The first Earth Day in 1970 mobilized millions of Americans for the protection of the planet. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans, 10% of the U.S. population at the time took to the streets, college campuses, and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet. 50 years later, Earth Day is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event. To celebrate this special day, we decided to support the environmental protection through a ten tracks playlist including your favorites popstars as well as some iconic tracks from the ’80s. And don’t forget that Earth Day is every day no matter where you are.
1. Marvin Gaye – Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
It was in 1971 before global warning become a hot topic in our society. Marvin Gaye released “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” and it will become one of his greatest successes. He wrote this song about the environment and how we have an obligation to care for the Earth. Gaye received a “Grammy Hall Of Fame” in 2002 for this track, which became a poignant anthem of sorrow regarding the environment.
2. Depeche Mode – The Landscape is changing.
« Cause I don’t care if you’re going nowhere, just take good care of the world » was singing David Gahan, the leader of mythical band Depeche Mode in 1983. This song from their album “Construction Time Again” was about environmental destruction. The environmentalist movement was just getting started back in 1983 and most people were oblivious to the damage being done to the earth by modern industrial capitalism.
3. Duran Duran – Planet Earth
Gays guys could have danced on this track while having a beer in a random London gay bar. English new wave band Duran Duran released in 1981 “Planet Earth” and this is about the threat of nuclear war. No matter how critical and ambiguous were the lyrics, it was an 80’s banger for sure and your daddies’ friends would approve this!
4. Childish Gambino – Feels like summer
Do you remember when Childish Gambino dropped his viral and extremely political video “This Is America” in 2018? Months after this mythical release, Donal Glover released “Feels like Summer” with an animated music video where he walks calmly through a neighborhood watching all of his neighbors (who were all famous modern black figures including Travis Scott, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Will Smith, Kayne West as well as Michelle Obama) playing during the summer as well as stopping to have dream sequences. But despite all these dramas, this is a song about climate change and global warming and we’re out here playing spot the celebrities.
5. EARTHGANG – Meditate (Official Video) ft. J.I.D.
American hip-hop duo EARTHGANG released in 2017 “Meditate” and compliant to the title, it makes you think about how things are going wrong in our society. What about black people? What about social inequalities? What about how this climate crisis which is more and more visible? You have so many answers in this 4 minutes track.
6. James Blake – I’ll Come Too
December 2019, hipster’s icon and hip-hop superstars BFF, James Blake, released the music video of his song “I’ll Come Too” featuring a nature documentary footage with the courtesy of BBC Earth. It shows an adorable macaroni penguin watching albatrosses flying around and courting by the ocean. Honestly, Blake got an excellent idea of dropping such an elegant and beautiful video to promote his latest record “Assume Form”.
7. Billie Eilish – all the good girls go to hell
While promoting her multi-platinum first album, iconic emo-pop star Billie Ellish dropped a kind of blockbuster video for her track “all good girls go to hell some days” where she included an important message with this release about climate change saying: “Right now there are millions of people all over the world begging our leaders to pay attention…Our earth is warming up at an unprecedented rate, icecaps are melting, our oceans are rising, our wildlife is being poisoned and our forests are burning.”
8. Tracy Chapman – The Rape Of The World
American folk and soul singer Tracy Chapman released “The Rape of the world” in her 1995’s album “New Beginning”. The meaning of this song was very clear according to Chapman, everything that is wrong with the world and that we all are witness to its rape and there is only a small group of people who seek the truth. There has to be a time soon when people will realize that we are destroying our world but I think it already is too late. To date, this song is the most amazing, emotional and controversial song Tracy Chapman did… according to us.
9. Talking Heads – [Nothing But] Flowers
“[Nothing But] Flowers” is a song by the indie-rock band Talking Heads which appears on their final album “Naked”, released in 1988. It was not a huge success but is probably the most cheerful song about post-apocalyptic living. Leader, David Byrne compares the way some of us tend to idealize “nature” and Edenic fantasies. This track is still relevant even more today. Conclusion: Talking Heads were ahead of their time for sure.
10. Harry Styles – Sign of the times
Look at this video and appreciate how beautiful this landscape is. And if it’s Harry Styles wanted this video, guess that we all need to save our planet.
