I think it’s really interesting how people interpret music completely different than other forms of art. People sometimes assume the worst instead of realizing that the singer is speaking from another perspective. So for example if a writer has a first person perspective of a killer/rapist you wouldn’t make an association that the author is anything of the sort. But if they wrote a song and sang it then people would question if they really felt that way. Polly is a great example. By many accounts (Kathleen Hanna , Kim Gordon) Cobain championed feminism and woman’s rights but the lyrics of Polly are brutal and from the perpetrator view. Randy Newman’s - Rednecks is a tough one to listen to. You can understand how it is trying to point out ignorance and racism like Blazing Saddles but it’s sung in first person and should never be played in a public setting.
Oingo Bongo’s - Little Girs was always a bit creepy now seems to age poorly the more time has gone on.
Minor Threat - Guilty of being white is a tough listen because you know racist people think this is a rallying cry instead of the emotionly reaction from a a teenage kid who was bullied in highschool for being white.
If you know anything about the history of punk music and east coast hardcore, Ian MacKaye was clearly one of the most principled people in the scene, and a genuinely good and decent person. So it’s really weird to hear that people ever got the weird idea that he was pro-racism or something.
Then again, The Dead Kennedys had to make “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” because they were sick of their shows being infiltrated by the wrong kind of skinheads.
Oh I know. But minor threat and black flag used to have these neoNazis show up at their shows. I think he acknowledged that once he realized they wanted to use his frustration for oppression they stopped playing it. I think it was in, “this band could be your life”. Much like X hating the fans who cheered on “Johnny hit and run Pauline” from “decline of the western civilization”. It’s crazy how people twist things.
I think it’s really interesting how people interpret music completely different than other forms of art. People sometimes assume the worst instead of realizing that the singer is speaking from another perspective. So for example if a writer has a first person perspective of a killer/rapist you wouldn’t make an association that the author is anything of the sort. But if they wrote a song and sang it then people would question if they really felt that way. Polly is a great example. By many accounts (Kathleen Hanna , Kim Gordon) Cobain championed feminism and woman’s rights but the lyrics of Polly are brutal and from the perpetrator view. Randy Newman’s - Rednecks is a tough one to listen to. You can understand how it is trying to point out ignorance and racism like Blazing Saddles but it’s sung in first person and should never be played in a public setting. Oingo Bongo’s - Little Girs was always a bit creepy now seems to age poorly the more time has gone on. Minor Threat - Guilty of being white is a tough listen because you know racist people think this is a rallying cry instead of the emotionly reaction from a a teenage kid who was bullied in highschool for being white.
If you know anything about the history of punk music and east coast hardcore, Ian MacKaye was clearly one of the most principled people in the scene, and a genuinely good and decent person. So it’s really weird to hear that people ever got the weird idea that he was pro-racism or something.
Then again, The Dead Kennedys had to make “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” because they were sick of their shows being infiltrated by the wrong kind of skinheads.
Oh I know. But minor threat and black flag used to have these neoNazis show up at their shows. I think he acknowledged that once he realized they wanted to use his frustration for oppression they stopped playing it. I think it was in, “this band could be your life”. Much like X hating the fans who cheered on “Johnny hit and run Pauline” from “decline of the western civilization”. It’s crazy how people twist things.