/ Free Nelson Mandela
The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead
Mark Stewart, For How Much Longer Must We Tolerate Mass Murder
Robert Wyatt, Shipbuilding
Heaven 17, We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thing
UB40, One In Ten
Blow Monkeys, She Was only A Grocer's Daughter
Style Council, Walls Come Tumbling Down
The Selector, Stand Down Margaret

― Mel Starr, Sunday, 25 April 2004 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)

robin carmody to thread

― ..., Sunday, 25 April 2004 20:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Crass's "How Does It Feel To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead" owns this.

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 26 April 2004 01:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Redskins to thread

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Monday, 26 April 2004 02:58 (twenty-two years ago)

er Clash to thread

― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 26 April 2004 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

no, Age of Chance to thread

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Monday, 26 April 2004 03:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Discharge - "Protest and Survive"
Discharge - "Protest and Survive"
Discharge - "Protest and Survive"

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Monday, 26 April 2004 03:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Crass to thread?

― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 26 April 2004 03:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Mark Stewart will thrash you all with his mighty proletarian eyebrow; however, MESmith ownz this thread

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Monday, 26 April 2004 03:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Strange how little british roots and dancehall stuff has made it to this thread.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 26 April 2004 04:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Not just Cr@ss, but everyone who ever recorded anything on the Cr@ss label (Poison Girls, Zounds, Flux Of Pink Indians, The Mob, Conflict, Rudimentary Peni, Omega Tribe....) in fact the entire Anarcho Punk movement (Chumbawamba, Disorder, Epileptics, Subhumans....) to thread!

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 26 April 2004 09:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Lots of protest songs in the 80s - but what about the nineties and noughties?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 26 April 2004 09:37 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Selector, Stand Down Margaret"

[engage pedant mode] It was the SelectEr not The SelectOr - and Stand Down Margaret was by The Beat.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 26 April 2004 10:12 (twenty-two years ago)

"Why should I have to show my I.D.
There's no consensus and I don't agree
With what they're undertaking in my name
I'm appalled and I'm ashamed
Why should I have to show my I.D.
To be enrolled in this community
Where all my role models are on the take
And the real thing is fake
All my heroes died
While they were still alive
Confused or compromised
Their values undermined
They were led down to the hole
Where the blood and money flows
Why should I have to show my I.D.
Someone somewhere's got a file on me
And someone somewhere's got a file on you
Anyone will do
The world's ruled by a cheat
With his gang of thieves
Whose lies and double-speak
Spread faster than disease
And your pursuit of peace
Will mark you out a freak
A victim and a bore
While their portfolios soar
And weapons sales will peak
Aimed only at the weak
Those already on their knees
It's arms for amputees
It's the bullet's exit hole
Where the blood and money flows
Never again!
Not in my name!
Bad guys come first
The third world thirsts,
Starves or dies of AIDS
In the modern day crusades
The wild west will win
Defeat the Indians
Drive the devils to the door
With the homeless and the poor
And when there's nothing left to bomb
No-one left to beat
They'll train their crosswires on
The unseen enemy
The ever-present threat
That hasn't happened yet
And probably never will
Still they move in for the kill
But the night sights won't show
If you're friend or foe
Are you so much better than
The junkies and Saddam?
Are you guaranteed a place
When they build the master race?
Will the world then be pure?
We've heard that one before
In history's deepest holes
Where the blood and money flowed

Never again!
Not in my name!"

Not In My Name - TV Smith

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 26 April 2004 10:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Strange how little british roots and dancehall stuff has made it to this thread

Okay then, how abouts "Own Them Control Them" - Misty in Roots

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Monday, 26 April 2004 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Inglan Is A Bitch - Linton Kwesi Johnson

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 26 April 2004 11:06 (twenty-two years ago)

"...yet we could not drink in pubs"

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Monday, 26 April 2004 15:55 (twenty-two years ago)

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