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Pavement's version of "No More Kings" is a perfect anthem for Saturday's protest [1]

['Jennifer Sandlin']

Date: 2025-06-16

To get us all ready for the upcoming No Kings protest that's happening on Saturday, I thought we might want to revisit the Schoolhouse Rock!/America Rock song "No More Kings," which first aired almost fifty years ago, on September 20, 1975. The original was sung by Lynn Ahrens, and the video recounts a charming but very whitewashed, jingoistic, and overly optimistic — I mean, it includes lyrics like "looks like it's going to be a free country," which obviously was far from true for all — story of the formation of the thirteen original colonies and the events leading up to their secession from Britain. Schoolhouse Rock Fandom provides this overview:

This song is shown in a series of scenes about Colonial America, which begin with the Pilgrims settling Massachusetts. The first colonists build a stockade and pledge their loyalty to the Crown. Eventually the settlement grows into a prosperous community, which "piece by piece" is built into the Thirteen Colonies. The montage is shown where the King is shown at the opposite end of the ocean, sitting in a throne by the shore.

Relevant to the protest on Saturday, despite the song's simplified and propagandistic version of American history, the lyrics do helpfully include the refrain "No more kings, No more kings, No more kings," which I think we should all chant loudly this weekend!

But I'm not here to share the original video. Rather, I'm here to share the version recorded by Pavement, "America's greatest indie rock band," which appeared on the 1996 album Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks. In a recent interview with the In Loving Recollection podcast host Brent Walburn, Pavement's Bob Nastanovich explains how Pavement came to record the song. Turns out Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus was a history major in college—Nastanovich describes him as a real "history junkie." Malkmus and Nastanovich had both attended the University of Virginia, a school founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the principal architect behind the Declaration of Independence. When they were asked to cover a song from Schoolhouse Rock! the band appropriately chose "No More Kings." Nastanovich explains, "we loved the song. . . it was sort of an obvious one for us."

I love Pavement's tribute because it's delivered with much more grit, irony, and cynicism than the original—it's incredibly different than the 70s folksy vibe of the original. Podcast host Walburn provides this great description:

. . the band creates a version of the song that is pure Pavement, employing elements specific to their signature sound—a skillful execution of melodicism and messiness that's loose and fractured, and often feels as if it could all fall apart at any moment, all the while maintaining a sort of effortless charm.

In other words, for me, it's a much better fit than the original for our current zeitgeist, and a more relevant accompaniment for Saturday's No Kings protest, as we take to the streets to try to save our messy, loose, and fractured democracy that feels like it's unraveling more quickly than ever before. Give it a listen if you want some inspiration. And I'll see you at the protest! No Kings!

Find a protest near you here.

Previously:

• This video explains Project 2025, Schoolhouse Rock-style!

• Watch this 'Double Negative Junction' Schoolhouse Rock episode to help you sound as sharp as Trump

• RIP Bob Dorough, musical director of 'Schoolhouse Rock'

• The Roots teach a 'Schoolhouse Rock!'-style lesson on slavery

• Trump's fascist birthday parade falls on No Kings Day — the largest nationwide protest yet

• The Pavement museum exhibition is real even if it's 'sort of a joke'

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