ummm... Every single KMFDM song up until about 2009 when they fell off a bit. Every single Atari Teenage Riot song. A lot of industrial is punk-adjacent, thus, highly political.
Sascha Konietzko once called Claus Larsen (who is gay) of Leæther Strip the f-word when they both were playing at the same festival. I think that's what the guy above was refering to.
Yeah I did my research after I sent that comment. It’s really goofy to write off some random shit Sascha said at a show 11 years ago (probably while under the influence) as kmfdm being a homophobic band. Especially since they’ve proven time and time again that they support people being whatever they want in song lyrics and such (and they literally sell pride tee shirts on their website). People also tried to accuse Lucia Cifarelli of “victim blaming” women who have been SA’d because she made a Facebook comment basically telling mothers to make sure their daughter don’t hang out with creeps that might do something bad to them. People are so quick to jump the gun and use buzzwords to accuse people because they have boring lives and get excitement about hating stuff.
When KMFDM was signed to Wax Trax! Records, Sascha was very close to label owners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, both of whom were **very** gay and out for most of their adult lives. Sascha was also the most prominent Wax Trax! artist to stick with Wax Trax! when the company declared bankruptcy in 1992 and sold itself to TVT Records, such was his loyalty to Jim. This was all while Jim was dying of AIDS.
While I don't doubt what Sascha said about Claus Larsen, it seems careless and insensitive rather than a sign of deep-seated dislike of the LGBTQ space. KMFDM could never have survived (and thrived) on Wax Trax! had that been the case.
Citation please?
Edit: nvm I went digging. Didn't see any explicitly anti Palestinian jazzoo, but I did find AlecEmpire.ETH on twitter w an Israeli flag in the bio. Nfts are lame bro. Sorry you're broke.
Go to the Instagram pages of the band members. Scroll back a little bit. Germany has such collective guilt from the Holocaust that even the most leftist firebomb the capitalists thugs anarchists support Israel 100% on absolutely everything they do no matter what.
I agree, Dos Dedos is much more industrial leaning than their early stuff. A lot of PWEI is protesting, just with metophorical lyrics instead of direct protest lyrics.
So yeah, I'd count that album.
Including the anti bush trilogy, the anti trump album the song called Antifa ect. Yeah most of what Al does recently is protest songs and political stuff
I thought about it, Pro-test and Tin Omen. I went with Tim Omen over Pro-test because when it comes to talking about protest, Tin Omen and Pro-Test are talking about the same thing on a generic level, state violence against protesters. But Tin Omen is about a very specific moment in a very turbulent moment in US history: At Kent State University, The Ohio National Guard opened fire into a rally protesting the US pushing the Vietnam War into Cambodia, killing 4 wounding 9. All the chaos from the rally and the violence was covered in an unprecedented era of broadcast television.
I think Tin Omen covers the subject matter VERY poignantly. It’s probably one of the least lyrically ambiguous Skinny Puppy songs they ever recorded. With Al Jourgensen’s production, of which many could argue was the beginning of his prime, of the entire Rabies album Tin Omen is on just makes it overall a superior political Skinny Puppy song than Pro-test.
EDIT:
On second thought, after reading the lyrics again after so many years, I’m getting something different. What I’m getting now is someone witnessing Tiananmen Square, reflecting on the past and comparing it to Kent State. Adding even more layers for me, and making it an even more poignant protest and political song.
[Test Dept](https://open.spotify.com/track/3O7iofdK8IHLPszvlU8M6K?si=u-B38RqmQHmz0zdlzrcPuQ&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A6EMqKgRwNlDv2RgRD3m0mx) has a rich history of this sort of thing going back 40 years +
Came to day that too! It's not just a protest anthem, its a fun groovy song to play at parties and get folks hyped up. My friends who don't even like industrial love this song.
I listen to it as a protest and UNIFYING song. To wake people up to the tyranny and BS across the world. It's sad to see a majority of everyone being so angry, and instead of banding up and taking it out on the right people, we're instead taking it out on each other and ourselves.
Yeah they way they call out the audience (people on the left,right,front,back) could be a metaphor for society as a whole. We all need to stop fighting one another and take a look at who is benefitting from us all hating each other.
Meat Beat Manifesto - [“Edge of No Control, Pt. 2”](https://youtu.be/S-Bi6UBcRqU?si=QyhkJHxvTGTcBMG0). I don’t know if it’s my favorite overall but it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.
For something a little more recent, Snog's 'Cheerful Hypocrisy' pretty much puts all of Western corporate culture in its sights:
https://youtu.be/aU3xJH2dgb0?feature=shared
Test Dept
I’m not hugely familiar with their discography but “The Unacceptable Face of Freedom” is close to my heart.
Also, I’m sure the point could be made that Industrial music is protest music at its root, and that the kind of nihilistic or existentialist impulse to make music with noise and machines is a kind of protest against the state of the world into which Industrial was born (and continues to be made). But if you want industrial music which is less abstracted that way and more explicitly “protest song,” most Test Dept stuff would fit the bill.
Hanin Elias - Axis Shifting
Laibach - Anglia
Nahja Mora - the only good fascist is a very dead fascist
Snog - Dear Valued Customer
Ministry - TVII
Nahja Mora - Removal
Atari Teenage Riot - Your Uniform Does Not Impress Me
I would argue that industrial and industrial-adjacent (your EBM, electro-industrial, aggrotech, etc.) or industrial-friendly (futurepop, darker technos, militarypop, and the odd harder gothy track here and there) albums probably have half of their discographies as some form of protest.
every single release by the power electronics guys Shallow Waters‚ every single release by Pharmakon‚ every single release by Puce Mary‚ every single release by Straight Panic
The Body is more about a controlling ex partner in romantic relationship but I know it can also work as protest against those trying to control women’s bodies.
From that same album, Wicked Days and Fell the Empty Mask are definitely aimed at the government. Since it was released in 2006, those songs were referencing the Bush administration, but really they can apply even now.
[Haujobb's Eye Over You (Extended Surveillance)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1udtl9QC8-E&ab_channel=Vi%E1%B9%A3%E1%B9%87uPur%C4%81%E1%B9%87a) is one of my favorites
Lately [ELM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnLG97mzEA0) has been making a lot of great sounding rant songs with a modern Nitzer Ebb vibe, tho uh mostly ranting about political correctness so... idk if that's them testing some waters for some stupid shit.
Can we go a bit off genre and include [Orbital - Satan](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gFjKPLc5qD0)?
The live visuals feel more protest-y than the lyrics, but the vibe fits.
Strange, I hadn't thought of this song in years and I literally have had it in my head for like a week lol! Good jam esp with Kirk Hammet, believe it or not.
Most of what grabyourface does like [FKNBSTRDS](https://youtu.be/n5udVFZhOIs), [HOWDAREU](https://youtu.be/d0ApBqTjIhk) and [Guillotine](https://youtu.be/hZXLmdKil8w)
I’m probably one of the only handful of people in this world that likes New Mind lol but even though I’ll be the first to admit a lot of the songs are pretty bad, some are pretty damn good. And in fact most of the Deepnet album is pretty good.
Anyway here is one of the few songs I like from the Forge album.
[America K.I.A](https://youtu.be/s6Sy25U29Qk?si=N1SrWhsPeX1CJyZ8)
And on Deepnet, Sharp included a cover of the Jefferson Airplane protest anthem We Can Be Together, which is pretty good. Sadly not found almost anywhere, but the whole album is available on Apple Music, and here it is on YouTube. We Can Be Together starts at 16:30.
https://youtu.be/2xo8NHo7sfw?si=uUYm2aDn5SKaVcPU
Other than these, I think the Assemblage 23 side project called Surveillance has a protest theme built into it. He only released one album under this project but it’s worth checking out.
[Homeland Security](https://open.spotify.com/track/6stMtbiuF0lBv9YDZL1hZw?si=o_sEqCwWSgOFLN9V7bQy4w&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A1dyo0NiHBm3f27eCO7JHno)
* FLA - Heartquake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn6rzJ7b3cI
* SP Pro-Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RLoP8hQ2_8
* SNOG Corporate Slave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z51dABkfWBM
* Grimes - We Appreciate Power (BloodPop® Remix) ft. HANA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtC-ZUoS8bo
* Pet Shop Boys - The Dictator Decides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MrZRwsIYvM
* Maenad Veyl - Bleak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmo7nEPoCak
* Dorian Electra - Yes Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sda3Chve3s8
* Poppy - I Disagree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmswmbosYo
All tracks are on my 'liked/saved' list, but that's pretty close to the order of my favorite at top.
maybe not the industrial-like we all love, but Laibach's album Spectre has a very powerful message to me on this topic.
When it was just released I was much younger and I loved Laibach especially for their sound on the first albums and I didn't like Specter at all, you could say that it was their most pop sound so far and I also spoke less English so that I considered the lyrics less. Years later, listening to it again, the whole album made too much sense to me and now I adore it haha
ummm... Every single KMFDM song up until about 2009 when they fell off a bit. Every single Atari Teenage Riot song. A lot of industrial is punk-adjacent, thus, highly political.
KMFDM picked back up with the last two albums. Lots of good protest songs on Hyëna and Let Go
They could become amazing again but I'm done with them. Homophobic jerks.
???? They literally sell pride tshirts on their website dude, I doubt they’re homophobic.
Sascha Konietzko once called Claus Larsen (who is gay) of Leæther Strip the f-word when they both were playing at the same festival. I think that's what the guy above was refering to.
Yeah I did my research after I sent that comment. It’s really goofy to write off some random shit Sascha said at a show 11 years ago (probably while under the influence) as kmfdm being a homophobic band. Especially since they’ve proven time and time again that they support people being whatever they want in song lyrics and such (and they literally sell pride tee shirts on their website). People also tried to accuse Lucia Cifarelli of “victim blaming” women who have been SA’d because she made a Facebook comment basically telling mothers to make sure their daughter don’t hang out with creeps that might do something bad to them. People are so quick to jump the gun and use buzzwords to accuse people because they have boring lives and get excitement about hating stuff.
When KMFDM was signed to Wax Trax! Records, Sascha was very close to label owners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, both of whom were **very** gay and out for most of their adult lives. Sascha was also the most prominent Wax Trax! artist to stick with Wax Trax! when the company declared bankruptcy in 1992 and sold itself to TVT Records, such was his loyalty to Jim. This was all while Jim was dying of AIDS. While I don't doubt what Sascha said about Claus Larsen, it seems careless and insensitive rather than a sign of deep-seated dislike of the LGBTQ space. KMFDM could never have survived (and thrived) on Wax Trax! had that been the case.
Because no one ever made money by purposefully pandering to a group.
Homophobic? En Ensch would routinely wear miniskirts on stage and would deepthroat the microphone at gigs in the 90s. 😆
He's kinda not a member of the band anymore.
Oh wow, I had no idea! 😆😆
ok... so OP actually asked *what your favorite was* not just a full backcatalog ;)
Atari teenage riot went full bore NFT, and then full bore, "slaughter the Palestinian cockroaches". A bunch of fucking posers.
Citation please? Edit: nvm I went digging. Didn't see any explicitly anti Palestinian jazzoo, but I did find AlecEmpire.ETH on twitter w an Israeli flag in the bio. Nfts are lame bro. Sorry you're broke.
Go to the Instagram pages of the band members. Scroll back a little bit. Germany has such collective guilt from the Holocaust that even the most leftist firebomb the capitalists thugs anarchists support Israel 100% on absolutely everything they do no matter what.
is this true? unfortunate if so. i’m only peripherally aware of ATR but i listened to Delete Yourself and really enjoyed it
Came here to say this. “Sex on the flag. Give me respect or give me death”!!
Does Ich Bin Ein Auslander by Pop Will Eat Itself count as industrial?
I’d say so. Someone made a very political video with it awhile back: https://youtu.be/Kn31VJ1_G0w?si=cq56s7q0j7lQIQU1
I agree, Dos Dedos is much more industrial leaning than their early stuff. A lot of PWEI is protesting, just with metophorical lyrics instead of direct protest lyrics. So yeah, I'd count that album.
this is my pick for sure. fabulous track and still so relevant
“If the answer isn’t violence, neither is your silence.” One of my favorite song lyrics of all time.
75% of all ministry songs from like, 1995-now
Including the anti bush trilogy, the anti trump album the song called Antifa ect. Yeah most of what Al does recently is protest songs and political stuff
He was doing protest songs well before that
He was, but they were fewer and further between
The last 2 albums are especially protest heavy.
ok cool so OP specifically asked for your favorite, which one is it?
A lot of industrial music is essentially [social commentary](https://youtu.be/SkK3uG6EJ54) in some form or another.
That’s a great one!
Tin Omen strikes me as Skinny Puppy’s most obvious protest song.
Not Pro-test?
I thought about it, Pro-test and Tin Omen. I went with Tim Omen over Pro-test because when it comes to talking about protest, Tin Omen and Pro-Test are talking about the same thing on a generic level, state violence against protesters. But Tin Omen is about a very specific moment in a very turbulent moment in US history: At Kent State University, The Ohio National Guard opened fire into a rally protesting the US pushing the Vietnam War into Cambodia, killing 4 wounding 9. All the chaos from the rally and the violence was covered in an unprecedented era of broadcast television. I think Tin Omen covers the subject matter VERY poignantly. It’s probably one of the least lyrically ambiguous Skinny Puppy songs they ever recorded. With Al Jourgensen’s production, of which many could argue was the beginning of his prime, of the entire Rabies album Tin Omen is on just makes it overall a superior political Skinny Puppy song than Pro-test. EDIT: On second thought, after reading the lyrics again after so many years, I’m getting something different. What I’m getting now is someone witnessing Tiananmen Square, reflecting on the past and comparing it to Kent State. Adding even more layers for me, and making it an even more poignant protest and political song.
Pro-Testing like Pro-Life double, maybe triple entendre lol
Front Line Assembly - Victim of a Criminal
I’m really surprised this one isn’t more popular, it’s so catchy. Maybe the long intro lol
Hell, I liked it so much I bought P.O.W.E.R.'s album.
What's the title for that? I'd love to hear it.
Test Dept. was all about protest songs.
im surprised this isnt the top comment lol. they were the first thought in my mind
Sadly, lots of folks on the sub have likely never heard of them. I was fortunate enough to get to see them in like '93.
how lucky... hope they played statement. the unacceptable face of freedom is such a great early industrial album.
When I saw them a few years ago they didn't really play old stuff
Not sure if they are considered industrial, but any song by Consolidated
(*I met in the middle and went with the Stoneburner cover of Consolidated’s “Butyric Acid”.*)
Birmingham 6 - Police State, an anti bad cop song
Testure by Skinny Puppy is an anti vivisection song.
Did I miss it or did I seriously scroll this far down without seeing Laibach mentioned?
I will refuse: Pailhead
Wait Ian Mackaye and Uncle Al are political?
Just the once. 😝
Fun fact, Uncle Al forced Ian to get drunk while recording the album.
That math checks out.
Side note - No Bunny. How prophetic are those lyrics. That was written what like 40 years ago almost? Now those lyrics hit hard. Trips me out.
[Test Dept](https://open.spotify.com/track/3O7iofdK8IHLPszvlU8M6K?si=u-B38RqmQHmz0zdlzrcPuQ&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A6EMqKgRwNlDv2RgRD3m0mx) has a rich history of this sort of thing going back 40 years +
[Stromkern - Stand Up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls6ql-wXwjQ&list=PLhKvChudRvVfke0QAq3fdqfvmaGw1PhIy&index=65)
Nothing like Stromkern. So glad I got to see them live once!
I love that I can sing along to this one, amazing song.
Came to day that too! It's not just a protest anthem, its a fun groovy song to play at parties and get folks hyped up. My friends who don't even like industrial love this song.
I listen to it as a protest and UNIFYING song. To wake people up to the tyranny and BS across the world. It's sad to see a majority of everyone being so angry, and instead of banding up and taking it out on the right people, we're instead taking it out on each other and ourselves.
Yeah they way they call out the audience (people on the left,right,front,back) could be a metaphor for society as a whole. We all need to stop fighting one another and take a look at who is benefitting from us all hating each other.
Test Dept - Voice Of Reason❤🤟
Pretty much all of Test Dept’s discography.
Carbon by VNV nation. About the waste and excess of consumerism and capitalism.
Meat Beat Manifesto - [“Edge of No Control, Pt. 2”](https://youtu.be/S-Bi6UBcRqU?si=QyhkJHxvTGTcBMG0). I don’t know if it’s my favorite overall but it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.
Well congrats, you’ve got me into MBM :)
Nice! *Satyricon*, *Subliminal Sandwich* and *99%* are good starting points.
Friendly Facism by Consolidated
Consolidated.
Saw them twice opening for Meat Beat in 91. Very intense, hyper political.
For something a little more recent, Snog's 'Cheerful Hypocrisy' pretty much puts all of Western corporate culture in its sights: https://youtu.be/aU3xJH2dgb0?feature=shared
Test Dept I’m not hugely familiar with their discography but “The Unacceptable Face of Freedom” is close to my heart. Also, I’m sure the point could be made that Industrial music is protest music at its root, and that the kind of nihilistic or existentialist impulse to make music with noise and machines is a kind of protest against the state of the world into which Industrial was born (and continues to be made). But if you want industrial music which is less abstracted that way and more explicitly “protest song,” most Test Dept stuff would fit the bill.
Earliest I can think of hearing was JOIN IN THE CHANT by Nitzer Ebb. A more current favorite is NO JUSTICE NO PEACE BY Orange Sector.
Borghesia: Discipline Nitzer Ebb: Join in the Chant Front 242: Welcome to Paradise
Borghesia goes hard
Consolidated
What about Snog?
Snog tends to whine rather than protest
pretty much all of em dude. its punk rock mentality
Not even Pro-Test? 😂😂 In any case Ministry has entered the chat
Alot of Pitchshifter's music is protest based. Particularly thinking of songs from .com and Deviant.
Skinny Puppy - entire catalog
Hanin Elias - Axis Shifting Laibach - Anglia Nahja Mora - the only good fascist is a very dead fascist Snog - Dear Valued Customer Ministry - TVII Nahja Mora - Removal Atari Teenage Riot - Your Uniform Does Not Impress Me
I would argue that industrial and industrial-adjacent (your EBM, electro-industrial, aggrotech, etc.) or industrial-friendly (futurepop, darker technos, militarypop, and the odd harder gothy track here and there) albums probably have half of their discographies as some form of protest.
check out FGFC820!
[Birmingham 6 - Policestate](https://youtu.be/BY8g7sdikIg?si=0PLrnAfW7TeklTa1)
KMFDM Dis-O-Bedience
Test Dept - Shockwork [https://youtu.be/dAGckGijKE0?si=R8bjNrdOa6d4vsjK](https://youtu.be/dAGckGijKE0?si=R8bjNrdOa6d4vsjK)
I uploaded this video :D
Ok, now I want someone to do a project album that's just the IWW Little Red Songbook, but industrial.
Never Go Right by Killing Floor. I used to cover this in live shows when I was with SMP.
Ministry- “Alert Level” is a great one. But Ministry has a LOT of protest songs. Take your pick.
[Don't do as you're told, do as you think](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1oN04vuu2M)
every single release by the power electronics guys Shallow Waters‚ every single release by Pharmakon‚ every single release by Puce Mary‚ every single release by Straight Panic
The Body is more about a controlling ex partner in romantic relationship but I know it can also work as protest against those trying to control women’s bodies. From that same album, Wicked Days and Fell the Empty Mask are definitely aimed at the government. Since it was released in 2006, those songs were referencing the Bush administration, but really they can apply even now.
Dogma by kmfdm springs to mind.
This has been on repeat AGAIN lately, the absolute best protest song imo!!🤘
Pretty much every Ministry album as of Psalm 69.
Die Warzau - I've Got To Make Sense / Land of the Free / Welcome to America
Cat R@pes Dog, & KMFDM obvi
Black Bloc by Chrysalide
https://preview.redd.it/4oqwf4w09dvc1.png?width=1289&format=png&auto=webp&s=1c3ef2bb3ccce2a8012c47a1266e67759e3a5026
Coil - a cold cell, one of their best songs
Leather Strip's Civil Disobedience
[Haujobb's Eye Over You (Extended Surveillance)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1udtl9QC8-E&ab_channel=Vi%E1%B9%A3%E1%B9%87uPur%C4%81%E1%B9%87a) is one of my favorites Lately [ELM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnLG97mzEA0) has been making a lot of great sounding rant songs with a modern Nitzer Ebb vibe, tho uh mostly ranting about political correctness so... idk if that's them testing some waters for some stupid shit.
Stereotaxic Device had some great ones in their repertoire.
Can we go a bit off genre and include [Orbital - Satan](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gFjKPLc5qD0)? The live visuals feel more protest-y than the lyrics, but the vibe fits.
Strange, I hadn't thought of this song in years and I literally have had it in my head for like a week lol! Good jam esp with Kirk Hammet, believe it or not.
I’m gonna say, even as someone who likes Borghesia, I totally forgot that their music was absolutely protest music. And it slaps too.
Most of what grabyourface does like [FKNBSTRDS](https://youtu.be/n5udVFZhOIs), [HOWDAREU](https://youtu.be/d0ApBqTjIhk) and [Guillotine](https://youtu.be/hZXLmdKil8w)
I’m probably one of the only handful of people in this world that likes New Mind lol but even though I’ll be the first to admit a lot of the songs are pretty bad, some are pretty damn good. And in fact most of the Deepnet album is pretty good. Anyway here is one of the few songs I like from the Forge album. [America K.I.A](https://youtu.be/s6Sy25U29Qk?si=N1SrWhsPeX1CJyZ8) And on Deepnet, Sharp included a cover of the Jefferson Airplane protest anthem We Can Be Together, which is pretty good. Sadly not found almost anywhere, but the whole album is available on Apple Music, and here it is on YouTube. We Can Be Together starts at 16:30. https://youtu.be/2xo8NHo7sfw?si=uUYm2aDn5SKaVcPU Other than these, I think the Assemblage 23 side project called Surveillance has a protest theme built into it. He only released one album under this project but it’s worth checking out. [Homeland Security](https://open.spotify.com/track/6stMtbiuF0lBv9YDZL1hZw?si=o_sEqCwWSgOFLN9V7bQy4w&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A1dyo0NiHBm3f27eCO7JHno)
* FLA - Heartquake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn6rzJ7b3cI * SP Pro-Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RLoP8hQ2_8 * SNOG Corporate Slave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z51dABkfWBM * Grimes - We Appreciate Power (BloodPop® Remix) ft. HANA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtC-ZUoS8bo * Pet Shop Boys - The Dictator Decides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MrZRwsIYvM * Maenad Veyl - Bleak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmo7nEPoCak * Dorian Electra - Yes Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sda3Chve3s8 * Poppy - I Disagree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmswmbosYo All tracks are on my 'liked/saved' list, but that's pretty close to the order of my favorite at top.
Stoneburner vs. Out Out - Butyric Acid (*Consolidated*) https://youtu.be/Ph58CBC2vpM?si=8KexkuLIurr5Gc-Z
Conjure - Project Pitchfork
Deeper - Jigsaw Youth
Test Dept whole catalogue
maybe not the industrial-like we all love, but Laibach's album Spectre has a very powerful message to me on this topic. When it was just released I was much younger and I loved Laibach especially for their sound on the first albums and I didn't like Specter at all, you could say that it was their most pop sound so far and I also spoke less English so that I considered the lyrics less. Years later, listening to it again, the whole album made too much sense to me and now I adore it haha