Songs

19 Top Songs About Veganism And Animal Rights

songs about veganism and animal rights
Written by Corey Morgan

Best songs about veganism and animal rights

Songs that are catchy and danceable may have lyrics that contradict our vegan values, but even excellent songs can be deceiving when we listen to them over and over again.

No one should be listening to songs that encourage hatred and intolerance and animal exploitation if they don’t eat or wear animal products. So, we’ve rounded up seven of our favorite cruelty-free tracks to help you get started on your own playlists.

1. “No More”

Youth of Today, a hard rock band from New York, has been pushing a meat-free diet since 1985. Additionally, the band created a music video for the track, which features shots of slaughterhouses and band members chasing after a meat delivery truck.

2. “I’ll Stand By You” by The Pretenders

I'll Stand By You - The Pretenders - Lyrics

This is a song you’ve definitely heard before, but you may not have known it was written as an animal-rights anthem.

There’s little doubt that Chrissie Hynde’s song, which she co-wrote with Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, is about animal rights.

3. “Silent Ruin” by Olivia Newton

Olivia Newton-John - Silent Ruin

“Silent Ruin,” is an eerie tribute to the devastation of whaling. As part of her Gaia album, Newton-John revised the lyrics for “Silent Ruin,” changing a few lines that referenced whales to make the song more universally applicable.

4. “Meat Is Murder”

Meat Is Murder (2011 Remaster)

I know this song is repetitious, but singing along with someone who understands a message that most people don’t is worthwhile.

In addition, the song inquires as to whether or not the listener is aware of the manner in which animals perish. “Meat Is Murder” is a difficult song to play again and over again, but it’s worth it to listen to the cow butcher sounds at the beginning.

5. “Looking for Changes”

Looking For Changes

The song concludes with a hopeful prediction that we shall all one day seek to improve our treatment of other animals.

6. A Life Embossed

by Protest the Hero

Protest The Hero - A Life Embossed (Official Lyric Video)

When it comes to Volition, the Canadian band takes a stand against Pit Bull laws in their own backyard. Rody Walker, the band’s frontman, said: “Since the members of Protest The Hero have devoted their lives to dogs for many years, we’ve noticed something amiss.

The province of Ontario in Canada is the world’s largest territory to implement legislation targeting a certain breed of dog. The band is deeply worried by this global problem.

There is an issue that affects everyone who has a dog, and this song and video seek to raise awareness of it.”

7. Behind The Mask

Goldfinger

Animals are slaughtered despite the fact that they have a lot more to live for, and they are killed in a way that causes them much more suffering than necessary.

I believe that animals should only be slaughtered when they are old enough to die on their own if they were permitted to deteriorate on their own.

This is definetly one of the best songs about veganism and animal rights that you should listen to.

8. Cats And Dogs, Gorilla Biscuits

This song explores the paradox of loving some animals while putting others to death. Perhaps the main singer was a vegan or vegetarian? I’m not sure, to be honest.

But one thing is for certain: this song is KING.

9. Shelter Man’s “Civilized Man”

Shelter - "Civilized Man" and "Here We Go"

It’s no secret that the meat industry’s treatment of animals is a major topic of discussion on Mantra’s second track.

10. Humane Meat by Propagandhi

Humane Meat (The Flensing of Sandor Katz)

This is a song by a Canadian punk band, Propaghandi, and it’s getting a lot of attention lately. Slaughter and preparation of meat as food are depicted in the lyrics of the song.

It accomplishes so by using images from the book, The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, which I take to be references and interpretations of the chapter “Vegetarian Ethics and Humane Meat.

11. Hunters Will Be Hunted

Heaven Shall Burn

HEAVEN SHALL BURN - Hunters Will Be Hunted (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

It’s an issue that’s really dear to our hearts. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hunter in our own backyard, a tourist in Africa, or a whaler that Sea Shepherd is fortunate to be able to set more and more boundaries to – – For all time, German President Theodor Heuss has been quoted as saying, ‘Hunting is nothing more than an excuse for the particularly cowardly slaughter of fellow animals who have no chance. Hunting is a form of mental disease that affects humans.

12. Looking For Changes

From Paul McCartney

Looking For Changes

The terrible treatment of animals used in scientific studies is a subject of this song.

13. Lower Order by Propagandhi

Propagandhi - "Lower Order (A Good Laugh)" (Full Album Stream)

For Chris, this song is a way to explain why he’s vegan (particularly factory farming and hunting not for food but for sport) and how he came to this realization.

14. The Smiths. Meat is Murder

Meat Is Murder (2011 Remaster)

This song should definetly be on your playlist of songs about veganism and animal rights.

This song elevated vegetarianism to new heights with its synthesized bovine cries and buzz-saw guitars. When this song was recorded, animal rights were not as widely discussed as they are today.

Meat consumption, especially mass-produced factory-farmed meat, is intrinsically linked to animal misery, and this song’s sole purpose is to make us think about this sad fact. This isn’t the kind of tune you listen to while relaxing.

15. It’s Still Murder to Nail Descartes to a Wall/(Liquid) Meat

Propagandhi

Propagandhi - Nailing Descartes To The Wall (Lyrics on screen)

In his experiments on animals, Descartes believed that animals’ brain fluids held their “soul” and that when they died, their spirit would continue to exist. In my opinion, the song’s inclination may be linked to his disections and possibly experementations.

16. Potemkin City Limits

Propagandhi

Potemkin City Limits

In the wake of that, the song is about what Propagandhi (and I) believe to be an absurdity in our meat industry: the cruelty of a situation in which demonstrably sentient beings (including those that are as close as pigs are to us [human animals]) are bred and killed for our convenience/economy, complete with [self-]assurances that “it’s right because we’re better.”

We’ve all heard phrases like “Not simply some shattered fairy-tale,” “Potemkin City Limits,” and so on to justify our actions.

17. The Bullfighter Dies

The song was written by Morrissey.

Morrissey-The Bullfighter Dies (Lyrics)

In this anthem for animal rights, Morrissey sings about the goring of a matador in a bullfight. In this song, the accordion adds a bright, happy vibe to it. In an interview with PETA, he described the song as “a scathing, cheerful pop melody. ”

As far back as 6,000 years ago, Crete was home to a sort of bullfighting.

Juan Belmonte’s daring capework, worn at such close quarters to the bull, revolutionized bullfighting in 1914. The majority of other bullfighters quickly began to follow Belmonte’s perilous but thrilling technique.

The bullfight held a special fascination for Pablo Picasso, as it did for many other Spaniards. The artist frequently depicted this “spirit” from the bullfights at Nimes, where he enjoyed going to.

A monument to Alexander Fleming, the man credited with saving the lives of numerous toreadores by discovering penicillin, can be found in every bullring in Spain.

Bullfighters’ red capes, worn to tease bulls, match the color of the bull’s blood. So that by the time the fight is complete, the onlooker will have no idea that they have been splattered with bull’s blood.

18. Voice of the Voiceless

Heaven Shall Burn

Voice of the Voiceless

This song’s lyrics imply that it’s meant to be taken in more than one way. The massacre of both animals and people around the world is a major problem.

Besides slaughtering animals for meals, innocent people are also killed in wars they had nothing to do with. This is one of the best songs about veganism and animal rights.

19. Wild Life

OneRepublic

OneRepublic - Wild Life

A common topic in “Wild Life” is the desire to see life through someone else’s eyes rather than experiencing it for oneself, a desire that is reflected in the song’s lyrics.

Clouds, an original Disney+ film, serves as the inspiration for this song. Zach Sobiech, a talented 17-year-old who was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, is the focus of the film.