Oh what’s this? Allegations by… 35 women?
God dammit.
Went to a metal concert last year for a huge, well known band. The number of punisher/warrior, thin blue line, militia-styled ragged flag, Gadsden shirts and hats was off the charts.
In my younger days metal was anti-authoritarianism, anti-cop, anti-conformity… now these clowns are the ones who want to be holding the riot batons, the body armor, and support the very fascists we hated.
I got plenty of grey hair, the crowd around me didn’t so I’m thinking there’s a generational shift to metal going fascist.
Yeah, the meme rings pretty true.
Your comment reminds me of Metallica many years ago. Their first albums were really good I thought. Then they cut their hair, their music started to sound more mainstream and I heard from friends that the band kind apologized for the anti war lyrics on their earlier albums. I guess money talks in strange ways.
That’s the band.
Funny enough they still play those same anti-war songs off the early albums. Play what pays so they can ride around in their private jets.
Edit:
I did some digging. AJFA - One to most anyone objectively is about the horrors of war. The music video opens with the sounds and images of war. Lyrics say the war is done with the speaker in the story. It’s zero distance to understand that the person in the video suffered their wounds as a result of that war. The lyrics literally say a Landmine caused the wounds.
However, Hetfield walked back that imagery and the lyrics to mean:
In a Howard Stern Interview, James states that the song isn’t inherently anti-war, but the lyrics were rather about the feeling of being trapped in your own body and feeling like you’re unable to interact with the world around you and express yourself and speak your mind and feelings.
So it’s not an apology, he’s retconning the song to this instead of what pretty much everyone legitimately understood it to be about.
Also, regarding Don’t Tread On Me, what people associated with the Gadsden Flag:
Hetfield said the song was a reaction to the anti-American tone of their album …And Justice for All - “This is the other side of that. America is a fucking good place. I definitely think that. And that feeling came about from touring a lot. You find out what you like about certain places and you find out why you live in America, even with all the bad fucked-up shit. It’s still the most happening place to hang out.”
Hetfield also said “Don’t Tread On Me, I love the song, but it shocked a lot of people, because everyone thought it was pro-war when they thought we were anti-war, and alls we’re doing is writing songs, we’re not standing politically on any side. “Don’t Tread On Me” was just one of those ‘don’t fuck with us’ songs, and obviously referencing the flag and the snake and what it meant, that all tied into the black album and the snake icon on the album cover, and I think it’s great to play that song live. We’re over here in Europe playing it, and people aren’t appalled by the songs. We haven’t played it in Iraq or Iran yet, though.”
It sounds a lot to me like Hetfield is softballing pandering to right wing fans he doesn’t want to offend and/or personal beliefs that lean Right. He completely disregards the obvious anti-war sentiment in AJFA with “Oh, you all thought we were anti-war? We’re not pro-war, we’re pro-America.” If that isn’t some Chauvanistic Nationalism I don’t know what is.
Anyway, I don’t know one way or the other, but considering the crowd’s fashion choices at the event and his unwillingness to just say “war is bullshit”, which you can do apolitically, I figure Metallica, or at least Hetfield, support right wing ideologies.
E2: another interview where Hetfield says why he left the Bay Area:
*There was an elitist attitude there that if you weren’t their way politically, their way environmentally, all of that, that you were looked down upon. *
So by inference and the preponderance of evidence, he’s probably right wing.
Me hoping the new YouTuber I found hasn’t tried to chat-up any underage girls.
Metal bands are mostly nazis? Is that the news “satanic scare” like we had in the 80’s?
sEpErAtE ThE aRtIsT fRoM tHe ArT
Its kinda funny how I used to see bands that had really good music and shit politics, because the political views were trendy but the music scene was very open and diverse.
Now I see musicians that suck absolute dog turds somehow squeezing themselves up and out the ass of the Billboard 100, because some douche noozle billionaire bought a million copies of their album sound unheard just to get them trending on Spotify.
Whether its “Rich men north of Richmond” or Whatever the Fuck This Is these attempts at music are comically bad. At this point, I would happily trade whatever leftist-ish club music we occasionally get as trickle down for some modern day Morrissey.
“Rich men” was a catchy tune though. You just don’t like the genre or perhaps what the lyrics say
“Rich men” was a catchy tune though
It had a catchy beat. But the lyrics were a muddled mess. Guy can’t figure out if he’s doing ABAB, AABB, ABCB, his stanzas are an absolute trainwreck and there’s some ackward repetition.
And the production? Some of the worst acoustics possible.
You just don’t like the genre
The genre of folk/country or the genre of whiny acoustic beatnik? Garth Brooks this guy ain’t and I don’t see him landing a spot in the Charlie Daniels band with that low energy strum.
Yeah i dunno bud, I ain’t a musician but I like what i heard. Least he sounded real, Garth is pretty phony sometimes.
Least he sounded rea
He sounded like he was playing a guitar in the woods. 90% of Bandcamp has better production value.
Did pretty fucking good for a guy playing in a clearing in the woods.
Go to any bar with an open mic and you’ll find a guy just as good.
His success was entirely due to marketing. As soon as that dried up, people forgot he existed.
Just don’t worry about it. Once upon a time a couple decades ago, we didn’t know anything about musicians’ private lives, other than what was released through their PR managers. It was a happier, simpler time. After years of being disappointed with the people whose work I respect, I finally just started avoiding learning anything about the people themselves. Of course people who are idolized by millions of other people, have unlimited money, and are surrounded by yes men are going to be cringe in one way or another. I don’t want to hear about it, I want to enjoy my music.
Once upon a time a couple decades ago, we didn’t know anything about musicians’ private lives
Oh sure. Famously, nobody read tabloids or did muckrack journalism prior to 1990.
And there certainly wasn’t a hotbed of right-wing media focused on outing popular musicians as gay or slandering artists for being minorities or women.
I can’t be expected to research every individual in every band I listen to. That’s hundreds, possibly thousands, of musicians.
Art and artist can be separated. I mean, even this painting shows technical merit?
Not enough to get him into art school.
Damn shame, in hindesight. A bit more mediocre art on the pile could have spared us the implosion of Central Europe.
Do you really believe that without hitler, the fascists wouldn’t have found another leader?
I think he was more talented at galvanizing an audience than Himmler or Goering, and prettier to look at than Goebbels.
In the same way Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis will never draw the same crowds as Trump, The Dolph had that special sauce that congels people around a movement.
I can see a history in which Rosa Luxembourg was the firebrand that ignited a national movement but doesn’t end up invading Poland over some delusional vision of a New Reich.
i can remember back in the late 90/early 2000, that the right wingers pushed hard into the goth and metal scene here, looking for new recruits. it definitely felt like a targeted approach, and they did the same with the techno scene before (where they were mostly thrown out). they had more success in the folk scene, but they slowly gained ground over the last years. this sucks :-(
they had more success in the folk scene
Who could forget the absolute renaissance of ultra-nationalist country songs that inundated the country after 9/11?
I was practically begging for some Big and Rich just to get people to stop playing that Ted Nugget slop, by the time I was out of college.
