50 Best Rock Songs About Police Brutality
Rock Tracks That Confront Police Violence
There’s a crackle that runs through rock when anger turns sharp. When the guitars scrape instead of sing and the vocals sound like they’re trying to fight their way out of the mix. These songs carry that noise, the kind that leaks out of protests, news clips, and late-night arguments that end with someone saying it’s always been like this. The ones who wrote these tracks didn’t smooth anything out. They caught the tension mid-swing, when the line between grief and fury blurs.
Some of the artists here weren’t trying to make a statement so much as process what was in front of them. The sirens, the TV footage, the exhaustion that sets in when things repeat and still nothing shifts. A few of these tracks might not center on police violence directly, but they orbit that atmosphere—corruption, control, systems that break people down. They sit in the same space as pop, rock, country, and R&B songs that tangle with power and consequence in their own language.
There’s no comfort to be found in this playlist, and that’s kind of the point. The feedback hums, the drums hit harder than they need to, and the words don’t wrap up clean. It’s a stretch of raw sound that catches the unrest in motion, the kind that makes you pause mid-scroll when it shows up in someone’s feed. Here are the best rock songs about police brutality.
Top 10 Police Brutality Rock Songs
1. 'Killing in the Name' by Rage Against the Machine
2. 'I Fought the Law' by The Clash
3. 'Police Story' by Black Flag
4. 'Straight to Hell' by The Clash
5. 'Poliça' by Titãs
6. 'Cop Killer' by Body Count
7. 'Fight the Power' by Public Enemy
8. 'FDT' by YG featuring Nipsey Hussle
9. 'Know Your Rights' by The Clash
10. 'Bullet in the Head' by Rage Against the Machine
Rock Music About State Violence and Law Enforcement #11 to 20
11. 'Hate and War' by The Clash
12. 'White Riot' by The Clash
13. 'Banned in DC' by Bad Brains
14. 'The Needle and the Damage Done' by Neil Young
15. 'The Times They Are a-Changin'' by Bob Dylan
16. 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' by Gil Scott-Heron
17. 'Law Enforcement' by Minor Threat
18. 'Police Truck' by Dead Kennedys
19. 'Civil War' by Guns N' Roses
20. 'The Passenger' by Iggy Pop
Songs Denouncing Police Misconduct and Injustice #21 to 30
21. 'Institutionalized' by Suicidal Tendencies
22. 'Blitzkrieg Bop' by Ramones
23. 'God Save the Queen' by Sex Pistols
24. 'Anarchy in the U.K.' by Sex Pistols
25. 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen
26. 'London Calling' by The Clash
27. 'Ohio' by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
28. 'Get Up, Stand Up' by The Wailers
29. 'War' by Edwin Starr
30. 'Burn Baby Burn' by Ash
Rock Songs About Oppression and Social Control #31 to 40
31. 'Revolution' by The Beatles
32. 'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones
33. 'We're Not Gonna Take It' by Twisted Sister
34. 'The Wall' by Pink Floyd
35. 'Give Peace a Chance' by Plastic Ono Band
36. 'Sound of Da Police' by KRS-One
37. 'Biko' by Peter Gabriel
38. 'Rebel Yell' by Billy Idol
39. 'Freedom' by Jimi Hendrix
40. 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' by U2
Essential Protest and Resistance Rock Songs #41 to 50
41. 'Working Class Hero' by John Lennon
42. 'People Have the Power' by Patti Smith
43. 'For What It's Worth' by Buffalo Springfield
44. 'Talkin' Bout a Revolution' by Tracy Chapman
45. 'Fortunate Son' by Creedence Clearwater Revival
46. 'Clampdown' by The Clash
47. 'Concrete and Steel' by The Dead Boys
48. 'In the Name of God' by Dream Theater
49. 'Police State' by P.O.D.
50. 'Street Fighting Man' by The Rolling Stones
© 2025 Carson McQueen
