The Civil Rights movement used music extensively, with songs like "People Get Ready" serving as anthems. Many protest songs from the 1960s remain relevant and are still sung at demonstrations today.

Iconic songs by Sam Cooke, Kim Weston, Public Enemy, Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Lauryn Hill, Kendrick Lamar and more depict the fight for civil rights.

15. Pete Seeger, 'We Shall Overcome' (1963) This was one of the civil rights movement's most popular songs, an unofficial anthem so pervasive that President Lyndon B. Johnson slipped the title phrase ...

Anti-war songs rarely get as indirect as this. After all, R.E.M. is not the kind of band to take a direct approach to songwriting. “Orange Crush” is a reference to napalm, and the whole of the ...