Back when Fates Warning formed in 1982 there really wasn't such a thing as Prog-Metal. They started as a band heavily influenced by Iron Maiden and the NWOBHM and became more progressive as they matured. After their classic albums The Spectre Within and Awaken the Guardian they had a near complete lineup change, save the founding guitarist Jim Matheos. With new vocalist Ray Alder replacing John Arch they recorded the transitional album No Exit. Up through and including that album, becoming more proggy and less thrashy each time, they had mostly stuck to traditional fantasy themes in their music, lyrics and art. Enter 1989 and they had a quite significant change in style. Deciding to drop the wizards and shit they went in a much more industrial and bleak direction with their overall sound.
Kicking off with "Part of the Machine" they certainly don't waste any time in showing the new direction. New drummer Mark Zonder has a very unique style, using odd meters but not too many hits. By using complex patterns yet not getting too busy or hitting too many drums he really defines the new style explored on this album. The overall tone of this song, and the album as a whole, is very much like a machine in that it is mechanical, cold and precise. Not to say it doesn't rock, it is just about as far away from Iron Maiden as you can get.
I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of Ray Alder's voice, but he does come up with some great melodies. His tone is just a bit too shrill for my taste, but it is certainly part of the package deal here and he is great at what he does. Most of the album is definately in the HIGH vocal range, but there are occassions when he goes to a lower register and I actually enjoy that a bit more than when he's going balls-out wailing.
The guitars are brittle and harsh on this album, but again it matches with the new direction they were going. A Les Paul / Marshall tone would just not fit in here. Throughout the disc there are interesting chord changes and dual harmony lines. Like the drums, they manage to dance the line between complex and simple by using unexpected notes and odd time meters but not going "whoodely whoodely" all over the place.
After the very appropriate opening track they kick into "Through Different Eyes". I'm sure this was an obvious choice for the single and video as it is certainly the most traditional song on the album. They still manage to sneak in some great loud / soft dynamics between the parts and some cool guitar solos as well. This track is a good indication of the more accessable direction they would go on their next album, Parallels.
"Static Acts" is next, not a bad song but for me it is one of the weaker moments on the album. If you check out the lyrics it is a pretty scathing rip on the music industry and bands in general. It does fit right in with the machinery theme of the album though! "A World Apart" follows it up, which is slower and has some interesting drums. Other than that it is also one of the weak spots on the album, but we haven't truly gotten to the real good stuff yet!
"At Fates Hands" starts out with some strings and goes into a slow and quiet theme that makes me picture being on a ship out in the middle of the ocean. The second half kicks up the pace and this is when the shit starts getting proggy. There is some great violin work and some crazy dual keyboard / guitar soloing with Kevin Moore who at the time was in Dream Theater. This instrumental section, and the mellow half before it, is a nice change of pace (and break on the ears) from the harshness of the proceeding tracks.
"The Arena" gets it going again with a brisk tempo and pounding bass and drums. This one is also a bit more traditional in its direction, but keeps it interesting with some tempo changes. It is a good lead in to the last two tracks, which are the best part of the album for me.
"Chasing Time" starts out as an atmospheric ballad and leads into some great violin and guitar solos. Unexpected chords and timing keep them from being cliche, and they wisely stay away from the musical masturbation of far too many metal or prog bands. Just because you can play a million notes a minute in Mixolydian mode doesn't mean you should.
The album closer is easily one of the high moments not just of the album but for Fates Warning as a whole. "Nothing Left To Say" is an eight minute journey through the themes explored on the album, but wrapped up in a nice concise package that does not get boring despite its length. This is easily Ray Alder's vocals at their most accessable and all the other players shine as well. Of all the tracks, this one really brings their Rush influence to the front. Like the boys from Canada, Fates Warning shows a real concentration on ensemble work rather than individual wankery.
Definately a transitional album, Fates Warning made a radical shift in their sound on Perfect Symmetry. It's true beauty is the way it dances on the lines between complexity and simplicity, harshness and beauty. Somehow on their most cold and mechanical album they managed to inject more humanity and introspection than they had previously shown.
1981 was one hell of a year for music. There are a number of albums from that year that defined not only the sounds of the 80's but also all the decades beyond. I'm sure I'll get to more of these eventually, but for today let's talk about the Mask, the 2nd album from those 4 malnourished, pale corpses collectively known as Bauhaus.
Their debut, In the Flat Field, is simply spectacular, not only for it's more well known tracks like Double Dare or God in an Alcove but also it's more quirky fare such as Small Talk Stinks and Nerves. It has a great combination of raw energy and innovative sounds, not to mention a healthy sense of humor. It's follow up, Mask, also has these elements but the end result is quite different than it's predecessor.
Though of course they are generally referred to as the Godfathers of Goth, I don't think that they deserve the blame for the god-awful, self-indulgent crap that came around long after their demise. Maybe I'm still bitter because in 1996 I spent $15 on a horrible album of Bauhaus covers. Anyways, just like I don't hold Kurt Cobain personally responsible for the rise of Creed or Nickleback, I can't blame Bauhaus for Sisters of Mercy or any of the other absolutely horrible crap that falls in the Goth genre.
Bauhaus is without doubt my number one example of how minimalism can be a very good thing in music. They had no need for two-handed tapping guitar solos, drum solos, or even shit that would normally be considered standard issue for just about any band like colored lighting, drum fills, or food. I think you could have given them a trash can, a couple sticks with some strings tied to a nail and a bare light bulb and they would have played music that would blow your fucking mind. Well, it was still 1981 so you most likely would also have to cough up an eight-ball for them to really get going.
Anyways, I could write a book about how awesome Bauhaus is, but somebody already did that and quite a good job of explaining their history in great detail.
Before I get to the album itself, I should note that there has recently been a 3 disc re-issue which I have not yet purchased. I'm only going to talk about the original tracks that make up the album itself, as I only have the L.P. and a CD I purchased while I was still in high school. The bonus tracks on that disc don't really do a whole lot for me...
The album starts with some trademarked Daniel Ash feedbacky guitar squiggling before a simplistic drum beat and bass kick in to join him for Hair of the Dog. The whole thing sounds like Peter Gunn on acid. This brings up one of the things I love most about Bauhaus... They can take something already simple like a surf / spy or blues riff, strip it down even more, add some crazy noise and all of a sudden you have some strange, creepy, rocking beast of a song.
The mood lightens up a hair for the second song Passion of Lovers. Here ol' Danny kicks things off again, but this time with some simple arpeggios rather than noise. I've always loved that about his playing, either he's hitting some simple elegant stuff that you can totally figure out, or it's just a goddamn ball of noise that you will never, ever recreate no matter how many pedals you have. This one really brings out their more pop side. One of the other great things about this album is that every song is completely unique by itself. Somehow the whole of the album doesn't seem disjointed, but by most standards they sound like they could be from different albums, or even bands.
Right about here is where things start to get weird, as only Bauhaus can do. Of Lillies and Remains is a kind of funky back beat with some weird ass narration by Peter Murphy recited on top of it. I do usually skip over it, but it certainly isn't bad. "Oh, you say you went to art school? Well I NEVER!" This is why their sense of humor is important, I think other bands would probably do this, except they would be 100% serious.
Dancing is yeah, I guess kind of dancey. I skip over that one too. There's lots of horns and shit. Makes me think back to a time when this album came out... I was 3 years old and all those cool older people were wearing crazy glasses and striped shirts, doing too much coke and hopping around to this type of thing. Not bad, but not my style I guess.
Now that we've skipped over those two, it's time to get creepy. REALLY creepy. Hollow Hills is just simply badass. David J uses that fretless bass like nobody's business with just one riff for the entire time. The drums go "DUH DUH" every few seconds, and good ol' Danny is doing some low level screechy guitar in the background. Peter Murphy does his thing, in this case his low and ominous voice. This is really where Bauhaus comes unto their own, everything stripped to the absolute bone and it creates atmosphere the nobody else can replicate. It's like Halloween every time you pop it in the player! The album version is great, but I think the live version on Press Eject... and Give Me the Tape is even better.
In Fear of Fear goes back to the horn-ey early 80's dance sound of the earlier track Dancing. There is some FUNKY ass bass on this one from David J, but yeah, I skip over this one too.
Muscle in Plastic is also kind of dancey, but doesn't have all the horn business going on. It's pretty speedy, a good combo of rocking, dancing, and weird ass, over the top vocals by Peter. I usually don't skip over this one, but now we're getting to the last two tracks which are where this album really shines.
The Man with the X-Ray Eyes starts with some great arpeggios by Mr. Ash, which he more or less continues with throughout the song. I fucking love the sound and style of the moving octave based riffs in this song, and I am not ashamed to say I have more or less ripped them off on more than one occassion in my musical "career". It's not like somebody is going to come up to you after the show and say, "Duuuude, that totally sounds like the guitar riff in that Bauhaus song near the end of Mask!" If they did I would surely buy them a beer and congratulate them on having exquisite taste in music. On the aformentioned live album there is a waaaaay slower version of this song, which is cool, but not nearly as good as this version.
Now, it's time for the end of the album, and what a fucking way to close it. The song Mask is hands down the most awesomely creepy thing that has ever been recorded, period. I swear, if there could be a horror movie that could match the intensity of this song it would be the most badass movie ever. If I were to try to summon a demon in my garage I would just blast this LP and read the bible backwords. The main portion of the song is just a pounding tom drum, a fuzzed out fretless bass playing two notes, some fucked up guitar noise, and Peter Muphy in top dramatic form. In the latter portion of the song the clouds part and it opens up into some beautiful 12 string guitar plucking and more operatic singing, it is really a great turn around. The video is pretty creepy as well...
It's important to keep in mind that Bauhaus were only around from about 79-82, during which they released 4 studio albums, and a ton of radio recordings, b-sides, etc. Even though they do have songs that I like to skip over, the overall quality and sheer variety of their output is really mind blowing. Like many other bands in '81 they were really venturing into unexplored musical territory, not only with electronic sounds, but also across many genres such as dub, punk and even blues. Their minimalist experimentation (sometimes successful, sometimes not so much) is why we can listen to their music 30 years later and it still sounds vital and fresh.
Spent much time in a metal band, or hung out with metal
fans? Here’s something I guarantee you’ve heard before.
“I hate rap music! It doesn’t take any talent to make.”
I could probably pay off my house if I had the proverbial
nickel for each time I’ve heard this statement or its countless variants.
Interestingly, one might think that, given the child-like
ease with which rap songs can allegedly be made, some metal guy out there would have created the best album ever in
the history of rap in his spare time just to prove a point. After all, if Dr.
Dre and Snoop Dogg and their neophyte-level understanding of music can sell
millions of records, just imagine potential commercial dominance were someone capable
of sweep picking through all seven modes at 212 beats per minute to sit in the
producer’s chair.
Yet, for some reason, this has never happened.
Maybe this rap game does require a little bit of talent. And
maybe, this talent resonates on a little different frequency that what your
average metal fan is attenuated to detect.
All of this is somewhat sad, because rap and metal share far
more in common than practitioners of the latter are often willing to
acknowledge.
Yes, rap does not often have guys playing their own
instruments. It does not have blistering guitar solos. It does not have
hair-raising vocal arias. It does not celebrate rhythmic jackhammering through
EMG active pickups.
Ultimately, what rap shares in common with metal can’t be
seen through the mixing console or sheets of tablature. Good rap – classic rap
– 80s rap – was dangerous music.
The greatest threat that shareholder-sanitized metal acts
like Five Finger Death Punch and messianic self-preening artists like Kanye
West have posed to their genres is that they have made people forget that their
genres, at heart, are supposed to be dangerous.
The 80s and early 90s were certainly the golden period for
dangerous metal. Motley Crue’s success was as derived from their excess as
their music. Ozzy’s career was built on his ability to identify guitar players
with iconic potential and his willingness to do things that nobody, even in a
drug-addled state, would do. Guns’N’Roses represented pure non-acknowledgement
of authority and order and personified this attitude in their music.
Interestingly, rap was a little slower on this game, but
experienced a period of unprecedented dangerousness that reached its height in
1992 with “Cop Killer”, finally culminating with the deaths of Tupac Shakur and
Biggie Smalls.
Rap music by its nature had always flirted with these
dangerous elements, but did not see them fully come to fruition until 1988.
In 1986, Slayer released one of metal’s most defining
albums, Reign in Blood. Kerry King
himself states that if this album was released today, nobody would give a shit,
but at the time, this album represented the ultimate in dangerous metal.
While many people consider the album’s lyrical themes and
artwork to define this album’s evil, these were not the only aspects in which Reign in Blood pushed the envelope:
The
album itself clocks in at 29 minutes….an unheard of album length in any
era.
The
album is almost entirely devoid of verse-chorus-verse structure.
As a
whole, the album’s average tempo is 210 beats per minute.
There
is little head paid to traditional theory or composition.
But perhaps most interesting, and likely unknown to Slayer
fans, is that following Hell Awaits,
Slayer and their management made the decision to leave Metal Blade Records for
Def Jam Recordings, owned by Russell Simmons of hip-hop fame, and primarily a
rap label. Jeff Hanneman himself was intrigued by Rick Rubin’s interest in the
band and was an admirer of his work with Run DMC and LL Cool J. While Reign in Blood was ultimately released
under American Recordings after Rubin dissolved his partnership with Simmons,
one of thrash’s most seminal recordings owes its existence to a partnership
between hip-hop and metal.
Throughout most of the 80s, rap was edgy, but it wasn’t dangerous.
Public Enemy, despite being legends, were far too intelligent and
cause-oriented to be truly dangerous. Run DMC reshaped the genre in terms of
image and sound, but were a mainstream act at heart. LL Cool J helped establish
the notion of a rap artist as a larger-than-life persona, but wasn’t
necessarily trail-blazing.
The foundation for Reign
in Blood’s lyrical content and artwork was laid by artists such as Black
Sabbath, Judas Priest, Bathory, Venom, Celtic Frost, and even Slayer’s own prior
work. Each of these bands dwelled within the realms of the occult, sometimes as
a metaphor for their perceptions of the world, other times for its own sake. To
that end, Reign in Blood’s success
wasn’t derived from its theme, but rather its visceral execution.
Similarly, N.W.A. wasn’t the first to rap about the
abominable conditions of inner-city life – it was merely the first to do so
through the lens of a YouTube documentarian. N.W.A’s music was entirely
uninterested in how it should be – it was only concerned with how it was.
It is from this perspective that Straight Outta Compton derived its dangerousness. N.W.A.’s lines
about life in South Central Los Angeles were dangerous because, well, life in
South Central Los Angeles was
extremely dangerous.
Consider the following lines:
“More
punks I smoke, yo, my rep gets bigger” – Straight Outta Compton
“Young
nigga got it bad cuz I’m brown and not the other color so police think
they have the authority to kill a minority.” – Fuck Tha Police
“Do I
look like a mutha fuckin’ role model? To a kid lookin’ up ta me, life
ain’t nothin’ but bitches and money.” – Gangsta Gangsta
“Some
musicians curse at home but scared to use profanity when up on the
microphone. Yeah, they want reality but you won’t here none. They rather
exaggerate, a little fiction. Some say no to drugs and take a stand, but
after the show they go lookin’ for the dope man.” – Express Yourself
N.W.A. lyrics were illustrative of life of urban youth in
Compton at the time and shone a light on a slice of American pie that few of
its bakers wanted its customers looking at. In fact, Straight Outta Compton is the only album to have ever been
condemned by the FBI for advocating violence against law enforcement officers.
Straight Outta Compton
and Reign in Blood were both
over-the-top records. To date, there is little evidence that Hanneman, King,
Araya and Lombardo have ever forcefully separated muscle from bone, conducted
rituals aimed at bringing about the return of the Antichrist or sacrificed any
living creatures to satisfy an unholy deity. Similarly, I’m willing to bet that
the actual murder count of Ice T, MC Ren, Eazy E and Dr. Dre is far smaller
than reputed.
While both records were clearly dangerous, each was
dangerous to the establishment in different ways.
For the Republican-driven PMRC, Slayer represented a threat
to Christianity. Their flagrant blasphemy of religious tenets certainly
encouraged immorality among impressionable youth, but perhaps more importantly,
it reduces sacred spiritual bedrocks to comic books. The more bands like Slayer
were allowed to exist, the more youth would view Christianity with the same
reverence that the modern world holds for Zeus and Odin.
NWA posed no such threat to God and Jesus. Rather, Straight Outta Compton represented a
threat to the other holy pillar of the right-wing establishment, capitalism. In the eyes of the
establishment, it’s simply irrational to sell drugs and join a gang. You’re
supposed to work through school, get a degree, and become a productive working
drone whose labors institutionalize the wealth of white collar masters.
Yet, for many youth in South Central, going straight was
simply too difficult to warrant pursuing. You dealt drugs and joined gangs as a
matter of survival and a means to prosperity. You didn’t do it out of some
James Dean Rebel Without a Cause sense.
Straight Outta Compton brought to the
surface that the system wasn’t working – an inconvenient fact for bureaucrats
in power. Worse, Straight Outta Compton
was so visceral, so crisply executed, that its power to galvanize people in the
belief that the system did not serve them that it posed a significant threat to
white people institutions.
In both cases, the impact on their genre was undeniable. Reign in Blood was the holy text that
influenced and continues to influence the genres of black metal, death metal
and thrash metal even today. Similarly, the most defining rap artists and
albums in the 90s, (The Chronic – Dr.
Dre, Doggystyle – Snoop Dogg, Me Against the World – Tupac) owe a
significant debt to Straight Outta
Compton.
How powerful was Straight
Outta Compton? Three of its members (Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy E) are
considered among the most titanic figures in their genre. How many metal bands
featured three individual members whose legacy is looked upon as genre-defining? Pretty darn few.
In all my years, I have never heard rap artists lamenting
the critical success of metal musicians, yet this seems to happen routinely in
the metal community, which is sad. Maybe Slayer fans don’t like Straight Outta Compton based on personal
tastes – that’s fine – but they should absolutely
have an appreciation for it. Serious metal musicians and artists understand
that these divergent genres share much of the same pixie dust that makes their
brand of music special.
Sadly, the marriages between metal and rap have been
predominantly awkward and forced. Only twice have metal and rap artists at the
peak of their powers and artistic credibility collaborated (Anthrax+Public
Enemy, Run DMC+Aerosmith and yes I
realize I’m stretching the definition of metal when I cite Aerosmith.) In both
instances, their collaborations are considered legendary.
But for every Bring
the Noise and Walk This Way,
there are hundreds of rap-metal collaborations whose output is reminiscent of a
dish that combined jellybeans and oysters. Most rap-metal collaborations
involve untalented metal musicians (Limp
Bizkit, Korn) or simply shoehorning a rapper who happens to be friends with
a metal band onto a track (Mudhoney and Sir
Mix-A-Lot), or sometimes both (Linkin
Park and Busta Rhymes).
That said, I think there’s plenty of fertile ground for
awesome rap-metal collaborations to take place. The key is to match
like-sounding artists at the top of their game. Where does this start? Who
knows, but if we had more tracks like this, perhaps the outright dismissal of
rap by metalheads would finally wane.
Disclaimer: I do not guarantee that you will lose weight by listening to Kix’s seminal album “Blow My Fuse”. I can however assure you that there is no greater album in the history of mankind to listen to while you are working out.
Perhaps Kix did not realize this at the time of its release in 1988, because you won’t find any weights, exercise bikes or neon headbands in its lyrics or promotional materials. Perhaps they were trying to distance themselves from the attempted pop / rock crossover album “Cool Kids” and its video single “Body Talk”. I could probably write an entire article about that video itself… I still don’t know if the video is hilarious or creepy (actually, I’m gonna go with both) but that song will probably be stuck in my head for another week after writing this.
Let’s dive into a little ancient butt-rock history before we get to the album at hand. Kix were indisputably the greatest thing to ever come out of Baltimore, at least until The Wire showed up on HBO many years later. They started out in the late 70’s as a bar band covering things like AC/DC, Van Halen and other hard rock staples, and then branched out into original material. They paid some serious dues at the local clubs and developed a reputation as an insanely good live band. They were so good that Brett Michaels and some of the other guys from Poison would come all the way over from Pennsylvania to see them play. The word on the street is that the Poison boys took really good notes, adopted Kix’s performance and musical style, brought it out to L.A. and then obviously enjoyed much more success than our boys from Baltimore ever did. But one thing that Poison never managed to copy was Kix’s ability to write and record an album that had more than 2 good songs on it, which brings us to “Blow My Fuse”.
You are probably familiar with one track on this one, “Don’t Close Your Eyes”, an anti-suicide ballad that managed to reach #11 on the Billboard charts. It’s the requisite power-ballad of the album. But holy shit, they manage to craft a slow song that does not include thinly veiled metaphors for boning, in 1988 nonetheless! They should probably get a medal for that alone. Don’t worry though, the rest of the songs are all pretty much thinly veiled metaphors for boning. Actually, even saying “thinly veiled” might be a stretch…
The album starts off with “Red Lite, Green Lite, TNT”, a straightforward up-tempo rocker. What a perfect way to start out the 3 hours of cardio you need to do to work off that six pack of High Life tallboys you drank last night!
OK, now that we’re warmed up a bit it’s time to crank up the incline on that treadmill. For my money the album really starts out with track #2, “Get It While It’s Hot”. This song in particular highlights just what it is that makes Kix kick ass. It’s called a CHORUS, kids, and I’m not talking about that stompbox that your mom bought you.
“No Ring Around Rosie” might just be the dirtiest song on the album. It’s amazing just how dirty Kix can be without using any actual profanity. AC/DC taught them well, and Kix takes it to the next level.
After that they wisely take it down a notch with “Don’t Close Your Eyes” and then go into “She Dropped Me The Bomb”, which picks up the pace again in a nice poppy way.
Then they get back to the business with “Cold Blood”. Holy shit, THAT is how you write a goddamn chorus! More people should follow Brett Michael's lead and try to copy this, maybe there would be some better songs on the radio.
The album continues with the songs "Piece of the Pie" and "Boomerang", which are probably the weakest on the album, but still quite enjoyable. The title track “Blow My Fuse” goes a bit slower and sleazier, good stuff because by now you've been doing that goddamn cardio for a while, are starting to get sweaty and ready to start winding down or moving to the weights or something.
But before you're done you gotta give it one last run, so they pick up the pace yet again for the last number "Dirty Boys". That one isn't quite so memorable, but hey, still an excellent way to close the album on an up note.
What really makes “Blow My Fuse” stand out from the rest of the hair / pop / glam / metal / rock pack of the era is the consistency of the songwriting and pace of the album as a whole. They do a great job of keeping momentum and there is enough variety between songs to get you through the entire album without getting bored. Certainly not every track is as good as the high points of "Cold Blood" or "Get It While It's Hot", but all are respectable and enjoyable to listen to.
While certainly not the first band to mix some solid rock n’ roll with a little bit of blues and pop, they know how to do it right. You can tell that Kix paid attention when they were paying their dues as a cover band. They realized what made the songs by rock bands like AC/DC classics and they applied it to their own work. Sure, they pretty much stick to the formula that was established years and years prior, but they were wise enough to do it right. Rather than one good single and 7 filler tracks, they really made an album that would stand up as a whole.
Bono and the Boss weren't the only rock stars speaking out on social issues of the 80's. Sure, you know about Live Aid, but Hear N' Aid definately had more mulletude and spandex. Plus Ronnie James Dio was always way cooler than Bob Geldof.
One theme that appeared many times (at least on the tapes I had) was the plight of the Native American. Lets take a look at some of these songs of the era that introduced listeners to U.S. history in a way that a text book never could. After all, everyone knows that history is much more awesome with double bass, shredding guitar solos, spandex and Aqua-Net.
Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills
Easily the most well known of the songs we'll be looking at today, Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" is still a staple of their live show today. Lyrically, it is written from the perspective of both the invading white men as well as the Natives and alternates between the two. It uses this to illustrate the cowardly and inhumane treatment from the invaders. The British metal bohemoths are the masters of the galloping rhythm, which definately helps audibly illustrate the clashing horseback battles between the invaders and native soldiers. The video itself is made to be more humorous than you might expect given the lyrics and subject... But that was probably a wise move as if they were to take a more dramatic approach it could have easily backfired. Plus, they probably had to stick with stock footage in between the performance shots in order to keep the budget down.
Europe - Cherokee
Swedish rockers Europe had some pretty awesome subjects on their 1987 album "The Final Countdown". The opening title track was about rockets and space and shit, plus later they dive into "Ninja" (try to guess what that one is about) and of course "Cherokee". As discussed in my review of Wings of Tomorrow, deep and articulate lyrics are not one of Europe's many strengths. "Cherokee" is no exception, but they do go into a bit more detail than Iron Maiden did. The song talks about the white men invading to search for gold, and then forcing the tribe on the Trail of Tears. Even in a watered down elementary school textbook, even a youngster like me could tell this was obviously one of the most awful and shameful events of American history... I don't think this song quite had the emotional impact of even those textbooks. I still wouldn't call the song itself horrible, but the video.... yeah, that is horrible.
Anthrax - Indians
Now that we've looked at two songs and videos written by European bands, let's see how an American band stands up. Anthrax seemed to be taking on more and more social problems in their songs on Among the Living (in between songs about Stephen King books and comics). It's worth noting that lead singer Joey Belladonna is also of Native descent. Unlike the first two songs we looked at, I don't believe that this one was released as a single. Even if it was, it's not like Anthrax was getting a lot of radio or video play back then... What I do remember is that at the time I listened to it, Among the Living was the heaviest and fastest shit I had ever heard. "Indians" is definately the heaviest of the songs we're looking at today. Rather than just looking at the past, the lyrics are more focused on the treatment of modern Natives with lines such as "Original American / Turned into a second class citizen". While not considered a classic like "Run to the Hills", this song talks about racism and lack of equal treatment in the world of today, rather than just look back at what happened centuries ago.
White Lion - Cherokee
For the last song today we'll look at one from White Lion. The original version was on their little known debut "Fight to Survive" but the acoustic version is cooler. Color me surprised, but somehow Danish singer Mike Tramp came up with some articulate, perhaps even poetic lyrics! While not exactly breaking new thematic ground, Tramp actually uses the images of smoke, lightning, flame, blood and the moon to actually add some emotion to the song. Wow! This song does focus on past injustices rather than the modern day treatment of Natives. But at least it isn't painfully ignorant, and you can tell that Tramp was trying to not just talk about the past but to try to describe the world in a way that a Native might. It comes off as much more effective than just reading a couple paragraphs in history book, making it rhyme and calling it good.
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So what have we learned today? Perhaps, good intentions aside, some metallers of the 80's might have done better to stick to the subjects they knew rather than try to take on one of the most painful subjects in American history. Particularly in the lyrics, they can come of as a bit simplistic or even juvenile. I don't think that they could be considered particularly offensive, in that their intent was certainly not to glorify racism or inequal treatment.
It seems like back in the day everyone wanted to at least have one song that they could point to and say "See, we're about more than just partying and girls!" In the 80's that the Native American's plight was given a lot more attention in the media than it is today. You certainly don't see this many songs written on the subject anymore... most likely because it just isn't given the media attention that it once did. As a whole, with a few exceptions, I think most mainstream artists these days will just keep their mouths shut rather than risk offending anyone or being misinterpreted. Not to say that these songs would have been controversial when they were released... I think these would have been more the modern equivelent of writing a song about an oil spill or animal abuse. Sure, it's an issue that is in the news, people are concerned with, and it may even have political connotations, but you stand very little risk of saying anything that anyone would disagree with.
