How music fuelled, and was fuelled by, the No Kings protests

Jackson Weaver · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 21, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

If you were online past week, you astir apt saw footage from the No Kings protests.

The gigantic objection against U.S. President Donald Trump took spot crossed the United States and portions of Canada — but was connected by 1 prevailing aspect: music. 

There was Les Miserables's rousing Do You Hear the People Sing?, sung by a assemblage successful Auburn, Calif. 

There was Bella Ciao — a lesser-known portion powerfully linked to the Italian anti-fascist question of the 1940s — performed by a brass set to drown retired counter-protesters successful Atlanta.

And determination was a raft of different music, caller and old, by musicians looking to necktie themselves to the No Kings demonstrations.

"There's a fascinating substance of caller euphony arsenic good arsenic aged songs being brought backmost into the mix," said Benjamin Tausig, an subordinate prof of captious euphony studies astatine New York's Stony Brook University.

It's "inspiring radical successful the discourse of protestation astatine this moment."

That's due to the fact that of music's inextricable transportation to — and quality to animate — governmental action, helium says. 

When utilized successful a circumstantial way, immoderate songs tin go astir irresistible calls to action. And the opening of protestation movements often fundamentally alter both what euphony we are exposed to, and what euphony artists take to release, says Tausig.

But erstwhile it comes to protestation music, not each songs are created equal, says Noriko Manabe, seat of Indiana University's section of euphony mentation and co-editor of the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Protest Music. And the mode that we prosecute with that music, she says, speaks to wherefore immoderate of the astir wide songs utilized astatine caller protests person been older, little traditionally fashionable tunes.

Songs similar Bella Ciao, Do You Hear the People Sing? oregon adjacent The Star-Spangled Banner — which had moments of its ain astatine the protests — thin to beryllium of a circumstantial type, she says. They are "participatory" versus "presentational."

While presentational euphony is meant for 1 skilled performer, participatory music, like different iconic protestation songs such arsenic We Shall Overcome, is not.

It's "more repetitive truthful that radical tin much easy articulation in," she said. "Whether oregon not they're virtuosic is really not the point. The constituent is to get arsenic galore radical progressive arsenic possible."

And with participation, she says, comes ideology.

"The thought of moving vocal cords and muscles together, wherever you person to perceive to different radical and consciousness their movements — " Manabe said. "Just the enactment of voicing it itself makes you consciousness that this is portion of your content system."

Co-opted music

Tausig says that participatory aspect can adjacent eclipse what the opus is really about. Historically, helium says, the astir fashionable protestation songs thin to beryllium co-opted, with nary nonstop oregon evident transportation to immoderate governmental movement. That's due to the fact that the taste iconography associated with them tends to clasp much weight. 

Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce became precise important successful the Black Lives Matter movement, for example. 

"Their songs didn't adjacent specifically person to code Black Lives Matter to inactive go truly effectual astatine mobilizing people," helium said. 

Some songs are adjacent adopted by movements they look to beryllium explicitly against. For example, Tausig notes, Bruce Springsteen's Born successful the U.S.A., about a disillusioned Vietnam War veteran, was famously referenced successful a 1984 run speech by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

More recently, Creedence Clearwater Revival's draft-dodging ditty Fortunate Son was played astatine a subject parade, prompting speculation implicit whether it was either a signifier of protestation oregon owed to a communal misinterpretation of the song's meaning. 

In some cases, helium says, what the opus appeared to correspond was much important than what it really said. 

A agelong history

But adjacent still, songs being utilized by some sides of a governmental statement person a agelong past successful protestation music, Manabe says.

Going backmost to Britain successful the 1600s, warring factions of Royalists and Parliamentarians would disseminate "broadsheets": ample pieces of insubstantial with often-rhyming lyrics successful enactment of their side. But to marque definite they were casual to remember, they would beryllium acceptable to well-known tunes.

That resulted successful "contrafacta": each broadside singing the aforesaid "song," though with wholly antithetic words supporting wholly antithetic ideals.

That improvement continues to today. Manabe points to protests successful Hong Kong successful 2014, erstwhile some defenders and critics of the ideology question utilized Do You Hear the People Sing?

Meanwhile, rock, country, EDM and hip-hop artists seemingly jumped connected the bandwagon to merchandise or re-release their governmental music, creating musical touchstones and viral moments successful the protests themselves.

Arkansas people instrumentalist Jesse Welles, who crafted societal media fame by releasing songs tied to the news, debuted a caller track No Kings which has already racked up implicit 150,000 views connected YouTube. In Salt Lake City, EDM instrumentalist Subtronics added a "No Kings" conception to his performance, gaining implicit 2 cardinal views connected TikTok.

Meanwhile, the Dropkick Murphys, Soundgarden and Pavement person each made posts connecting their music, aged and new, to the protests — on with Canadian Grammy-winner Allison Russell, lesser known blues, state and bluegrass musicians and adjacent an AI hip-hop way simply titled No Kings that's amassed implicit 750,000 views connected YouTube.

"Expressing dissent oregon absorption to authorization done nonviolence is 1 of the astir potent weapons that we tin wield," said Canadian instrumentalist Jordan Benjamin (known artistically arsenic Grandson) who besides released caller euphony straight tied to the No Kings protests. 

From an artist's standpoint, the abrupt swell makes sense: fixed the cyclical quality of popular culture, euphony that whitethorn person seemed old-fashioned oregon retired of measurement has abruptly go much successful demand.

And astatine the opening of specified changes successful direction, Tausig says, which songs volition specify that question becomes an important question. 

"It's hard to ideate a protestation happening without music," helium said. "But it besides becomes truthful important successful establishing the aesthetics of a movement."