(July 10, 2026) The band Trussel knows how to celebrate a national holiday. Back in 1976 – during the Bicentennial and on the heels of Watergate, the Vietnam war and numerous disclosures of government abuses (COINTELINPRO, the Tuskegee Experiment, etc.) – a group of talented music students at Virginia State University released the song “How Many Tricks in 1976.”
That cut was a funky anthem that cut right to the heart of the rot that few mainstream acts outside of Gil-Scot Heron wanted to address on the nation’s 200th Birthday. The track served as a wake-up call to the masses and a warning to the elites. At the time, Trussel was on its way to becoming a mainstream band, and three years later the group would get a hit of their own with skater’s anthem “Love Injection.”
So here we are, 50 years later celebrating the nation’s 250th Birthday, and with all the nonsense going on in D.C., many people have opted for words of Frederick Douglass rather than Thomas Jefferson. The alums of Trussel have returned with an updated version of their funky protest song. The name changed to “How Many Tricks in 2026,” but not much else changed. The song sounds a little more modern, but the hard driving analog production techniques and the vibe sound the same. You can argue that “How Many Tricks in 2026” is even more relevant than it’s On the One predecessor because the tricks are more egregious and the tricksters more blatant. Check it out here.
By Howard Dukes
