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Rock Against Reagan


Ronald Reagan in music refers to songs, albums, music videos, and band names that refer to or depict Ronald Wilson Reagan, particularly during his two terms as president of the United States. While references to Reagan appear in pop music, his presence in song lyrics and on album covers is often associated with the hardcore punk counter-culture of the 1980s.

The 1980s' surge in political songs about a current president marked a shift in the culture and helped define the soundscape of the decade, partly fueled by Reagan's attack on things associated with rock-and-roll, namely sex, drugs, and left-leaning politics. While presidents Johnson and Nixon had been the subject of protest songs and politically satirical music during both the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal, presidents Ford and Carter were largely passed over by songwriters in the 1970s. That changed with Reagan's presidency, which brought on echoes of his prior campaign against counter-cultural activists a generation earlier during his terms as governor of California.

Ronald Reagan became a subject in song during the era of protests against the Vietnam War while he served as governor of California (1967–1975). Folk singer Phil Ochs mentions Reagan on his 1966 album Phil Ochs in Concert during the introduction to the song "Ringing of Revolution" when he speculates a future where the last of the bourgeoisie are besieged in a mansion atop a hill. Ochs imagines a movie based on his own song:


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