| Johnny Socko – Half Your Brain Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Nazi punks fuck off! | |
| The Velvet Underground – The Murder Mystery Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I'm pretty sure Lou Reed has acknowledged that they were mostly just playing around with words in this song. They originally didn't include the lyrics, so there were VU fanatics holed up in their basements for weeks listening to one ear of their headphones, trying to decipher some sort of narrative out of this. | |
| Randy – Proletarian Hop Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song is about the Spanish Civil War, which occured from 1936-1939. After the monarchy dissolved in Spain, the leftists, allied as the Popular Front, gained control of the government, much to the dismay of the fascists, who launched a coup led by General Fransico Franco. At the same time, the anarchists were reorganizing society, turning entire cities into communes, abolishing wage labor and hierarchy. A war emerged in which there were basically three factions. First, there were the fascists, who sought to overthrow the democratically elected government in favor of a dictatorship. Second, there were the moderate socialists and communists, who's only goal was to beat the fascists. Their philosophy was basically that this was the first priority, and that the societal revolution could come later. Lastly, there were the anarchists, who believed that the class war and the war against the fascists were inseperable ("THE WAR AGAINST THE FASCISTS IS A CLASSWAR TOO") They completely reorganized cities, abolishing money and wage labor, smashing the churches, communalizing everything, ending sexism, and keeping production at the same level the whole time. Catalonia circa 1939 is seen by many anarchists as proof that a society can function without coercion. This brought them into conflict with the communists, supported by Stalin, who eventually ended up betraying them by attacking their former allies, leading to a fascist victory in the war. Sorry for the rambling history lesson, but that's about what I got from the song. |
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| Crass – You're Already Dead Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song represents a shift in the Crass ideaology from one of somewhat romantic idealism (not that there's a whole lot wrong with that) towards a somewhat more confrontational, agressive stance against government and oppression. Where before the group's members had previously utterly rejected violence, maintaining that it was merely a tool of the state, this song seems to argue for more of a direct action approach. Steve Ignorant later completely rejected pacifism, stating that there are circumstances in which violence is the only choice. The band recognized this shift in their ideas, and interpreted this as becoming bitter from the process of activism. They decided to split up, though the Crass Collective still remains today, and the band remembers still remain in close contact and occasionally play together. |
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| Against Me! – Baby, I'm an Anarchist! Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Anarchist either consider themselves radical leftists, or post-leftists. Anarchists call the abolition of capitalism, private property, hierarchy, sexism, racism, and all forms of domination, both economic and social. Anybody who think that this is far left is umm... uninformed. '36 is a reference the Spanish Civil War in which the liberal PSUC, which received aid from the Soviets, betrayed and turned on the revolutionary anarchists of the CNT/FAI in Catalonia, allowing the fascist nationalists to take advantage of the Republican army's internal struggles and defeat the leftist alliance. Anarchists were the main driving force behind the struggle for the 8 hour work day. May Day spawns from the Haymarket Riot, which occured in response to police killing anarchists demonstrating for a reasonable work day. In the early part of the 20th century, anarchists represented a very significant portion of the labor movement. In the Battle in Seattle, liberal demonstrators for some reason felt the need to protect the Starbucks and Niketown from the thrashing they deserved, and, in some cases, these peace police used violence against people to stop them from committing property destruction. This song is half serious, half satire. There definitely is a lot of tension between anarchists and the authoritarian/reformist left. |
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| Sonic Youth – Teenage Riot Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| Minor threat was pre-emo hardcore punk. They were the inspiration for most of the early emo bands, which were actually mostly hardcore. Emo just means emotional, and can be anything from screamo, screaming at the top of you lungs with loud guitar rifs, sometimes crying at the songs climax, to more folk sounding music, like the Weakerthans. Minor threat frontman Ian Mackaye actually coined the term emo. More info at http://www.fourfa.com/ | |
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