Date: May 9th
Category: Music & Culture | Historical Resistance
Every movement needs a melody. Every barricade, a battle hymn. And every revolution — whether whispered in a tavern or roared through a megaphone — marches to the beat of its time.
From 17th-century broadsides to civil rights soul, suffragette anthems to feminist punk, music has always been the unofficial language of resistance. It can lift spirits, call out injustice, and stick it to the establishment with nothing more than three chords and the truth.
So whether you’re rallying, reflecting, or just rebelling from your kitchen table, The Time Traveller’s Guild has your back. Here’s your curated Protest Playlist through the Ages — a time-travelling soundtrack of defiance.
🥁 1. The Cutty Wren – Traditional English Folk
📍 Peasants’ Revolt, 1381 (and reimagined in later revolts)
A haunting, metaphorical tune allegedly linked to rebellion against landlords. Revived by the 20th-century folk revival as a protest anthem against class oppression.
🎶 “We’ll have the wren, said Robyn the Bobbin…”
🧵 2. The March of the Women – Ethel Smyth, 1910
📍 British Suffragette Movement
Composed by Dame Ethel Smyth, this was the official anthem of the WSPU. It was sung in prisons and at rallies — and conducted by Smyth herself with a toothbrush while jailed in Holloway.
🎶 Best sung in marching boots, preferably while rattling a teacup on prison bars.
🎙️ 3. Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday, 1939
📍 US Civil Rights Era (prelude)
A chilling ballad protesting the lynching of Black Americans in the South. Its emotional power and stark imagery made it one of the earliest musical acts of civil resistance in mainstream jazz.
⚠️ Still banned or censored in some radio stations even today.
✊ 4. We Shall Overcome – Various artists
📍 US Civil Rights Movement, 1960s
The protest song to end all protest songs. Sung by Martin Luther King Jr., Freedom Riders, and thousands of everyday people on the frontlines of American change. Derived from African American gospel and labour movement roots.
🎶 Add to your road trip mix if time-travelling to Selma.
🔥 5. Bella Ciao – Italian Partisan Song
📍 WWII, Italian Resistance
Originally a folk song of rice field workers, it became a WWII resistance anthem. Sung by partisans fighting fascism, it was revived in the 2010s by global protestors (and yes, boosted by Money Heist on Netflix).
🌍 Sung today in climate marches, student protests, and even Ukrainian resistance rallies.
💣 6. Fight the Power – Public Enemy, 1989
📍 Post-Civil Rights US Activism
Featured in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, this hip-hop call to action fused politics, art, and street culture — and still hits hard.
🔊 If you need something loud, bold, and full of righteous fury, this is it.
🎤 7. Rebel Girl – Bikini Kill, 1993
📍 Riot Grrrl Movement
Pure feminist punk energy from the 1990s underground. An anthem for girls, femmes, and rebels of all stripes. Blared through zines, community centres, and bedroom speakers the world over.
⚡ She’s got the power. She’s got the rage. She’s got the Guild’s full approval.
🌊 8. Alright – Kendrick Lamar, 2015
📍 Black Lives Matter, Modern US Protest
A modern masterpiece of lyrical resilience. Became the unofficial anthem of BLM marches and youth protest culture in the 2010s and beyond.
🎧 The sound of holding on, standing firm, and knowing things must change.
🕊️ 9. Bread and Roses – Labour Song (Various Versions)
📍 1912 US Textile Strike → UK & International Women’s Movements
Originating from the Lawrence strike in Massachusetts, this haunting ballad became a staple of women’s rights protests. The message? We deserve beauty and justice — not just survival.
🎶 “Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.”
🎶 Listen Now: Playlist
🧭 Time Travelling Protest Playlist
Curated by The Time Travellers Guild
✊ Bonus tracks included from The Clash, Nina Simone, Tracy Chapman, Welsh coal miners’ choirs, and international protest punk.
1. The Clash – “Clampdown” (1979)
Rallying cry against oppressive systems from punk’s finest.
2. Nina Simone – “Mississippi Goddam” (1964)
Raw, searing anger at racial injustice, still heartbreakingly relevant.
3. Tracy Chapman – “Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution” (1988)
Quietly powerful, an anthem for the unheard and overlooked.
4. Welsh Miners’ Choir – “Take Me Home”
Deeply moving choral strength, rooted in the struggles of 1984–85.
5. Bryn Terfel & Fron Male Voice Choir – “Myfanwy” (traditional)
Echoes of the dignity and sorrow of working-class Wales.
6. Dezerter – “Spytaj Milicjanta” (Ask the Militiaman) – Poland (1983)
Defiant voice of punk rebellion under Communist rule.
7. DAM – “Born Here” – Palestine (2001)
Hip-hop meets protest in occupied lands, brutally honest.
8. Billy Bragg – “There Is Power in a Union” (1986)
Folk-punk spirit, championing solidarity and workers’ rights.
9. Woody Guthrie – “This Land Is Your Land” (1944, released 1951)
An American protest classic, born from Depression-era struggles.
10. Bob Dylan – “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (1964)
Timeless call for societal change across generations.
11. Bikini Kill – “Rebel Girl” (1993)
Feminist punk fire, igniting a riot grrrl revolution.
12. Sleaford Mods – “Jobseeker” (2008)
Modern British working-class rage, raw and minimalist.
13. Victor Jara – “Manifiesto” – Chile (1974)
The voice of Chile’s revolution, brutally silenced yet eternal.
14. Yothu Yindi – “Treaty” – Australia (1991)
Powerful demand for Aboriginal land rights in a pop-rock fusion.
15. CRASS – “Do They Owe Us a Living?” (1978)
Furious anarcho-punk questioning authority and capitalism.
16. Manic Street Preachers – “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next” (1998)
Haunting tribute to the Spanish Civil War and the fight against fascism.
17. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – “Johnny Appleseed” (2001)
Late-career optimism from the punk prophet.
18. PJ Harvey – “The Words That Maketh Murder” (2011)
A grim war protest disguised in deceptively pretty tones.
19. Rage Against the Machine – “Killing in the Name” (1992)
Explicit, ferocious rebellion against systemic racism.
20. Pussy Riot – “Punk Prayer” – Russia (2012)
Art, protest, and punk combined into fearless defiance.
🧭 Why This Playlist?
This list journeys through decades and across continents, from coal mines to city squares, from whispered protests to roared anthems. Some tracks make you want to march. Others might break your heart before rebuilding your resolve. All of them, in their way, fight for a better world.
🛍️ Sound of the Movement: Guild Merch Drop
🎧 Our “Songs of Resistance” merch capsule includes:
- Lyric journals with pages for your own protest poems
- “Sing Loud / March Proud” T-shirts
- Limited edition vinyl-inspired tea towel (yes, really)
📚 Want to Know More?
- 33 Revolutions Per Minute by Dorian Lynskey (A history of protest songs)
- The Protest Song Book – People’s History Museum, Manchester
- British Library Sound Archive: Political Music
💬 Over to You: #GuildAnthems
What’s your rebel anthem? What song gets your time-travelling blood pumping?
Share your pick with #GuildAnthems on Instagram or Threads and we’ll feature a Time Travellers’ Top 10 at month’s end.
