Politics In Music: Does It Affect You?

Goat · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:04 pm

Just curious. Personally, politics in music does affect the way I approach it: lyrics I disagree with are annoying - Rush, for instance, and yet I find that a lot of NSBM has a weird effect all of its own. Black Metal is supposed to be about transgression and rebellion, after all, and yet many bands, especially the depressive ones, have a completely different atmosphere. The likes of Eldrig, however, that follow the Ariosophic philosophy are weirder and darker to me than any 'normal' Satanists, even the rabid ones like Lucifugum and Lutomysl, to name two.

When you listen to music that goes against or directly follows your personal beliefs, do you engage with them and use that to add to the experience, or do you just ignore it and focus on the riffs, etc - that's what I'm asking.

Obviously, this is not a debate on NSBM/RAC/whatever and whether it's wrong or right, but on the effects it has on the listener. In no way am I saying that listening to a band means you support their ideology.

Legacy Of The Night · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:33 pm

Normally I can take it, if it's subjective enough. I just don't like being preached to.

crast · **Joined:** Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:29 pm **Posts:** 1502

Doesn't bug me too much, although I usually note when a band is
of an opinion other than mine, and frown a bit.

Argholosent anyone?

.:crast:.

Thomas · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:59 pm

There is alot of stuff I don't agree with in lyrics, but I generally don't care. Except for NS bands. I don't listen to those.

Dago · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:05 pm

Nope. I listen to bands like Temnozor, Nokturnal Mortum etc and bands like CCCP-Fedeli Alla Linea and other communist punk bands.
If they are good i'll have a listen!

Kathaarian · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:24 pm

No. I can listen to Arghoslent and Napalm Death and feel just about the same.

Cú Chulainn · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:50 pm

I can agree or disagree with a message and while disagreeing stimulates a sense of slight annoyance, what is more noticeable is when you hear an awesome song that also coincides with views you personally have about something, it has a far more stimulating effect. I don't think I'd like bands like Deicide as much if I didn't wholeheartedly agree with the anti-christianism, or Napalm Death if I didn't have leftist sentiments.

noodles · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:18 pm

the only band with political lyrics i can think of that i listen to is Protest the Hero.

fuck yeah feminismcore

i guess if a band were like nazis or something i might be turned away from their music but there aren't any bands i enjoy that are like that

Legacy Of The Night · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:19 pm

noodles wrote:

the only band with political lyrics i can think of that i listen to is Protest the Hero.

fuck yeah feminismcore

NO WOMAN
NO WOMAN
NO WOMAN
IS! A! WHORE!

rio · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:10 pm

Yes, sometimes. I don't mind so much in NSBM because the lyrics are unintelligible. However I couldn't really enjoy Skrewdriver because the White Power lyrics are an integral part of it and very obvious.

However, if they are politics I agree with then it does usually make me enjoy it more, definitely. Dead Kennedys, Propaghandi, RATM, Napalm Death are examples of where this applies.

Astaroth · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:10 pm

nope, doesn't affect me - not in the sense that it affects my political or philosphical views, but it does affect my choice of music in some cases. Certain stuff i would never listen to; hippie crap, gay crap, emo crap, and goth crap (what's the difference). It also depends on how explicit the lyrics are and what kind of focus they have - you can be a NSBM band without praising hitler and the killing of jews in your lyrics. If the lyrics were all about how awsome hitler was and how cool killing jews is then i would listen to it, but most nsbm bands are more focused on their own culture and it's root, and i'm fine with that. Bands such as Nokturnal Mortum are for most part more about paganism, tree-hugging stuff and mystism so i really don't care if ppl label them NS or not. But the most famous NSBM aint that explicit anyway, wouldn't fit black metal.

hope this makes any sense

traptunderice · **Posted:** Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:15 am

I didn't realize Nokturnal Mortum was NSBM. Between them and Arghoslent, I guess an artist's views doesn't matter to me when I listen to music.

noodles · **Posted:** Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:09 am

rio wrote:

Yes, sometimes. I don't mind so much in NSBM because the lyrics are unintelligible. However I couldn't really enjoy Skrewdriver because the White Power lyrics are an integral part of it and very obvious.

i'd imagine it would have a lot to do with whether or not the lyrics are understandable for me, too

heatseeker · **Posted:** Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:30 am

crast wrote:

Argholosent anyone?

.:crast:.

Yeah, it only affects me if it's really extreme like Arghoslent. Otherwise I'm usually okay with Satanism and stuff even if I think it's really stupid.

And Protest the Hero has really cool lyrics. :dio:

OldSchool · **Posted:** Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:00 am

I guess it matters in the sense that if a band has racist or ns lyrics, I lose respect for them. But, if their music is good enough, like in the case of Nokturnal Mortum and Arghoslent, I'll still listen to them. It's also easier for me to do that since I'm a non native English speaker so I understand very little of the lyrics of a black or death band, especially if I'm not focused on the lyrics.

crast · **Joined:** Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:29 pm **Posts:** 1502

heatseeker wrote:

crast wrote:

Argholosent anyone?

.:crast:.

Yeah, it only affects me if it's really extreme like Arghoslent. Otherwise I'm usually okay with Satanism and stuff even if I think it's really stupid.

The new Arghoslent album is so awesome that I just don't care.

:dio:

NP: Arghoslent - In Coffins They Where Led

Arghoslent wrote:

Marooned at Sierra Leone
Galleons prepared for the ride loaded with the nation's raw source of labor
With not a courtesan in the swarthy bunch

So intolerably loathsome was the stench of the kidnapped that the air was unfit for respiration
The chained turned delirious from the weight of their fate

Their brutish tempers curbed
By ten to twenty lashes
The pain made them abate their
Courage and beliefs

In Coffles They Were Led

Their brutish tempers curbed
By ten to twenty lashes
Wrists and ankles bruised
From the weight of fetters

May Christian faith release us from this guilt
So that we may uphold our mission
May Christian faith release us from this guilt
So that we may never be led

All that is injurious to our existence must be annihilated
Someday this ruinous practice will come to haunt our peoples and our cultures

Not *that* bad are they? :wacko:

.:crast:.

Goat · **Posted:** Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:32 am

The problem with Arghoslent is that they're part of the breed of bands that tries to cloak their racism under terms like 'racialism'. It's got members of Grand Belial's Key, so lyrics describing "inferior" black people being carried on slave ships take on a mocking tone - not like the gory historical interest of The Monolith Deathcult, for example. And you can't really describe it in, say, Hate Forest -> Drudkh terms, because HF were only ever NS by association and because 'aryan' pops up a few times in their lyrics - even back then they had songs about the Ukrainian insurgent army, and as far as I can tell they avoid pure racism.

Cú Chulainn · **Posted:** Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:38 pm

Those Arghoslent lyrics look more like a historical narration from a christian slaveowners point of view.

crast · **Joined:** Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:29 pm **Posts:** 1502

FrigidSymphony wrote:

Those Arghoslent lyrics look more like a historical narration from a christian slaveowners point of view.

What about these:

Arghlosent wrote:

The European taste for sugar cane
Tobacco in thick
Precious leafy fronds
Amenities not found in colder climates
Are sought

Above the steaming jungle
Lies snowy heights of honor
Foundations of empire are laid
On sweating backs of nigger slaves

To alien invaders flesh was made
An offering for economic gain
Lives traded for tusks of ivory
Are sought

Above the steaming jungle
Lies snowy heights of honor
Foundations of empire are laid
On sweating backs of nigger slaves

Superior beings compelled
Into the dark enclave
Drum beats along the congo
Forewarn of raids into
The primal Eden of the low

From darkened children
Priceless gold was had
Diamonds mined by captives
Built a throne
Enflared nostrils breathed
The jungle air
But not for long

Above the steaming jungle
Lies snowy heights of honor
Foundations of empire are laid
On sweating backs of nigger slaves
Compelled into the dark enclave

From their labors gold was had
Diamonds fed the empires thrones

Rampant prognathism
Reduced cranial girth
Dark children led away
Evidence of the rape
In chains

The cargo lies in chains
Aboard merchant ships
Anchored at the coast
Await the sign to sail
For the white empire

.:crast:.

Goat · **Posted:** Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:47 pm

FrigidSymphony wrote:

Those Arghoslent lyrics look more like a historical narration from a christian slaveowners point of view.

Subtext, dear Fridge - look at the band saying it.

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Politics In Music: Does It Affect You?

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