Rock, especially alternative rock, has a reputation for being rebellious, fiery and poignant in times of deep political divide. Whether this assessment of rock history is true is up for debate, but if rock’s rebellious soul still defines the genre, we should see it in 2025. So far, however, a lot of the biggest names in rock and metal have remained relatively silent, and while their music speaks to fighting the power, they lie dormant. Even worse, some bands are weaponizing rock’s “rebellious nature” to advocate for the hateful system they should be rising against.
Every artist preaches not to let “the man push you around” and encourages a “family” of fans to “remain true to themselves.” However, that’s the furthest most of these artists will take their statements. This truly dawned on me over the last year. As the election cycle ramped up, I heard countless songs about rebellion with no real direction or target—just blanket anger. The problem with these self-proclaimed revolutionaries is they either take a stance that reinforces the system rather than criticizing it, or they just stay silent.
Accusing metal, punk or other alternative rock of being oversaturated with whiny white men who are mad for the sake of being mad is not the most original claim. Plenty of ink has been spilled over these scenes being welcoming to bigots of all stripes while excluding people of color, queer folks and women; this hypocrisy is nothing new.
In 2024, bands such as Skillet and Falling In Reverse put out songs with titles such as “Revolution,” “Unpopular” and “Zombiefied.” The titles, the first from Skillet and the latter two from Falling in Reverse, use language alluding to being the underdog and rebelling against an overwhelming authoritarian power. In these cases, the “power” is left-wing ideas, such as “cancel culture” or criticisms of organized religion.
This is ironic because of course, “cancel culture” is upheld by both the “free speech” these bands claim to love and the “traditional” capitalist system they uphold. Just as you are entitled to your own opinion and to speak it, listeners are allowed to respond in turn. In a capitalist system, fans express their dissatisfaction by not listening to the bands, and then the money goes away. It’s one of the only effective ways for the general population to hold the rich accountable.
Now, as democracy is truly being threatened, people are being fired or detained for having unpopular opinions; both groups have stayed silent. These free-speech warriors only complain when “cancel culture” gives them backlash for being homophobic, transphobic, racist or sexist.
What are Falling in Reverse and Skillet fighting for, anyway? For Falling In Reverse, it seems to be the ability for everyone to speak their mind whenever, except of course, if it’s journalists criticizing him like Anthony Fantano. For Skillet, it’s “turning back to God.” Even if the listener was to take a page from the current US government and ignore that whole “separation of church and state” part of the First Amendment, Skillet’s “revolution” still makes no sense. How are “woke ideas” shoved more down anyone’s throat than Christianity when every schoolchild has to recite “one nation under God” every single day for the Pledge of Allegiance? Anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ laws are in place, in a major way of the power of radical Christians to enforce their beliefs on everyone else.
Messages such as those shared by these bands are the redirection of anger against the “system” and pointing it at menial issues and often oppressed people, rather than unrooting the systems of powers that push us all down in the first place. It’s an extension, intentionally or not, of the fascist playbook of MAGA, masked as rebellion. To their credit, Falling In Reverse and Skillet at least are “rebelling” against something, even if the problems they “perceive” are just bait by the elite to distract from true unification.
A vast majority of bands, however, refuse to speak out against policy that affects the world and their fans. Some pretty easy explanations can be drawn for this plague of neutrality. Chief among them is capitalism. Radical politics leads to alienating fans, alienating fans leads to loss of money, etc. Some may think that this allows bigger bands more freedom. If a huge band has millions of fans, and they lose a decent chunk because of politics, they’ll still sell out arenas. You can argue this has already happened with bands like Falling In Reverse and Skillet, whose outspoken politics have given them an audience that either agrees with them or cannot look past it. However, I’d argue that the lack of any statement means a good chunk of the biggest bands are more concerned with the quantity of the audience rather than the “quality” (ie, people they agree with politically.) The risk of bad press and “cancellation” by either wing of the political spectrum simply isn’t worth it.
On the other hand, most of the bold political statements I have heard have been from smaller artists in the scene such as Bob Vylan, Scowl, and Teen Mortgage. These bands have all come out with statements condemning not only “standard” right-wing politics but even more controversial issues, such as the genocide in Palestine. Not all the big bands have been silent either. Members of major bands such as Green Day, Paramore, and My Chemical Romance have made clear anti-MAGA statements. However, there’s still an overabundance of bands who have yet to take any sort of side, despite the subject of their music being rebellion and resistance. Additionally, the immense wealth of the biggest rock and metal bands also means they’re not dramatically impacted by a lot of policies, especially considering most rock bands at the top are made up of only straight white men.
As authoritarianism rises in America, it’s important for all fans of rock, punk, etc., to look at their favorite artists. What are they singing about, and what are they actually doing? Not all music needs to be political; however, if a band is going to constantly sing about resistance and fighting power, they should probably actually do it, especially if they have the social and financial capital to be able to make meaningful change. Music can elicit powerful emotions, and if the music of apolitical bands inspires or entertains people to take action or not, all the power to them. However, for the fans who care about the intent behind the words, I think the next four years will be useful in revealing who’s boots are on the ground and who’s too busy licking them.
Nicholas is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Nicholas about his column? Email him at nk696121@ohio.edu.
