Musical Diversity

In the last 33 years I have probably listened to music an average of four hours a day (how is that possible? One factor is that I did about 40 hours a week, for a total of 4 years, at a job that allowed me to listen to music I chose as I was working). There was one period of about 3 years around 2006 where I didn’t listen that much, but in High School and the last 16 years I listened about 6 hours a day on average.

(The value of this post is fairly low- only about 45-55% of it will be political)

Before I get to the best part of it, let me first explain a few minor details and some background to my addiction to music. I pretty much exclusively listened to cassette tapes until some time around 1999. I also have bought very few CDs (my commitment to being a good fan went down at some point in the late 1990s and has pretty much stayed there in terms of buying CDs, etc. instead of mostly just listening to YouTube which is what I’ve done about 4/5 of the time in the last 7-8 years). I have never had an iPod, I don’t listen to streaming music sites (“muve” I believe is one example, or Last FM perhaps). I have been doing almost all of my music-listening the last 16 years on YouTube. About 2/5 of what I listen to is stuff that I paid for earlier when I bought tapes and/or CDs, and with a big chunk of the stuff I DIDN’T ever pay for, I’m very comfortable ethically with that (see “The Music of my Enemy” below).

When I was very young (about 9) I was a fan of Michael Jackson. At 13 or 14 I went to a massive concert which included Vanilla Ice, I BELIEVE MC Hammer, and I THINK En Vogue. I’m almost embarrassed by that, although in the last 35 years there is one En Vogue song that I really like (“Free Your Mind” (the main reason I like it is the moshing in the official music video)). I kind of liked Vanilla Ice and I just learned some stuff about him that is kind of cool. And in a brief spoken word bit on either Home Invasion or Original Gangster Ice-T said something positive about MC Hammer. But I’m still kind of embarrassed about it.  In one, two or three year(s) of Jr. High School I listened to a lot of rap- of the Beastie Boys (“License to Ill”), 2-3 albums by rappers Run DMC (and 1-2 albums by The Fresh Prince, but I think I stopped listening to him in 9th grade and since then I think I’ve listened twice (in the last several years) to two of his hits, just out of curiosity and/or nostalgia).

At the risk of getting a little personal, in 9th grade my two best friends got into Megadeth and some other heavy metal bands. I was sort of open-minded about it, but not very. For various reasons I won’t go into, at the beginning of 10th grade (1991-1992) we had a falling out. I WAS a little guilty in the first 1-2 months after that of suddenly discovering a strong interest in heavy metal and wearing combat boots and that might have been pathetic. But I kept listening to rap, I started listening to more hard-core rap like Public Enemy and Ice-T, and I started listening to miscellaneous stuff that was labeled “alternative.” The bands labelled that way in the 1990s that I still listen to a LOT today include: Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Fishbone, L7, Faith No More, Ministry, and Biohazard (I didn’t listen to  Biohazard until 1993).

Starting in the Summer of 1992 I listened to the punk bands The Dead Kennedys and The Dead Milkmen (just an amusing coincidence). More recently I started listening a lot to a CELTIC punk band called Dropkick Murphys. Some of the bands that I lazily put in the metal category have some major connection to punk music. This includes DRI and Suicidal Tendencies who I enjoy listening to. Biohazard is also kind of a punk band.

Going back to my ex-friends in 1991/1992, I am, in one way and one way only, proud of the fact that when they started listening to Slayer and some death-metal bands I didn’t follow them (the thing is, since I didn’t follow them in that direction, it couldn’t be called pathetic). In early 1993 I bought one Slayer album (Seasons in the Abyss) and bought no more until 2 years later, when I was in college. Around the same time that I bought the Slayer album I bought one Napalm Death tape (From Enslavement to Obliteration) (Napalm Death are death-metal) but that was it for death-metal until about 25 years later.

In High School the main two heavy metal bands I listened to were Megadeth and Metallica. I listened a fair amount to some others including Anthrax, Sepultura, Pantera, Nuclear Assault, Body Count, DRI, and Suicidal Tendencies (unlike every other band I mention in this essay, I no longer listen to Sepultura).

There’s one minor heavy metal band that I listened to a little bit in High School that really should have been part of me transitioning towards being a socialist (a transition that took place in High School), but I don’t think it was. In a few minutes I’ll talk about how in general listening to music contributed to me becoming a socialist. The minor  band I just mentioned is called Sacred Reich, and even though in High School I had been less familiar with this, I’ve known for 1-2 decades now that they were progressive. In HS I had an EP of their’s with four songs. One was totally non-political and about evil or monsters or something. One was a cover of the anti-war Black Sabbath song “War Pigs.” The one I remember listening to was a (1980s) anti-intervention song called “Surf Nicaragua. The fourth song turns out to be a very progressive song, but I only identified it as such in the last 16 years. “One Nation” is anti-war, anti-racist, and even a little critical of economic injustice (there’s a brief reference to “greed”).

I can’t remember which came first, but the first bit of political activity I engaged in MAY have happened after I took a music-connected step towards identifying strongly with the cause of anti-racism. That step was going to the first concert I care to remember. It was in 10th grade and it was an Ice-T and Body Count concert. I saw the first band play and there was moshing which I quickly decided I liked and I saw Ice-T do some rap (which also inspired moshing), and then I had to leave before Body Count played because I had to get home before it was too late (my parents didn’t know I was at a concert and wouldn’t have believed that what I told them I was doing would go that late). (In High School and college I was into relatively non-violent moshing (and I felt very strongly about picking up people who fell down)).

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The High School Years: Becoming A Socialist

So, a focus on music and my political development. If I ever get around to typing it, a future post about how I became a socialist will overlap heavily with this post.

One aspect of this that I think about is, why did I come to focus more on racism than other symptoms of capitalism and get an Ethnic Studies degree instead of a Women’s Studies degree? I have no idea how I found myself listening to rap music in Jr. High. I wasn’t watching MTV and my parents were no more than moderately anti-racist. I didn’t have older siblings who listened to rap (actually, I might have been watching a LITTLE MTV because I have memories of watching 1-2 music videos by The Fresh Prince). On one hand, as far as I can remember, the rap I was listening to in Jr. High was non-political and only about 3/4 of it involved Black people, but It probably contributed to how I started listening to Public Enemy and Ice-T in late 1991.

I think that listening to that “Hard Core” rap is a huge part of why I did my first political act (and that may have been AFTER the Ice-T/Body Count concert I went to). In the Spring semester of 10th grade, in early 1992, I walked out of my 4th period class (I think it was 4th period) and joined about 50 of my peers walking around Boulder protesting the not-guilty verdict in a California trial of the racist white police officers who beat Rodney King a year earlier. That night I went to a march and rally for the community in general and/or the CU-Boulder campus and I was actually on the front page of the paper the next day (next to me was someone who later was the first or second person to get an Ethnic Studies degree at CU-Boulder, and there was someone wearing a Primus shirt and one person wearing a Body Count shirt).

This is a little embarrassing because I have heard things here and there indicating they’re not progressive, but I think some political stuff by Megadeth and Metallica nudged me towards the left in High School. Those songs are:

Metallica
“Fight Fire With Fire” is about the need to avoid nuclear war.
“Ride the Lightning” is in opposition to the death penalty.
“For Whom the Bell Tolls” could almost be mistaken for an anti-fascist song because it is indirectly inspired by an anti-fascist novel by Ernest Hemingway. The thing is, the MOVIE based on that book retained the anti-war message but not the ANTI-FASCIST message of the book.
“Disposal Heroes” is anti-war.
“Blackened” is about nuclear war.
“…And Justice for All” is basically about politics and power in this country, but I am very unsure about what EXACTLY is it saying. This one may have had no affect on me becoming a socialist.
“One” is anti-war.

Megadeth
“Set The World Afire” is about nuclear war.
“Holy Wars…. The Punishment Due.” The first half I’ve heard might be about international conflicts like Israel and the Palestinians and/or (possibly more specifically) Northern Ireland. Beyond that I’m not sure what to say about it.
“Take No Prisoners” is anti-war.
“Rust in Peace” is about nuclear war.
“Symphony of Destruction” is about politics but I can’t figure out what they’re trying to say.
“Architecture of Aggression” is sort of the same- it probably IS anti-war, but I am less certain than I am when it comes to “Take no Prisoners.” Megadeth just wasn’t consistently and explicitly progressive.
“Foreclosure of a Dream” is I BELIEVE about US federal farm policy in the 1980s. I am just not familiar with farm policy. I DO like the license plates in Colorado that say “No Farms, No Food” but I just don’t know anywhere near enough to comment on this song.

I think that is a pretty complete list of the relevant Megadeth and Metallica songs I listened to in High School that may have nudged me towards the left.

As I have said earlier, the harder rap I listened to, including three Ice-T albums, and 3-4 Public Enemy albums probably had a better effect on me than the Metallica and Megadeth stuff I just referred to. And then there was the Dead Kennedys stuff- some of their songs might not inspire progressive politics but about half of them do. And there was at least a couple that were about economic injustice- “Let’s Lynch the Landlord,” and “Kill the Poor.” There were several other political DK songs whose lyrics I’m too lazy to confirm- with the exceptions of “Police Truck” (police brutality), “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” and “We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now” (about Ronald Reagan), which I definitely remember (as I was typing this I started listening to the DKs for the first time in about 4-5 years) (I believe that in High School and college I listened to 3/4 or 4/4 of the Jello Biafra DK studio albums).

There were a handful of songs by Suicidal Tendencies that contributed to me becoming   progressive:

“Two Sided Politics” is basically contrasting the life of a rich person with that of a working-class person, and there’ some anti-Reagan stuff, etc. One thing I think is noteworthy is that there’s one line that says “I’m not anti-government, government is anti-me.” I like to think that might be in part an anti-anarchist statement.
“Fascist Pig” could be a little more political (that is, deeper) but Mexican-Americans criticizing the police may have pushed me a bit to the left.
“I Want More” is about the class conflict with some references to the minimum wage.
“Give It Revolution” was a little vague but probably nudged me in the right direction.

There were a handful of songs by a thrash-metal band called Nuclear Assault that pushed me to the left in High School. Although I have listened to their other stuff in recent years, in HS pretty much the only album I listened to was “Handle with Care.”
“New Song” which was a fairly good anti-racist song.
“Critical Mass” is a pretty good environmentalist song.
“Inherited Hell” is also like that.
“When Freedom Dies” Although I’m not sure what it’s saying about US foreign policy during the Cold War, it IS saying that freedom and civil liberties, etc. shouldn’t be weakened in the name of national security.
“Search and Seizure” is sort of similar, but basically about law enforcement harassing metal-heads (I’m not sure whether or how the lyrics-writer would generalize that statement to include punks, hippies, etc.)

Another band that influenced me in High School was a “cross-over” hard-core punk/thrash-metal band called DRI (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles). In HS I saw them play live twice and listened to three of their albums.

First there was the album “Definition” which included the following songs:
“Acid Rain” was about the environment.
“The Application” is about multiple forms of employment discrimination and DOES include a line about racism and a line about homophobia, and one about religion and one that is probably about being HIV+.

The album “Thrash Zone” has several political songs.
“Labelled Incurable” might be about AIDS (as far as I can tell DRI were probably anti-homophobic).
“Kill the Words” is sort of generally about censorship and dictatorship but seems to be at least partly if not totally about that sort of thing in the Muslim world; I have no idea if they’re anti-Muslim or just consistently opposing fundamentalism, censorship, and dictatorship (there IS another song where they condemn religious discrimination in employment, so they probably aren’t anti-Muslim)
“Worker Bee” although it’s not written as a socialist song, I think it’s basically about economic justice and is by a band that I’m pretty sure is in favor of social justice as well (I’m suspicious of bands, people, etc. who are economically progressive but not socially liberal).

There was one Soundgarden song about the environment called “Hands All Over.” Although I don’t feel like looking at the lyrics, I believe that there were at least a few L7 songs I liked politically (one example is “Pretend We’re Dead”).

This will require at least one paragraph. Although I’m not real familiar with this, I have gotten the impression that Rage Against The Machine were a bit to my left politically. One social-dem critic told me that the political forces RATM admired either would have told RATM to fuck off, or alternately, should be killed (I think that may have been a reference to the Peruvian leftist army/terror organization called Shining Path). I sort of stumbled onto RATM a little earlier than most of their fans. Somehow I knew that their performance at a small club in Boulder around late 1992 or early 1993 would inspire moshing, so I showed up. I don’t remember thinking about it much but I guess I liked the music enough and the general vibe and bought their album shortly after the show. At some point at least a couple months later they came to Denver with House of Pain and it was great listening and moshing KNOWING that they were promoting dissent in this country. At that concert I learned about Leonard Peltier, and generally drifted towards the Left. (Right before House of Pain came on stage they played the music sans vocals of a song I mention below called “Just Look Around” by Sick of it All). Yes, RATM was alternately politically vague and/or leaning towards the hard-left. But they contributed to me becoming a dissident of some sort and it’s slightly possible that wouldn’t have happened if not for them. And musically they were pretty cool.

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The Last 16 Years

This next section will be pretty brief. It’s about what music I have been listening to in the last 16 years.

Between about 1998 and about 2009 I only listened something like 4 hours a day to music. In 2008, for I think the first or almost first time I got on YouTube. Since then I have listened to almost all of the Megadeth and Metallica that I missed, plus the older stuff. I started listening to practically all Slayer and I started listening to a LOT of death metal. The following bands are the death metal bands I listen to: Carcass, Napalm Death (I love their music and I think that if I paid attention to their lyrics I’d agree with a lot of them), Deicide (MUSICALLY I LOVE Deicide, but I assume I would be offended by their lyrics if I read them), Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, and Morbid Angel.

I got caught up on Body Count albums that I missed after Born Dead and also listened to the first two albums. Although I don’t listen to them much I listen some to stuff I missed earlier from Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, and Testament as well as what I listened to earlier. Although I’ve barely looked at the lyrics I some times listen to stuff I missed by Sacred Reich, and I am even more sure than before that they’re progressive politically.

Yes, my very favorite genre is thrash metal (and/or speed metal- at the risk of sounding stupid, I am not sure what differences there are, if any, between speed and thrash).

I listen to the following Suicidal Tendencies albums, both now and in High School: Their first (self-titled) album, How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today, Controlled By Hatred/Feel Like Shit… DeJaVu, Lights! Camera! Revolution! and The Art of Rebellion. I haven’t listened to any ST that I didn’t listen to in High School. On a related note, I would say the same about DRI albums Definition, Crossover, and Thrashzone.

Today and in high school I listen(ed) to three Ice-T albums: The Iceberg, Original Gangster, and Home Invasion.

Until recently I took a 10-15 year break from listening to more than three songs by Public Enemy.

In the last 5 or so years I listened a little bit to Run DMC (albums Tougher Than Leather, Raising Hell, and probably King of Rock) and the Beastie Boys’ License to Ill and Check Your Head. I listen A LOT to the House of Pain song “Jump Around,” but it has been so long since I listened to the entire album.

I have a huge number of YouTube mix-tape playlists. A large chunk of it is miscellaneous 1990s stuff (some mainstream, some not), and another large chunk is some stuff where the theme of the fan-made video was anti-racist skinheads.

I found a massive playlist of mainstream 1980s pop hits and placed the ones I liked (about 58 of them) in my own playlist. To some extent (not a large one) I was exposed to many of those songs as a little kid (I was born in 1975) when watching a 1980s movie or when I occasionally was listening to the radio. I listen to that playlist about once a week. And one of the songs on it I have kind of fallen in love with- the music, the images in the video, but I have not examined the lyrics. It’s Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler.

I also fell in love with a great song by the Dropkick Murphys called “Out of our Heads.” In the last year I have probably listened to it an average of once a day and I listened to their first three albums once as well.

Since the early 1990s I have been a fan of two Tom Petty albums- Full Moon Fever and Into the Great Wide Open.

I was at least kind of exposed to ska starting when I got into Fishbone in High School and I’ve been increasingly curious about it in the last 23 years. Although they might be more accurately called “Ska PUNK,” I do enjoy listening to The Mighty Mighty BossTones for about half an hour a day on average in the last 5 years.

I listen to a small amount of Irish Republican music. I bought an entire album by Black 47 but for some reason, even though I get the impression they’re progressive, all I listen(ed) to were/are the two republican songs (one of which I believe is a Celtic rap song).

In the last several months I’ve started listening to about seven Beach Boys songs, I have fallen in love with the song “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs and I like “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” by The Robins.

I have studied (i.e. read articles on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s web-site) skinheads in general and totally opposed Nazi skinheads specifically, and I listen to a fair amount of “Anti-Fascist Oi!” Oi! In general, both fascist and anti-fascist, might bear some resemblance to punk and might be defined by the lyrics (about violence, the working-class, and being a skinhead). The main such band I listen to is The Oppressed.

I listen to a small number of songs by the progressive (largely folk and/or punk) singer-songwriter David Rovics.

In the last 4-5 years I have spent a fair amount of time listening to YouTube playlists of music from the Vietnam era. For some reason I have used that word to find good mix tape playlists of classic rock, including classic rock that I vaguely remember from movies about Vietnam. (I believe that what we did there was wrong and I have evidence from more than just left-wing sources)

Alternative
Rage Against the Machine (the first two albums) Soundgarden (Badmotorfinger and Louder Than Love, and a little bit of some others that I didn’t listen to in High School), Nirvana (all 3 studio albums), Alice in Chains (Dirt and Facelift), Fishbone (Truth and Soul, The Reality of my Surroundings, and Give a Monkey a Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe), L7 (Smell the Magic, Bricks are Heavy), Faith No More (The Real Thing and Angel Dust from High School, and We Care a Lot in the last several years), Ministry (The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste and ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ), and Biohazard (I didn’t listen to  Biohazard until 1993) (Urban Discipline, State of the World Address, and Mata Leao)

I THINK that covers about 99% of the songs and albums that I should mention here.

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The Music of my Enemy

Since late 2008 I have spent probably an hour a day on average listening to Nazi Skinhead music. For multiple reasons, some a little vague, I enjoy listening to the music of my enemy. I stumbled onto it shortly after I first got on YouTube in 2008 and I recognized the name Skrewdriver that I had learned about in 10th grade when researching the racist right for a paper I was writing (primarily about the racist right in this country, but I’m not surprised some of the sources I read mentioned the BRITISH Skrewdriver). Anyway, I liked most of the music (not the lyrics) and just really enjoyed listening to the music of my enemy (yes, I also listen to a small amount of anti-Catholic N. Ireland loyalist music). I also learned a handful of things by studying the lyrics and the imagery in fan-made videos. Crucially, I quickly started to alter the lyrics into anti-fascist poems- in many cases, so that my poems were saying the exact opposite of what the original was saying (when there was a change in topic, there was always at least some conflict between my poems and what the authors of the original lyrics believe (and some times a LOT of conflict- a lot of the N. Ireland poems were based on lyrics by people who supported the British and Unionist causes)). The first poetry post is here.

I wish I could explain in better detail why I enjoy listening to the music of my enemy.

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The High School years- the PMRC and “musical intolerance.”

In 11th grade one of my best friends (James, of Portland, OR) and I did a “‘zine” (a very small and unprofessionally written/edited magaZINE). It was kind of political, kind of creative (well, James’ stuff was creative, my stuff less-so but the ‘zine in general (called The Conformist Monthly) seemed pretty popular with our friends and probably about 10% of the BHS students). One thing I did that I am a little embarrassed about is an essay about what I called “musical intolerance.” Although actually typing that and making copies of an issue that contained it is something I probably shouldn’t have done, I DO believe that most of my peers in High School were close-minded about different kinds of music, and at the time I believed that I was better because I listened to metal, rap, alternative, and punk.

Something I wrote for The Conformist Monthly that I AM proud of was an essay about the Parents Music Resource Center. The PMRC was created in the mid-80s, primarily by Al Gore’s wife Tipper Gore, and Susan Baker, the wife of senior GOP leader James Baker. It was largely supported by the religious right and practically no one to the left of Bill Clinton supported it. It’s been decades since I studied it, but the main thing it did was successfully push for an industry agreement to place “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content” stickers on certain albums.

I really am not insensitive to the desires of many parents (probably around 95% of them) to keep young children from listening to songs about sex and drugs and songs which use swear words (I believe there is a spectrum between two situations- one involving children under 13, and one involving young adults who are around 15, and at the latter end of the spectrum I’ll be honest I am not sure if I care about parents wanting to keep their teenage kids away from that kind of content). And these stickers were a problem. In the past, MANY music stores wouldn’t sell those albums. In the past MANY of the artists negatively affected were people of color, and in general, many of the albums targeted contained songs with political messages that were liberal or progressive. This country might have been a better place in the 1990s if those songs had been heard by more people.

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“There Goes The Neighborhood”

(The title of a Body Count song about their presence in the punk and metal genres)

As I near a conclusion, the climax to this is something I want to talk about that is very special to me. That is the intersection of rock (or at least the heavier and/or faster variants of it) and rap (I’ll be honest, I think I’ve always failed to understand that many fans of rap and/or hip-hop define one as corporate and the other as something closer to the street, and I’m just going to use the term “rap”).

I don’t listen to a lot of music made between 1998 and today, so I’m going to focus almost exclusively on stuff from the 1980s and 1990s. Here is I think a complete survey of that topic up until some point in the mid- or late 90s.

1. In 1986 Run-DMC and Aerosmith collaborated on a new version of the latter’s song “Walk This Way.”
2. In 1989 industrial metal band Ministry did a song with a rapper- the song is called “Test” and is a great combination of rap and industrial.
3. In 1991 Anthrax and Public Enemy collaborated on a new version of the latter’s song “Bring Tha Noise.”
4. Shortly after that, Public Enemy and Anthrax went on a national tour together.
5. Ice-T and his musician friends created Body Count in 1990.
6. In 1991, Rage Against The Machine was formed with music that was sort of heavy and/or sort of fast and vocals that would often be labeled “rap.”
7. I am having some difficulty nailing down the details, but in the early and mid-1990s Biohazard, who were more or less a hard-core punk band, did at least two songs with a rapper (Onyx) and, crucially, did music videos for the two songs that involved Onyx that I can remember (one reason this is VERY significant is that I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true that Biohazard had, years earlier, toyed with white supremacy as a marketing tactic in NY City’s competitive music scene, and may have done these 4-5 collaborations (including TWO videos) to make up for that).
8. In 1993 the soundtrack for a movie called “Judgement Night” was entirely devoted to collaborations between rockers and rappers.

I could and probably WILL do a lot of research on this topic in the next year or two and write something very substantial, but I have always had very positive political thoughts about this series of collaborations because I THINK they had some potential to positively affect race relations in this country. IF they HAD that potential it wasn’t something permanent, as 35 years later we are struggling to prevent a white supremacist from occupying the White House. I am not sure what is the status today of that potential- I’m not sure I should be making a big deal about the need for such intersections today, especially because there might be plenty in recent years and/or they are having no impact on American race relations.

When thinking about this topic, I wish I had a better grasp of sociology and psychology.

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Some miscellaneous thoughts

1. For about 10-15 years until recently, I took a break from being a fan of Public Enemy, although in hind-sight that didn’t involve changing the “Favorite Music” section of my blogger/blogspot profile page. I have listened over the years to about four albums by PE, all of which were either in the 1980s or the very earliest 90s. On one of them, there’s a song that includes two lines I have always found offensive, but which really got me pissed off about 10-15 years ago. One line is applauding homophobic VIOLENCE and another one implies it’s okay for a man to beat his partner if he takes her on vacation around the world. I am still very offended by those lines, but decided to listen to those albums from High School again).
2. In the early 1990s there was one song by the hard-core punk band Sick of it All that I really liked and which I have always really liked. For some reason I have practically never listened to any other SOIA songs. The one I listen to is called “Just Look Around.” The thing is, in 2001 I was at a party for progressives and one person asked the room what is the most progressive hardcore punk band? Part of me DID know that the correct answer was Fugazi, but because of that one SOIA song I said it was SOIA. The guy who asked the initial question said something about a pirate flag and slapping women. For some bizarre reason I didn’t respond. But if you look at the lyrics you’ll see that something like 2/3 of the lyrics are completely acceptable to progressives. The other third is some slightly questionable lines (i.e. mentioning anti-Semitism among blacks when that might not be helpful (for all I know it IS helpful)) and the very worst of the lyrics in that 1/3 is a reference to the “workingman” when “worker” or “working person” would be a lot better (this might be what the guy at the party was talking about when he suggested I wanted to slap women).

In the official music video, when the lyrics refer to “diseases and modern plagues of our times” they flash the “Silence=Death” symbol of the movement calling for a better national response to the AIDS crisis. I guess it could be a negative statement, but I have always assumed it was a positive statement about that symbol, which would probably also mean that SOIA are anti-homophobic. Lastly, another song on that album seems to be about attacking Reagan over Iran/Contra.
3. I organized my first fund-raising show (it was a VERY small venue) in 1995 to support the Left Hand Bookstore (in Boulder) and the college-years ‘zine that James and I did (it was called Subliminal Prison). The opening band was called Sonnus and I don’t have much to say about them. The other two bands were A) a High School band from the Denver area who were probably influenced by punk, and an amazing band called D-Town Brown. The latter’s music I have difficulty describing. I believe it was possibly influenced by rock (at least one of the 2-3 times I saw them playing a regular show there was moshing and 1-2 band members had earlier been involved with a band that was either thrash/speed-metal or death metal)) but I think it was more influenced by some other stuff (mariachi perhaps? (There were 4-5 members in the band and all but one were Chicano (the last member was black)). Although James and I did a publicity campaign in waves, very few people showed up. Not sure why.
4. The second fundraiser I did Involved Sonnus, D-Town Brown and a punk band called Dead Silence. It was for the Colorado Coalition for Single-Payer (the Canadian health-care system) and I gave Denver CCSP a LOT of flyers to put up in Denver (the venue was in Denver, where I didn’t live) and I don’t think any of those flyers were put up anywhere. I’m not saying I was totally blameless, but I do think that most of the blame was CCSP’s. The only reason that a significant amount of money was raised is that the owner of the venue (The Mercury Cafe) took less money than she usually did in that situation.
5. In high school and college, when I went to a show/concert I would dress in the spirit of taking nonconformity as far as I could. If I was at a Dead Milkmen show, I’d wear a Megadeth shirt, if I was at a Primus concert I would wear a Public Enemy shirt, etc.
6. You might like a post I did about whether or not Slayer is racist.

UPDATE 12/25/24 I unintentionally left out a handful of bands I should have mentioned, but with one of them I feel like I really need to do this update. In 10th grade I started listening to the heavy metal band Ugly Kid Joe, and after about two decades I just recently re-discovered them. I started listening to their EP "As Ugly As They Want To Be" (their first release) and their first full length album "America's Least Wanted" in High School. They describe themselves as neither glam nor thrash and I think that's accurate. In a minute I have something more important to say, but first a little story. In the Summer of 1992 there was a tour with (from top to bottom) Ozzy, Slaughter, and Ugly Kid Joe. I have pretty much never liked Slaughter, but I have always had at least some positive thoughts about Ozzy and in the last several years probably 1% of all the music I listen to is Ozzy. The concert was at an amazing venue called Red Rocks and although it doesn't facilitate moshing (I THINK I remember that right) I'm glad I went to a concert there. But I got lost on the way there, so A) I somehow missed almost all of UKJ's set (I think they may have started early??), and B) after I heard ALL of Slaughter's set I had to leave after about 30 minutes of Ozzy because my Mom didn't know where I was I and I was afraid if I got lost again I'd get home so late she would worry. BUT I GOT TO SEE ALL OF SLAUGHTER'S SET!!!!! (The important part of mentioning UKJ is that on the first full-length album there's a fairly good anti-racist song ("Same Side"). It's not militant, it's not angry, but I think it's pretty cool despite that. As I was typing this and listening more and more to the song, I started asking myself some critical questions about the idea that it's an anti-racist song and then I remembered that the vocalist, Whitfield Crane contributed to a special re-recording of the Motorhead song "Born to Raise Hell" where he and ICE-T did some of the vocals and in the official music video they appear together)

************

Conclusion

Although there was one gap that lasted about 3 years where I listened to very little music, it was a huge part of my life in High School and college and in the last 16 years. I find listening to it very enjoyable and it contributed to the several factors that led me to embrace progressive political values, and it generally makes me feel very good. Although I don’t think I’ll be expanding my interest in music any further (I don’t think I’m going to try bluegrass for example) I am (perhaps too) proud of the fact that I have fairly wide-ranging interests in music.

Most of the time I was typing this up I was listening to a song from the very early 1990s by a band called EMF. It’s called “Unbelievable” and I think it’s sort of a dance song but could also inspire moshing. The song, and to a greater degree the video as well, is very energizing and I got so much done with the multiple writing assignments I gave myself.

Nuclear Assault Your Daughters and Your Sons

UPDATE 11/6/10: This first 1/3 of this post used to be fairly pro-Obama. Analyses of the election (in some cases stuff written shortly before the election) by Marc Cooper, Harold Meyerson, and Paul Krugman (and possibly also David Corn, Bob Herbert, and Eugene Robinson) have convinced me that Obama and more generally most of the Dem leaders screwed up big time. So I am eliminating the references to Obama from this part of the post.

I'd like to talk about some of the songs I listen to whose politics I like. From the songs I've altered (about 1/2 of what I've altered is based on stuff I agree with, I've indicated which are which) and my profile, you should have some idea of what I listen to, although there's a lot of miscellaneous stuff (i.e. "Free Your Mind" by En Vogue (I like the song, but the video with the moshing is awesome)). I just added one to my favorites, and it might actually be number one, although I need to spend some time listening to more of their stuff, especially stuff besides the one album I listened to a bunch in High School, but I'll get to that soon.

First, the song that in some ways is significantly different from the others I'm going to talk about. It's possibly my favorite song. I first heard it in that documentary I keep referring to "Off Our Knees." It's played at the end during five minutes of what is probably some of the most inspiring material a progressive could ever see in video.

The song is "Your Daughters and Your Sons." I think it's by Tommy Sands, but like most republican songs, there are multiple versions and the one I sing is a little bit unique. It's a republican song, although for all you know looking at the lyrics, it's a Vietnamese song. One explanation I've heard is that the song is about how, between the formation of N. Ireland and the late 60s when the Nationalist community rose up en masse, there were some very unsuccessfull attempts (militarily or otherwise) at reforming or ending the state, and people basically passed on the dream of freedom from one generation to the next.

Going back to the song, my version is below, and here are some notes:
1. I have a policy with songs I like that I eliminate, unless impossible, any trace of sexism. I've considered adding "woman" to the 2nd line of the 2nd verse, but it sounds a little odd, and overwhelmingly the song is already inclusive regarding sex.
2. The reference to Belfast is not necessarily about the IRA- plenty of people were tortured who weren't in the IRA.
3. The reference to Spain could be about the Basques (even as an IRA supporter I don't support ETA, but I do support the Basque people) or it could be a reference to the Spanish Civil War (it's a safe bet the fash used torture).
4. Chile refers to the Pinochet years.
5. In that documentary, the line "writing's on the wall" seems to refer to Free Derry Corner.
6. I took the chorus and switched sons and daughters and used it in one of my songs, "The Spirit of Che Guevara." (I also used that line in another song "comrades")

"Your Daughters and Your Sons"

They wouldn't play your music and your paintings they pulled down
They wouldn't read your writings and they banned you from the town
But they couldn't stop you dreaming, and a victory you've won
For you sowed the seed of freedom in your daughters and your sons

Chorus:
In your daughters and your sons, in your daughters and your sons
You sowed the seed of freedom in your daughters and your sons

Your smile proudly hides the chain marks on your hands
As you bravely strive to realize the rights of every man
Though your body's bent and low, a victory you've won
For you sowed the seed of justice in your daughters and your sons

Chorus

I don't know your religion, but one day I heard your pray
For a world where everyone could work and the children they could play
Although you never realized, a victory you've won
For you sowed the seed of equality in your daughters and your sons

Chorus

They tortured you in Belfast, and they tortured you in Spain
And in that Warsaw Ghetto, they tied you up in chains
In Vietnam, in Chile, where they came with tanks and guns
You sowed the seed of peace in your daughters and your sons

Chorus

Now your music's playing and the writing's on the wall
And all the dreams you painted can be seen by one and all
Now you've got them thinking, and a victory you've won
For you sowed the seed of freedom in your daughters and your sons

Chorus

******

Now going back to what might be my new favorite band. Besides some mostly weak rap music (Fresh Prince, who I still kind of like, Run DMC who I still pretty much like, and Beastie Boys, who I still really like) the first real music I got into was Megadeth in 10th grade. I got into other metal, mostly thrash/speed (Metallica, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, D.R.I., Body Count), and within a year was also into some punk (mostly Dead Kennedys, Dead Milkmen) harder rap (mostly Ice-T, Public Enemy) and what was vaguely and lazily referred to as "Alternative" (mostly Nirvana, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Primus, Rage Against The Machine, and L7). One day I might do an entire post about my transition during High School to being a socialist, for now I'll just say that since about 65% of the music I was listening to was basically liberal, and 5% was progressive (the rest was either non-political, it's possible 5% was conservative), that music was a big part of the transition. There were two bands I listened to that I want to focus on- they probably weren't/aren't as progressive as the Dead Kennedys were, but as far as I can tell, they're close. Also, both of them, I'm only familiar with roughly 1/10 of their stuff, but I'm pretty certain they were and are progressive.

First, their music, they're both basically thrash-metal. In High School, and I think even today, thrash might be my favorite kind of music overall. And as far as I can tell, it's pretty non-political some large minority of the time and maybe conservative or even worse some small minority of the time, liberal some large minority of the time, and the rest would be progressive, including these two bands (admittedly, this is largely based on my knowledge from listening to 1980s and 1990s stuff, but I have some small knowledge of the current situation).

The first band, Sacred Reich, amazingly seems to have had almost no role in my transition towards being a socialist. I think I only listened to one song on their tape (Surf Nicaragua (lyrics are here), which only had three originals- 2 political, and a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs"), the title track, which is pretty progressive. The thing is, five months ago I discovered another song that I do not remember paying attention to at all, and it is now one of my top 10 favorite songs. It's called "One Nation," the lyrics are here (the last line, although it's not clear what it actually is, according to other sites is "why don't you understand?"; the line "Your ideas are decided By where you have been born" must be a quote and not the band's opinion). Although I'm not certain, I get the impression that the rest of their lyrics are also very progressive.

The band which might now be my favorite is Nuclear Assault, which I had two tapes of in High School, although I barely listened to "Survive," I listened a lot to "Handle With Care," which is overwhelmingly progressive. It's got two environmentalist songs, 1-2 anti-racist songs, a song about police harassing people, a couple other political ones. The lyrics for one song I'm going to post below. I had kind of forgotten about it, but it's a very good anti-racist song.

I almost forgot, that as far as them being progressive, NA has done two songs, although it doesn't seem like the second is an original, called "Butt Fuck (You Figure It Out)" and "Lesbians." The first one is reportedly about Vince Neil of Motley Crue. I've looked for the lyrics and I'll probably have to dig to find out what they are and what they mean, but more generally, we are talking about 80s heavy-metal, the odds are these two bands are homophobic, or at least were until recently (it wouldn't surprise me if at some point they figured it out).

I think that's it for now, like I said, this post might have some updates, or after I gather enough info, I might do a second post to follow-up. Below are the lyrics from the anti-racist NA song, and below that are some new lyrics that I did.

"New Song" (really captures the message of the lyrics)

Closed books is what some people's minds are like
Shut tight, new ideas, they just always get passed by
Prejudice, living in their thoughts and deeds
Ignoring all the other people's needs

Chorus
You say a double standard's OK
I'm telling you that this is insane
What is it that you've got in your fist
Could it be another one of your lists

No one else can do the job just right
Unless they're Anglo-Saxon Protestant white
Foolish, the minds that have this attitude
You can't judge everybody by that rule

No place in this country for this shit
Everyone has to have an equal place
Nazis, they lost it 40 years ago
Rednecks just realize this a little slow

*****

So, I've done two more songs. The first is based on the music whose fans do not like "New Song," for more of an explanation, see this. The rest of the songs/poems can be found by clicking on the "lyrics" label (there are at least two pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page). (the second song is based on one I agree with)

UPDATE 6/11/09 I am renaming songs that had retained the original name.

"Anti-Sectarian", based on "Unity is Power" by Kill Baby Kill, original lyrics are here

1. In general, it's about left unity, although I can imagine some groups I would have trouble uniting with even informally with, or in single-issue coalitions. There was some left-wing group about 20-25 years went around attacking other leftists with baseball bats, I think it was the Spartacist league (U.S.), but I can't figure out for sure. Besides them and possibly a few others that are almost as bad, I'm pretty comfortable with the idea of single-issue coalitions with the more hard-left Marxists and the moderate anarchists, and I have always expressed support for some kind of federation of the Democratic Left, the groups usually mentioned are the Democratic Socialists of America, the Committees of Correspondence, Solidarity, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (the one associated with Bill Fletcher Jr.), and the Socialist Party USA.
I have similar feelings about working with people who are more accurately called progressive and probably the vast majority of people called liberals (as I define and describe them here), although this song is more about unity on the ideological left.
Also, I have not always behaved as a perfect non-sectarian leftist, but in my heart I'm one and in practice, to one large degree or another, about 80% of the time I am.
2. I'm only about 1/2 anti-cop and I wouldn't be surprised if some large minority of them are inclined to use excessive force, but cop seemed the best substitute.
3. The last line, "movements'" refers to all/almost all the movements on the left, and when I talk of enemies, unless I specify otherwise, I'm talking about people with whom I have major disagreements with on a lot more than one issue- that is, leftists who don't support the IRA, in general, are not my enemy, the GOP is.
4. In the 3rd verse/Chorus, "peoples" is used to refer to struggles against racism, homophobia, etc. I needed a substitute and it seemed pretty good.
**5. 8% of this version is me, 92% is the original.
6. I give this song/poem three out of five stars.
7. The references to fighting our real enemies are meant to be about 99% non-violent, and fortunately about 99.99% of the fighting among the Left has been non-violent.
8. update (1/18/10) I just made a small but important change- I changed "leftie" to "comrade" (not sure why I didn't use "Comrade" when originall typing this poem). Also the reference to "comrades in arms," is referring to a different kind of weapon than most would think about- kind of like when Ice-T rapped "the lethal weapon is the mind."

So much wrong in the world today, the worker's being oppressed.
What’s the point of fighting each other, when our world’s in a mess?
Violent cops on every corner, Nazis in every town.
People of color and gays are victimized, the GOP tries to bring our country down.

This is the voice of the underground, a voice still prepared to fight,
calling out with a message now to stick together and unite.
So listen comrade, listen well, unity’s a must.
If we can’t achieve to unite as one our war’s already lost.

Unity is power, unity is strength. Unity’s the weapon to defend our class.
Unity’s the answer to the worker's call.
Unity will set our class and peoples free. Unity will bring us final victory.
If we stand united, we will never fall.

All this senseless infighting only gives the right a laugh.
Comrade we must stand as one, alone is not enough.
Shoulder to shoulder, comrades in arms, make sure we’ll never fail.
So stick together and act as one, united we’ll prevail.

To all of those who share our beliefs: United we will win,
unity brings victory. It's the power from within,
so join our ranks on the battlefield. Together side by side,
to fight our movement's enemies and crush 'em with our might.

*****

"You Are Woman" based on "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy, original lyrics are here

1. I started singing the original after I found a YouTube video that celebrated the contribution made by women to the Republican Movement and this song was the soundtrack. I was and still am prepared to sing the original for people, especially if they find that amusing, but I decided that it would be more appropriate to alter it for male feminists.
2. Considering the rules of altering lyrics (I alter as little as possible and the lines have to rhyme) which I almost never break, I'm not sure the quality is as good as the original, but it's close.
3. "Yes, we're now wise" I realize a lot of male feminists didn't have much room for improvement, and it would be fairly inacurrate to say I was ever a sexist, but most of us have, to one degree or another, learned over time, and considering that probably not a single one of us is 100% perfect, you could say we're still learning. And when it comes to making mistakes of a personal nature with women, I'm probably no better than average among male feminists.
4. The second to last line of the chorus, I thought it would be good that way, especially because part of it is aimed at left-wing-liberal activists, even though that line makes the next line a little awkward compared to the original. Also, the 5th line of the chorus refers to male feminists fighting sexism.
5. In general I switch back and forth betwenen women and male feminists, and sometimes "we" refers to both (4th line of the second verse and I suppose the very last line) but I think it makes sense.
6. The line "a long, long way to go" was written in the early 1970s, maybe cut that in half at this point.
7. Besides her being more or less feminist, I almost named the song after Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey because the lines in the second verse and the the lines about "standing toe to toe" remind me of her activism and involvement in, for example, the Battle of the Bogside. But it's still iffy whether or not I should have my blog named after her.
8. I'm not sure of the line "born of pain" in the chorus, but it could refer to how the oppression of women, once men figured it out, educated them, or something like that.
9. The line about doing anything is meant to be about efforts that are overall at least 99% non-violent.
10. I barely changed anything but stuff like female-to-male and singular-to-plural. If I added that stuff up it would be about 25% me, 75% the original, if we ignore that stuff it's about 1% me.
**11. I give this song/poem three out of five stars.

You are woman, we heard you roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And we know too much to go back and pretend
'Cause we've heard it all before
And you've been down there on the floor
No one's EVER going to keep you down again

Chorus:
Yes, we're now wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes you paid the price
But look how much you gained
If we have to, we will do anything
Together we are strong, we are invincible
You are woman!

They can bend but never break you
'Cause it only serves to make you
More determined to achieve your final goal
And we come back even stronger
Not novices any longer
Cause they deepened the conviction in our souls

Chorus

You are woman, we watched you grow
We saw you standing toe to toe
As you spread your your loving arms across the land
But you're still an embryo
With a long, long way to go
Until we make our brothers understand

Chorus


For the rest of the lyrics posts, click on the "lyrics" label.

****

This is of course only covers the two songs right above, not "New Song" or "Your Daughters and Your Sons"
One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).

Slaytanic Wehrmacht

 (As far as the anti-bigotry part of this blog, I decided at some point early on that I wanted to work around the edges of battling bigotry, offering ideas and information that most people are unaware of but which might help them here and there with anti-bigotry work. So that’s why there are a lot of posts that seem a little weird, including this one)


This was originally written and published in Dec.of 2008. I have re-written it to improve it’s read-ability and have written it from my perspective in early 2015.

(I came up with this new version by editing the old and I hate to say it, but I didn't make any changes to reflect the sad passing of Jeff Hanneman. Besides the part about them needing to do more anti-racist stuff now, this post is about the time when the band included Hanneman, King and Araya)

There are many, many people (in both the nazi and anti-nazi camps) who think that Slayer is a racist and/or ant-Semitic band (Slayer of course is one of the top four thrash metal bands, known for it’s creative and controversial lyrics and creative and very aggressive music). As I’ll explain, although I’m sure they AREN’T racist or anti-semitic, they need to do more to combat those kinds of bigotry among their fans.

Am I writing this as a long-time and dedicated fan of Slayer? Have I carved SLAYER on my arm? Will I if that gets their attention? Not really, no, and possibly. I started listening to that kind of music in 1991 and a couple years later started listening to the Slayer album Seasons in the Abyss. I bought Divine Intervention in 1994 but didn’t like it until recently. In the last few years I have started listening to almost everything by Slayer for an average of about 1 hr. a day and I love it. Unfortunately I listen to it on YouTube and I don’t pay for it and for various reasons that’s not gonna change. But I AM now close to being a real fan. And if you look at thrash metal in general, I have been really into it since 1991. Some of my long-time favorite bands are more or less in that genre (Megadeth, Metallica, Nuclear Assault, Anthrax, Body Count, Suicidal Tendencies, and DRI).

Even with that I still doubt Slayer will listen to me, but maybe enough of their real fans will be convinced to do something and convince Slayer to do more. In any case I decided in 2008 that this issue(s) fascinated me and that if this effort were successful it would help the broad anti-hate movement make more progress.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t been an active fan of metal since roughly my mid- or late twenties (I was born in 1975). No concerts, a declining number of T-shirts that I have barely worn since 2005, etc. But I still listen to it a lot and I am concerned about the presence of racism in that scene (reflected in part by about 95% of the audience being white and about 95% of the performers being white). I think back to the Body Count song “There Goes the Neighborhood,” where Ice-T yells about that problem. Sure, it was in 1991 but in 2008 I looked around the internet some and got the strong impression there is still a problem with racism in metal. What can be done about the existence of racist thrash-metal fans? Well, a SMALL part of this problem I believe is/was the small but largely unchallenged presence of nazi skinheads- their presence by itself and also the effect that can have on young, impressionable minds attending such concerts. And this part of the problem should be relatively easy to address by making Nazi Skinheads unwelcome. Looking at the punk scene in the not-too-distant past, Black Flag and Fugazi would make it clear from the stage that Nazi skinheads weren’t welcome. More recently, there was an example of this at a punk show in CA. Although I don’t know the details, there was at some point in the last twenty years or so a feud between Slayer and Sepultura, with the latter criticizing Slayer about their attitude towards Nazi Skinheads at Slayer shows.

My problem with Slayer is that they need to take the struggle against racism seriously when racism rears it’s ugly head among their fans- I’m mostly thinking of their concerts, which attract a LOT of Nazi skinheads. Many Slayer fans would probably say that the band has nothing to do with that. Even if they do NOTHING to make Nazi Skinheads think they’re welcome, Slayer needs to do more to make it clear they’re UNwelcome.

*     *     *

As I have explained above and will explain below, I'm taking the unusual step of writing and publishing this because of the following combination of reasons: 1) nazi skinheads (not racists in general, but people who are very comfortable engaging in unjustified and bigoted violence) are very visible at Slayer concerts; 2) why isn't Slayer doing what other bands have done in a similar situation?; 3) solid evidence that at least in the past and to some degree today racist Slayer fans saw Slayer members as being fellow racists; 4) the cover of "Guilty of Being White" gives white people the wrong idea about anti-white bigotry; and 5) to settle the argument over whether or not Slayer ARE racist.

*     *     *

At some point I should say that I found an online discussion among white supremacist fans of Slayer (on the Stormfront site here). Most of them indicated that at some point in the past and/or during the discussion they believed Slayer was a white power band.

UPDATE 6/13/17 in 2013, shortly after the death of guitarist Jeff Hanneman, I read a couple discussion threads about his death on the world's largest white supremacist web-site. NO ONE mentioned the song Slayer did with Ice-T for the Judgement Night soundtrack (see below)- despite the fact that in the 2002 discussion about Slayer and race it was mentioned a few times; it appears that Nazi Skinheads might be even less aware of that song now than they were back in 2002

*     *     *

And, they HAVE done a handful of things that have had or probably have had the effect of making nazi skinheads feel welcome. The smaller ones are:

1. A song called “Angel of Death” is about nazi death camp doctor, Joseph Mengele and has apparently been widely mis-interpreted (by both advocates and opponents of anti-Semitism) as being pro-Nazi.

2. Their official fan club (and a lot of unofficial fan stuff refers to this as well) is called the "Slatanic Wehrmacht." The Wehrmacht was the non-SS military of Nazi Germany.

3. Apparently in response to the criticism they received as a result of "Angel of Death," they temporarily adopted a symbol some have said is based on the Nazi "Eagle Atop Swastika." Jeff Hanneman sometimes appeared with (what might be called) Nazi “accessories” such as SS symbols on his guitar strap or a t-shirt with the symbol of the SS unit responsible for the Holocaust on it and possibly displayed other similar imagery.



There are a handful of small things and between 1 and six big things about Slayer that all combined make me certain they’re not racists or anti-semites:

1. For about 1-2 years they were signed to Def Jam, a record label primarily for rap music. The co-founder of that label, who is Jewish, produced most of their albums.

2. Tom Araya is from Chile and Dave Lombardo is from Cuba. I'm not sure that proves it, as much of Chile is White and 65% of Cuba is white. On a related note, 1-2 members may be Jewish.

3. Two members were briefly in a band with Rocky George (of Suicidal Tendencies fame).

4. One band member, at one point, had a Dead Kennedys sticker on his guitar (probably not a lot of racist DK fans out there).

5. Kerry King did some work with the Beastie Boys on their album “License to Ill.”

6. There are at least a few big things which are in this category and I’ll mention them further below.



The big thing they did that has encouraged racist Slayer fans is a song on an album they did which was mostly a bunch of punk covers. They did "Guilty Of Being White" by Minor Threat. As far as I can tell, when that was written Minor Threat were anti-racist and nowhere near as tainted by the sort of stuff I mention in the first category above. The vocalist who wrote the song was apparently inspired by being beaten by black kids at his mostly black school; apparently he had good reason to think (or maybe KNOW) that it was racially prejudiced. Also, unlike with Slayer, I feel comfortable assuming that at Minor Threat shows and in interviews the vocalist, Ian MacKaye, made anti-racist statements (I'm basing this on the politics of another band he was with (Fugazi), on a report that during the Minor Threat era MacKaye was a big fan of Bad Brains and was close to Henry Rollins, and on a pro-SHARP (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice) video on YouTube that had music from 4 Minor Threat songs).

Slayer's version changed the last line from the song title to "Guilty of being right." It's not real clear, but they seem to have admitted that, although they were just trying to be controversial, it was supposed to be interpreted as racist. And based on an online discusson among racist Slayer fans on Stormfront, it WAS interpreted as racist by some racists.

Even without that lyrical twist at the end, there would still be a problem with this. Sure, there's anti-White bigotry.  But it's safe to say that racism is more common among white people than anti-white bigotry is among people of color. Around 2009 I looked at FBI figures on hate crimes for the preceding 10-15 years. At first I just looked at murders, then I looked at the numbers for hate crimes in general. I found that according to the FBI, for every anti-White incident, there were about six incidents motivated by white supremacy. I had heard that there are a lot of hate crimes unreported to the FBI, so I made it seven. I have had trouble figuring out what percentage of the population is White (this is complicated by the fact that I’m pretty sure there are a lot of white people classified as “Hispanic/Latino” and when I last looked at this it would have been the 2000 Census data), but I’d say around 75%, making people of color around 25%. I then did some math involving those figures, but I can’t remember what I did. I DID conclude that racism was about twice as common among white people as anti-white bigotry was among people of color (that is, if 50% of whites are racist, 25% of people of color are bigoted towards whites). I have since learned that the Department of Justice believes that for every hate crime that is included in the FBI’s figures, there are 20-30 more that aren’t. I don’t know how they came to that, but it makes sense. There are two main reasons for believing this- 1) Many, MANY law enforcement agencies do not send hate crime figures to the FBI and undoubtedly, such areas would be very racist, and there would be a lot of racist crimes; 2) There must be a HUGE number of homophobic crimes unreported partly because there are so many gay and bi-sexual people who are more or less still in the closet, and because you take what I wrote in #1 above and change “racist” to “homophobic.” I can’t remember how I did the math earlier, but it makes me think that racism is about 10-20 times more common among white people than anti-White bigotry is among people of color. This part about hate crimes involves any kind of incident (pro-white or anti-white), the sort of thing that pretty much everyone is physically capable of doing as a result of prejudice and is about how widespread a belief is, compared to another belief, as indicated by actions that pretty much anyone can take. I am certainly not talking about how oppressed people are (people of color are infinitely more oppressed than white people, since the ways in which anti-white bigotry is manifested do not add up to white people being oppressed (as white people) at all), just how widespread a belief is, compared to another belief, as indicated by actions that pretty much anyone, white or non-white, can take). When there isn't an appropriate amount of hostility towards white supremacy to balance it out, discussing anti-white bigotry can easily lead white people to think that anti-white bigotry is a greater problem than it is, which can lead a lot of white people to become racist.

There's also the racist twist of the lyrics and some of the other things I've mentioned. So, Slayer ought to do AT LEAST about 10 things of equal significance (to recording that song) to challenge white supremacy. As far as I can tell they have done at most 6 total (I’m counting stuff done before that Minor Threat cover, because it’s still out there and could contribute to making Nazi skinheads unwelcome).

The first big anti-Nazi thing is that Slayer recorded a song (a medley of three songs by The Exploited) called "Disorder" with Ice-T. Some of the lyrics were altered to apply to American politics in the early 1990s, and some of it was anti-racist. It's very clear that they're referring to the LA Riots of 1992, when they sing "Injustice drives you crazy, it drove LA insane."

But it was on a soundtrack. There were probably MANY Slayer fans who didn't even hear about it, but did hear Slayer's cover of "Guilty of Being White" (that’s based on the Stormfront discussion I referred to above).

The second and third things are pretty minor. They did at least two tours with Suicidal Tendencies (a racially diverse band that’s more or less thrash metal).

The fourth anti-Nazi item is a song on the album “South of Heaven” called “Behind the Crooked Cross.” First, it’s about a soldier in Hitler’s army that is starting to feel disillusioned about what he’s involved with. I didn’t know it was an anti-fascist song until someone who was arguing with me about this post mentioned it. And I doubt that more than 5% of Slayer’s fans know it’s anti-fascist. The thing is, the “crooked cross” is another word for the swastika, but who knows that? (at one point I found a video on YouTube that had a lot of WWII imagery with that song playing, but I’m certain it’s a fan-video).

In Oct. 2012 I wrote the following: “I'm not sure why this took so long, but I finally figured I could do some internet searches to get some solid idea of how many Slayer fans know what the song is about. I did a google advanced search for the phrase "crooked cross is another term for swastika" and the word "Slayer." There were only two results- one was this post, one was a discussion on Irish Indymedia where I and a Slayer fan went at it, and s/he told me about the song. I did another (Google Advanced) search for "crooked cross is another word for swastika" and the word "Slayer." Nothing came up with that phrase, but there were 10 results with all those words: A) A wikipedia page about the swastika, which at this point doesn't contain the word "Slayer"; B) A page on what probably is a sort of high-traffic heavy metal site, a page on Slayer; C) Basically the same thing; D) a blogpost which doesn't do much more than explain that the crooked cross is the swastika, and briefly discusses the Slayer song; E) An anti-fascist discussion forum post about this issue where the only person to mention this song is me; F) This post I'm typing right now; G) A music site I imagine has a lot of traffic, it says little or nothing that explicitly identfies the song as anti-Nazi; I got distracted and forgot to check the last three, and now they don't show up in the search anymore, but they didn't look like they touched on this song. I did another (Google Advanced) search, with ""crooked cross is the swastika" and "slayer." There were three results: A) A page with the lyrics for the song and a brief discussion about them, identifying them as anti-Nazi; B) the same web-site, and a very brief anti-Nazi description of the lyrics; C) This blog post.”

Because of that (and in general the lyrics aren't quite as explicit as "Guilty of Being White"), I’m being generous by counting that song as a whole anti-Nazi item. Although their lyrics are even less clearly anti-fascist, anti-Nazi items 5 and 6 are the songs “Angel of Death” and “SS-3.” (there are so many things about Slayer that can only mean they’re anti-Nazi that I’m assuming that these unclear lyrics were intended to be anti-Nazi or at worst, with "Angel of Death" were written to be neutral descriptions of horrible things (as far as I can tell, MANY Slayer songs are like that))

Slayer, I imagine, might not be around much longer. They should do some stuff to compensate for the damage they've done (see the Stormfront discussion). They could do explicitly anti-racist songs, more collaborations with rappers (especially those who are people of color), do benefit concerts for anti-racist organizations, make explicit, detailed anti-racist statements that go well beyond simple denials of racism (if they're so inclined, maybe, denouncing the Confederate flag) do more tours with groups that are mostly/completely people of color, etc.

I found myself thinking as I re-typed this in 2015 that the earlier discussion on Stormfront might have dis-illusioned most of the racist Slayer fans who speak English (I know of a recent discussion in a Spanish and Portugese part of that site about Slayer being Nazis). But I read several recent discussions about Slayer on that site and hardly anything was said about the band not being Nazis, and there were a few things said going the other way. So it seems that it’s still a problem- the anti-racist movement could really benefit (in different ways) from Slayer acting as you would expect violence-friendly, outspoken people who oppose racism to act when Nazi skinheads show up at their concerts.

I'd also like to say that if it were JUST a small amount of controversial imagery and their lyrics occassionally made it very clear they're anti-racist, that'd be fine. I haven't thrown myself into their stuff yet, but I am pretty sure that many Sacred Reich songs are anti-racist (certainly "One Nation," and "Blue Suit, Brownshirt" are). I've got no problem with their name, especially because it's hilarious considering the politics in their lyrics.

But I believe that what I have written about above means that lots of young white Slayer fans have seen and maybe DO and WILL see a thumbs up from Slayer when it comes to racism and that might possibly lead them to even get involved with Nazi skinheads.

As far as I can tell, they've done 6 things to make that less likely, and at the VERY least they need to do 10, so at least four more.

UPDATE 4/24/15 I just learned that a video album by Slayer (Soundtrack to the Apocalypse) includes "Disorder." So now they are three items short of the minimum of 10 (I doubt that more than a minority of Slayer fans have actually seen that video album). The video album was released in 2003, and as I wrote in the above, in recent discussions on Stormfront the Nazis STILL believe Slayer is more or less in their corner.

UPDATE 9/30/15 on the 11th Slayer released their most recent studio album, "Repentless." I bought it (I'm happy that Slayer will get some of that money, it's a great album) but it took me about 2 weeks before I read the lyrics for the song "Pride in Prejudice" but I just did. I'm not a real "deep" thinker and if not for the 2nd to last line, I would say that I have a weak grasp of what it's about (I have only read the lyrics of about 20% of Slayer songs because most of them are very cryptic-  it's difficult for me to figure what they're saying (is "War Ensemble" pro-war, anti-war, or just a creative illustration in words of what war is probably like?) and sometimes even the subject is difficult to identify ("Behind the Crooked Cross")). But the subject of this song is made clear with a reference to "racial slurs." Between that and my certainty that they are anti-racist, I will count this song as the 8th thing they have done to compensate for covering "Guilty of Being White." Two more things at the very least, Slayer. (UPDATE 3/26/20 I just saw the video for that song, and although it's not clear EXACTLY what it's about and I suppose Nazis can misinterpret it, it's clearly about white supremacy. So that's #9)

 UPDATE 3/14/20 I have to admit I am not incredibly familiar with the band Biohazard, but as far as I can tell, they were sort of racist at the beginning- I heard it was to steal fans from a racist band, which is either a lame excuse or just bizarre. In any case, I have looked into it a little in the past, and I also remember when they were interviewed in the early 1990s (maybe on MTV's The Headbanger's Ball) they tried to spin the lyrics of a song as anti-racist and I think they were trying to sweep under the rug their racist or faux racist past. The thing is though, in the mid 1990s they did not just two songs with a black rap group called Onyx, they did a music video for each one, and I assume they got a fair amount of exposure on MTV. One song was called "Slam" and the other one was the title track on the Judgement Night soundtrack.

(Also, since I have not yet mentioned N. Ireland in this post, and that's a crime or it should be, at the 2002 National Conference of Sinn Fein Youth in Galway, Ireland, a member of SFY offered to give me his Biohazard t-shirt)

UPDATE 12/14/24 I just learned something very relevant to this post. The album that included "Guilty of Being White" was called Undisputed Attitude. What I just learned is that there was a European edition and a Japanese edition. The latter included a Suicidal Tendencies cover called "Memories of Tomorrow." That was not found on the American edition or the European edition, and both America and Europe (not Japan) have a lot of Nazi skinheads. This boosts both my belief that Slayer were anti-racist and that they avoided conflict with their Nazi skinhead fans.

******

Some of my sources for some of the more controversial claims:

Slayer's page on Wikipedia, and related pages for specific band members, songs, albums (I've looked at TONS of stuff on Wikipedia and have yet to find one thing that I know is incacurate, and a lot of what I've looked at includes info I was already aware of)

Slayer and Nazi Skinheads- well known that the latter love the former (multiple sources, just do a search on it)

Minor Threat and related Wikipedia pages

In general, I doubt anyone will seriously question the facts I've presented. I'm sure plenty of Slayer fans will disagree with my analysis, I'm pretty sure the facts are not in dispute.