May Day 2010: The 20 Greatest Protest Songs

With The Clash, Guns N' Roses and Marvin Gaye...

April 30, 2010

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To mark May Day, a day historically associated with rallies, protests and riots, Gigwise presents the 20 greatest protest songs of all time. Featuring Guns N' Roses, Bob Marley, The Clash, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, The Beatles and more...

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20. Guns N' Roses: 'Civil War' - Born from an instrumental Slash and Duff McKagan used to play in sound-check, the 1993 Guns N' Roses song took on a life of its own when Axl Rose wrote lyrics around it. Essentially a homage to Vietnam style protest songs, 'Civil War' mentions both John F Kennedy's assassination and Martin Luther King whilst playing with the dual meaning of the word 'civil' in Civil War by asking "What's so civil about war anyway?".