(no subject)

[wshaffer]

So, I wish I could say I was surprised when video surfaced of Phil Anselmo (of Down and Pantera fame) doing a Nazi salute and shouting, "White Power" at a recent concert. It's all too common these days for footage to surface of some well-respected musician behaving badly.

What I find rather more surprising is that Anselmo has apparently been doing crap like this for years, and nobody's really said much about it. I've probably read a million pages of forum and blog posts dissecting the political and racial beliefs of various metal artists, and I don't recall reading a word about Anselmo. That could be because I don't really follow his work all that closely, but I also suspect that he's benefited from the almost uniquely venerated status of Pantera in the American metal scene.

Anyway, the video below is kind of embarrassingly 101-level anti-racism, but apparently that is what the metal community needs to hear right now, so I applaud Robb Flynn for being willing to say it. 

Comments

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

I wasn't aware either, but I've never been that into Pantera, and I don't really hang out in online forums where metal musicians' metal attitudes might be discussed.

A friend of mine who saw them in concert in 2001 says he's been doing stuff like this at least that long, though. She walked out of the concert and never saw them again.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's partly because he's been doing it so long that no one really talks about it. I certainly get the feeling that it was easier to get away with this kind of crap when you could be certain it wouldn't end up on Youtube the next day.

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

Depressing but not entirely surprising, yeah. Pantera's hardline Texas shtick always rubbed me the wrong way, and I recall seeing some of the band members photographed with Confederate flags at one point.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Heck, Dimebag had a Confederate flag guitar, although at the time I regarded Confederate flag waving as more of a sign of fuzzy-headed ahistorical romanticism about Southern heritage than racism. These days I am no longer convinced that the distinction between those two things is either real or meaningful.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Props to Flynn, yeah. Wish it weren't necessary.

(Also, now I want Colin Farrell to play him in a movie. Maybe one where he takes down Racism in Metal with a flaming guitar or something.)

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I'd watch that movie!