Protest Music (Rage Against the Machine, Phil Ochs, Public Enemy)

Welcome to the Album Nerds podcast with your hosts, Andy, Don and Dude. Hell no, we won't go. Make love, not war. War. Good God, y'all. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again. It's the Album Nerds podcast. I'm Dude. I got Andy Don with me. Andy. What's happening, my friend? Hey man, I got my boots on. I got my picket signs constructed here. All the boots are very important to protest. Yeah. They're made for boots.

Yeah. I feel like I need boots on to really stomp around and make each footstep. This show's off to a rough start, but we shall overcome. Classic. Yeah. So yes, this is the Album Nerds podcast and we love albums and talking about them. And this week we're talking about some protest music. We've got a great show for you. We're going to be going over a little bit of our week of listening and our decisions. We'll then of course go through our three album picks.

We're going to answer a question that's loosely related to the topic of protest music. And then we're going to spin the wheel of musical destiny to find out what kind of albums we're going to talk about on the next episode. But this week it's time to protest. We will be protesting protest music in the house. You doff protest too much. Let's do it. Wow. A protest song is a song associated with a movement for social change.

Protest songs in the United States are a tradition that dates back to the early 18th century and have persisted and evolved as an aspect of American culture. Protest songs typically serve to address some social, political or economic concern through the means of musical composition. It may be folk, classical or commercial in genre.

Some movements that have a library of associated songs are the abolition of slavery, prohibition, women's suffrage, labor, human rights, civil rights, the environment and anti-war. Today, each of us will present an album which includes at least one protest song. We are here to protest that. Protest music, kind of broad, kind of not. How did you guys do in your listenings? Well, a couple of things became apparent to me pretty quickly.

You know, like Don was saying, we tried to find albums that have at least one protest song on it. A lot of them really do just have one or two where that kind of focus on an issue and kind of move on. I mentioned a couple that did have some elements of protest, but didn't really feel protest-y enough to really feature on the show.

Listen to a Kinks record called Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire, which I guess loosely did have some protest elements, in particular around economic equality. Good album, but I didn't think it was great for the show. A jazz record that did have some cool protest vocals in it from Max Roach called We Insist, Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite, which was actually really good. Don't they call him Papa? Cut my life into pieces.

I also mentioned Kendrick Lamar's Butterfly, which I think generally is a great protest album and does have a pretty focused message. I just felt like it was a lot to bite off for this show and we're already kind of doing a similar album, which we'll find out shortly. But yeah, I feel like I landed on a pretty safe space for protest albums here. How about you, dude? Yeah, for me, it was trying to kind of avoid the 60s because it was like all that anti-Vietnam stuff for the most part.

And I wanted to get into some other topics. And I kind of already had something in mind for a long time that I've been looking for reasons to talk about. So, some of the things I listened to anyway were Prophets of Rage from 2017, the collaboration of members of Rage Against the Machine and Chuck D from Public Enemy and I think members of Cypress Hill as well. System of a Down, Toxicity, 2001, that's another one that isn't protest-y enough, although there's definitely elements there.

And then the Isley Brothers, The Heat is On from 1975, there's a couple of songs on there that are definitely about social injustices, including one called Fight the Power. Interesting. So, Donald? Well, I thought about my usual cast of favorites, of course, Roger Waters, the final Pink Floyd album with him known as the Final Cut. It's really more of a Roger Waters solo album. That one's a very anti-Margaret Thatcher era, England. Anti-other members of Pink Floyd getting in his way.

Yep. And then The Smiths, Meet His Murder, the title track, Meet His Murder is kind of an anthem for us vegetarian folks. I remember being at a Morrissey concert with you and Morrissey did that song and I was like, that's a metaphor, right? And you're like, no. It's a bad... It's a weird... Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then another one I thought of, it's just one song from that album, but the song Monkey Gone to Heaven by the Pixies on Do Little is kind of a protest song about the environment.

But I actually decided to go a more traditional route, went back to the 1960s. All right. With all that being said, let's get into it. You choo choo choos me? And that's not a system that changes every four years.

It's a system that we have to break down. Preach it. Zach. All right. Rob Protest's music album going with Rage Against the Machine and their debut studio album from 1992. This is Killing in the Name. Those who die are justified. Sorry. That sounded more like a Beastie Boy. Yeah. I was going to like, sabotage them killing in the name. Anyway, pretty controversial song. That song ends with the refrain of, fuck you, I won't do what you tell me.

It was written in part in response to the Rodney King beating, which had happened in the prior year, I believe. The trial was coming up. It was really for me like that first moment where I really realized how deep the racial divide was in our country or how deep-seated some of these issues were. I think the song nicely highlights that and it got a lot of press, positive and negative. At the time, got these guys definitely put Rage Against the Machine on the map.

Three words I used to describe this album are revolution in a bottle. The lyrics obviously are pretty inflammatory, I guess I would say, or definitely pushing people towards action. I think that combined with just the aggressiveness of the music, I think really does lead to this powder keg of just emotions and energy built up on this record and especially during their career. I think what struck me most going back to this was, man, they created such a cool hodgepodge of sounds.

You had really represented hip-hop, metal and rock at a time where that wasn't really being done. It really wasn't done as arguably as well as they did it ever again, but that sound wasn't really popular at the time. Hip-hop was still pretty young in terms of mainstream adoption at this point. JS Who was the intended audience for this, do you think? Was it for everyone to start thinking about things or was it really not aimed at suburban youths? CB I don't know.

For me, growing up at that time period, I felt like it resonated with the young audience because at that age, you're always just like, fuck the establishment, I want to do things my way. It really resonates with that whole idea of just overthrowing the man. JS I know, but the establishment is like that my dad won't get me a car.

CB I think that what made them interested or probably what gave them such a broad appeal was they did talk about more social issues at the time and got into some actual black and white things that were happening, not necessarily just racial, but other issues as well, which made them feel like they were more intelligent and well-spoken and maybe someone you could get behind as a representative of your feelings.

JS Well, that was going on in other parts of music and rock and roll at this time, like Pearl Jam had songs about domestic abuse and things like that. So I think it was sort of similar to music of the 60s where things were being brought up that were less superficial than they had been in the 80s. Let me play another cut from the record, this is track four, Settle for Nothing. So much for the slow jam.

The lyrics seem like a character in a jail cell, almost treating it like an escape from this violent world. Renegades of Suck. Just kidding. I wish I disliked the album because that would have been fun. Similar to what Andy was saying, my three words are wake up, gen X. So you've got this generation of we're latchkey kids just watching television. No real motivation towards activism. To me, everything was fine in my world. And there was the Cosby show and things like that.

So you don't necessarily notice that there's a racial divide going on. So we've done a lot of records, I feel like recently, that are around that late 80s, early 90s period, where you are starting to get that blend of hip hop and metal. And these guys do it really seamlessly, so much so that, like I guess it never really occurred to me that much that, hey, this is a guy rapping over metal riffs. And I think it's because of the political thing.

It's so political and so fueled by rage and action that you don't even notice that that's what it is. Well, the vocal style too is different than what we had experienced from MCs for the most part. It was more screamy like a metal singer. But the cadence of like a rapper, that's harms. But yeah, it wasn't smooth. It wasn't all the things that we had come to expect largely from our MCs.

And the more I listen to the record, each time, I think you start to notice different things or you focus on different things. And I started to lose myself in the musicianship. Just that rhythm section just really pulls you through the whole record. Tom Morello, I mean, he has like a signature guitar sound. Yeah, something that's never, I think what's really nice about his guitar sound was how well it works in like that sort of hip hop quality.

It almost has like a DJ quality to it, the way he scratches. I don't know exactly how he makes that sound. But it sounds like he's like rubbing his, I don't know, something against the strings. OK, let's clean this up. Well, it sounds like he is like, I don't like where this is going. With like a, I don't know, metal screwdriver or something. Like a drill. Yeah, maybe a power drill. He has kind of that punk rock spirit. I don't know, it's like simpler. But then there are some solos in there.

So he's got kind of that 80s metal guitar style going on too. So it's really just a good mesh of all of it. And it just goes well with somebody rapping over it. Yeah, I think they really captured something unique at this time. And it still sounded surprisingly good to me coming back to it after all these years. Why don't we play the opening cut here? It's a little bit of bomb track. It's a sweet quiet night, you ain't been watchin' porn. Porn, porn, yes you're gonna porn.

Porn, porn, yes you're gonna porn. Porn, porn, yes you're gonna porn. That's my favorite stompy guitar line on the album. And it's just such a great opener. I love how we all kind of picked parts of songs where it starts off a little bit down here and then within two seconds. They don't waste much time in the quiet moment. So bomb track was the first single release from the album.

It alludes to the idea that existing power structures and people in position of authority will face consequences from those they oppress at some point. It's a tale as old as time. It's the peasants and the monarchy, but it's the same kind of idea where getting it out there to the masses. So the three words I used to describe the album are truth bombs for the burbs. Yes. So I first heard this in college.

There was this girl that I knew from some of my classes and she invited me and a bunch of my friends to her dorm room because we had to hear this and none of us had. And it was the rawness and the simplicity of it that all of us were just like, what is this? And it was kind of conscious hip hop for the grunge generation. Because it does sound like grunge rock to a large extent. So I think that's part of why it just clicked with people. And then people started listening to the words more.

Instead of the, fuck you, I won't do what you tell me, where people I think were internalizing that about, I shouldn't have to turn this paper in. I think it was being misused probably by youth at the time depending on what situations they were in. And one of the things I respect so much about them is that they never back down. I think that's the thing that makes them really stand out is that unlike most bands which are formed to create music, that almost feels like a secondary purpose to them.

They really seem like they're trying to instill change and incite activism. Because if you look at their career, every one of their records has a similar direction, similar tone, similar energy, similar message. They are laser focused on tearing down the establishment, for lack of better words. That's pretty unique. I don't know too many bands that really have that focus to them. Or we'll fight against the establishment, but signed to Epic Records. Too shy. Well, we got to get the word out.

And it's just an interesting thing. It could be a whole discussion. Someone could write, and maybe they have some kind of dissertation about artists, whether it's music or whatever, movies, and how something that's trying to shed light on problems becomes huge. Then that's your business. It's hard to rage against the machine when you're part of the machine. Right, exactly. Yeah, that machine's printing out some sweet dollar bills for you. I think for me, this is still a pretty exciting record.

And I still thought it pretty enjoyable coming back to you after all these years. I think it's their best of their studio albums. I'm going to nominate this for the Albiners Hall of Fame. I think my biggest critique could be it's maybe a little bit one note. But I think it's a great note. And it still resonates with me after all these years. So what do you guys think? Is this Hall of Fame worthy? Yes. I was expecting some sort of screaming rap delivery. Yeah!

I feel like saying no just so I can watch it burn and burn. Spark a revolution. But yeah, yes, I agree. I mean, it's infectious. So even if you can ignore the political aspects and still just rock out, or you can choose to listen. So you can not only bang your head, but you can feed your mind. Well, congratulations to all four members. Once again, the album is Rage Against the Machine by Rage Against the Machine. I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. And doggone it, people like me.

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do us a solid and leave a review on Apple podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Maybe we made you laugh or you discovered an album you enjoy. Leaving a review keeps the show going and helps other music fans find us. Do what we told you. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I've suffered for my music. Now it's your turn. Oh, man. My pick for a protest record goes back to 1965 with Phil Ox, I Ain't Marchin' Anymore. This is the second studio album by Philip David Ox, born in El Paso, Texas in 1940.

Let's hear the title track. This is I Ain't Marchin' Anymore. At the end of the early British Wars, the young land started growing, the young blood started flowing, but I ain't marchin' anymore. How can you sound so happy and sing about such horrible things? So this song criticizes all of American military history from the perspective of a soldier who's been present at every single war since the War of 1812.

I mean, there's lots of cool lines throughout this album, but it's always the old who lead us to the war, always the young to fall. Phil Ox said of the song, it borders between pacifism and treason, combining the best qualities of both. He also wrote, the fact that you won't be hearing this song on the radio is more than enough justification for the writing of it. So the three words I chose to describe this album are truth-telling, badass. Just that quote there is like, I'm like, wow.

And now after going through that Rage Against the Machine record, I could almost picture, like just give these songs to Rage Against the Machine and see how they do it, and they would kind of work. It's just the delivery is a bit different. Or you could flip it around too and see if Phil Ox can do it. Oh, yeah. Fuck you, I won't do it, you tell me. Well, so it's not just war that Phil Ox takes on. There's a song called The Iron Lady that's about capital punishment.

It takes on both the state of Alabama and the state of Mississippi when it comes to civil rights. It's an interesting record. I mean, it's a very, it's stereotypical of what I, when the theme came up, protest music, I'm like, oh yeah, folk singer. And I think that's the thing about it. It's not like, hey, we're going to all get together and we're going to fix this. It's pretty much just all, this is fucked up, this is fucked up. Let's hear another one. This is Draft Dodger, Wrong.

And yet again without blood and gore, I'll be the first to go. Yes, I'm only 18. I got a ruptured spleen and I always carry a purse. I got eyes like a rock. All right, so that one's a little bit different. It's a little bit different. It's a little bit different. It's a little bit different. Eyes like a rock. All right, so that one's even more lighthearted in its tone and the way that it talks about the draft for Vietnam and all the excuses to try to not be drafted.

One of the lines that popped out at me the most was I always carry a purse, which back then would have been enough to, you know, get you kicked out of the military. But it just reminded me of Klinger on MASH where he was always trying to get a section eight and have them get kicked out because he was crazy because he dressed like a woman. I mean, that's such an odd thing now. Very, very other times, that's for sure. Three words I used to describe this album are a disturbing pattern.

What really popped for me is that songs against war and bloodshed, they just seem to keep coming. You know, we've got stuff from the 60s, stuff from the 80s, stuff from the 90s, and it just is like, is this thing on? You know what I mean? Yeah, especially when you hear that title cut where he's talking about the wars for like over the last couple hundred years and how things haven't really progressed that much. You got the same problems.

Yeah, and now we have wars still happening and it's still tough to understand the motivations and yeah, it's messed up. So it just, it jumped out at me like, was a dent made? I think they are, but I think it's like tiny dents at a time and they're hard to see unless you look at the bigger picture. But yeah, it just, it struck me how, especially because he's so clear and where you guys were talking about how he lays it all out. Yeah, it just was more, at first I was like, oh, boring folk guy.

And then I was like, oh man. That's right. Yeah. Well, let's hear another one. This is, that's what I want to hear. I'll tell you what it's all about. Now nobody listens to a single man when he's walking round down and out. Maybe the most catchy song about forming the workers union I can think of. Three words I use to describe this album are using a guitar for a picket sign.

I just had this mental image of him like kind of walking around the picket lines, with his guitar kind of leading the protesters or the picketers against their cause here. Yeah, I really enjoyed this record as a whole. I think it's cool that he kept it so on point with his message. He covers a variety of topics, just not all this anti-war stuff. It gets into some pretty interesting race relations towards the end of the album here with cuts like, here's the state of Mississippi.

That's a diss track. Yeah, that's a pretty brutal takedown of the song. Did you find Mississippi's mixtape response? That's right. Yeah, but he does, it just, he mixes in enough humor, I think, to make these songs digestible. I mean, there's some of them are like, are really pretty brutal takedowns of these different issues and groups of people, but they're pretty funny.

Like you get some funny lines in there and he gets kind of just like, you know, like he's not, he seems like he's taking these issues seriously, but he does take them with a grain of salt, I guess, which helps it. So he gives us these raw truths, but then they could make you sick to your stomach, but then he supplies some Pepto-Bismol as well. Right, there's a spoonful of Pepto-Bismol to go along with all that gut-wrenching stuff.

Yeah, some of the Pepto might be, there's a couple of tracks in there. There's one that's kind of a tribute to John F. Kennedy, you know, after the assassination. And then, you know, he was kind of, I mean, he's talking about the corruption of labor unions as well. But there's a, he does do the ballad of the carpenter, you know, which is an old song about Jesus. There's the poem, the highwayman. Highwaywoman. That's an old one.

You know, which is, you know, kind of some good old-fashioned folk storytelling. To give you a break from the, you know, I guess the hard-hitting, you know, political perspective. Yeah, and then, I mean, this is, I think this is the first record since I've been on the show where it's literally just one guy and a guitar. Yeah, that's a really good point. There's no accompaniments at all. It's just, that's all acoustic. Which is, it's even somewhat atypical of the time.

I mean, you had your groups like, you know, Peter, Paul, and Mary, you know, that are, you're throwing in a lot of extra strings and stuff like that to make it more dramatic.

But this is just, I mean, this could have just been him sitting on a car at some sit-in or something, or some, yeah, some demonstration. Yeah, it kind of has that feel. So that's, I Ain't Marchin' Anymore from Phil Ox. I ain't marching anymore! No! No! No! No! Excuse me! I'd like to ask you a few questions! Well, we're talking about protest. We're gonna take the question kind of from a different perspective.

So if you could go back in time, and you could protest the release of any album for whatever reason, what album would it be? I might protest against Rage Against the Machine because of ushering in the new metal accidentally. Which, to be fair, there are good albums in that mix. Just the overall vibe of it was very misogynistic, which was exactly the opposite of anything Rage Against the Machine would have ever intended.

So accidentally, while trying to help, there's always a wake behind every speeding boat, you know? Yeah, absolutely. So. Well, similar to the Rage Against the Machine protest, I would maybe go Pearl Jam 10, just because you had, and I love that record, but so many people took on that vocal style, right? From Hootie and the Blowfish, Creed, even Bush, we could say. And then, back to Pink Floyd, those albums without Roger Waters, particularly a momentary lapse of reason, I don't know.

It's like a legacy destroying album, I think. Yeah, you know, I'm just struggling with the idea of stopping music from happening. I feel like that's against the whole idea of protesting. You're protesting against this question? I guess so. I don't know, man. I'm glad everything has happened. I think it got us to where we're at, and it's not a bad thing. How diplomatic. Because we're in such a good place, musically. We've been in good places. Even disco? I'm a free speech absolutist, man.

I do feel strongly that we should get all that crap out there. The marketplace of ideas. Okay, okay, okay. You've changed my mind.

I don't have one either. Do you wanna protest auto-tune? Okay, what album would you like to block the release of? Let us know. Let us know. Check us out on the socials, Facebook, Instagram, threads, also on the Discord. Albumnerds.com slash Discord. You make me public enemy number one? It's not some kind of joke. Well, I got a message for you and your friends. You tell them, yeah, boy! Yeah. Flavor Flav. Okay, so my choice is kind of an obvious choice.

It's the 1990 album, Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy is the third studio album by Public Enemy released on April 10th, 1990. The album is known for its groundbreaking production by the Bomb Squad, its socially conscious lyrics. It was released as a follow-up to the critically acclaimed It Takes a Nation of Millions to hold us back. Public Enemy really was aiming to create a complex, thematically focused album exploring issues of race, racism, and social justice.

Public Enemy was formed in 1985 by Carlton Ridenour, that's Chuck D, and William Drayton, Flavor Flav. Public Enemy's unique formation took place while producing a radio program at Adelphi University in Long Island. Consists of key members, Chuck D, lead rapper, Flavor Flav, charismatic hype man, DJ Norman or Terminator X, Rogers, providing beats, and the Bomb Squad are the production team. So why don't we kick things off with a little bit of Fight the Power. Fight it, Fight the Power.

Oh, there's the inspiration, that's the Isley Brothers. According to Chuck D, that was the first song he ever heard with a swear word in it, which is why he was fascinated with it as a kid. It said bullshit in the lyrics. What he know is, was a hero to most, yeah. Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant to me if he's straight out racist, a sucker was simple and plain. Motherfucking in, John Wayne. Cause I'm black and I'm proud already. Take down Elvis and John Wayne in one song? Yeah, yeah.

I thought that was, I mean, that's pretty well known line, but I think it's so smart in what it says. You know, it takes these American icons, Elvis and John Wayne, and it says, hey, these guys aren't everybody's heroes. We got our own stuff going on here. We have our own heroes that are fighting to give us the same opportunities and equality that you, John Wayne, Elvis loving people are afforded, right?

And I think that for me, when I first heard this album in high school, a friend of mine gave me a cassette copy, same guy that turned me on to De La Soul. It was that moment, you know, so I can only speak to what this album did for me. And it made me look at the world and say, hey, I've got it pretty good. And there are a lot of people that don't have the same opportunities that I do.

And hearing the truths spoken by Public Enemy in this album really did help me to try to look at things from other people's perspectives, especially those in black America. The three words that I used to describe this album, pretty simple, open your eyes. And that's what I was getting at there. And, you know, similarly to our experience with listening to Vivid by Living Color a couple of shows ago, they made some really good points too about these two sides of America.

And I just hadn't seen it before. But this album in particular was scary, right? It was kind of like the heavy metal explosion of a few years before that scared parents. This was in your face. This was hard. It was the music, the samples, the way they used them were so intense that it was a musical revolution and a lyrical revolution. And in a lot of ways, I think, breaking in the dam of telling America, you gotta pay attention to what's going on here. You can't ignore us anymore.

So, and it's that rebellious sort of heavy metal ethos. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I think it's also just like really, it's a loud record in terms of the production, but also just vocally like, I almost feel like they're shouting at you at times and it's just, it's in your face. Yeah, totally. I think that's intentional. Well, and then they've got that sour and sweet mix where Chuck D is more the teacher, more the authoritarian giving you these truth bombs and facts and what's happening.

Like, and welcome to the terror dome, really getting into some nitty gritty stuff about like a young man in New York City that was brutally killed by white kids in a neighborhood because he was in their neighborhood and just truths. But then you've got flavor, flave, also serving some of that up, but with such a different tone, like the class clown acts up and then the tension is broken in the classroom. Yeah, you need that to break the tension a little bit. Chuck D is intense, man.

All right, why don't we jump into a serious subject but delivered straight from flavor town. This is 911 is a joke. You better wake up and smell a real flavor because 911 is a fake lifesaver. So get up and get, get, get down. 911 is joking, yo, damn. Get up and get, get, get down. Kind of like a weird, like, almost like a party song in a way. It's the way it sounds. Yeah. It delivers that chorus. But the message is like incredibly sad.

I mean, just like brutally honest about, you know, half hour wait time for 911 call for someone who's been, you know, injured at your house. In certain neighborhoods. Right, just don't show up. Even in Duran Duran's neighborhood, cause they actually cover this song on their covers album. Thank you. Oh Lord. Thanks for grounding us here, Doug. Appreciate it. Yeah. You might, you might need to step out right now, Don. I don't know. What? Duran Duran.

What do those guys have to protest that they don't have enough eye shadow? My three words describe this record are fear of clearing the samples. This is an album that just never could get made in 2023 cause there are so many samples, especially from like pretty recognizable sources all over this record. There must be thousands of them. Yeah, I mean, like you hear, you hear Vincent Price's laugh from Thriller which I'm sure would be locked down. Right. Yeah, there's just a lot of stuff.

Back in, you know, 1990, there wasn't really that issue or at least it wasn't a very popular issue where you had people who were copyright claims on their music. Yep. Probably in some cases they're so buried in it that maybe they wouldn't be recognizable. So they could get away with using it. Yeah, but I think it's that sheer quantity like you were saying that and how they're all just mixed and layered together that makes this a pretty interesting record to listen to I think.

But you know, I think on that track we just played there now when it was a joke, like Flavor Flav, he sounds good on that song. Like I, and the levity that he brings to the record and the group as a whole, I think is much needed cause it is such a serious stuff they're talking about and N-Chuck D is so heavy. It's a good mix. And I, you know, I think it's a long record and it can be intense to go through, you know, the full hour runtime.

But for me, having such an interesting musical landscape that they're kind of working on here with all these cool samples, I think kept it pretty, kept me pretty engaged all the way through. All right, so why don't we get into another track, another controversial topic, especially in 1989 and 90. Let's listen to a little bit of Poly wanna crack up. Did you pick it? I just wanted you to say it. Did you pick it just so I had to try and say that? Listen up.

She wants a lover right now, but not no brother. A man gotta have a lot of money to get under her cover. Now she's a fine. Yeah, so that, as Dude said, you know, controversial subject, interracial relationships. But you know, actually what struck me about that song is just the vocal delivery. I didn't know it was Chuck D at first. I thought it was some guest, you know. Well, it has a Samuel L. Jackson. Yeah, just that, I don't know. I really like it, enjoyed that delivery.

It's just an interesting choice. And that song is so weird, like the backing music and stuff. You always pick the weird songs. Yeah, I mean, the whole album is, well, the three words I chose are a colorful planet, because it's a very colorful record, right? It's not just one tone. Like going back to some of your early hip hop, we did the first Run DMC album, and it's all, it's monochromatic. You know, the whole thing kind of sounds the same.

And I think a rap delivery, you know, kind of can be that way, right? Cause you're not really changing tone much. But yeah, there's lots of little songs like this, little skits and stuff that, you know, give the album a lot of, you know, playful texture. And again, you know, I'll just go back to the layers and layers of sampling. You know, I really, you know, got lost in that. I think people called them the, what, like the Phil Spector of hip hop production or something. Yeah, the wall of sound.

With that, the wall of sound. It also reminds me of Brian Wilson, you know, who of course was influenced by Phil Spector, but like the idea of taking instruments, but by the time they're on the record, you don't even really recognize them, or you're using them in a way that's not typical of them. And really blown away by the production. It, this feels like it's pretty innovative. What about Fear of a Black Planet?

The title track also kind of gets into that interracial, like the fear, you know, with a world full of mostly not white people, if you look at the entire world. And the, where the black man, black woman, black baby, white man, white woman, white baby, where, you know, the children of interracial relationships are categorized by society as being black, and it shouldn't matter, you know? And at the time I had a cousin of mine was in an interracial relationship.

They were facing a lot of ugly stuff that I didn't know was real until, you know, hearing about it firsthand. So that song always has really resonated with me as well. I mean, it's such a heavy album, you know? Yeah, that's why, that's where flavor comes in. Yeah, so this record is really beyond me in some ways. I mean, it's one of those things where you take who you are and you take what, you know, what you can learn from something.

And I think this has, this album has something different to offer for people of all different backgrounds. And you can, it can help you to think about other perspectives. It's one of those that just really gives you all the tools, all the fuel, all the words necessary to really think about it. Especially in, you know, today's times as well, a lot of these things are still very relevant. So I nominate this, of course, for the Elm Nerds album. ["Elm Nerds Album"]

Probably one of the best hip hop records of all time. Definitely one of the most communicative, clear, concise albums of a group of people trying to tell us how they feel. So I'll give a hell yeah. For the production alone, I think it really stands out as being revolutionary. And then you throw in classic lyrics and, you know, obviously the impact on the culture, I think, is very strong and it holds up well today. So yeah, yes from me as well. Yeah, I think it's a great record.

I mean, like other albums we've covered, there's a couple of things that make me uncomfortable. I mean, there's maybe a dash of homophobia in there, in there somewhere, which I would hope or I believe that probably Chuck D might regret, you know, if you were to ask him today, you know. But yeah, I mean, this is, you know, it's a groundbreaking album.

Yeah, it is probably one of the great protest albums of all time, yes. All right, Public Enemy, you've done a public service. Thank you and go check out Fear of a Black Planet. ["Fear of a Black Planet"] Well, you know, not only did we, you know, find albums with a protest song, I think all three of us did a good job picking albums that were pretty much almost all, you know, protest music. Did we learn anything?

Yeah, I mean, I guess I was thinking of protest albums mostly from like a race perspective, but you know, a lot of these records that we've picked on had that element, but there was also a lot of other things that people protest as well, you know, which, you know, the anti-war stuff and you know, labor unions and stuff like that, I think is interesting. There's a lot of, there's lots of things to protest. And it's an important part of who we are in our culture.

And I'm glad that, you know, music is probably directly tied to that as any medium, so that's awesome. And what I learned was kind of connected to something that we mentioned earlier was freedom of speech. And I think that exercising your rights for freedom of speech in a creative way is just so much more interesting than, I mean, I understand picket lines.

I understand people out, you know, with their placards chanting a line over and over again, but this is just such a more interesting, engaging way to get your points across is through music. And I really learned to appreciate how powerful music can be as a way to deliver that, so. It's almost like the music is secondary and like what's most important is getting the message across. And maybe that's true for all three of these artists. And maybe that's why they were so well executed.

Also, all three artists, you know, I don't think they held back at all, right? I mean, they weren't worried about committing treason, you know, I mean, they weren't worried about what the backlash would be. And that's, you know, I think that's why we, you know, ended up with three, you know, very good albums. And that's one to grow. I'm your density, I mean, your destiny. All right, boys and girls, gather around. It's time once again, form a picket line.

And we are going to see what the album nerds bought has in store for us next week. Gather around, people now. Give that wheel a spin. Your musical destiny will once again be taking you on a journey through time. You must explore albums from the year 1986. There is however a twist. You must choose a Billboard top 10 album for the year. Best of luck, gentlemen. Top 10 albums of 1986. We'll each be picking one of the 10. OK. So destiny is a little, has a tighter grip on us this time.

All right, quick reminder, we do have two ongoing album votes for the Hall of Fame. So go to our website and Album Nerds Discord, albumnerds.com and albumnerds.com slash Discord to cast your ballot to get those albums in or keep them out. What are your favorite protest records? What's your favorite album from 1986? What else are you listening to? Let us know. Join fellow album nerds on Discord at albumnerds.com slash Discord.

You can email us at podcast at albumnerds.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and threads at albumnerds. Please subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite podcast app. And if you'd like to support the show, you can do so via PayPal at albumnerds.com slash support. Thank you once again for listening to the Album Nerds podcast. We'll catch you next time with that 1986 top 10. Thanks for listening, everybody. Catch you next week. Fuck you. I won't do what you tell me. Fuck you.

Oh, and Don just scared his new puppy away. I know. He was just looking up. I did back away from the mic that time. God. Poor puppy. movie