Singing in a large group and hearing other people sing is famously a great time always, and one of the great things about protests is that it gives people the opportunity to participate in something that is usually reserved for theatre kids and religion. Now we have our Defying Gravitys and Hadestowns and Hamiltons and RENTs of course, but these songs have been thoroughly claimed by theatre kids.
We’re all familiar with the absolute protest banger that is Bella Ciao, the anti-fascist Italian folk tune made famous by Netflix’s Money Heist. However, this one well-known song is relatively limiting. With fascism and protests becoming more prevalent in the United States than ever, we here at Pepper&Salt believe it is our patriotic duty to give protesters a resource to help them participate in such a valuable group activity and give them choice to mix it up every so often, if only for morale. It’s also entirely probable that there is literally no one in the Trump administration who understands the nuance and history of this song and singing in a foreign language might just have you arrested on principle.
There are reasons for everyone, no matter where you are on the spectrum, to be angry and appalled at what is going on in Minneapolis right now. If you don’t care about the fact that two protesters, American citizens, were executed by federal agents, sanctioned by the government. If you don’t care that the government is literally taking people from their homes – including American citizens – then how about the fact that the current administration is trying to criminalise your constitutional rights, your First Amendment protecting your speech, your Second Amendment to carry and own a gun, and not only that, make it a death sentence to do so and your Fourth Amendment protecting you from the government searching and seizing your property without a warrant? So yes, you should be in the streets, protesting what is going on, because even if it’s not in your home town or state, if they can make it here, they can make it anywhere. The government is coming, the government is coming.
We utilised the highly sophisticated qualitative means of doomscrolling on Instagram, so that you don’t have to, and we’ve made a list of a handful of songs that we think would really get across the message and perhaps work in supplement to Bella Ciao to be 2026’s protest song of the year, for people on both sides of the aisle.
PSA: Contains absolutely no Taylor Swift or Disney songs. Mostly because these brands have never been truly activist but instead have defined the bare minimum, vanilla institutionalism that is more than a little bland and distasteful in this day and age. Stand for something, goddammit.
11. Everybody Says Don’t from Anyone Can Whistle by Stephen Sondheim. Literally has the lyrics “laugh at the kings or they’ll make you cry.” What is it if not a call to arms? Cathartic, unhinged, hopeful, kind of a blend of everything that a protest song should be. But like a lot of Sondheim, this song is difficult to sing, so having a group sing along without any of the lyrics getting lost will be next to impossible. Maybe designating one theatre kid to sing it for the assembled crowd is the way forward with this particular song.
10. Streets of Minneapolis by Bruce Springsteen. Now, of course its creation is in of itself the definition of a protest song, but we truly believe that Springsteen’s work has its own purpose and niche to fulfil, mostly by being blasted at full volume on every speaker possible outside every government building in Washington and any event that Trump administration officials attend.
9. The Hanging Tree by Suzanne Collins and Wesley Schultz. The acoustic version, ‘rope’ instead of ‘hope’. Lyrics can always be changed, but they’re disturbingly on the nose as is.
8. American Idiot by Green Day. The whole album of course, goes without saying. It’s aged like fine wine. This band has been defining political catharsis for the past three decades so who better than them to provide the soundtrack for protests?Just banger after banger, 10/10. Jumping up and down when singing this music at the top of your lungs is not only recommended but required, which just so happens to be a great way to warm yourself when standing still for a long time in the cold (Save Good Riddance for dancing on the grave of this administration).
7. Join Ice by Jesse Walles. The issue here is that actual ICE officers may not possess the ability to understand the not so subtle mockery the song is making of them, which will cause a vast majority of American media outlets to put out some click-bait headlines like ‘Protesters Tell People to Join ICE’ which is the opposite of what we want to happen. Endorsed by Stephen Colbert.
6. YMCA by Village People. It’s more than time to reclaim this song.
5. Toy Soldier by Earth to Eve. Certain parts that can be turned into a chant. Bullseye thumbing of the nose at ICE. Agents would definitely miss the song’s implied emasculation, but that’s just part of the fun.
4. The entirety of Bad Bunny’s catalogue. If you’re looking for anything specific, Wikipedia suggests Afilando Los Cuchillos. It just feels like a great way to protest ICE is to just yell at them in Spanish. Bad Bunny is performing at the Super Bowl Halftime show, making the moment relevant and politically charged, as protest songs should be. Knowing those agents there’s a risk that it would make them at least 50% more angry than they already are.
3. Don’t Say No To Hitler by Seb Lowe. If a song’s melody could be chaotic neutral, this song would be it. Crunchy, catchier than it probably ought to be. Peak satire, but so dark that you listen and go where’s the lie? Kind of has the same vibe musically to Bella Ciao if we’re being perfectly honest. It’s a bop, sue me.
2. The Little Flame by Carsie Blanton. Hopeful, there’s a quiet, human warmth in it that makes it perfect for a protest group, a practice in shared humanity. It’s the successor to Kumbaya. FBI from the same album (The Red Album Vol. 2) is also recommended, a little more fun and jaunty in a haha oh god kind of way. More topically protest-focused, but perhaps doesn’t quite create the right kind of atmosphere for one.
1.Do You Hear the People Sing from the Les Miserable soundtrack by Alan Boubil, Herbert Kretzmer and Claude-Michel Schönberg. Why mess with a classic? Verses, so many verses, can go on forever if people are feeling ambitious, and so easy to adjust for long protests or making noise outside of complicit hotel chains. Lyrics are easy to pick up and there’s a lot of potential to make this song lightly menacing. Make Enjorolas proud.
Honourable Mention: Labour by Paris Paloma. Speaks for itself.
If you’re sitting here going, “Pepper&Salt, I am an honest, God-fearing American and I don’t want child-murderin’, thievin’ illegals roaming my neighbourhood and de-frauding me of my hard-earned taxes, but those don’t seem like the folks that are being rounded up. And I don’t like reading about folks-like-me citizens being gunned down by some federal “law enforcement” for exercising our God-given Rights. We fought for decades against the Left so that they wouldn’t take away our guns and infringe upon our right to own and carry them in schools, crowded cities and yes, at protests. And it greatly irks me that my hard earned American dollars are being used like this.”
Well, we’ve also compiled a list for you.
Songs for Righteous Protest
5. Hostile Government Takeover by AGiftFromTodd. For those feeling a little nostalgic for simpler days. And though it feels like many have moved on from DOGE, the sentiment is still very much applicable. The only thing is that it is endorsed by John Oliver but the catchiness more than makes up for it.
4. I’m Just A Bill by Schoolhouse Rock. It just seems like the administration needs a refresher.
3. Mine by Taylor Swift. So the government knows how you feel about your rights.
2. Don’t Let ‘Em Take Your Gun by Grand Funk Railroad. We take our job very seriously and so we just had to find the most pro-2nd Amendment song that we could, which this must be since we couldn’t find it on Spotify. So pro-gun and censored? Ticks all the boxes. Lyrics include gems like “Don’t want your country to be overrun” and “won’t be nobody takin’ over our land.”
1. A Little Piece of Poland by Mel Brooks. After all, Trump just wants a piece, piece, piece of your rights.
If you do take our suggestions, then please do enjoy the playlist we’ve made for you:
Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3wfl98VWIJ4W4R1QtLkA2n?si=VIqpYdQKRGCMgood_cLoEg&pi=_GzbP3qBRpGIa
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8K-kOn1dmo1p7tMBGEforRGSuXpLp1s0&si=hMwo07fapwgn9x55
Pepper & Salt 
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