Billy Bragg has issued a swipe at new songwriters, claiming there is not enough protest music being made.
Politics and music are uneasy bedfellows. Protest songs are often seen as preaching to the converted, doing little to reach out to the vast middle ground of people who may be unaware or undecided on certain issues.
Putting his career on the line time and time again, Billy Bragg is one of this nation's most vocal political songwriters. A long time bastion of the left, the singer recently blasted new music due to its political naivety.
Speaking to The Guardian, the Bard of Barking lamented the decline of protest music. "Look at what's happening in the world: the credit crunch; our young people getting maimed in a war that nobody knows how to resolve" he said.
"When I was first plying my trade, people were willing to talk about these issues. Now they'd rather write about getting blasted than changing the world."
Perhaps this is due to the era Billy Bragg grew up in. Punk - and its immediate aftermath - were heavily politicised, with most groups speaking out against the prevailing hierarchy in British society.
One example of this is the ill fated Red Wedge movement. Timed to coincide with the 1987 General Election, the gallery of pop stars failed to unseat Margaret Thatcher who recorded yet another landslide triumph.
Reflecting on this, Billy Bragg named the experience the lowest point of his career. "The 1987 election. I'd been working with the protest group Red Wedge, and then Thatcher got in with another landslide."
Perhaps Billy Bragg does have a point about a general lack of political motivation in young songwriters. Yet surely problems such as the Credit Crunch are far too complex to feature in a three minute pop song?
Besides, ClashMusic reckons he should listen to Shackleton's output. Maybe 'Blood On Our Hands' or even 'Hamas Rule'...