Themes of love, loss and the other trials of our personal lives have been the mainstay of popular music for centuries. But in every generation there are pop artists who have taken on that other great theme called politics, responding to current events and instances of injustice both domestic and global, and bringing often controversial issues to the attention of the young people who make up their audience.

Growing up in Macedonia in the 1980s, my awareness of global politics was very much influenced by pop music, as a number of A-list artists during that era released huge hits addressing political issues, some of which were considered quite controversial at the time.