C/D: "Guilty of Being White" by Minor Threat

Guilty Of Being White

I'm sorry
For something I didn't do
Lynched somebody
But I don't know who
You blame me for slavery
A hundred years before I was born

Guilty of being white

I'm a convict
Of a racist crime
I've only served
19 years of my time

Guilty of being white

Guilty Of Being White

I'm sorry
For something I didn't do
Lynched somebody
But I don't know who
You blame me for slavery
A hundred years before I was born

Guilty of being white

I'm a convict
Of a racist crime
I've only served
19 years of my time

Guilty of being white

i'm guilty of being white btw

im guilty of being right

Title: Good
Song: Kinda

Moronic song. Easily the worst thing Minor Threat released.

lolz 19 year olds

how about white minority by black flag?

http://www.banbucket.com/uploads/1237364395.jpg

nothing that's released by minor threat can be called dud. this song is not a classic, though.

If this song wasn't lurking at the bottom of the resumé, imagine how much more insufferable Fugazi would be.

the story about Ian getting pissed off at what Slayer did to the cover version is funnee

Ian got pissed at someone. Seems hard to believe. That dude is so level-headed.

didnt slayer say something along the lines of "if you dont want to be known as a racist band, dont write a song called guilty of being white?"

This song is classic in that it totally exemplifies the contradictory, privileged, suburban white-boy philosophy of MT. Is not rebelling rebellion? HELLS YEA!

the interview on the minor threat DVD about this song is so so so so LOL/WTF

Just the excuse I needed to post this image again.

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-567616-1188767075.jpeg

which if the case, shows slayers motives in a dodgy light

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-567616-1188767075.jpeg

Bah.

http://marschflugkoerper.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/britney_threat_xxx.jpg

"the interview on the minor threat DVD about this song is so so so so LOL/WTF"

What was the gist?

Favor 4 u:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7425/imageuploadimage.jpg

We're all guilty...
GUILTY!

WE ARE ALL BIGOTS
SO FILLED WITH HATRED

AT least Hank Rollins was openly hypocritical....

I love MT, BTW.

BTW, I'm guilty of being white.

You're always talking talking talking talking talking shit now
But you will talk yourself down
YOU'RE GOING DOWN!

So does he just chalk this up to being 19 or what?

haven't heard the song in question, but i bet it's not as good as 'don't call me white' by NOFX

ian has some stuff to say about in american hardcore. a lot of it about the DC school system and being kind of horrified at the song being appropriated by white supremacists.

I've talked to so many people who have held the point of view expressed in the song. Usually the term 'reverse discrimination' is dropped somewhere along the way. In my experience, these people have in general had some pretty questionable opinions about politics and race.

It must be a bitch to gain fame at such a young age. I know I would have a lot of explaining and backpedaling to do if my shitty garage metal band had suddenly caught on and been a catalyst for a pretty noteworthy music career.

That said, I would be embarrassed if my gf walked in and heard me playing this song.

TS: "Guilty of Being White" v. Iron Cross

. . . horrified at the song being appropriated by white supremacists.

― LaMonte, Tuesday, March 17, 2009 7:51 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Well, I mean, what did he expect?

Would you guys uncheck this song for last.fm scrobbling?

This is the vital question ILMsters want to know.

19 year old sings stupid, regrettable shit in hardcore band shockah and all that.

song's a massive dud, but MINOR THREAT still rules.

there are far more songs by white guys to be guilty about than guilty of being white.

Well, I mean, what did he expect?

Yeah, imagine not realising the future worldwide recognition factor of Minor Threat while only playing to their circle of friends and scattered other interested locals

Yeah, but I mean, how do you write a song like that without thinking "hmmmn, there might be some people who'll take this the wrong way, come to think about it"

wasn't this more of a school thing? like them being part of a small white group of kids in a largely black school? i thought i read that once.

anyway yeah it's like dudes were young. they seemed to make it to good natured adulthood.

"wasn't this more of a school thing? like them being part of a small white group of kids in a largely black school? i thought i read that once."

Pretty sure this is not true or at least Banned in DC makes it look pretty white.

So does he just chalk this up to being 19 or what?

It annoys me that he doesn't, actually. Maybe it's just a function of the way he tries to explain himself, but the context he provides for this -- growing up in a largely black city, and probably getting plenty of public-school hassle -- still sounds like a justification, like he's explaining why he thinks the song is good. I'm not particularly suspicious of his grown-up motives, but I'm surprised he can't let himself fall on his sword a bit more about this one -- admit that it's coming from a naive and juvenile perspective, even if it's one it made sense for him to have as a naive juvenile!

call me idiot, but what's wrong with this song? it's an honest question. thanks.

I mean, maybe the deeper problem is that, in order to acknowledge the problem with this song, he'd have to admit that when he was young he was both self-righteous and sort of wrong-headed about something -- I think he could more easily admit to being wrong than being, like, ill-advisedly self-righteous, cause once you puncture that then some part of his raison evaporates

xxxp That is disappointing.

That song is not so bad when put in context with this song (but I like this song better)
imagine the narrator is addressing the same person in both songs:

You're sixteen going on thirty-two
Confusion of age surrounding you
Cigarette dangles from your painted lips
You wear the shoe because it fits
Put on your sneakers and be a kid
Why don't you try and have some fun
Put on your sneakers and be a kid
You're not fooling anyone
Why you wanna grow so old, so fast
Let your teenage ignorance last
Put away all those rings and chains
Come back and enjoy the growing pains
When I saw you the other day
You saw me but turned away
Why didn't you acknowledge me
Was it cause your date was thirty-three

how about white minority by black flag?

― Pfunkboy in blood drenched rabbit suit jamming in the woods (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, March 17, 2009 9:39 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"white minority" is pretty clearly sarcastic

"guilty of being white" is painfully sincere

Wilson High had a sizable amount of white kids though, and the immediate neighborhood is/was nearly all white. I used to see Minor Threat live way back then; can't remember if they played this out very much.

Played this live very often, is what I mean.

I don't approach this song from the stand point of 25 or more years of the "Being a white male is the most difficult thing in the world" reverse discrimination attitude. I think of it terms of being young, angry, and punk in the late 70s to early 80s.

Rebelling against the status quo includes rebelling against liberal ideas. These guys were against fucking too.

I don't need an explanation or an apology years after the fact because I accept this is the statement they made at that time and I really don't see anything wrong with those lyric except a failure or unwillingness to understand how they could be interpreted in a harmful way.

Wow, this is difficult territory to tread into. All I think I mean is the singer was bugged about feeling blamed when he felt personally innocent. He wrote a rant about it. He hadn't had some maturity and experience to take his ideas to a couple of next levels yet, and was too "pure" to be ironic.

rereading the thread, I'm not saying anything that hasn't been addressed to some extent already.

(I'm not looking forward to hearing the music made by the kids who feel betrayed by the coming era of Hope and Change.)

Something else, I can't even remember how this song sounds, and I'm not going to play it this late at night. From a strictly C or D standpoint that points towards D, because it is a small discography that I've listened to in many formats and know most of by heart.