Does anyone do good protest music anymore?

I guess it seems to me that in previous protest music was more inclusive (as if that was a good thing) and less off putting...

I just have a hard time with a guy like Bruce Springsteen who has more money than the government telling me how bad everything is in the world. The same is true of all those multi-millionaries like U2, Ani DiFranco, Radiohead, or Rage Against the Machine. I can't take whiney millionaries seriously.

The people who made a mark on the genre were anything but rich. Pete Seeger was mentioned. He suffered for his art, so to speak. S&G and Dylan were some of the first to get the big payoff from protesting, but I don't think that was their goal. I think others jumped on the bandwagon when they realized they could get rich protesting whatever came up.

That's why I asked if anyone was still doing good protest music.

Ss Nate, are you saying that it can't be good if it achieves commercial success? The music biz has changed alot over the past 50 years.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Peter, Paul, and Mary. Beginning in 1962 and up until December 2004, when Mary Travers was diagnosed with leukemia, the group's music spoke to various social issues, political causes, in addition to pot smoking dragons.

In my mind, the last group to really do "protest music" well was CSNY. No one has been able to match the outrage expressed in a song like "Ohio," or the sad resignation of "Find the Cost of Freedom."

JMO, FWIW.

I'm with Nrchy on this one. Barbra Streisand compaigning for more money for the poor (which I am not totally against) while at the same time having $4,000 of fresh flowers delivered to her house weekly. Someone needs to teach some of these people the story of the widow's mite from the Bible.
And actually most of what Dylan has done in his career is not really protest music--even according to him. He has primarily done story songs and love songs.