In the past few weeks, the nation has been saturated with coverage of both the Democratic and Republican national conventions. And both conventions had a musical presence, whether it’s the supportive acts on the convention’s stages or concerts specifically organized in opposition of a political party’s beliefs.

At the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., ‘90s political hard-rock band Rage Against The Machine made headlines for having its concert shut down due to an event curfew, causing the band to improvise a few songs vocally through a megaphone to the crowd of Rage supporters.

An L.A. Times blog talked about the interesting state of political music, where the middle-aged members of RATM were one of several older acts stepping up to speak for our generation. I couldn’t help but agree.

With the exception of the Dixie Chicks bashing “Dubya” at a concert in 2003 and Kanye West stating “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” on a nationally televised Hurricane Katrina benefit, most of the people who frequently express their political views in public and in their music are mid-career artists, be it Rage, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Sheryl Crow, John Mellencamp or Pearl Jam.

Then again, they’ve already made their mark in the music industry and are in a secure enough position with their fan base that a protest song not only comes with little backlash, it has the ability to attract new listeners.

But younger popular artists have political opinions too, and I feel like it is seldom being expressed because “political music” just doesn’t have the pop appeal that it used to.

The 1960s was an era when popular songs with political messages during the Vietnam War were the norm and not a novelty. The 1970s had Marvin Gaye hitting the charts while addressing Civil Rights with “What’s Going On” along with the political punk of The Clash. Heck, even the ‘80s had the political fire of U2 and The Boss singing about Vietnam War strife on his hit “Born in the U.S.A.”

But after RATM in the ‘90s, a mainstream music act hasn’t really attempted to push a political track as a potential radio single. Sure, there are bands like Linkin Park, Matchbox Twenty and Fall Out Boy, who will put political images in their music videos even if the song’s lyrics may conjure those images up on first listen. And if an artist does decide to write a political song, it is often buried as one of the last album tracks. A surprising recent example is tween juggernaut Miley Cyrus, who has a song called “Wake Up America” that offers her views on the country’s problems. But I guarantee when her record company had to pick between that or “7 Things” for the Disney poster-child’s first single, the choice wasn’t a hard one.

Don’t get me wrong, there are several of today’s bands who aren’t afraid. They let political words ring out over the music of their songs, whether it’s John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World” in 2006, or the music of bands like punk rockers Against Me! and hip-hop rockers Flobots.

But the popular young artists who have the potential to reach the most people may not be tempted to do get political in fear of alienating fans. I just think that considering the state of the union, the views of mid-career artists aren’t the only ones that should be heard loudly. If these younger artists have a political opinion, they should do more than just get it on the record. They should get it on the airwaves.