<p data-start="480" data-end="1048"><em><a href="https://www.ryancassata.com/">Written by Ryan Cassata</a>, January 30th, 2025</em></p>
<p>The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, a longtime protest songwriter, has released <em data-start="522" data-end="549">“Streets of Minneapolis,”</em> his new protest ballad that feels born straight from the frozen ground it sings about. The song directly responds to ICE raids, federal occupation, a tyrant US president, and the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis this January. Released January 28, 2026, the track isn’t subtle, and it isn’t trying to be. This is a protest anthem, and a good one at that. This is Bruce doing what Bruce has always done: telling the truth when it matters, even when it can cost you fans and listeners. He is one of the few music celebrities to speak up and take action against ICE. While fans leave mixed reviews in his Instagram comments, Bruce is keeping on with <em>No Surrender</em>; <em>when they say sit down, he stands up. </em></p>
<p><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><amp-youtube data-videoid="GDaPdpwA4Iw" data-param-rel="1" data-param-showsearch="0" data-param-showinfo="1" data-param-iv_load_policy="1" data-param-fs="1" data-param-hl="en-US" data-param-autohide="2" data-param-wmode="transparent" width="730" height="411" layout="responsive"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDaPdpwA4Iw" placeholder><amp-img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GDaPdpwA4Iw/hqdefault.jpg" alt="YouTube Poster" layout="fill" object-fit="cover"><noscript><img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GDaPdpwA4Iw/hqdefault.jpg" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="YouTube Poster"></noscript></amp-img></a></amp-youtube></span></p>
<p data-start="125" data-end="777">The title alone says everything. <em data-start="158" data-end="184">“Streets of Minneapolis”</em> intentionally echoes Springsteen’s <em data-start="220" data-end="248">“Streets of Philadelphia,”</em> his Academy Award–winning song that put a human face on the AIDS epidemic at a time when government inaction, homophobia, and stigma turned deadly. That song was about a flawed system that failed the people it deemed disposable. This one is too. Different streets, same story. Once again, Bruce is <em>Out In the Street</em>, and is standing with the people the government has decided are expendable, using his voice the way he always has to document injustice, to mourn the dead, and to remind us that the government&#8217;s actions and inactions are a form of violence.</p>
<p><iframe title="Spotify Embed: Streets of Philadelphia - Single Edit" style="border-radius: 12px" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/3fbnbn6A5O5RNb08tlUEgd?si=6cda04cb5ed44273&;utm_source=oembed"></iframe></p>
<p data-start="1518" data-end="1962">Like <em data-start="1523" data-end="1551">“Streets of Philadelphia,”</em> this song grounds itself in real places and real lives. “Down Nicollet Avenue,” Springsteen sings, naming the street where the violence unfolded. This isn&#8217;t a metaphor. This is reportage. Minneapolis becomes a symbol of what’s happening all over the country as ICE terrorizes communities, kidnaps street vendors, parents, and children, militarizes city streets, and claims it’s all in the name of “law and order.” Bruce isn’t buying it, and neither should we. He is calling us to come together and rise up, and meet him in the <em>Land of Hope and Dreams. </em></p>
<p data-start="1821" data-end="1905">Springsteen’s lyrics recount scenes of chilling protests, tear gas, and confrontation with ICE. He says their names; sings their names.</p>
<blockquote data-start="1907" data-end="2156">
<p data-start="1909" data-end="2156"><em data-start="1909" data-end="1981">“King Trump’s private army from the DHS / Guns belted to their coats…”<br />
</em><br data-start="1981" data-end="1984" /><em data-start="1986" data-end="2068">“And two dead, left to die on snow–filled streets / Alex Pretti and Renée Good…”<br />
</em><br data-start="2068" data-end="2071" /><em data-start="2073" data-end="2154">“Now they say they&#8217;re here to uphold the law / But they trample on our rights…”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p data-start="2247" data-end="2594">There’s no dancing around it. Springsteen names ICE. He names DHS. He names the government&#8217;s massive lies. This is a song about state violence, about occupation, about what it feels like when armed agents show up in your city and decide who gets to live and who doesn’t. There is surely a <em>Darkness On the Edge of Town, </em>and that darkness is ICE, sleeping in Hiltons across America, terrorizing the people. Springsteen&#8217;s anthem is angry, it’s mournful, and it’s powerful in the way all Springsteen protest ballads can be. For those who don&#8217;t understand what&#8217;s going on or simply don&#8217;t give a f*ck, let this be their wake up call. May this inspire them to take action. For me personally, it&#8217;s impossible to listen to this song without shedding tears.</p>
<p data-start="2596" data-end="3153">If you’ve followed Bruce’s career, none of this should be surprising. He has <em data-start="2673" data-end="2681">always</em> been a protest songwriter. His music is for the people. It&#8217;s organic; it&#8217;s as real as music gets. He writes these powerful songs in solitude, driven by the horrific events unfolding in the country.</p>
<p data-start="2596" data-end="3153">While some of his fans are outraged that he has written a new protest song, it should not be surprising. This is the same artist who gave us <em data-start="2745" data-end="2774">“American Skin (41 Shots),”</em> written in response to the police killing of Amadou Diallo, a song that asked, plainly, what it means to survive in a country where the state can kill you and call it self-defense.<em>&#8220;Is it a gun? Is it a knife? Is it a wallet? You can get killed just for living in your American skin.&#8221;</em> Actually, it was a cellphone. Not a gun, just a cellphone. These <em>American Skin</em> lyrics sadly remain applicable in the modern era.</p>
<p data-start="2596" data-end="3153">This is the same Bruce behind one of his most popular and successful songs, <em data-start="2984" data-end="3007">“Born in the U.S.A.,”</em> a song so often misused as patriotic wallpaper despite being a brutal indictment of how America chews up working-class people and spits them out. Bruce has always been a protest singer. He has always been a true folk artist, who pens protest songs for the people. He is a reflection of the American people, the working class people, and <em>This Hard Land. </em></p>
<p><iframe title="Spotify Embed: American Skin (41 Shots) - Studio Version" style="border-radius: 12px" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/4fpgB0FJiQ2bH7SVBHcT7j?si=6dcabdcc47e54cc7&;utm_source=oembed"></iframe></p>
<p><iframe title="Spotify Embed: Born in the U.S.A." style="border-radius: 12px" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/0dOg1ySSI7NkpAe89Zo0b9?si=b0b81ac0e4674d53&;utm_source=oembed"></iframe></p>
<p data-start="3155" data-end="3461"><em data-start="3155" data-end="3181">“Streets of Minneapolis”</em> belongs right alongside those great songs. Bruce doesn’t pretend both sides are equal and just. Bruce takes a side and stands with the people in the streets, with immigrants, with the protestors, and with all those we have lost to ICE violence in all <em>Cities of Ruins, </em>including SoCal&#8217;s Keith Porter, who was killed by off-duty ICE on December 31st, 2025.</p>
<p data-start="3489" data-end="3920">The song arrives in the middle of a general stike, mass protests, national outrage, and a growing movement demanding ICE be defunded and leave our cities. It’s already being used the way Springsteen songs always end up being used: as a rallying cry, as a shared language, as something people hold onto when they’re cold, scared, and still refusing to back down. When Bruce sings, “We’ll remember the names of those who died,” it feels like a promise, not a lyric.</p>
<p data-start="3738" data-end="3921">Springsteen’s lyrics, and the refrain of collective solidarity in the chorus, reflect a community grappling with grief, resistance, and the fight for justice on its own streets:</p>
<blockquote data-start="3922" data-end="4057">
<p data-start="3924" data-end="4057"><em data-start="3924" data-end="3967">“Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice…”</em></p>
<p data-start="3924" data-end="4057"><br data-start="3967" data-end="3970" /><em data-start="3972" data-end="4019">“We’ll remember the names of those who died…”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p data-start="4275" data-end="4694">In a time when so many artists water things down, or simply say nothing at all, just to stay palatable, Bruce Springsteen is still writing songs that take risks, tell the truth. His songs that refuse to look away. Bruce Springsteen is always ready to speak up and stand up for what he believes is right, even if that loses him listeners and fans. I hope that this song wakes up some fans, and I hope that his work will inspire more musicians to take the risk and speak up for what is right. It is not time to ignore the political injustices of our country. It is time for collective action.</p>
<p data-start="4275" data-end="4694"><em data-start="4442" data-end="4468">“Streets of Minneapolis”</em> is grief-stricken, furious, and deeply human. It’s a reminder that protest songs don’t belong to the past. They belong to the streets. And right now, those streets are frozen, occupied, and still full of people fighting back. Fuck Ice!!!!! Take action now. Get inspired by listening to Bruce&#8217;s new hit:</p>
<p><iframe title="Spotify Embed: Streets of Minneapolis" style="border-radius: 12px" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/6AtgHxdvghUjcjdPX1VhWN?si=2ecc5254fa9c45e8&;utm_source=oembed"></iframe></p>
<p class="p1">________________________________________________</p>
<p>Written by<a href="https://www.instagram.com/ryancassata/"> <span class="s1">Ryan Cassata</span></a></p>
<p class="p1">Submit a single,<a href="https://www.submithub.com/blog/rock-the-pigeon-music-blog"> <span class="s1">here</span></a>.</p>
<p class="p1">Submit an EP or LP,<a href="https://www.submithub.com/m/u/ryancassatareviews"> <span class="s1">here</span></a>.</p>
<p class="p1">Submithub Coupon, <a href="https://www.submithub.com/coupon/ryancassata"><span class="s1">here</span></a>.<br />
Request Your Song Be Used in a TikTok or Reel, <a href="https://www.submithub.com/influencer/ryancassata">here</a>.</p>
<p class="p1">Intellijend Campaign Discount (Meta Ads), <a href="http://go.intellijend.com/ryan-cassata">here</a>.</p>

“Streets of Minneapolis”: Bruce Springsteen Takes Aim at ICE and State Violence
