From Black Flag to Jesus Piece: Great Songs Against Police Brutality

Heavy music has a long history of raging against police brutality. Hardcore pioneers Black Flag famously clashed with the LAPD in the early Eighties and channeled those confrontations into classic cuts like "Police Story," while Poison Idea decried corrupt cops with 1990's "The Badge," a song later covered by Pantera for The Crow soundtrack. Today, acolytes such as Jesus Piece, Incendiary and Year of the Knife follow suit, protesting the abuse of power with mosh-driving anthems. Heavy hip-hop with punk-rock spirit crashes the gates in the late Eighties, with N.W.A proclaiming in no uncertain terms: "Fuck tha Police." Picking up where they left off came Body Count and Rage Against the Machine, adding metal muscle to the message and paving the way for letlive. (later, the Fever 333) and others. Meanwhile, more extreme acts such as Phobia and disrupt kept the underground radical. Below, blast our curated playlist of standout protest songs against police brutality.