When I think about songs with a message I have to think back to the Vietnam War.  There were many songs written in protest of the war.  Some of them were good and some were rabble rousing for the express purpose of selling records. 

Steppenwolf was a hard rock band in the late sixties and early seventies.  The lead singer of Steppenwolf, Johnny Kay, knew something about what it feels like to be free.  His family lived through Nazi Germany and he escaped East Germany to the freedom of the west when he was four years old. Of course Steppenwolf will always be remembered for “Born to be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride” but the band tackled political issues with a vengeance.

Songs like “Don’t Step on the Grass Sam” told you exactly where they stood.  The song that I remember most was “Monster”.  This was a ten minute plea to maintain the freedom that America was known for around the world.  It went a little overboard taking the bad things in American history out of context but he was trying to make a point.  The point, in my mind, was that it wasn’t the government’s problem when it gets out of hand; it’s the people’s problem.  The line, “The people grew fat and grew lazy; now the vote is just a meaningless tool,” reflects exactly what I mean.  Not too many writers of protest songs put the problem back on the voters.

More recently the song “What It’s Like” by Everlast brought home the message of “Walk a mile in my shoes before you judge me”.  Eric Schrody, a former front man for the rap group House of Pain, preformed What It’s Like under the name Everlast.  He is a singer-song writer of Irish/American heritage. 

What It’s Like appeared on Everlast’s second album “Whitey Ford Sings the Blues” in 1998.  It is a song broken into three little stories about people down on their luck and how the world judges them.  It is a good song to spark debate because it brings up issues of panhandling, abortion, and families of drug users.  The lyrics are straight forward and hard hitting and they will make you think the next time you are ready to condemn someone.