
Bruce Springsteen's "Streets Of Philadelphia" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1994, beating out Neil Young's "Philadelphia," which was also written for the movie Philadelphia.
The guys who wrote "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" had never been to a baseball game but knew it was a good song topic.

Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The U.S.A." was inspired by the book (later a movie) Born On The Fourth Of July by Ron Kovic, a Vietnam veteran who protested the war when he returned home.

"Feel Good Inc." by Gorillaz is a satire on the corporate music industry that cranks out "feel-good" music simply for profit.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who is about a revolution, but it doesn't have a happy ending, since in the end the new regime becomes just like the old one. Pete Townshend thought that whoever was in power was destined to become corrupt.
Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?
The man who brought us "Red Skies" and "Saved By Zero" is now an organic farmer in France.
How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?
dUg dIgs into his King's X metal classics and his many side projects, including the one with Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam.
It started with a bouncy MTV classic. Nirvana and MCR made them scary, then Gwen, Avril and Madonna put on the pom poms.