Protest songs in the United States Tom Paxton ("Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation" - about the escalation of the war in Vietnam, "Jimmy Newman" – the story of a dying soldier, and "My Son John" – about a soldier who returns from war unable to describe what he's been through), among others. The first protest song to reach number one in the United States was P.F. Sloan's "Eve Of Destruction", performed by Barry McGuire in 1965. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s often used Negro spirituals as a source of protest, changing the religious lyrics to suit the political mood of the time.
Protest songs in the United States of the extrajudicial killings of African American men and women titled "Hell You Talmbout". After the US presidential election of 2016, in protest of Donald Trump, Fiona Apple wrote "Tiny Hands", YG recorded "FDT", and The Bright Light Social Hour released "Tear Down That Wall" on Trump's Inauguration Day. Some artists who are not traditionally right-leaning have questioned the validity of the recent spate of anti-war protest songs. Florida-based punk band Against Me! released a song called "White People For Peace" that questions the effectiveness of people singing "protest songs in response to military aggression" when their governments simply ignore