Walk into any street protest in the Western world and you’ll hear it within ten minutes. It doesn't matter if the crowd is yelling about climate change, union wages, or a local zoning board meeting that went off the rails. You know the rhythm. Hey hey, ho ho, [insert grievance here] has got to go. It is the "Smoke on the Water" of political activism—simple, repetitive, and arguably a bit overplayed. But why? Honestly, in an age of viral TikTok dances and high-production digital campaigns, it seems almost bizarre that we’re still relying on a couple of rhyming syllables from the mid-20th century.
It’s easy to dismiss it as lazy. I’ve seen critics call it the lowest common denominator of civic engagement. Yet, there’s a mechanical genius to it.
The chant functions as a social glue. It’s a rhythmic anchor. When a thousand people are moving down a city block, they aren't all reading from the same script. They’re distracted. They’re looking at their phones or trying not to trip over the curb. The hey hey ho ho structure provides a predictable cadence that anyone can join in three seconds. You don't need to be a policy expert. You just need a pulse.
Where did hey hey ho ho actually come from?
History isn't always as tidy as we’d like it to be. If you’re looking for a single "inventor" of the chant, you’re going to be disappointed. Most historians and ethnomusicologists point toward the massive surge in campus activism during the 1960s. Specifically, it gained traction during the Vietnam War protests.
The most famous early iteration was "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"
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That specific line was brutal. It was direct. It targeted President Lyndon B. Johnson with a visceral, rhythmic accusation that echoed through the halls of the Pentagon and the streets of D.C. It worked because it was "sticky" in the way modern marketers describe viral content. Once that rhythmic template was set, the "ho ho" variation naturally evolved as a more flexible, multi-purpose tool for shorter slogans. By the time the 1970s rolled around, it was the standard operating procedure for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and various anti-war groups.
The psychology of the simple chant
Why do we keep doing this? It’s basically about cognitive load. When you are in a high-stress, high-adrenaline environment like a protest, your brain isn't looking for nuanced debate. It wants synchronization.
Musicologists often discuss "entrainment." This is the process where humans naturally synchronize their movements or speech to an external rhythm. When a crowd yells "hey hey, ho ho" in unison, they aren't just sharing a message; they are physically syncing their heart rates and breathing patterns. It creates a temporary collective identity. It makes the individual feel less like a lonely person with a sign and more like a cell in a much larger, more powerful organism.
- It bridges the gap between different demographic groups.
- The 4/4 time signature is the most natural rhythm for human walking.
- It is impossible to forget the lyrics.
Honestly, if you tried to get a crowd to chant a complex three-paragraph manifesto, you’d have a mess. You’d have silence. And silence is the death of a protest.
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The backlash: Is it time to retire the rhyme?
Not everyone is a fan. In fact, within modern organizing circles, there is a lot of internal debate about whether these "legacy chants" make movements look dated. There’s a feeling that "hey hey ho ho" has become a cliché that people tune out. If you hear a sound and your brain immediately categorizes it as "background noise," the protest has failed its primary goal of getting attention.
Some organizers in the Black Lives Matter movement or the Sunrise Movement have pushed for more melodic, song-based activism or call-and-response patterns that feel more authentic to their specific cultures. They want something that sounds like 2026, not 1968.
But the old guard argues that accessibility is everything. If a chant is too "cool" or too complex, you exclude the casual supporter who just showed up. You exclude the grandmother who wants to support her grandkids but doesn't know the latest slang. The "ho ho" might be boring, but it is inclusive by design.
How to use rhythmic messaging effectively
If you’re actually out there trying to move the needle on an issue, you have to understand the mechanics of the sound. You can't just shout into the void.
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- Keep the target to two syllables. The reason "racism," "sexism," or "this war" work so well in the middle of the chant is the syllabic count. "Specific zoning ordinance 402-B" is going to fail every single time.
- Watch the tempo. People tend to speed up when they get nervous or excited. A fast chant sounds frantic; a slow, deliberate chant sounds powerful and inevitable.
- Use the "Call and Response" method. One person with a megaphone handles the "Hey hey," and the crowd handles the rest. This prevents the "mushy" sound of everyone being slightly out of sync.
The reality of 2026 activism is that the "chant" is only 10% of the work. The rest is digital organizing, data mining, and legal strategy. But that 10% is what ends up on the evening news. It’s what creates the "vibe" that draws more people in.
Actionable steps for modern advocacy
If you find yourself in a position where you need to organize a public demonstration or even just a loud meeting, don't just default to the classics because you're lazy. Think about the "auditory brand" of your movement.
Start by identifying the one thing that must go. Not five things. One. Map it to a rhythm. If the hey hey ho ho structure feels too tired for your specific audience, try a simple three-beat repetition.
Test your chant in a small group first. If people stumble over the words or lose the beat in a room of five people, they will definitely fail in a crowd of five hundred.
The most important thing is to remember that the chant is a tool, not the goal. It’s a way to signal to the world—and to the people standing next to you—that you aren't alone. Whether you love it or hate it, that simple rhythmic structure is likely going to be around as long as people have things they want to change. It’s effective because it’s human. It’s loud, it’s slightly annoying, and it’s impossible to ignore.