Racially-charged, socially-provocative epithet-laden songs by artists not normally know for such things.

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Inspired by the accusation from a friend of mine that that the Stiff Little Fingers were racists skinheads (based on the song "White Noise". I unsuccessfully attempted to convince him that the sentiments expressed therein are IRONIC being that they themselves as the "green wogs" of which they lament (SLF are Irish).

"White Noise" by the Stiff Little Fingers (as mentioned, ironic, i believe)
"Feel Like a Wog" by the Stranglers (sadly, not ironic, i believe)
"I Like Chinese" by Monty Python (i played this on my college radio station once..stupidly)
"Waiting for the Worms" by Pink Floyd (also ironic)
"Power in the Darkness" by the Tom Robinson Band (HUGELY ironic spoken word passage
"12XU" by Wire (homophobia)

Others?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

What has happened to my ability to type coherent sentences?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"Walk on the Wild Side", obv.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

*insert snide Morrissey comment here*

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

irish blood, english heart
bengali in platforms
NF disco

― splooge (thesplooge), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

J Lennon "Woman is the Nigger of the World"
P McCartney "Frozen Jap"

― dave q, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i wish i was black - lou reed
rock n roll nigger - patti smith

― splooge (thesplooge), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I love that Lennon title; does that mean black women are niggers-squared?

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Roger Waters, "Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking", refers to Yoko Ono - "The bitch said something mystical - 'herro'"

Pink Floyd, "Postwar Dream" - "if it wasn't for the nips/ being so good at building ships/the yards would still be open on the clyde/ and it can't be much fun for them/ beneath the rising sun/ with all their kids committing suicide"

― dave q, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

for a while, there was a sub-community of guided by voices fans who heard the last line of "psychic pilot clocks out," from robert pollard's first solo album, as "i feel like passing on bias," and interpreted it as a not-so-secret message in support of, well, bias. (as in he feels like passing it on to the next generation, or to his fans, or whatever, as opposed to he feels like skipping over it.)

eventually, though, they decided the line was actually "i feel life passing on by us."

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

that's my new favourite story.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

King Crimson "Great Deceiver" ("health-food faggots")

― dave q, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

randy newman, "rednecks" and many more. which perhaps makes him ineligible for the thread, which demands "artists not normally known for such things." but if lou reed goes here, so does randy newman.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The "not normally known for such things" clause is keeping me from mentioning Foetus.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

12XU homophobic?

Whilst in the US the line "smoking a fag" could be interpreted as the act of shooting a homosexual, here in the UK it refers to the rather more mundane act of having a cigarette. :-)

― Ben Dot (1977), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

pe's "sophisticated bitch" has out-of-character offensive references to the gentler sex.

i was going to write the same thing about 12XU--i always heard it as a love song to a porno mag.

― dan (dan), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Eric Bogle's "I Hate Wogs" - assuming I'm not being too obscure.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

the angry samoans' "ballad of jerry kerlan" (homophobia, animal cruelty).

― dan (dan), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 17:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Pat Boone, "Speedy Gonzales"

― dave q, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, gee, when have John Lennon, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Randy Newman or the Angry Samoans ever been known to utter anything racially-charged, socially-provocative or epithet-laden?

― briania (briania), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Brian Eno - The Paw-Paw Negro Blowtorch. Though not really racially charged since apparently "negro" was still the socially accepted nomenclature in England at the time.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Dire Straits -- 'Money for Nothing'...they use the word 'faggot' in a derogatory sense. Another reason I hate Dire Straits.

― Star Cauliflower (Star Cauliflower), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Now there's a couple of good examples.

Actually, "racially-charged, socially-provocative, and epithet-laden" would be great to enter as a "search by mood" keyword on AMG.

― briania (briania), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:31 (twenty-one years ago)

i think people went crazy in the 60s and 70s proclaiming themselves the n-wordss of things. i once did a project on the FLQ that involved my chequing a book out of the library called "White Niggers of America". to which i wanted to respond 'hey, at least the Quebecois sort of have a state!'

― Dave M. (rotten03), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

also let us not forget the Arab Anti-Defamation League fracas over The Cure's "Killing An Arab"

― Dave M. (rotten03), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

12XU homophobic?

Whilst in the US the line "smoking a fag" could be interpreted as the act of shooting a homosexual, here in the UK it refers to the rather more mundane act of having a cigarette. :-)

Well, the "smoking a fag" line wasn't what I was referring to. Saw in a mag, kissing a man, saw you in a mag, kissing a man... bit, is a bit more accusatory (although, to be fair, the gender of the individual the song is directed at is never stated).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know enough of their catalog to decide whether it's "atypical" or not, but the Fall's "The Classical" ("Where are the obligatory niggers? Hey there, fuckface!") sure goes on my list.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Dire Straits -- 'Money for Nothing'...they use the word 'faggot' in a derogatory sense. Another reason I hate Dire Straits.

The character from whose viewpoint the song is written uses the term 'faggot' in a derrogatory sense; since the entire song is him moaning on about how easy Rock stars have it, I wouldn't be too sure that his views are supposed to represent Mark Knopfler's.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

There's, of course, the Def Jam-era Beastie Boys (License to Ill was originally to be titled Don't Be Fag), and then there's that line in "Hold it Now Hit," You Like Men and We Like BEERS!.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

how about: Bad Brains -- Don't Blow Bubbles?

― xenografia, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

X - "Los Angeles" - "She had started to hate every nigger and jew. Every Mexican that gave her a lotta shit! Every homosexual and the idle rich..."

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.