For.. reasons.. I am making a wealth inequality playlist. I want songs that aren't TOO aggro and could be background-ish at an event, catchy, topical, without making themselves the center of attention. Here's what I have so far. Please parse this list and suggest along these lines, if you like.
- The O’Jays - For the Love of Money
- The Flying Lizards - Money (That’s What I Want)
- Pink Floyd - Money
- Pulp - Common People
- William Shatner / Ben Folds - Common People
- Stevie Wonder – Living For The City
- Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
- Kareem Rahma – Really Rich Parents
- They Might Be Giants – Minimum Wage
- Lorde – Royals
- Pet Shop Boys – Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
- Depeche Mode – Everything Counts
- The Police - Driven To Tears
- Hozier - Eat Your Young
- Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons
- Dolly Parton - 9 to 5
- Tracy Chapman - Talkin’ bout a Revolution
- Pete Seeger – Banks of Marble
- James McMurtry – We Can’t Make It Here
- Prince - Sign O’ The Times
- Patty Loveless - You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive
- Travis Tritt - Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man
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Ben Curthoys
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Ben Curthoys
in reply to Ben Curthoys • • •Dead Kennedys - Kill the poor
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Ben Curthoys
in reply to Ben Curthoys • • •Misuse Case
in reply to Ben Curthoys • • •Svavar the Neurospicy
in reply to Ben Curthoys • • •Also curious if ABBA’s Money Money Money is too catchy and noticeable.
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Jeff Atwood
in reply to Svavar the Neurospicy • • •Djoerd Hiemstra 🍉
in reply to Ben Curthoys • • •Jeff Atwood
in reply to Djoerd Hiemstra 🍉 • • •Djoerd Hiemstra 🍉
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Soup is good food - Dead Kennedys (which aged well, already discussing AI taking over our jobs)
and maybe 99 Revolutions - Green Day (ok, now that I think of it Green Day's even more aggro than the Dead Kennedys)
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Alan Braggins
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Graham Knapp
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Jeff Atwood
in reply to Graham Knapp • • •Djoerd Hiemstra 🍉
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Alison
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •youtu.be/1lyu1KKwC74
The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony
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Jeff Atwood
in reply to Alison • • •Alison
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Tryna make ends meet
You're a slave to money then you die"
Phil Betts
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
gturri
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •- Aerosmith - Eat The Rich
?
Tyrone Slothrop
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Laura
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Laura
in reply to Laura • • •wicusros
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Pinky
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Matthew Miller
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Bruce Springsteen — also, really
Jeff Atwood
in reply to Matthew Miller • • •Herndonite
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •@mattdm
Springsteen:
Mansion on the Hill
My Hometown (mentioned by someone else)
The River
The Promised Land
Reason to Believe
The Rising
Eyes on the Prize (cover)
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Osma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦
in reply to Herndonite • • •Youngstown
Repo Man
@Herndonite @codinghorror @mattdm
Jim Spath
in reply to Osma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦 • • •@osma @Herndonite @mattdm Toss-up between Nebraska and the more obvious Tom Joad.
~Nebraska~
Johnny 99
"they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah last last month"
""I got debts no honest man could pay"
"the bank... they taking my house away"
#TheBoss
Sebastian Blanco
in reply to Herndonite • • •Just a trash panda 🦝
in reply to Herndonite • • •Matthew Miller
in reply to Just a trash panda 🦝 • • •We are not helping narrow it down! :)
Matthew Miller
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Matthew Miller
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •evenreven
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Tobacco Road (any artist, really) is a classic about growing up poor.
If worker's solidarity is more important than income inequality, Big Boss Man is good too.
If you don't mind going to a really dark place (such as coaxing your daughter to become a high class prostitute to escape poverty), Bobbie Gentry's Fancy is very good.
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Jon PENNYCOOK
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •"President Gas" by Psychedelic Furs
"Ghost Town" by The Specials, about the deindustrialisation of the English Midlands
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iferreira
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •youtu.be/AdCmN53jU78
AdCmN53jU78
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Walt Mankowski
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Todd Rundgren - Bang the Drum All Day
Bob Marley - Get Up, Stand Up
Jonathan Coulton - Code Monkey
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Jeff Atwood
in reply to Walt Mankowski • • •Walt Mankowski
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son
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Jeff Atwood
in reply to Walt Mankowski • • •Kimberley
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Jeff Atwood
in reply to Kimberley • • •V Martín
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
simonf 🦘
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •I was going to ask why you went for the Flying Lizards’ and not The Beatles’ version , only to learn the latter was also a cover en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_(That%27s_What_I_Want)
Money (That's What I Want) - Wikipedia
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)simonf 🦘
in reply to simonf 🦘 • • •Maybe not exactly the theme you are after, but maybe gambling related tracks? It all leads to wealth imbalance.
eg pretty much any off The Alan Parsons Project’s “The Turn of a Friendly Card” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turn_of_a_Friendly_Card or maybe Billy Joel’s “Easy Money”?
The Turn of a Friendly Card - Wikipedia
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Ilyaz Nasrullah
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •K'naan - Wavin' Flag (the original one, not the version that was hijacked by Fifa)
romli
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Nigel
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Svavar the Neurospicy
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Jenny from the Block - Jennifer Lopez feat. Jadakiss & Styles P
Flowermob
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Andreas Sikkema
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Bernard
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Melissa B
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Melissa B
in reply to Melissa B • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Joseph
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Steve Earle - Rich Man’s War
Iris DeMent - Wasteland of the Free
Nick Chomey
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •CCR - Fortunate Son
Springsteen - the river, my hometown
Nick Chomey
in reply to Nick Chomey • • •Larry
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Jeff Grigg
in reply to Larry • • •@Quoidian
Yes! My Thoughts Exactly!
youtube.com/watch?v=I8P80A8vy9I
Cabaret- Money
Bestenmovies (YouTube)Kool Mo Di
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Elvis Costello - Pills and Soap
tracy_d_overandout
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Factress
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •ApAlun 🏴
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Andy Dearden
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Andy Dearden
in reply to Andy Dearden • • •Tony Aldridge
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Jef Poskanzer
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Boulevard of Broken Dreams
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?
peterfisherbooks.com=freescify
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •AJ
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
webonaire
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Bob Dylan - The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, Hurricane
Oscar Brown, Jr - A Dime Away From a Hot Dog
Albert Collins - When the Welfare Turns Its Back on You
Robert Cray - 1040 Blues
Jack DeJohnette - Inflation Blues
Anybody but Clapton
/Derek and the Dominos - Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Volunteered Slavery
Gil Scott-Heron - Winter in America
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eswillwalker
in reply to webonaire • • •Charlie Poole - It’s Movin’ Day
Fernando Briano
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Vorsos
in reply to Fernando Briano • • •@picandocodigo Yes.
“I'm supposed to get a raise next week, you know damn well I won't.”
luca
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •The Stylistics - People make the world go round
I vote this for the first place.
Kenton Riley
in reply to luca • • •@luc0x61 "I'm takin' what they givin' 'cause I'm workin' for a livin'"
Great song.
SQLAllFather
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Snow
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Metric - Dark Saturday
Somewhere in the South of France
Or the Caribbean sea
She said "I don't need to make a living"
"Fake diamonds got nothing on me"
I met her in the world below
She's a tourist of the world beneath
I said "everything, I've built from nothing"
She said "I'm so rich, everything's free"
Gail Shaw
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Snow
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •bakachu
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Judas Priest: Breaking the Law begins with the lines
There I was completely wasting, out of work and down
All inside it's so frustrating as I drift from town to town
Feel as though nobody cares if I live or die
So I might as well begin to put some action in my life
Vorsos
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Big Stick by MUNA
Songlink/OdesliCM Harrington
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Nicole Parsons
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Songs about rich people's failsons and nepo babies are hard to find.
Movies though...
rogerebert.com/reviews/late-fame-film-review-2026
Coryndon Luxmoore
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •James Carr
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Billy Joel -- Allentown
Bob Marley -- No Woman No Cry
Grandmaster Flash -- The Message
Phil Collins -- Another Day In Paradise
Yip Harwell -- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
I was also preparing to suggest "Minimum Wage", but you got it. 🙂
Jim Jones
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •White Collar Crime
Grace Jones - Topic (YouTube)your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
O Devir
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Swing Out Sisters – Somewhere Deep In The Night
Swing Out Sisters – Out There
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Esperanza Spalding – I Know You Know
Pink Floyd – The Great Gig In The Sky
King Crimson – Book Of Saturday
Van der Graaf Generator – A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers
Jim Jones
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
youtu.be/qeMFqkcPYcg
Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (Official Video)
EurythmicsVEVO (YouTube)Jim Jones
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart - The King and Queen of America (Official Video)
EurythmicsVEVO (YouTube)your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Tor Iver Wilhelmsen
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •(Though perhaps a bit attention-seeking, and more of an alternate Christmas song)
Jim Jones
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Durry - Worse For Wear (Official Music Video)
DurryVEVO (YouTube)Maggie Pie 🇦🇺🇺🇸 🚫AI
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Jaicup
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Jaicup
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Jim Jones
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Durry - Coming of Age (Official Lyric Video)
Durry (YouTube)Point N' Click
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Money:
sharonjonesandthedapkings.bandcamp.com/track/money
The Meters - Give It What You Can:
youtube.com/watch?v=MVcdcGdK7AE
Charles Bradley - No Time For Dreaming:
charlesbradley.bandcamp.com/track/no-time-for-dreaming
Darondo - Let My People Go:
darondoubiq.bandcamp.com/track/let-my-people-go
Dyke & The Blazers - My Sisters' And My Brothers' Day Is Comin': youtube.com/watch?v=HBFgFrL9ub8
James Brown - Down And Out In New York City:
youtube.com/watch?v=YkKxiREGDx4
Lee Fields & The Expressions - Money Is King:
youtube.com/watch?v=CegSEVF9xcg
Down And Out In New York City
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Joe McTee
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Ry Chaz
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •You will kick yourself for omitting this if you know the lyrics, especially the slightly more challenging ones he sang live ...
"Praying For Time" by George Michael
As Matthew Hocter from Albumism wrote, it "examines the many social injustices faced by so many, questions the listener into the conditioning that society has created and why it can be so hard to be kind to one another ... Timeless and still so relevant in this day and age."
#music #playlist #inequality
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Mike Malaska
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Traffic - Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys"
"The percentage you're paying is too high-priced
While you're living beyond all your means
The man in the suit has just bought a new car
And the profit he's made on your dreams"
Jeff Atwood
in reply to Mike Malaska • • •Felix 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
nerfherder
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Adrian Cooke
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Djoerd Hiemstra 🍉
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
HiddenPineapple
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)
Rick Astley (YouTube)Jeff Atwood
in reply to HiddenPineapple • • •Steve Kohls
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Rush - Working Man
your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •haven’t had enough café but one glaring omission:
Donna Summers - She Works Hard For The Money
@codinghorror
Lord average
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •TomTom Club - Happiness Can't Buy Money
music.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUpWsQ75is
Happiness Can't Buy Money
Tom Tom Club - Topic (YouTube Music)OddOpinions5
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •this land is your land, this land is my land
also, anything by the IWW
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Songbook
Little Red Songbook - Wikipedia
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Depressed Goblin Nightmare Man
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Feel No Pain - Sade
All about the Money - Meja
Money too tight to mention - Simply Red
Walls Come Tumbling Down - The Style Council
Ghost Town - The Specials
West End Girls - The Pet Shop Boys
Johnny Come Home - Fine Young Cannibals
John Kristoff
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Jim Spath
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
wsm
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man) [2002 Remaster]
Randy Newman - Topic (YouTube)Orborbiter
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Sensitive content
Yendolosch
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Dire Straits, "Telegraph Road"
Not really backgroundish, with the different crescendos, but it fits the poverty angle.
Mike Wolfinbarger
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Henrietta, Indiana — Josh Ritter
Harlem River Blues — Justin Townes Earle
Blue Sky Mine — Midnight Oil
Invisible Sun — Sting
Fast Car — Tracy Chapman
On the Turning Away — Pink Floyd
Talkin’ Bout a Revolution — Tracy Chapman
Dance Called America — Runrig
Clampdown — The Clash
In the Ghetto — Elvis Presley
The Way It Is — Bruce Hornsby
Held Up Without a Gun — Bruce Springsteen
Get Up, Stand Up — The Wailers
Fortunate Son — CCR
Everything Counts — Depeche Mode
cn4med
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pmonks (330ppm)
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •pmonks (330ppm)
in reply to pmonks (330ppm) • • •Piggleston Pecanpants
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Kimota94
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Matthew Haughey
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •The Coup - "Your Parents' Cocaine (w/ Justin Sane from Anti-Flag)"
ANTI- Records (YouTube)your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 reshared this.
Carlos Solís
in reply to Jeff Atwood • •Speed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •For the Johnstown Company
But lately, there ain't been much work
On account of the economy
"
Andrew
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Queen - Keep Yourself Alive
Dire Straits - Money for Nothing (beware, contains word 'faggot')
Aerosmith - Eat the Rich
I guess Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Paper Blood may be a little on the nose? 😅
Sebastian Blanco
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •officerripley
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Rafael Pérez ☀️
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •clew
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •More than a few opera arias, though never the big ones, I think. Eg, the servant woman singing about how extremely unfair it all is right before the Heroine saves herself from the Duke by… setting up her lifetime servant to be assaulted instead.
I remember sitting up thinking “This is in Mozart?!?” before the plot swerved back to normativity.
@codinghorror
elora
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Great Big Sea - A Boat Like Gideon Brown
Great Big Sea - The Chemical Worker’s Song is also great, but might draw too much attention under your criteria.
Gabriel Garrido
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •CJPaloma Might Be Out Biking
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Robben Ford Lateral Climb
youtube.com/watch?v=qgxNpbq8neY
Lateral Climb
Robben Ford - Topic (YouTube)aprilfollies
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •The Longest Johns - Hard Times Come Again No More (Cover?)
Anne Feeney - War on the Workers
Jon Fromer - We Do the Work
Radish
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Em
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •NOFX - The Irrationality Of Rationality
NOFX - Perfect Government
Uzi Bobuzi
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •I'm not sure if some of these are appropriate for whatever events but they're songs I love about money and wealth inequality.
The Coup: Fat Cats, Bigga Fish
The Coup: Pimps (Free Stylin at the Fortune 500 Club)
Immortal Technique: Rich Man's World (1%)
Pink Floyd: Money
Abba: Money Money Money
Spinal Tap: Give Me Some Money
Steve Miller Band: Take the Money and Run
Chief Keef: Laughin to the Bank
Everlast: Ends
Dire Straits: Money for Nothing
MIA: Paper Planes
P.O.S: Fuck Your Stuff
Donna Summer: She Works Hard for the Money
Bambu: Rent Money
Geoff Simmons
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •jonquark
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Streets of London - Ralph McTell
Might not be subtle enough.
Ian Williamson
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •m.youtube.com/watch?v=nFZP8zQ5kzk
Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar
LRG Clothing (YouTube)Jon Quass
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •laotang
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Arthur van der Harg
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Rush: The Big Money; The Trees; Subdivisions.
Iron Maiden: Be Quick Or Be Dead; Childhood’s End.
Kenton Riley
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •wsm
in reply to Jeff Atwood • • •Easy Street
Thelonious Monk - Topic (YouTube)