Top 5 Songs Hating On Margaret Thatcher

                                               

It was announced today that pioneering British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke. While tributes to England’s first and only female PM are rushing in from all corners of the world, the polarizing public figure was long a target for those who opposed her conservative ways.

Much like her American contemporary President Ronald Reagan (with whom she was famously close), Thatcher was often the brunt of pointed protest and opposition, particularly from the music world, in spite of her popularity with the British public at large. Serving as the Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, Thatcher was taken to task regularly by a wide range of artists both from her home country and abroad for everything from stoking the fires of the Cold War to shunning environmental issues.

We combed through the many tunes that lashed out at Thatcher during her reign as British Prime Minister and identified the five most scathingly anti-Thatcher songs, from Moz to Public Enemy and of course, some U.K. punks.

Morrissey – “Margaret on the Guillotine”

Morrissey has been a longtime and exceedingly harsh critic of British royalty and political figures (in 2011, he compared the Queen to Muammar Gaddafi), and Thatcher was no exception. His 1988 solo debut LP following the dissolution of The Smiths, the aptly-titled  Viva Hate, ended with the quiet, acoustic song “Margaret on the Guillotine.” “When will you die?” the song’s lyrics ask repeatedly, calling it a “dream” and to “make it real.” Morrissey wasted no time commenting on Thatcher’s passing with a harsh open letter calling her “a terror without an atom of humanity.”

Elvis Costello – “Tramp the Dirt Down”

While Costello is known for penning the scathing Thatcher critique“Shipbuilding,” which singer Robert Wyatt took to the U.K. Top 40 in 1983, it’s this simmering track from his 1989 release, Spike, that really goes in on the late Prime Minister. “Because there’s one thing I know, I’d like to live/Long enough to savor,” he sings in the caustic tune, “That’s when they finally put you in the ground/I’ll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down.”

The English Beat – “Stand Down Margaret”

Britain’s ska movement of the early ‘80s was borne from the original punk rock explosion of the late ‘70s, bring much of the same left-leaning politics with them. For their 1980 debut album, I Just Can’t Stop It, the Beat (known in North America as the English Beat), they included this upbeat tune that turned the song’s title into a melodic and danceable chant.

Public Enemy – “Prophets of Rage”

With British artists leading the anti-Thatcher charge in song, America’s politically-powered hip-hop group Public Enemy were at the peak of their powers in 1988 with It Takes a Nation of Million to Hold Us Back, when they called her out for being a sympathizer for South African Apartheid practices and imprisoning Nelson Mandela. In 1987, she even called the African National Congress a “typical terrorist organization.”

The Exploited – “Maggie”

This politically-charged Scottish punk band made no bones about how they felt about Thatcher in this direct and profane rant found on their 1985 full-length, Horror Epics. The Exploited’s disdainful view of Thatcher is well documented, with their third album being titled Let’s Start a War… (Said Maggie One Day), in response to the Prime Minister taking on Argentina in the Falklands War of 1982.

Five more songs with anti-Thatcher sentiments: Pink Floyd’s “The Fletcher Memorial Home,” Billy Bragg’s “Thatcherites,” Klaus Nomi’s “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead,” Hefner’s “The Day That Thatcher Dies,” Crass’ “How Does it Feel?”