Bruce Springsteen’s new anti-ICE anthem isn’t fairly as dangerous as Paul McCartney’s ghastly post-9/11 anthem “Freedom.” Not fairly. Still, he’s arguably performed greater than another main artist to talk out in opposition to the Trump administration’s draconian insurance policies, and possibly that’s sufficient.
“Streets of Minneapolis” — which Springsteen launched on Wednesday, with a follow-up lyric video on Thursday — was met by cheers from his followers and anti-ICE protesters, and jeers from the MAGA trustworthy. But the four-and-a-half-minute music, chronicling the unprecedented, violent nationwide immigration raids and mindless deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, felt ultimately like one thing near a common rallying cry.
The four-and-a-half-minute music, chronicling the unprecedented, violent nationwide immigration raids and mindless deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, felt ultimately like one thing near a common rallying cry.
The title is a transparent nod to his AIDS-era anthem “Streets of Philadelphia,” which received the 1994 Academy Award for finest authentic music and garnered 4 Grammy Awards, together with music of the yr. In 24 hours, it gained greater than three million views on YouTube and barely 200,000 streams on Spotify. And therein lies the downside.
Surely any fan of Springsteen — or frankly any fan of democracy — is applauding the undeniable fact that he is lending his appreciable star energy to the vicious deportation techniques and pointless killings of two protestors at the palms of overzealous federal immigration officers. But it stays to be seen if the music has any endurance.
American protest music has a protracted and storied historical past, which Springsteen after all understands properly. Just about everybody is aware of at the very least the first verse and the highly effective chorus of Woody Guthrie’s timeless “This Land Is Your Land,” now greater than 100 years outdated. In the trendy age, Neil Young’s “Ohio,” penned in the quick aftermath of the Kent State killings, has a timeless depth to it. It’s a implausible music and it nonetheless holds up greater than 50 years later.
Meanwhile, Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane,” written to protest the doubtful homicide conviction of boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, engages the listener with an incredible narrative and has a hook that received’t give up. There’s motive this music has amassed almost 300 million streams on Spotify in the streaming period, almost a half century after Dylan wrote it.
More lately, John Legend’s and Common’s trendy tackle the Gospel religious, “Glory,” from the soundtrack to the movie “Selma,” was an enormous, genre-defying hit with common attraction that received the Oscar for finest authentic music at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.
In 2026, for those who don’t seize a listener in the first few seconds, they’re transferring on. And “Streets of Minneapolis” simply doesn’t seize me. The lyrics are clunky and the manufacturing is unsophisticated, presumably as a result of the undeniable fact that it was written and produced lower than every week after Pretti’s demise. “Ohio,” in comparability, got here out a full month after 4 unarmed faculty college students had been killed throughout a Vietnam War rally.
“Now they say they’re here to uphold the law / But they trample on our rights / If your skin is Black or brown my friend / You can be questioned or deported on sight,” Springsteen sings in considered one of the higher verses, earlier than a harsh gang refrain and sampled chants of “ICE out of Minneapolis” — and a harmonica solo — kick in.
It’s not fairly on par with McCartney’s dirge “Freedom,” but it surely’s hardly Springsteen at his finest.
Still, possibly it doesn’t matter that “Streets of Minneapolis” will most definitely be forgotten in just a few days. Maybe, in truth, it’s precisely what we’d like proper now.
Certainly, even when his political stance on present occasions is hardly a shock, no matter Trump says, Springsteen is a significant star, with critical clout, and he’s on the market, placing his neck on the line when it issues most, whereas the Swifts, Carpenters and Drakes of the world stay disconcertingly silent. (That is, with the exception of Nikki Minaj, who lately appeared on stage with Erika Kirk, and simply yesterday was seen hugging Mike Johnson at the White House.)
Fortunately, there are at the very least some artists keen to comply with Springsteen’s lead. U.Ok. musician and activist Billy Bragg launched “City of Heroes” on Wednesday as properly. A searing indictment of each Trump and complacency, Bragg’s anthem is a potent mixture of a historical past lesson, information bulletin and condemnation of injustice. The music has already racked up almost 50,000 views on YouTube, a powerful stat for an artist who’s barely identified in America.
“The murder of Alex Pretti was horrifically shocking, all the more so as we are still reeling from the images of the murder of Renee Good,” Bragg mentioned in a press launch. “That these crimes can be committed in broad daylight, on camera and yet no one is held accountable only adds to the injustice.”
“I wrote ‘City of Heroes’ as a tribute to the bravery of the people of Minneapolis, knowing that these trigger-happy ICE thugs operate in their midst, they are still willing to put themselves in harm’s way to defend their community,” he added. “Their resistance is an inspiration to us all.”
And on Thursday, the band My Morning Jacket launched “Peacelands,” a 14-track album of authentic songs and unique covers, together with renditions of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind,” the Velvet Underground’s “I Found a Reason” and Brian Wilson’s “Love and Mercy,” amongst others, with the proceeds earmarked to assist the work of the ACLU, Doctors Without Borders and the International Rescue Committee.
“We stand with the people of Minnesota and everywhere else affected by the horrors of ICE brutality and lack of human decency or transparency from this administration,” mentioned My Morning Jacket’s frontman Jim James in a press launch.
Perhaps “Streets of Minneapolis,” popping out simply forward of Grammy weekend, will push extra of Springsteen’s friends to depart their secure bubbles of complacency. I’d take even mediocre protest songs over the sounds of silence.
Jeff Slate
Jeff Slate is a New York City-based songwriter and journalist. His writing will be discovered at The New Yorker, Esquire, The Wall Street Journal and Rolling Stone, amongst others. He tweets at @jeffslate.
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