Controversial music

[spacejunk]

So, SHM has already posted a Sex Pistols video - there is a lot that could be said about that band's complicated relationship with controversy (it both made them internationally famous, and also helped to destroy the band).

Their controversy was partly in their presentation; rough working class London lads, they swore and fought and spat - and failed to play the game of "professional", "polished", rock musicians - "entertainers" - who by 1976 had established a certain orthodoxy of "safe" conformist "rebellion" - sex, drugs and rock'n'roll - as a part of a hedonistic, decadent, consumer culture - of "safe sexism" [as Henry Rollins aptly describes it])

The Sex Pistols didn't have this polished image; their manager Malcolm McLaren tried to make them subversive - and controversial - for the purposes of gaining press attention, and stirring up the British middle and ruling classes, by dressing them in his clothes (a mix of styles - from fetish to teddy boy, daubed with Situationist slogans [such as "be realistic: demand the impossible"], a variety of wildly contrasting imagery [homoerotic pictures of naked gay cowboys, swastikas, portraits of Karl Marx - just to mention a few]) and trying to push them into areas of songwriting - to be performed wearing clothes from his shop (called, by this point, SEX) - that fitted the image he was trying to create; sexy, kinky, rough young lads.

The band had other ideas - rather than writing a song about S&M (called 'Submission', at McLaren's suggestion) - John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) wrote a song about a "sub mission". A submarine mission.

But Lydon didnt need controversy to be prefabricated on his behalf - he was a frustrated, intelligent kid with a sardonic sense of humour, firmly-held opinions and a natural distain for the class system of 70s Britain.

"God Save the Queen" was a masterpiece of agit-pop punk rock; when it hit the UK singles chart in 1977, everything about the track was controversial - the lyrics, of timing of its release - and the single's album cover, depicting the Queen with a safety pin through her nose, and text in the cut-up "poison pen" sinister lettering style associated with kidnappers' letters and the like - which combined to make a provocative statement of hostility towards the British establishment, aristocracy and royal family.
[video=youtube_share;RvMxqcgBhWQ]http://youtu.be/RvMxqcgBhWQ[/video]

Along with other singles "Anarchy in the UK" - an anthem of anti-social nihilism (moreso than anarchy) and "Pretty Vacant" (in which Lydon was able to subtly (if John Lydon can ever be described as 'subtle'!) slip the word "cunt" into a song without BBC censorship - ("we're pretty/pretty vay-CUNT") - and the incident that launched them into media notoriety/punk rock stardom - swearing on prime-time television (unthinkable - and very controversisal in those days) - the Sex Pistols were suddenly synonymous (at least in the tabloid media) with controversy. The wild hair, ripped clothes, belligerent demeanor, insistance that they "weren't into music" (they were into chaos) - made a deliberate break from the fashions and attitudes of the predominating popular culture of the day, and made them great material for media *shock-horror* stories.

But i actually wasn't planning on posting a Sex Pistols song.
I wanted to post the song "the Good Ship Venus" - an old English drinking song in the style of a sea shanty, with verse after verse of pornographic seafaring vulgarity.
There are a number of recorded versions of this tune, but the Pistols' adaptation (recorded after the break-up of the band, and departure of frontman/songwriter Lydon, for the film 'the Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle) is my favourite.

There are some good versions of "the Good Ship Venus", such as this one by Loudon Wainwright III - but there is something about the swashbuckling cockney swagger of the Sex Pistols version (renamed "Friggin' in the Riggin'") that makes it my favourite rendition of this delightfully dirty old ditty.

[video=youtube_share;tRotvCVKAe8]http://youtu.be/tRotvCVKAe8[/video]

 

[swilow]

Can I mention Burzum? Many people know the tale, but the whole early Norwegian black metal scene was rife with controversy. We have briliiant bands like Burzum, Mayhem, Emperor with members burning down churches, and killing homosexuals

Of course, the most controversial is/was Burzum. Responsible for some of the best black metal, he was arrested and charged for burning down several churches in Norway. Check out his brilliant album cover:

Well, I like it. Varg Vikernes, the sole member of Burzum, went onto murder Euronymous, the main guitarist behind Mayhem who are considered the godfathers of the scene. Stabbed him many times, went to jail where he became a sort of white nationalist, was released, arrested in France for plotting some sort of terrorist activity but was released and now maintains a totally ridicuous European Nationalist blog called the Thulean Perspective. Musically, this guy has been fantastic (though pretty shit in recent times) but as a human he is utterly vile. Interesting blend.

Black metal is pretty watered down now. Generally, the biggest controversies are whether a band uses a drum machine or not. But this genre has a unique mystique that can appear kind of impenetrable to 'outsiders'; exactly as intended. I find that the scene is pretty saturated, but the good bands are still good bands. And black metal has an atmosphere and feeling that I have never found in anything else, art, drug or real life. I do not listen to it as much as I did, but I am so glad that I discovered it.

Anyway, this is Det Som Engang Var from my preferred Burzum album, Hvis Lysett Tar Oss. If black metal is of any interest, you may wish to watch the film 'Until the light takes us', the English translation of the aforementioned album. Its a pretty decent look at the events previously mentioned, with interviews with many of the protagonists.

Song.

 

[GaryGlisten]

The Beatles.. Drive my Car. It seems pretty obvious to me that "drive my car" is just a substitution for 'suck my cock' which makes total sense in the context of the lyrics. ..you can do something inbetween (my legs) ...

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

NSFW:

So, SHM has already posted a Sex Pistols video - there is a lot that could be said about that band's complicated relationship with controversy (it both made them internationally famous, and also helped to destroy the band).

Their controversy was partly in their presentation; rough working class London lads, they swore and fought and spat - and failed to play the game of "professional", "polished", rock musicians - "entertainers" - who by 1976 had established a certain orthodoxy of "safe" conformist "rebellion" - sex, drugs and rock'n'roll - as a part of a hedonistic, decadent, consumer culture - of "safe sexism" [as Henry Rollins aptly describes it])

The Sex Pistols didn't have this polished image; their manager Malcolm McLaren tried to make them subversive - and controversial - for the purposes of gaining press attention, and stirring up the British middle and ruling classes, by dressing them in his clothes (a mix of styles - from fetish to teddy boy, daubed with Situationist slogans [such as "be realistic: demand the impossible"], a variety of wildly contrasting imagery [homoerotic pictures of naked gay cowboys, swastikas, portraits of Karl Marx - just to mention a few]) and trying to push them into areas of songwriting - to be performed wearing clothes from his shop (called, by this point, SEX) - that fitted the image he was trying to create; sexy, kinky, rough young lads.

The band had other ideas - rather than writing a song about S&M (called 'Submission', at McLaren's suggestion) - John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) wrote a song about a "sub mission". A submarine mission.

But Lydon didnt need controversy to be prefabricated on his behalf - he was a frustrated, intelligent kid with a sardonic sense of humour, firmly-held opinions and a natural distain for the class system of 70s Britain.

"God Save the Queen" was a masterpiece of agit-pop punk rock; when it hit the UK singles chart in 1977, everything about the track was controversial - the lyrics, of timing of its release - and the single's album cover, depicting the Queen with a safety pin through her nose, and text in the cut-up "poison pen" sinister lettering style associated with kidnappers' letters and the like - which combined to make a provocative statement of hostility towards the British establishment, aristocracy and royal family.
[video=youtube_share;RvMxqcgBhWQ]http://youtu.be/RvMxqcgBhWQ[/video]

Along with other singles "Anarchy in the UK" - an anthem of anti-social nihilism (moreso than anarchy) and "Pretty Vacant" (in which Lydon was able to subtly (if John Lydon can ever be described as 'subtle'!) slip the word "cunt" into a song without BBC censorship - ("we're pretty/pretty vay-CUNT") - and the incident that launched them into media notoriety/punk rock stardom - swearing on prime-time television (unthinkable - and very controversisal in those days) - the Sex Pistols were suddenly synonymous (at least in the tabloid media) with controversy. The wild hair, ripped clothes, belligerent demeanor, insistance that they "weren't into music" (they were into chaos) - made a deliberate break from the fashions and attitudes of the predominating popular culture of the day, and made them great material for media *shock-horror* stories.

But i actually wasn't planning on posting a Sex Pistols song.
I wanted to post the song "the Good Ship Venus" - an old English drinking song in the style of a sea shanty, with verse after verse of pornographic seafaring vulgarity.
There are a number of recorded versions of this tune, but the Pistols' adaptation (recorded after the break-up of the band, and departure of frontman/songwriter Lydon, for the film 'the Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle) is my favourite.

There are some good versions of "the Good Ship Venus", such as this one by Loudon Wainwright III - but there is something about the swashbuckling cockney swagger of the Sex Pistols version (renamed "Friggin' in the Riggin'") that makes it my favourite rendition of this delightfully dirty old ditty.

[video=youtube_share;tRotvCVKAe8]http://youtu.be/tRotvCVKAe8[/video]

I hate friggin' in the riggin'. I always hated it. Later on in life, for reasons I can't give here, I was given even more reason to hate it. But generally here's why. The Pistols usually split people into two camps. Those who thought Johnny Rotten and Sid were the band. And those who thought Steve Jones and Paul Cook and even, horror of horrors, Glen Matlock were the true spirit of Pistols Rock n Roll. I know people today who would still rather go to a Rich Kids/The Professionals concert than see the Pistols with Sid in '76. We call these people 'morons'.

Anyway, FITR was the Double A-side to Something Else. Something Else was crap but at least it was a R&R song sung by Sid (though originally by Eddie Cochran 20 years previously). It was released three weeks after Sid died which might just have something to do with it getting to number 3 in the charts. He did better stuff. And maybe not as such a controversial song, but for a brilliant controversial video (as well as a fantastic version of the song) I'm nominating My Way by Sid for this thread too.

[video]https://youtu.be/rDyb_alTkMQ[/video]

As for the rest of your post SJ. Lots of good info but you can't leave out Jamie Reid's name, responsible for Pistols artwork, and the cut up letters followed on quite soon after the incidents (rapes) involving the Cambridge Rapist, who I'm sure one of our funniest comedians ever was not delighted to know he shared his name (Peter Cook). But really I come here to slag Steve Jones. I will admit he can play good R&R guitar (and is rumoured, amongst many rumours, to be responsible for Sid's bass on Never Mind the Bollocks too as Sid couldn't play a note). But that doesn't mean he isn't a cunt. And I assure you Steve Jones is a cunt. Paul Cook's a nice enough bloke, but there's a reason Steve Jones is the one who goes into the "Cambridge Rapist Hotel" in the Great Rock and Roll Swindle. I'll leave it to your imagination.

PS Sex Pistols. Hardmen. Reviled by society. Played a secret gig for the children of striking firefighters in Yorkshire on Christmas Day 1977. And supplied presents and all. A bit more than your average band. Best band ever. Well, John & Sid anyway.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...anarachy-film-huddersfield-never-mind-baubles

 

[quiet roar]

To me, Sex Pistols always came across as a manufactured group that was more concerned with image than music. Kinda like boy bands these days. Admittedly, that's probably being a touch unfair but not too much so.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

To me, Sex Pistols always came across as a manufactured group that was more concerned with image than music. Kinda like boy bands these days. Admittedly, that's probably being a touch unfair but not too much so.

You are talking, quite correctly, about their management (Malcolm McLaren). FFS the shop 'Sex' was full of Vivienne Westwood designer clothes.

That said, that's why John Lydon had the balls to realise what was going on and leave. And Sid had the decency to kill himself, though in a slightly unrelated way.

Now you tell me a band that isn't manufactured to some extent or other. Any band with management, any band on a label (there is no such thing as an independent label, there never really was).

It's called 'performing' for a reason.

Oh, and for a band not concerned with music, they managed to make two of the greatest singles and one of the greatest albums of all time. Not to mention inspiring hosts of others to attempt the same who wouldn't have done so otherwise.

 

[quiet roar]

Couple of pretty good singles and an ok album for mine.

The Saints were the punk I dig. When they got to the UK, promoters/managers were asking about their lack of costume - the saints told them to fuck off.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

The Saints were the punk I dig. When they got to the UK, promoters/managers were asking about their lack of costume - the saints told them to fuck off.

I think it was EMI who had a go at them about image wasn't it? The same EMI the Pistols (Rotten) had already demolished lyrically on that "ok album".

That's cool. The Saints were probably up there with the Pistols, the New York Dolls, and the Ramones - tieing for 3rd with the Ramones.

 

[Throbbing_Gristle]

I could make a gigantic list, my taste in music consists of probably 98% of controversial artists.
First up, Throbbing Gristle, the group that invented the genre of industrial music. They started out as a performance art group that did mostly sexual scatology shit and called it art, but when they released their first short film "After Cease to Exist" which started out with a short clip of an Auschwitz crematorium, 5 minutes of blackness with COUM/Throbbing Gristle's music as the backing track; but here's where the fun begins: There is a short clip of some live footage of the band playing for a small audience, and then it cuts to Cosey Fanny Tutti and Chris Carter (both are members of the band) walk down the street and go to a room with a table that has leather straps on it. The dude (Chris Carter) gets strapped on and Cosey cuts his pants off with a pair of scissors and whips him a little bit S&M style. Then we see her doing something with the scissors near his crotch, but we can't see until the jump cut, which shows that she's cut his scrotum open and starts squeezing one of the actual testicles out. Once it's out, she cuts the tube and gets to work on the other one. Afterwards, there's some woman with an afro showing off bruises and then there's another 5 minutes of blank video and music and it's over. Don't worry, folks, the castration is fake, as the two actually ended up having a child some 10 years after the movie was made. Another interesting fact is that Peter Christopherson was the director of the movie, who was also part of the band, and more famously, Psychic TV and Coil. He also did a lot of work with that poser Trent Reznor, like the Broken movie, which was ALMOST as fucked up as After Cease to Exist.

There are other industrial artists that are controversial, like Boyd Rice, who I think does the whole fascist neo-nazi skinhead thing to be edgy, and Death in June, who are accused of being neo-nazis as well, in spite of the fact they were in the ANTI-nazi punk outfit Crisis prior to that.

The only more modern example I can thnk of excluding the mainstreamers like Marilyn Manson and NIN or all that other bullshit is probably Passenger of Shit, who is a one-man chiptune/Rap/speedcore artist. Here are links to some of his best works below, the first being one of the funniest, but at the same time nausea-inducing music videos I've ever seen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROyw4J6NrH0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5KJM4XCLSQ

 

[spacejunk]

I hate friggin' in the riggin'. I always hated it. Later on in life, for reasons I can't give here, I was given even more reason to hate it. But generally here's why. The Pistols usually split people into two camps. Those who thought Johnny Rotten and Sid were the band. And those who thought Steve Jones and Paul Cook and even, horror of horrors, Glen Matlock were the true spirit of Pistols Rock n Roll. I know people today who would still rather go to a Rich Kids/The Professionals concert than see the Pistols with Sid in '76. We call these people 'morons'.

Anyway, FITR was the Double A-side to Something Else. Something Else was crap but at least it was a R&R song sung by Sid (though originally by Eddie Cochran 20 years previously). It was released three weeks after Sid died which might just have something to do with it getting to number 3 in the charts. He did better stuff. And maybe not as such a controversial song, but for a brilliant controversial video (as well as a fantastic version of the song) I'm nominating My Way by Sid for this thread too.

[video]https://youtu.be/rDyb_alTkMQ[/video]

Yeah, i see what you mean about FITR - to be honest, i find it an amusing cover of an old bawdy pub song ("the Good Ship Venus") - but the Pistols post-Lydon (and especially that monstosity of a film, the Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle is a pile of shit.
Actually, until i did a quick bit of research on "friggin' in the rigging" - i never really knew the origins of the song, and assumed it was a working class ditty.
But according this article here

NME dismissed it as “a reading of a rugby song against some incidental orchestra twiddling” (Baker 23 Baker, Danny. “Singles.” New Musical Express 24 Feb (1979): 23–24. Print.
), while Melody Maker condemned the Sex Pistols for singing “antique pre-adolescent rugby songs" (Goldman and Hucker 27 Goldman, Vivien and Dave Hucker. “… or Profit.” Melody Maker 24 Feb 27 (1979): Print.).

Interesting.

I have a Sid live LP, where he bashes out a few Johnny Thunders numbers, as well as his other releases ("My Way", etc) - but my personal favourite Sid cover of another Eddie Cochrane tune is this one -
[video=youtube_share;I4RKo_K7VqM]http://youtu.be/I4RKo_K7VqM[/video]

As for the rest of your post SJ. Lots of good info but you can't leave out Jamie Reid's name, responsible for Pistols artwork, and the cut up letters followed on quite soon after the incidents (rapes) involving the Cambridge Rapist, who I'm sure one of our funniest comedians ever was not delighted to know he shared his name (Peter Cook). But really I come here to slag Steve Jones. I will admit he can play good R&R guitar (and is rumoured, amongst many rumours, to be responsible for Sid's bass on Never Mind the Bollocks too as Sid couldn't play a note). But that doesn't mean he isn't a cunt. And I assure you Steve Jones is a cunt. Paul Cook's a nice enough bloke, but there's a reason Steve Jones is the one who goes into the "Cambridge Rapist Hotel" in the Great Rock and Roll Swindle. I'll leave it to your imagination.

You're absolutely right about my omission of Jamie Reid - the guy was a brilliant artist and contributed a great deal to the Sex Pistols' whole aesthetic; arguably, a lot more than Malcolm and Vivienne, who were a couple of sleazy opportunists.

On Steve Jones - yep, a cunt for sure.
I admittedly love his guitar playing - fairly innovative and imitated by many, but also simple and hook-filled enough to make those tracks memorable.
Punk "orthodoxy" later considered "guitar solos" to be something of a sin - but that first fucking lead break in "Anarchy" (after the line "in the city") gets me every time.

That said, i don't disagree at all that Lydon was the unique talent in the Sex Pistols. Lyrically, in attitude and presentation.
Interesting about the rumours that Jones played bass on ...Never Mind the Bollocks - there are so many fables around that one; from the claim that they had Matlock overdub the bass in the studio - to Jones' own bullshit claim that he didn't even play a note of guitar on the record (and that it was Chris Spedding). Myth-making BS I suspect.

PS Sex Pistols. Hardmen. Reviled by society. Played a secret gig for the children of striking firefighters in Yorkshire on Christmas Day 1977. And supplied presents and all. A bit more than your average band. Best band ever. Well, John & Sid anyway.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...anarachy-film-huddersfield-never-mind-baubles

Yeah, i absolutely love that tale.

Sid's an odd (and very sad) figure in the Sex Pistols story, and pop culture generally.
Presented as this tough, thuggish brute - and of course suspected murderer - i've known a couple of people that considered Sid a friend, and they have said he was a bit of a weak/cowardly guy - that he wouldn't have been capable of killing Nancy.
I've read other accounts that maybe contradict this (the incident with Nick Kent - i'm sure SHM knows what i'm talking about) - but he was the son of a heroin addict, who allegedly taught him how to shoot speed, and smuggled heroin into prison for him in New York).

But poor Sid wasn't much of a musician, it's true. A victim of his own image - and rock'n'roll fantasies.

I think it was EMI who had a go at them about image wasn't it? The same EMI the Pistols (Rotten) had already demolished lyrically on that "ok album".

That's cool. The Saints were probably up there with the Pistols, the New York Dolls, and the Ramones - tieing for 3rd with the Ramones.

The Saints were actually contemporaries of the Ramones in the sense that they both formed in 1974.
As for who started punk rock - the Dolls were earlier - but what is "punk rock" - and where/when did it start?
That's an argument for another thread

 

[SKL]

I think I posted this here before, but feel the need to do so again in light of recent CE&P discussion wherein people seem to think the label of fascist/rayciss is all that's needed to discredit an opinion …

[video=youtube_share;Di4M_Pwwz7k]http://youtu.be/Di4M_Pwwz7k[/video]

one bad ass chick
I've posted her material here before
she's fucking badass
from pop to pop punk, interpreting sometimes by covers sometimes by coming up with new material, covering Europe's foremost political questions, particularly from a UK and Northern European perspective

it's interesting that even such an eo ipso controversial a act will self censor in thr manner of saying our country is run by who??????, probably by virtue of recognizing that their audience can rhyme, but an interesting concession to outright censorship

 

[Kittycat5]

I first heard this like 20 years ago in my brothers friends car on way to school. And while through my own experience can say I dont believe in racism and certainly not National Socialism as being anything more than an exercise in futility, I really dig the song. Someone re-write the lyrics please.

 

[swilow]

I think I posted this here before, but feel the need to do so again in light of recent CE&P discussion wherein people seem to think the label of fascist/rayciss is all that's needed to discredit an opinion …

Its the same way that 'leftie' or 'SJW' is used, it automatically breaks a discussion. Its largely unpolitical and comes from the medium we are communicating over IMO. I don't know what the discussion you are referring to is, but it happens from both sides and it is the definition of conversation stopping.

I found that song you posted kinda ironic as she appears to sing in a largely American sort of accent :D.

Despite being a leftie, I listen to a fair bit of controversial music.

I thought I'd post this band, Tyr from the Faroe Islands. Strictly speaking, they combine European folk melodies with more progressive metal stylings. Earlier albums were much more prog with unusual time signatures and melodic passages, though they have recently become a bit more mainstream and are crafting simpler, more folk-metal inspired tunes. I think they are a great band and their lead singer and guitarist, Heri Joensen, is very talented. However, he has copped a bit of shit from various environmentalist groups for his support and involvement in the annual Faroe Islands whale 'hunt/massacre' known as the Grind, where whales are herded into various coves/bays of the Islands and slaughtered, by hand, using spears. I'm a vegan, I find the imagery unpleasant but I also think the hate that Joensen has received is fucking pathetic. My issue with using animals as meat comes from the suffering of their actual lives, and- to me- a whale living free up until the point of its death is living a 'good' life. I don't think whale hunting is neccesary, and I really think Heri Joensen has gotten involved in an issue that he is ill equipped to manage, but I find it peculiar that he and his band have received a lot of hate with some 'fans' claiming that they will boycott the bands music. I cannot agree with boycotting of art on such a basis.

Here's a story explaining what happened. http://www.metalsucks.net/2016/08/30/tyrs-heri-joensen-defends-participation-whaling/ The video rebuttal is worth listening to. He presents his points well. I'm still a vegan, I still dislike whaling, I do not think the sort of whaling that the Faroese conduct is indicative of the problems that whaling actually manifests. The problems of whaling are the industrial scale type, not small annual hunts of non endangered animals. Still, its harsh and Heri Joensen is probably being a bit disingenuous if he claims to not understand that people get effected by the sight of large bloody marine mammal carcasses.

This band also received a lot of hate from Antifa for their apparent racism. They are not a racist band and simply speak about Northern European history/mythology. They countered the notion of their right wing-ness in this track, Shadows of the Swastika. I think Antifa have cried wolf too often now, they have done this with a heap of metal bands. Its closed minded nonsense. On the other hand, for the actual militant racist bands, I think they deserve to be picketted and argued against...

 

[spacejunk]

Loving this:

[video=youtube_share;Bp-KeVBNz0A]http://youtu.be/Bp-KeVBNz0A[/video]


Fucking love me some feminist punk rock...with a twist, and a dash of former-Soviet-bloc political agitation for good measure.

 

[JoeTheStoner]

^ really good. didn't expect to like that as much as i would.

 

[SKL]

Varg Vikernes, the sole member of Burzum, went onto murder Euronymous, the main guitarist behind Mayhem who are considered the godfathers of the scene. Stabbed him many times, went to jail where he became a sort of white nationalist, was released, arrested in France for plotting some sort of terrorist activity but was released and now maintains a totally ridicuous European Nationalist blog called the Thulean Perspective. Musically, this guy has been fantastic (though pretty shit in recent times) but as a human he is utterly vile. Interesting blend.

There are loads of these, we could make a thread about them. Charlie Manson wasn't half bad. Phil Spector was a briliant producer. Michael Jackson, Ian Watkins of Lost Prophets, child molesters, great (in Jackson's case, brilliant and iconic) artists. Chris Brown is serially violent towards women (as was John Lennon.) The number of rock musicians who've abused women in all sorts of vile ways (Led Zeppelin and the infamous fish, for instance) is too long to even try and start. All sorts of great rockers and rappers both have objectified and denigrated women over time both lyrically and visually. DMX, while not very appealing to animal rights advocates, is a great rapper, and unlike many in that genré actually has seen his output improve over time (as has Eminem, another questionable character.)

Varg is a lunatic, as I brought up in another thread; he believes that White people need to activate Neanderthal DNA to gain supernatural powers, or something to that effect. Which is no more lunatic I suppose than some of the crystal-healing-resonance-whatever nonsense that a lot of hippie bands and their followers, even my beloved Dead, have gotten involved in. Problem is of course Varg is a homicidal lunatic (and his case is a fascinating look into the Scandanavian penal model, isn't it?) His politics "resonate" with me to some degree (if stripped of the lunacy) for the same reasons they don't with you although certainly not his anti-Christianity (and the anti-Christianity of many great rock bands, not just "extreme metal," but the many musical figures that were into Alastair Crowley type occult/"magick" stuff, which is a lot, including many who don't make it obvious; Crowley's influence on the music scene, directly or via various "channels" (lol) in the New Age movement are immense), although I'm quite sure the man is a clinical case, as were a lot of them (which one used to carry around a dead crow in a bag?) and so forth. But of course, creativity and madness are often twinned.

I too despise the politics of quite a few artists I'm fond of, although I did make the explicit choice of not attending shows that featured "Deadheads for Obama" propaganda, and this really soured me on Bobby particularly, and I'm under no delusion that he or Jerry or even Phil or any of the others were great people, either, certainly have ascribed to deplorable ideas from time to time and at times denigrated their faithful following in various ways, we still love the music.

 

[swilow]

I could write pages about Laibach but this will do. Very odd, avante garde, martial industrial/electronic classical collective from Slovenia, in existence since 1980. Well known for doing weird covers of pop music, including a re-recording of The Beatles 'Let it Be'. Hit or miss but I dig them. They have attained a certain controversy for their use of what is seen as totalitarian aesthetics, both far right and far left. They are 'notorious' for never really breaking character in interviews, always in costume and spouting obscure weirdness. To me, its pretty clear they sit on the far-left but I think they are playing a little bit on the notion that both extremes share something in common.

They were probably more controversial in communist eastern Europe...

People may find the 'vocals' difficult, which is basically spoken word/growly/vocal fry stuff. I can imagine these guys at Eurovision.

The two tracks below are from a recent album called Spectre. Its quite electronic and industrial but retains a sort of new-wave vibe at times. Its their more accesible material IMO. The last unembedded track is an example of a weird cover version.

This is more recent track called The Whistleblowers. Hint of military stuff here. Its possibly my favorite track by them. Cool lyrics on this one.



This is an interesting track. Lyrics are ambiguous to me.





Here's a cover of a relatively well known Europop sng from the mid 80's. Hmm. Check out the lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB9lObWclFQ

I might do a post at another point discussing some more industrial music and the related styles such as martial and neo-folk. There is some pretty politically controversial stuff amongst these groups given their origins in punk. I almost think of industrial music as a type of post-punk. Anyway, that's my plan.

 

[airdusters]

rape the white girls; rape their fathers; cut the mother's throats


...welcome to the 60s motherfuckers

 

[gabbachris]

Frank Zappa is without a sought the most versitile and controversial artist as he attacks everyone in some song or other. Other musics that I enjoy are with tang clan baggariddim only by UB40 demented or go and the meteors are all good. They have a live and direct effect on me and are definitely on my level. Also peter tosh is real for me. These artists say things in the music that is happening in my life. Crazy as it sounds, sometimes up to the moment with the symetries. Then again I take a lot of stims.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Ian Watkins of the Lost Prophets was not fucking "great". He was an average man in an average band from a small country (mine) who became infamous for child molestation and raping babies, the mothers of whom he had used his influence over.

He was a human piece of shit and may he rot in jail accordingly. His music does not save him one iota so don't pretend it does.