Why an avalanche of protest music is again in the air

Is there a formula that explains artistic expression in hard times? Fear and anxiety equal urgent music?

"Music comes and goes in cycles," Mike Watt, bassist of the groundbreaking postpunk band the Minutemen, once told the Tribune. "And it gets good only when the people making it can feel the wall against their shoulder."

Protest music is once again in the air. And why not? Everything feels unstable, pressure points magnified: immigration policies, racial violence, sexual assault, LBGQT rights, the direction of the country itself. The last couple years have brought an avalanche of music steeped in the language of #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter and #Resist, with landmark songs and albums created by everyone from stars