Knight Rider for Liberty

April 2, 2021

For this Libertarian Rock Spotify playlist, I have two words: Knight. Rider.

(For sensitive listeners, this playlist does have some naughty words and titles.)

Artist	Song	Comments
David Hasselhoff	Open Your Eyes	When the guy from Knight Rider is telling you to open your eyes, you LISTEN.
Backwordz	You, Are You
Crazy Eighty-Eight	Killing in the name
Diamond Head	No Remorse	Another day, another death
Dillinger Escape Plan	Highway Robbery	“I suppose you thought you had our hands behind our back, the wool over our eyes”
Dream Theater	Lord Nafaryus
Havok	Unnatural Selection
Iron Maiden	The Trooper
Killswitch Engage	The Crownless King	Bow to no one
Leah	Ruins of Illusion
Megadeth	Peace Sells
Alice Cooper	Shut Up and Rock	There is something to be said about not contaminating your music with dumb polical views. Just get back to playing rebellious, anti-establishment rock riffs. Paradoxically, this is political. Oh well.
Bob Dylan	Masters of War
Doors	Unknown Soldier
Kinks	Give The People What They Want	Isn’t this the M.O. of all elected politicians? Votes in exchange for power.
Louis Armstrong	The Real Ambassador	Louis Armstrong was hired by the US Government to tour eastern Europe to promote American ideals against communism at a time when Jim Crow laws were still in force.
Randy Newman	Sail Away	For the record, slavery is bad. Pretty vicious satire.
Dominic Frisby	Fuck the Government
The Wailers	Get Up, Stand Up
EconStories	Fear the Boom and Bust	Make sure you look up the video on YouTube
Rag’N’Bone Man	Human	Governments tend to put blame on people that are not guilty. See my blog post about this song
Anti-Flag	Power to the Peaceful
Anti-Nowhere League	Let’s Break the Law	To paraphrase MLK, “Immoral laws should be disobeyed.”
Bad Religion	Let Them Eat War
Dead Kennedys	Government Flu
Delta 5	Mind Your Own Business
Goldfinger	Open Your Eyes
Green Day	Back in the USA
MxPx	Your Problem, My Emergency	Governments find lots of problems (some real) and turn them into emergencies
NOFX	Fuck Euphemism
Pennywise	Land of the Free?	Free to control your life
Alter Bridge	The Writing on the Wall
Black Sabbath	Children of the Grave
Blues Traveler	Support Your Local Emperor
Corporate Avenger	Voting Doesn’t Work
Extreme	Politicalamity	Ask not what your country can do to a one world governmental zoo
Freak Kitchen	Morons
Incubus	Megalomaniac
Jordan Page	Victory Song
Killing Joke	Autonomous Zone	Cacophony, lovely ear-splitting noise With wild abandon, give freedom a voice Living outside of the grid is the goal Misery lies at the heart of control
Matt Bankert	Send In the Tanks	Everything in this song is a true story.
The Menzingers	America (You’re Freakin’ Me Out)
Muse	Ruled By Secrecy?
Owen Glass	The Rope
Paul McCartney	Freedom
Rush	Something For Nothing
Skillet	It’s Not Me It’s You
Soundgarden	Pretty Noose
The Last Internationale	Freedom
They Might Be Giants	Your Racist Friend
Thrice	Wake up
Zama Rripa	Stone of Freedom
Tatiana Moroz	Playin the Cards

Stay Inside for Good with Libertarian Rock

July 8, 2020

What is the mood for this latest playlist? I suppose there are a good amount of songs addressing the recent peaceful and non-peaceful protests, like songs from MxPx, Alice Cooper, Machine Head, Muse, Owen-Glass, Rodriguez, Jordan Page, and yours truly. If you’re still in a COVID-19 lockdown mood, there is a pertinent song from Incubus.

Artist	Song	Comments
Dominic Frisby	National Anthem of Libertaria
Backwordz	The Great Equalizer
Black Label Society	Empty Promises	“You gave me empty promises with nothing in return.” Does this sound like any government retirement and disability programs we know?
Crazy Eighty-Eight	My Friends, You Bow To No One
Dillinger Escape Plan	Hero of the Soviet Union	“Conscience came right up to you, And then you threw it back, You are the scum of the earth” According to Wikipedia “The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.”
Havok	Merchants of Death
KMFDM	A Drug Against War
Leah	Palace of Dreams
Machine Head	Stop the Bleeding
3rd World Leader	Parasite
Alice Cooper	Rats
Beatles	Back in the USSR
Johnny Cash	After Taxes
Kinks	20th Century Man
Rodriguez	Establishment Blues
Leonard Cohen	Everybody Knows	Everybody knows the dice are loaded
Anti-Flag	911 for Peace
Bad Religion	You Are (The Government)
MxPx	Fist vs. Tact
Oingo Boingo	Capitalism
Pennywise	Time Marches On	What is our fate? To make the same mistakes that we made yesterday?
The Interrupters	Media Sensation
Bumblefoot	Planetary Lockdown
Evanescence	What You Want	I’m everything you can’t control
Eve 6	Leech	Suckin’ on my brain
Foo Fighters	Holiday in Cambodia	featuring Serj Tankian on vocals!
Freak Kitchen	Propaganda Pie
Jordan Page	Hour of Change
Matt Bankert	Send In the Tanks	Everything in this song is a true story.
Muse	Uprising
Mutiny at Midnight	The Beast
Owen Glass	Hammer and Sickle
Prophets of Rage	Who Owns Who
The Last Internationale	Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down

Libertarian Rock – If You Want Blood, You Got It!

May 27, 2020

The latest Libertarian Rock Spotify playlist is here! Featuring AC/DC, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Owen-Glass, Derek Webb, The Stooges, Against Me, Anti-Flag, Green Day, Muse and these:

Artist	Song	Details
Pennywise	WTO	“Freedom will prevail” – Some libertarians see the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an unnecessary governmental body and a potential threat to national sovereignty.
Alter Bridge	Native Son	Native son in a foreign land
Killing Joke	War on Freedom	No more peaceful demonstrations, militarise the police force
Matt Bankert	Send In the Tanks	Everything in this song is a true story.

Perhaps most importantly for the metalheads, we have Havok‘s blistering new album “V” in it’s entirety on the playlist. Do you like the year 1986? Like thrash? You will be in heaven listening to “V”. They don’t win any awards for originality (see Slayer or Testament), but that’s ok – they shred faces to bits and do it as well as anyone ever has. Maybe better, because they are also shredding minds with their truth-telling, anti-establishment lyrics.

Everybody Must Get Stoned! – Libertarian Rock Feb. 2020

February 25, 2020

“They’ll stone you when you’re at the breakfast table.” – Bob Dylan

Give a listen to the latest Libertarian Rock playlist!

Artist	Song	Comments
Avenged Sevenfold	Hail to the King
Backwordz	The Professional Protester
Black Label Society	Peddlers of Death
Devin Townsend Project	March of the Poozers
Dream Theater	Prophets of War
Hatebreed	All I Had I Gave
Havok	Children of the Grave
Iron Maiden	Run to the Hills
KMFDM	Total State Machine
Megadeth	Symphony of Destruction
Metallica	Atlas, Rise
System of a Down	War?
Thrice	The Earth Will Shake
Tool	Intolerance	You lie, cheat, and steal
Alice Cooper	School’s Out
Bob Dylan	Rainy Day Women
Buffalo Springfield	For What It’s Worth
Edwin Starr	War
Hank Williams	Mind Your own business
Kinks	Apeman
John Lennon	Gimme Some Truth	All I want is the truth
MC5	American Ruse
rolling stones	You Can’t Always Get What You Want	“I went down to the demonstration to get my fair share of abuse”
Anti-Flag	When You Don’t Control Your Government, People Want to Kill You
Dead Kennedys	Government Flu
Delta 5	Mind Your Own Business
Goldfinger	King for a Day	Making plans to rule the world
Pennywise	Fight ‘Til You Die	A puppet government
Refused	Economy of Death	They have a line about capitalists doing the bidding – I know they are not capitalist-friendly guys, but otherwise, I don’t see anything in this song a libertarian couldn’t love. It’s more about crony capitalism than anything else.
Sick of it All	The Snake (Break Free)
The Clash	Know Your Rights
The Descendents	Statue of Liberty
The Interrupters	Outrage
The Offspring	Meaning of Life
AC/DC	Money Talks
Alter Bridge	Native Son	Native son in a foreign land
Anberlin	The Resistance
Bad Wolves	No Masters
Bob Murphy	Get to Higher Ground
Calling All Astronauts	Winter of Discontent
Charlie Daniels Band	Long-Haired Country Boy
Corporate Avenger	Voting Doesn’t Work
Freak Kitchen	Rights to You
Grace Potter	Ah, Mary
Incubus	Love In A Time of Surveillence
Jane’s Addiction	Been Caught Stealing	Taxation is theft
Jordan Page & Tatiana Moroz	Blowin’ In the Wind
Killing Joke	Delete
Matt Bankert	Economic Stimulus Blues
Metric	Succexy
Muse	Psycho
Mutiny at Midnight	Starve the State
Owen Glass	Paper Chains
Pink Floyd	Happiest Days/Another Brick In The Wall
Project 86	Soma
Rush	Something For Nothing
SR-71	Politically Correct
The Last Internationale	Modern Man
Twisted Sister	We’re Not Gonna Take It
U2	Staring At The Sun
Zama Rripa	Live Your Thing	Check this libertarian artist out – great rootsy rock

The Interrupters, TOOL, and Unpleasant Medical Procedures

November 27, 2019

Cover song: The Interrupters – Liberty

The Interrupters have a straight-forward pop-punk/ska sound with the novelty of a female vocalist and libertarian subject matter. Great things are happening for them, too: they are touring with a few semi-well-known bands called Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer.

Here is my “Johnny Cash” cover of their song, Liberty:

TOOL – Fear Inoculum

“Washington $%@& DC. This town needs a @#$% enema.” – Maynard James Keenan of Tool the other night before playing the song Ænema.

These TOOL fellows don’t mince words, and they chose their words provocatively. The experience of the TOOL performance recently in Washington DC on their Fear Inoculum tour was a sensory and mental assault of a prog-metal battering ram. The amazing stage effects, the cylindrical video screen that surrounded the performers, the multi-speaker surround-sound PA system distributed throughout the arena all contributed to the amazing night. The disturbing animations on the big screen were a nice compliment – my favorite part was when a flea (or louse?) had an eyeball with squid tentacles emerge from its thorax Alien-style. Of course, the center of it all was the band and their incredible music.

TOOL has something truly unique. There are plenty of other prog-metal bands, but there is only one TOOL. Adam Jones’ chunky, droning guitar riffs and haunting arpeggios and Justin Chancellor’s rhythmic bass riffs serve as the backbone gluing the songs together. Where in typical rock music, the drums serve as the rhythmic backbone, I wonder if this is reversed in TOOL. Though Jones and Chancellor are certainly not slouches in their musicianship, they tend to play simpler, understated, and repetitive progressions throughout the songs. You won’t find any John Petrucci guitar solos here. It is Danny Carey on drums that takes center stage literally as well as musically with his virtuosity and endless flow of improvisation. He is probably the member of the band that lets loose the most and is a constant fixture in the songs. Vocalist Maynard James Keenan is unparalleled for his distinctive, powerful voice, but because the songs tend to have extended instrumental parts, he is not present as often as Carey is.

Whoever the standout member may be, it is safe to say that each musician’s contributions are perfect for what the music needs. The marriage of vocals, bass, guitar and drums in TOOL is such that it doesn’t seem like it could be any other way. Adding another guitarist or keyboardist, or whatever, would actually take away from the musical chemistry they have.

Until the other night, I was only mildly impressed with TOOL’s latest album in about 14 years, Fear Inoculum. It is certainly a standard TOOL “style” and the songs are fine for what they are. However, there didn’t seem to be a stand out song on the album, like Schism or The Pot. The concert has changed my mind, though. Seeing the live performance of several of the tracks felt like that was how they are meant to be heard (and seen). Though I’m quite sure TOOL is anti-religion, I am a believer in Fear Inoculum now. I’d certainly recommend it, with the qualification that it may take you a few listens to really appreciate it.

Don’t forget:

You can occasionally hear TOOL on my Spotify playlist “Libertarian Rock”. Just search those words on Spotify or try this month’s list.
My new song Enlighten Me
Hear me on the Bob Murphy show!

June 2019 – Libertarian Rock

June 30, 2019

To start off the playlist this month, the Interrupters predict “this will go down in history as the age of outrage.”

Enjoy my June playlist while it’s still June! Click here or search Libertarian Rock on Spotify.

*Artist*	*Song*	*Comments*
Devin Townsend Project	Silent Militia	Mises points out that regardless of the type of government in a particular country, it is always allowed to continue only by the consent of the people – we could say a “silent militia”. “All for the thrill of the kill of the world’s oldest haunted sacred cow.” Who knows what Devin means here. But we could certainly say one of the oldest phenomena in human history is tyrannical government. Therefore, it is up to this silent militia to “kill” this oldest haunted sacred cow.
Dream Theater	Outcry
Havok	Intention to Deceive
Killakoi	Government Plastic
KMFDM	WWIII
Leah	Enter The Highlands	Leah is an awesome libertarian artist – amazing symphonic metal.
Revocation	Deathonomics	A synonym for chrony capitalism
EconStories	Fight of the Century	Keynes vs. Hayek rap battle, part 2! You have to hear it to believe it.
Knower	The Government Knows	A little crude for my tastes – but admittedly humorous
Lorde	Glory and Gore	Who has the greater glory: someone who is successful via violence, or someone who is successful via peace?
Rag’N’Bone Man	Human	Governments tend to put blame on people that are not guilty. See my review and acoustic cover of this song.
Anti-Flag	Tearing Down the Borders	Technically, I think these guys are a little more Marx than Mises. But hey, in terms of the Berlin wall, that was a good border to tear down. So we’ll go with that. And I’m sorry if this triggers Stefan Molyneux or any other Trump supporters.
Green Day	American Idiot	Great song, but is it ok to disparage someone as a “redneck”? We’re not supposed to put someone down based on their skin color or culture, right?
IDLES	Mercedes Marxist	It seems that many Marxists enjoy the fruits of Capitalism while wanting to spare you from the “evils” of it.
NOFX	The Separation of Church and Skate
Pennywise	Revolution
The Interrupters	Outrage
The Offspring	Meaning of Life
Warehouse One	Any Fool
Bad Wolves	No Masters
Freak Kitchen	Sloppy
Gov’t Mule	Mr. High and Mighty	We better crawl when you say “crawl”
Guns N Roses	Civil War
Zama Rripa	Live and Let Live	Check this libertarian artist out – great rootsy rock with great guitar work
Incubus	Privilege	The day you were born, you were born free
Jordan Page	War Machine
Matt Bankert	Don’t Be An Idiot
Mountain Sprout	Screw the Government
Owen Glass	General Butler	My new favorite authentic libertarian band – these guys have such a great, earthy, organic sound. Great poetry, great melodies.
Panic! At the Disco	Emperor’s New Clothes	I’m taking back the crown, I’m all dressed up and naked, I see what’s mine and take it (Finders keepers, losers weepers)
Pink Floyd	Sheep
Project 86	Evil (A Chorus of Resistence)	“I want something you have” – hmm, sounds a little envious
Rush	Red Barchetta
Shihad	Think You’re So Free
Smashing Pumpkins	Clones	Ah, the joys of conformity. “All are one and one are all.” Creepy collectivism. But apparently they’ve destroyed the government, so maybe they are libertarian clones.
The Last Internationale	Soul on Fire
Warren Zevon	Lawyers, Guns, and Money	This song describes the composition of government
Weezer	Everybody Wants to Rule the World	It seems that way, anyway. Is it ok if we just rule ourselves?

The Top Libertarian Bands of 2018

December 31, 2018

The Last Internationale

Vocalist Delila and guitarist Edgey have been teasing their fans with a stream of singles in 2018, looking forward to their album “Soul on Fire.” Delila’s vocal soul and power will pummel your face on “Hard Times” and “Mind Ain’t Free.” I get the impression they are more Marxist than Misesian, but hey, I won’t be surprised if some of their anti-state songs play on stereos at the Mises Institute.

Thrice

Thrice released their 89th studio album in 2018 called “Palms.” It is another great song collection from the quartet and celebrates the common things all humans share. Songs like “The Dark”, “Blood on Blood”, and “Only Us” talk about institutional lies and the need to end cultural strife and battles. Though it’s not as overtly subversive as some of their other material, songwriter Dustin Kensrue seems to be a liberty-phile.

Smashing Pumpkins

Did you know alt-rock legend Billy Corgan (or William, or whatever he’s called) is a libertarian? His songs are not necessarily about ending the Fed, so you might not know it. However, that’s sort of a good thing anyway. Political artists can sometimes make politics an end when it should be a means – a means to let people be free to, for instance, make awesome music and art. The Pumpkins overjoyed 90s fans (like myself) when they went on a “reunion” tour with 3 out of 4 original members this year. To top it off, they released volume 1 of what will presumably be a multi-volume album called “Shiny and Oh So Bright.” It is sure to anger fans that don’t want the Pumpkins to change how they sounded 20-30 years ago. However, it’s pretty good. Corgan’s lyrics are usually opaque and cryptic, but there may be a hint of libertarian dissent in “Marchin’ On” and “Solara”.

LEAH

Leah’s recent album “the Quest” sounds like Iron Maiden performing the Lord of the Rings soundtrack on 8 string guitars with Arwen on lead vocals. Crushing solos and angelic vocals. Leah personally has libertarian leanings, and you can get hints of them in some of her songs.

Brass Against

The world didn’t know it needed a horn ensemble covering Rage Against the Machine songs – until Brass Against existed. And now it’s hard to imagine the world without them. A group comprising a ton of horn players and a female vocalist, they do justice to more than classic RATM songs like “Guerilla Radio” and “Killing In The Name.” They also do wonderful covers of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs, and Living Colour’s Cult of Personality – all songs libertarians can appreciate.

Muse

Space/Art/Synth/Prog rockers Muse were back in 2018 with the album “Simulation Theory,” where they turned the “80s synth” dial to 11. Complete with a nostalgic Tron-style cover, you can resist the system while listening to tracks like “Propaganda”, “Algorithm”, and “Dig Down”.

The Interrupters

Peppy, upbeat ska-punkers put out a great set of songs called “Fight the Good Fight”. The songs are so catchy that it’s tough to not just let the disc keep playing when it’s finished – if you still use discs. They are Ron Paul fans, and you can tell by songs like “Not Personal” and “Age of Outrage”. Besides that, it’s just a great album celebrating comradery, perseverance, and the lessons we learn in relationships.

Zama Rripa

A delightful libertarian artist I just came across is Zama Rripa who recently released his album “American Soul.” He has a vintage sound with flavors of the 60’s and 70’s. One of the highlights is “Blowback.”

Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway

Daron Malakian, former System of a Down guitarist and vocalist, put out the album “Dictator” with his band Scars on Broadway. Libertarian ears are sure to perk up just at the album title, and those ears will not be disappointed with the actual songs on the album. There are themes of the Armenian genocide (Lives), some Dictator, well, dictating what you should and should not do (Dictator), and sickening wars (Sickening Wars). Malakian is not one to mince words. And all these gems are supported by the pounding and grinding guitar riffs we’ve come to love from System of a Down.

Want to hear my own libertarian-friendly music? You can start with The Christmas Truce!