9 Rock + Metal Songs That Feature Samples From Famous Speeches
Here are rock and metal songs that feature audio samples from famous speeches that've happened throughout history.
Musicians collaborate with each other all the time and it's not uncommon to hear a familiar voice as a special guest on a song. But in these cases, those familiar voices aren't other musicians — they're politicians, scientists, philosophers, religious leaders and so on.
The idea for this list came after listening to a particular Guns N' Roses song, but not "Civil War" because the spoken-word intro in that track is from a film rather than an actual broadcast. Other artists that have sampled speeches in songs include Living Colour, Lamb of God and Linkin Park have various songs on their 2010 album A Thousand Suns that contain bits of speeches.
Plenty of songs have sampled famous speeches in the past and there are at least a handful that are by rock and metal musicians. Whether the song was about politics or they just wanted to elevate it in some way to make a statement, you'll see tracks listed below with snippets from speeches by Martin Luther King Jr., interview snippets from U.S. military personnel and more.
READ MORE: 16 of the Most Political Rock + Metal Bands
A couple of the songs are instrumentals that only feature spoken-word parts, but we included them anyway.
With each track, we included the respective album the song is featured on, which speech is sampled in the song and the lyrics that contain those particular parts. You may have heard these songs many times and not even realized the context of the spoken parts, so maybe you'll learn a little bit of history while you're listening and reading along.
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- 1
Megadeth, "Foreclosure of a Dream"
Album: Countdown to Extinction (1992)
The Speech: "Read my lips" by George H. W. Bush
The Congress will push me to raise taxes and I'll say no, read my lips... read my lips... read my lips... read my lips... read my lips.
- 2
Living Colour, "Cult of Personality"
Album: Vivid (1988)
The Speech: "Cult of Personality" contains three samples: one by Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Malcolm X:
And during the few moments that we have left
We wanna talk right down to Earth
In a language that everybody here can easily understandJohn F. Kennedy:
Ask not what your country can do for you
Franklin D. Roosevelt:
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself
- 3
Guns N' Roses, "Madagascar"
Album: Chinese Democracy (2008)
The Speech: "Madagascar" contains samples from Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech as well as from his 1967 sermon "Why Jesus Called Man a Fool." The rest of the spoken-word samples come from various films. The MLK excerpts are broken up individually and alternate with the movie dialogue throughout the song.
"I Have a Dream":
Black men and White men together, at the table of brotherhood, I have a dream!
Free at last, free at last
Thank God almighty, We are free at last!"Why Jesus Called Man a Fool":
Stand up for righteousness
Stand up for justice
Stand up for truth
You gotta call on that something
That can make a way out of no way
That power that can make a way out of no way
I tell you I've seen a lightning flash, I've heard the thunder roll
Sometimes I feel discouraged
He promised never to leave me
Never to leave me alone - 4
Lamb of God, "Ashes of the Wake"
Album: Ashes of the Wake (2004)
The Speech: "Ashes of the Wake" is a mostly instrumental track that contains snippets from an interview given by Marine Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey after he returned from the Iraq War. So it wasn't exactly a speech presented to a crowd, but still a real audio bit from a historical event.
We killed a lot of innocent civilians
To us, every civilian in Baghdad was a terrorist
'These fedayeen are now in civilian clothes'
That makes everybody free game
But if they came within our perimeter, we lit 'em up
And when we would pull the body out
And we would search the car
We would find nothing
This took place time and time again
'No harm, no foul
That's okay, don't worry about it'
Because this is a new type of war
This is an eradicationI honestly feel
That we're committing genocide over here
I don't believe in killing civilians
And I'm not gonna kill civilians
For the United States Marine Corps - 5
Architects, "Red Hypergiant"
Album: Lost Forever // Lost Together (2014)
The Speech: "Red Hypergiant" is an interlude track featuring a bit that astronomer Carl Sagan said during his TV series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.
The old appeals to racial, sexual, and religious chauvinism
And to rabid nationalist fervor are beginning not to work
A new consciousness is developing
Which sees the Earth as a single organism
And recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed
We are one planet - 6
Muse, "[JFK]"
Album: Drones (2015)
The Speech: The only words in Muse's "[JFK]" are from John F. Kennedy's address to the American Newspaper Publishers Association on April 27, 1961.
For we are opposed around the world
By a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy
That relies primarily on covert means
For expanding its sphere of influence
On infiltration instead of invasion
On subversion instead of elections
On intimidation instead of free choice
On guerrillas by night instead of armies by day
It is a system which has conscripted
Vast human and material resources
Into the building of a tightly knit
Highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic
Intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations
Its preparations are concealed, not published
Its mistakes are buried, not headlined
Its dissenters are silenced, not praised - 7
Ministry, "N.W.O. (New World Order)"
Album: Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (1992)
The Speech: "N.W.O. (New World Order)" contains bits from various addresses and speeches by George H. W. Bush. The video contains another sample that's not featured on the album version of the song.
What we are looking at
Is good and evil, right and wrong
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
We're not about to make that same mistake twice
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order
A new world order - 8
Linkin Park, "Wisdom, Justice and Love"
Album: A Thousand Suns (2010)
The Speech: As mentioned earlier, there are several songs on Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns that feature speeches, so we just opted to include one. The track "Wisdom, Justice and Love" solely features audio from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech.
I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight
Because my conscience leaves me no other choice
A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war
This way of settling differences is not just
"This business of burning human beings with napalm
Of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows
Of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane
Of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged
Cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love"
"Cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love"
"Cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love"
"Cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love"
"Cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love"
"Cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love" - 9
Iron Maiden, "Aces High"
Album: Powerslave (1984)
The Speech: Winston Churchill's "We Shall Fight Them on the Beaches." This example is an exception because the only time the speech has been included is prior to when the track is played live.
We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
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