emma_goldman
24th October 2006, 04:43
Heavy metal becoming increasingly political
As genre nears 30, social commentary weaves its way among
power chords
The Associated Press
Updated: 11:59 a.m. MT Aug 10, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO -- Heavy metal singer Chris Barnes didn't know
what people would think of "Amerika the Brutal," an anti-war
song he wrote after his cousin deployed to Iraq in 2003.
He heard a number of complaints -- but also received
supportive e-mails from American troops in the war zone.
"It kind of sent a shiver up my spine because those are the
guys I didn't want to offend by sounding anti-war," said
Barnes, vocalist for the death metal band Six Feet Under.
Other metal bands are finding similar inspiration.
Lamb of God's albums criticize American foreign policy.
Cattle Decapitation are ardent vegetarians who use explicit
album covers and songs like "Veal and the Cult of Torture"
to condemn the meat industry. Serj Tankian of System of a
Down is co-founder of a nonprofit organization that works on
social issues.
More than three decades after Black Sabbath conjured images
of the dark arts, heavy metal is growing up. The genre is
increasingly incorporating social and political messages
into its dense power chords.
Cattle Decapitation vocalist Travis Ryan said his San Diego
band's mix of charging guitars and an animal rights message
is drawing a diverse crowd that includes activists as well
as traditional metal fans.
"We've always had a lot of crazy crossover going on," he
said before a recent show. "It's a pretty diverse crowd we
have. I've never known what to make of it."
Twenty artists recently displayed art inspired by the band's
last album "Humanure," in an online exhibit. Proceeds from
sales of the art will be donated to animal rights causes.
Metal bands are also branching out into literature and
mythology. Mastodon, which is headlining a summer tour with
metal stalwart Slayer, patterned the concept album
"Leviathan" around the story of Moby Dick. Death metal band
Nile bases its songs and image around Egyptian mythology and
iconography.
"Metal is expanding and evolving and becoming more diverse,"
said Canadian anthropologist and filmmaker Sam Dunn, who
directed "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey," released on DVD
this summer. "It's at a much more vibrant state than it was
even five or 10 years ago."
Dunn is working on a sequel to the film with the working
title "Global Metal" which will trace the popularity of
metal overseas, especially in developing countries like
Brazil, Columbia and Indonesia.
"It's becoming global and it's becoming a tool for social
and political commentary," Dunn said. "It takes on a greater
meaning in countries where people have had to struggle to
survive. It takes on a much stronger political tone."
Metal artists "have responded to the culture and politics of
the day," said Donna Gaines, a sociologist and author of
"Teenage Wasteland," a study of working class New Jersey
metalheads.
Metal music in the 1980s was often homophobic and "very
white," she said, but current bands tend to be socially
conscious and suspicious of political power. There's also
more women in the audience -- and fronting the bands.
"This is another generation rising," Gaines said.
Heavy metal has always touched on social and political
issues. Metal grandfathers Black Sabbath criticized the
Vietnam War in songs like "War Pigs" and "Children of the
Grave." Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" was an angry
denunciation of the displacement of Native Americans.
But much of the criticism was blunted by dark imagery that
panicked parents and led to the now ubiquitous "Parental
Advisory" labels. Metal's punk brethren were seen as having
a more learned world view.
That began to change when hardcore punk and metal fused in
the late 1980s with bands like Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and
Nuclear Assault. But metal was still primarily known for the
excessive lifestyles and racy videos of glam bands.
The popular view of metalheads as mentally deficient goons
was memorialized with the MTV cartoon "Beavis and Butthead,"
about two teen metalheads who terrorize their pudgy neighbor
Stewart, who wears a T-shirt of the glam rock band "Winger."
More meaningful music was coming from the underground as
popular culture embraced grunge and metal lost favor.
Napalm Death was a product of Britain's "Crass" movement,
which fused anarchism and punk in the late 1980s. Vocalist
Mark "Barney" Greenway, a vegetarian and peace advocate, is
often pulled aside by fans who want to know more about his
progressive views.
One recent song, "The Code is Red, Long Live the Code,"
takes aim at the spate of terror alerts in America with
lyrics like: "Switched on to subdue when the masses switch off."
"It's really, really difficult sometimes to break through
the cloud of apathy, so it's great when someone comes and
asks why you are coming from your perspective, " Greenway
said during a recent tour stop in California.
"When you come into a country like America, when you
challenge thinking, it's a great affront to some people," he
said.
The lyrics on Lamb of God's two most recent albums have been
expressly political, and the politics lean heavily to the left.
Napalm Death's Greenway is considering work as a political
activist when his metal days are over, but he doesn't think
metal will ever completely stray from hedonistic and
supernatural themes.
"I appreciate that not everything has to be awareness
raising or political," he said. "Music is also a form of
entertainment and it should remain that way. Variety is the
spice of life. Escapism is a good thing if it doesn't cloud
your vision."
URL: http://www.msnbc. msn.com/id/ 14288309/
*****
(First, heavy metal is closer to 40 years old than 30,
depending on just what you consider the first heavy metal
song. The genre was certainly well-established by 1969 or 1970.)
This article from MSNBC fails to mention a number of things
that it should probably have included.
The PMRC (umm, Tipper!) generated an inevitable backlash
from bands, but Alice Cooper's "Freedom" is all that comes
to mind for metal (as opposed to Frank Zappa or countless
punk rockers) to mind at the moment.
Metal is certainly a major ingredient in Rage Against the
Machine's blend of different musical styles.
If you're going to mention that "Serj Tankian of System of a
Down is co-founder of a nonprofit organization that works on
social issues", then you could at least name it as Axis of
Justice (http://www.axisofju stice.org/ ) and note that Tom
Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave is
another co-founder.
Industrial-metal band Ministry certainly has recorded its
share of politically- themed songs, notably "N.W.O.", about
the first Gulf War, also updated for Dubya. Even more
relevant is Lard, which is basically Ministry with (ex-Dead
Kennedys) Jello Biafra as singer/songwriter. And speaking of
Biafra, one should mention his epic "Full Metal Jackoff",
done with D.O.A. and (with updated lyrics) the NO WTO Combo.
Also worthy of mention is Alice Cooper's 2000 album _Brutal
Planet_ and (to a lesser degree) its sequel, _Dragontown_ .
All of the songs on this industrial-metal- influenced album
have socio-political content, and it easily ranks among his
best work.
-- DC
As genre nears 30, social commentary weaves its way among
power chords
The Associated Press
Updated: 11:59 a.m. MT Aug 10, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO -- Heavy metal singer Chris Barnes didn't know
what people would think of "Amerika the Brutal," an anti-war
song he wrote after his cousin deployed to Iraq in 2003.
He heard a number of complaints -- but also received
supportive e-mails from American troops in the war zone.
"It kind of sent a shiver up my spine because those are the
guys I didn't want to offend by sounding anti-war," said
Barnes, vocalist for the death metal band Six Feet Under.
Other metal bands are finding similar inspiration.
Lamb of God's albums criticize American foreign policy.
Cattle Decapitation are ardent vegetarians who use explicit
album covers and songs like "Veal and the Cult of Torture"
to condemn the meat industry. Serj Tankian of System of a
Down is co-founder of a nonprofit organization that works on
social issues.
More than three decades after Black Sabbath conjured images
of the dark arts, heavy metal is growing up. The genre is
increasingly incorporating social and political messages
into its dense power chords.
Cattle Decapitation vocalist Travis Ryan said his San Diego
band's mix of charging guitars and an animal rights message
is drawing a diverse crowd that includes activists as well
as traditional metal fans.
"We've always had a lot of crazy crossover going on," he
said before a recent show. "It's a pretty diverse crowd we
have. I've never known what to make of it."
Twenty artists recently displayed art inspired by the band's
last album "Humanure," in an online exhibit. Proceeds from
sales of the art will be donated to animal rights causes.
Metal bands are also branching out into literature and
mythology. Mastodon, which is headlining a summer tour with
metal stalwart Slayer, patterned the concept album
"Leviathan" around the story of Moby Dick. Death metal band
Nile bases its songs and image around Egyptian mythology and
iconography.
"Metal is expanding and evolving and becoming more diverse,"
said Canadian anthropologist and filmmaker Sam Dunn, who
directed "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey," released on DVD
this summer. "It's at a much more vibrant state than it was
even five or 10 years ago."
Dunn is working on a sequel to the film with the working
title "Global Metal" which will trace the popularity of
metal overseas, especially in developing countries like
Brazil, Columbia and Indonesia.
"It's becoming global and it's becoming a tool for social
and political commentary," Dunn said. "It takes on a greater
meaning in countries where people have had to struggle to
survive. It takes on a much stronger political tone."
Metal artists "have responded to the culture and politics of
the day," said Donna Gaines, a sociologist and author of
"Teenage Wasteland," a study of working class New Jersey
metalheads.
Metal music in the 1980s was often homophobic and "very
white," she said, but current bands tend to be socially
conscious and suspicious of political power. There's also
more women in the audience -- and fronting the bands.
"This is another generation rising," Gaines said.
Heavy metal has always touched on social and political
issues. Metal grandfathers Black Sabbath criticized the
Vietnam War in songs like "War Pigs" and "Children of the
Grave." Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" was an angry
denunciation of the displacement of Native Americans.
But much of the criticism was blunted by dark imagery that
panicked parents and led to the now ubiquitous "Parental
Advisory" labels. Metal's punk brethren were seen as having
a more learned world view.
That began to change when hardcore punk and metal fused in
the late 1980s with bands like Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and
Nuclear Assault. But metal was still primarily known for the
excessive lifestyles and racy videos of glam bands.
The popular view of metalheads as mentally deficient goons
was memorialized with the MTV cartoon "Beavis and Butthead,"
about two teen metalheads who terrorize their pudgy neighbor
Stewart, who wears a T-shirt of the glam rock band "Winger."
More meaningful music was coming from the underground as
popular culture embraced grunge and metal lost favor.
Napalm Death was a product of Britain's "Crass" movement,
which fused anarchism and punk in the late 1980s. Vocalist
Mark "Barney" Greenway, a vegetarian and peace advocate, is
often pulled aside by fans who want to know more about his
progressive views.
One recent song, "The Code is Red, Long Live the Code,"
takes aim at the spate of terror alerts in America with
lyrics like: "Switched on to subdue when the masses switch off."
"It's really, really difficult sometimes to break through
the cloud of apathy, so it's great when someone comes and
asks why you are coming from your perspective, " Greenway
said during a recent tour stop in California.
"When you come into a country like America, when you
challenge thinking, it's a great affront to some people," he
said.
The lyrics on Lamb of God's two most recent albums have been
expressly political, and the politics lean heavily to the left.
Napalm Death's Greenway is considering work as a political
activist when his metal days are over, but he doesn't think
metal will ever completely stray from hedonistic and
supernatural themes.
"I appreciate that not everything has to be awareness
raising or political," he said. "Music is also a form of
entertainment and it should remain that way. Variety is the
spice of life. Escapism is a good thing if it doesn't cloud
your vision."
URL: http://www.msnbc. msn.com/id/ 14288309/
*****
(First, heavy metal is closer to 40 years old than 30,
depending on just what you consider the first heavy metal
song. The genre was certainly well-established by 1969 or 1970.)
This article from MSNBC fails to mention a number of things
that it should probably have included.
The PMRC (umm, Tipper!) generated an inevitable backlash
from bands, but Alice Cooper's "Freedom" is all that comes
to mind for metal (as opposed to Frank Zappa or countless
punk rockers) to mind at the moment.
Metal is certainly a major ingredient in Rage Against the
Machine's blend of different musical styles.
If you're going to mention that "Serj Tankian of System of a
Down is co-founder of a nonprofit organization that works on
social issues", then you could at least name it as Axis of
Justice (http://www.axisofju stice.org/ ) and note that Tom
Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave is
another co-founder.
Industrial-metal band Ministry certainly has recorded its
share of politically- themed songs, notably "N.W.O.", about
the first Gulf War, also updated for Dubya. Even more
relevant is Lard, which is basically Ministry with (ex-Dead
Kennedys) Jello Biafra as singer/songwriter. And speaking of
Biafra, one should mention his epic "Full Metal Jackoff",
done with D.O.A. and (with updated lyrics) the NO WTO Combo.
Also worthy of mention is Alice Cooper's 2000 album _Brutal
Planet_ and (to a lesser degree) its sequel, _Dragontown_ .
All of the songs on this industrial-metal- influenced album
have socio-political content, and it easily ranks among his
best work.
-- DC