Stick it to the man! MaltaToday’s alternative playlist for the Castille protests

Marco Masini’s Vaffanculo, Muse and Bob Marley? Someone’s Spotify list is stuck on the ‘dinner party rebellion’ playlist. Here are some riotous suggestions to give some colour to that sonic palette of insurrection

The protests in Valletta calling for Joseph Muscat’s immediate resignation have been strong, consistent and attracted nationwide appeal. Now they need to ramp up the musical onslaught...

Half Man Half Biscuit, ‘National Shite Day’ - 2008

Indie guitar bashing in which Nigel Blackwell sends up pathetic daily problems when the rest of the world has to face down dictatorship and poverty. Kind of what you think these days when the bus is late again…



M.I.A., ‘Born Free’ - 2010

Born Free’s video presented an alternate reality where gingers, rather than Mexicans, are a persecuted ethnic minority in the American police state. The indirect commentary from the graphic video itself is how genocide can be parodied to promote a pop record. Still, a stomper of a song from one of the most political of artists in the last years.



Public Enemy, ‘Fight The Power’ - 1989

Well, this one’s just a classic…

X-Ray Spex, ‘Oh Bondage, Up Yours!’ - 1977

“Some people say little girls should be seen and not heard…” and then bang! Much needed femme rallying cry against servitude to the free market.



David Bowie, ‘Rebel Rebel’ - 1974

David Bowie’s proto-punk paean to glam and gender-bending. Essential riff and chorus to keep the crowds going.



Billy Bragg, ‘Which Side Are You On’ - 1984

Sure, nobody expects the lovers of privatisation and the ones who sent the bus service to the dogs (*cough) to have any truck with ‘red’ Billy Bragg, but this version of the 1931 Florence Reece song on union workers is a call to stand on the right side of justice.



Manic Street Preachers, ‘Repeat’ - 1991

Repeat after me, fuck Queen and country… sharp guitars against the monarchy but even for our republican sensitivities, it is a call to arms against demigods of the two-party system.



Sex Pistols, ‘God Save The Queen’ - 1977

The refrain ‘No future’ should be enough to express the feeling of alienation from a cabal of neoliberalism worshippers whose economy-on-steroids is changing the way we live, the way our towns look, and the way we work.



The Specials, ‘Ghost Town’ - 1981

As riots took hold of London and Liverpool in 1981, the Specials captured the mood of the country… “this town… looking like a ghost town… all the clubs are being closed down”. Kind of captures the Christmas feeling as Joseph Muscat holds on…



Gil Scott-Heron, ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ - 1971

Scott-Heron’s parody of advertising slogans interspersed with the real struggle of the civil rights movement is perhaps a reflection on the political slogans employed in the last 20 years of Maltese democracy to counter protest and anger as ‘negative’, ‘unpatriotic’, or against ‘economic growth’.



MC5, ‘Kick Out The Jams’ - 1969 

This one’s just for fun…