Song · Gil Scott-Heron
“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron
From the album Pieces of a Man (1971)
“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron appears on 8 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 2020 and 2026. It was first released in 1971 on the album Pieces of a Man. Its best result is #53 on The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #753 indie & aaa song of all time and #180 of the '70s.
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"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is Gil Scott-Heron's poem turned battering ram. He first taped it for his 1970 live debut, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, then recut it with a jazz-funk band for his 1971 studio debut, Pieces of a Man, where it also rode the flip side of his first single, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is". Bernard "Pretty" Purdie's funk beat drives it, Ron Carter's bass prowls underneath, Hubert Laws chips in flute and sax, and Scott-Heron reels off everything the revolution will not be, above all something television and the rest of the mass media will prop up. Bob Thiele produced it for Flying Dutchman.
A Black power broadside, it became his most popular work, and some critics hear early hip-hop in it. It entered the National Recording Registry in 2005, landed on Rolling Stone's lists of the 100 Best Protest Songs and the 500 Greatest Songs, and made its title, already a Black power slogan, widely known. Kendrick Lamar quoted it during his 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 626 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 181 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
| 2022 | 65 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time | 1055 |
| 2023 | 203 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
| 2023 | 380 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2024 | 594 | KEXP | The Best Opening Tracks of All Time | 738 |
| 2026 | 568 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
| 2026 | 53 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound | 1055 |
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