8. “Television, the Drug of the Nation”
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (1992)
This dire portrait of “Our United States of Unconsciousness” updates Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” an unambiguous warning cry filled with pop-cultural references and word play. “TV is the place where the pursuit of happiness has become the pursuit of trivia,” Michael Franti sings urgently, “Where toothpaste and cars have become sex objects.’’ The song takes TV to the mat for aiding and abetting ignorance, social numbness, and political corruption.

Pictured: Michael Franti in a screen grab from Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy’s video for “Television, the Drug of the Nation.”