The New YorkerOpinion

What Do We Want from a Protest Song?

For a genre that confronts the horrors of the present, the protest song of 2026 is curiously backward-looking.

Bruce Springsteen’s Streets of Minneapolis: how digital circulation boosts the impact of a protest song

The singer’s song about the killings in Minneapolis translates private loss into a collective experience rapidly shared ...

Former Boston street musician finds new audience performing on Atlanta's Beltline

Caleb Hensinger is not your normal street performer. When he's finished setting up his piano and speakers on the Beltline, he ...

‘Streets of Minneapolis’: Bruce Springsteen’s Anti-Ice Song Debuts at No. 1 Despite Limited Release

Bruce Springsteen has always been known as much for his voice as his convictions. In a move that has reverberated far beyond ...

Springsteen ICE protest ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ highest-selling song in US last week

Bruce Springsteen’s protest song ripping what he calls the “state terror” tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is topping the music sales charts in the ...

From Bruce Springsteen on Minneapolis to CSNY on Kent State — a History of Instant Protest Songs

We look back at rapid-response songs -- from Woody Guthrie and Nina Simone to Bruce Springsteen's quick turnaround on 'Streets of Minneapolis' ...