LETTERS

LETTERS

LETTERSBlack Humor=ReactionaryDear MRR:I am questioning your reasons for

reviewing the BLACK HUMOR LP.When I listened to it, I was com-

pletely surprised by the lyrics.This is black humor? Come on . I rea-lize some people get off on so-called "gallows humor", but what'sthe point of a record like this whenthere are so many really importantsubjects that need to be discussedwith song lyrics?

"Hometown Vigilante" comes acrossas an invitation to go out and shootanyone you might not like."Zebra Killers" is blatantly rac-

ist with its jungle tribal sounds.So the original Zebra Killers (thepress-hype name for the group, bythe way, and never the name used bythem) were racists ; must we be thesame in return?

"Kill Them" [has] something to of-fend everyone . Starting with "killall these little kids that just gottheir Dead Kennedys album forChristmas from Mom and Dad and byNew Year's they're stone cold hard-core punks",

it gets worse fromthere, to the point of nausea."Au wiedersehn Judea" (Goodbye

Jew), the most antisemetic diatribeI've ever heard.I can't go on . I'm not sure I want

you to print this [since] I don'twant to give BLACK HUMOR any morepublicity . Tom Mallon should beashamed for recording this in hisstudio.I should have known by the record

label of a swastica made of crutchesthat this was not for me . Who areDan House and George Miller who putthis bile together?Hooray! for bands like DKs, MDC,

HUSKER DU, TOXIC REASONS, CRASS andall the bands on their label.

A . MorganS .F.

Black Humor= BrilliantTo A . Morgan and others,When you buy a BLACK HUMOR album,

there are liner notes inside . Ithink that these should be read be-fore any decision is made . They out-line their intentions song by song,not unlike your letter . But let usconsider."Hometown Vigilante" is about a

place where one member of BLACKHUMOR grew up_ (as liner notesstate) . I seriously doubt that if hebelieved in what those people standfor, he'd be here writing parodiesof them.

"Zebra Killers" has no lyrics. It

is a collage of African tribalmusic

. Personally, I really enjoy alot of types of music, African beingone . Do you think that they arereally being malicious? Do you thinkthat if they were truly racist theywould make such a lovely piece basedon traditional black music? They dotalk about the Zebra Killings brief-ly in the liner notes

. They dedicatethe piece to the insanity of thewhole event . Using such an ethnicpiece brings out the racism and sad-ness of the Zebra killings.Now we get to the meat of BLACK

HUMOR, yah, gallows humor. In my

mind, thought-provoking humor like"Kill Them" is masterful

. They layervoices and run through every derogo-tory buzz word imaginable terriblewords . They throw in combinations of

these words to bring out their ab-surdity, like, "Black Cuban Fags ."Then to prove that, if we're goingto hate or kill them, we better alsokill "people in condos", "buildingmanagers", "little old ladies withwalkers", "fucking punk rockers".That line in the beginning about thekids with their first DKS recordmakes a sham of all those jadedpunks who ramble on about the firstNuns show and how all these youngerpunks are so ignorant . This songisn't bigoted . This song displayshow rampant and silly bigotry is.What sets this song apart from POI-SON GIRL's "Persons Unknown"?Aufweidersehn Juden", upon lis-

tening, has only a couple of distin-guishable lyrics . You and I mightnot agree with the liner notes butthey do explain themselves

. It isn'tanti-semitism . It is an emotionalappeal to shed guilt for a moment inhistory when we weren't even alive.I don't agree that we should forgetit, but there is no difference bet-ween this sentiment and NOH MERCY's"Caucasion Guilt", i .e ., I'm notstupid and I don't want to take res-ponsibility for the stupidity ofthose before me."Too Stupid To Die" is about a

bird that got hit by a truck.I too could go on

. I am obviouslya fan, but I think that you areoverreacting and taking a super-ficial view of the symbolism here.Which is why I won't even attempt toanalyse the twisted swastika made ofcrutches (one friend told me it mean"Nazis are lame") . Their most visi-ble logo (which is on the cover orinside those hand-designed mon-strosities) is a collage of Reaganholding a cross in front of an Amer-ican flag whose stars are swasticas.This is one of the most strikinganti-fascist images around.I still contend that Black Humor

are brilliant.Ruth Schwartziron tro151

Dear MRR:This is an apology and an expla-

nation. The apology goes to IRON

CROSS . In the space of two or threeparagraphs (MINOR THREAT interview,MRR #1), I severely damaged theirreputation with my poorly-chosenwords . What I said was true, but itwas said out of context, and irres-ponsibly.

IRON CROSS has been together for 11/2 years, and that entire time theyhave been trying to outrun the Nazilabel tagged to them because of thealignment with the U .K

. skinheadmovement . Instead of taking advan-tage of a nationwide interview tohelp clear up that misconception, Iput a few more nails in their coffinwith my stupid mouth.

"IRON CROSS nas NO political affi-liations, nor do we believe in anyform of Fascism or Nazism"

- Sab Grey

Like I said in the interview, it'sa very 'touchy subject'

. In a feebleeffort to put forth the facts sur-rounding the band, I got crossed-upor shut-up or whatever, and nevergot to the punchline.The punchline is : I like IRON

CROSS and I do not think they areNazi or fascist band

. Period.If you have a problem witn that

write me at Dischord or IRON CROSSat 2706 N. Forth, Arlington, VA22201 and find out for yourselves.

Ian MacKaye

RastafoniesDear MRR:Great magazine and great MDC in-

terview : I am glad that others arebeginning to speak out about the bo-gus, discriminatory attitudes of theBAD BRAINS and other bands likethem . When they were is Tucson, Icouldn't overlook the clash betweentheir 'love everybody' message andtheir homophobic, racist, mysogynist'born-again' attitude . Everyone downhere told me (in effect) to go burna bra, that I was taking them tooseriously and besides, who was I toquestion these rock gods? This allsmacked of the very rock establish-ment we're all so disdainful of . Itake this very seriously . Here arethese guys undermining all that I amas a person and I'm supposed to go'haha' and buy their fucking rec-ords! I'm glad MDC isn't selling outto the good old American dream . Af-ter all, isn't what the Bad Brainsare saying the same old shit in apunky wrap?

Nurse K.Tucson, Az.

Always never f InHumans:

.Thanks for the Church Policeinterview . They're a great band(even if they've never sent me thetape I sent away for) . A strangething happened at show in WalnutCreek . Tim said, "You know, CircleJerks, AC/DC, they're all the same ."After that he was unhip and peoplespat, threw stuff, and flipped himoff in his face . If we aren't open-minded as a group, people oughtacall us short-haired hippies . Timcould've gotten up there and said,"AC/DC sucks, Circle Jerks rule,"and the people would've loved himeven though he was using GeorgeThoroughgood appeal . . . He has guts . ..

GruxNapa, Ca.

It0 OOQ40 CI;PUNK ON THE ROCKSDear MRR:

I was curious about that "Punk onIce" article - punk in prison . Thatguy sounds like he's collecting infofor the CIA or something

. Why allthe questions on Marxist Left, theinfluence of fanzines and radio andwhether it's a small handful of leaderswhat? Wanna 4et humped off? Now thatpunk is big time the governmentagencies must be planning some-thing

. I'm not giving that guy anyinfo . . .

The Lone RangerSan Francisco

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LETTERS

LETTERS

LETTERS

Dear Readers,This is sort of a continuation' of

Lynn and my last letter to you-anumber 4 on the problems list . Lastnight I went to see a show where CH3were playing ; I hate to say it but Iwas actually embarrassed by the au-dience! CH3 were really hot, butpeople were so obnoxious to them Ifelt like screaming . Ice was con-stantly being flung onto the stage,plus beer cans, and get this-evenPAINT : Isn't that carrying it a bittoo far? This incident is not a rareexample ; I think the Bay Area scenehas become pretty jaded . Close mind-edness is something we can defin-itely do without

. If local groupsdidn't have their friends in theaudience, I would hate to think ofthe reception they'd get . We need tosupport "good" bands, even if theyare opening, and no matter wherethey are from . Stop being so preju-diced, and give them a chance . Thinkabout what you are doing next timeyou plan on bombarding the stage.How would you feel if it were yourband up there?Oh, I just want to add a couple

more things . One, L .A. is improving.I guess they hit bottom, losingtheir best clubs, and decided toshape up a bit . And, two, are youaware that it is now legal under theVictim's Bill of Rights for cops tosearch your trunk-without your per-mission? Consider that next time youplan to drive with alcohol in theback : . ; .N~ ~4,

,~,~'~

"~ ~!:, Michelle

And a good issue it seems too . Onething an articulate HC medium couldtry to accomplish is to help recog-nize that there are dozens, surehundreds, of non hard core bandsthat share their values and con-cerns, yet are lost to any possiblefraternal cause due to HC's seemingsocial isolationism and rampant in-criminations ; factors which para-doxically seem alsd prime reasonsfor HC movement's very existence.I'm tempted to term a great deal ofwhat I see and hear as paranoialaced with xenophobic demagoguery,simplistically and arbitrarily crea-ting a new clatch of tribal buzz-words formulated on the premise ofif one is not FOR hard core, thenhe/she is AGAINST hard core, ergoguilty as charged . Frankly, there istoo much of that kind of mentalityaround

already,

infesting

placeslike 1600 Pennsylvania and the like .

Your editorial goes a long, long wayin pointing out the dangers inher-ent-cults of personality and mock-able Reaganistic individualism mas-querading as "freedom"-and I hopethat MRR can go a long way in help-ing natural allies, alienated by themachinations of contemporary capi-talism, to come to fuller and betterunderstanding .

Bill AspWasp RecordsArlington, Va

MRR,I am glad to see you people have

directly linked politics with punkand have suggested (not commanded)that we take direct action (demon-strating etc .) . I've been seeingmore and more sincere, concernedbands coming out and trying to openminds and I've been meeting morepeople at shows trying to do thesame just by talking with people . A

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small chunk has been taken out ofignorance and apathy but we need toADD a more direct approach . I'm notsuggesting we march through CivicCenter holding hands and singingpeace songs and I'm not suggestingwe riot. What I am saying is thatthose concerned need to unite so asto decide what type of action istaken . We draw encircled A's every-where and say "fuck authority" butwho's still getting fucked? We saywe have autonomy-"live by my rules",but there's still armed pigs on thestreet to make you live by govern-ment rules and your "autonomy" canbe blown away in 8 minutes . I seetons of people really trying to re-sist but it's just on an individualbasis cause we're all drowning in"Punk" which has all too many fac-tions and cliques . There's got to bea place where concerned punks canunite and do something about what'swrong. We need something like Eur-ope's "autonomous-youth centers"

. Inmany parts of Europe punks havestarted these centers where theycome together annually to discusspolitical/social activities . Thereare no committees or chairpeople,they're completely unsupervised, andthere is an open microphone . In Zur-ich there have been meetings with asmany as three thousand people . Butover here we've become fuckin' dead-heads, waiting for certain personsor a small group of people to dothings, ..as it stands we ere divided,conquerable,

and

dust

a

minor(insignificant) threat.

Mark M.

San Francisco

':~;;

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