Don't Be Surprised That The Resistance Is Musical Too-- Green Day, Moby, Arcade Fire, Gorillaz...

I haven't really kept up with the music business since retiring from Reprise. But I'm still a music fan and I was excited, about a month before the election, to hear the new Green Day album, Revolution Radio. The first single was the anti-gun nut song, Bang Bang and when they performed it at the American Music Awards a couple weeks after Trump won the election, Billie Joe inserted the lyric/chant, "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA." The response was electric and downloads went crazy immediately. It's a funny thing about downloads... after the first single on an album comes out, the trend these days is for bands and record companies to decide about a second single based on downloads and spins. I'm not sure why they picked "Troubled Times," (video up top) but a friend of mine told me it was getting the most online attention, more than other contenders like Ordinary World, the upbeat title track or the very commercial-sounding "Still Breathing" (for which a video had already been made). It was a good decision. The album shot to #1 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Italy and Ireland-- and #2 in Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Korea and Greece. The band is letting the song and video speak for themselves but their only statement about it that I could find was "Today we celebrate Love and Compassion more than ever."

Of course, Green Day isn't the only band letting their fans know what they think about Trump. The Gorillaz, who haven't been around this decade, put out Hallelujah Money,which takes a little getting used to, but certainly makes the point. Arcade Fire teamed up with Mavis Staples on a song called "I Give You Power."



I'm sure Moby fans, who had already heard him calling Trump a "sociopath," were just waiting to see how he'd react musically to Trump. No one's going to be disappointed when they watch the new video for "Erupt and Matter" from last year's These Systems Are Failing. Don't miss this powerful statement on the rise of fascism:



And now check out another piece of the resistance: OurFirst100Days, which is very explicitly advocating action to protect threatened communities and causes.

Our First 100 Days seeks to aid in that protection. Joining together with artists and labels we will be releasing one rare, unreleased or exclusive song per day to you via Bandcamp.

For a minimum contribution of $30, supporters will be able to access all 100 songs in the project, including new music from Angel Olsen, How To Dress Well, Toro Y Moi, The Range and many more.

All profits raised from Our First 100 Days will go directly to organizations working on the front lines of climate, women's rights, immigration and fairness.

The project was started in conjunction with Secretly Group and 30 Songs, 30 Days, and aims to raise funds and awareness for organizations supporting causes that are under threat by the proposed policies of a Trump administration. This project is produced with the help of Revolutions Per Minute, an organization that provides strategy and support for artists making change.