I've never cared very much about politics but unless you're living under a rock, it's pretty hard to ignore all of the crazy shit that's happening in the 2016 presidential race. It seems like other metalheads and metal bands are chiming in with their opinions. For instance I just found out today about these hilarious shirts:



I've seen a few more but these are the most hilarious by far. People from metal bands are even taking a stance on the election such as:

Randy Blythe: http://www.metalinjection.net/politics/lamb-of-gods-randall-blythe-vows-to-leave-the-u-s-if-trump-becomes-president

Corey Taylor: http://www.metalinjection.net/politics/corey-taylor-cant-believe-trump-is-a-presidential-candidate-contemplates-moving-out-of-u-s

GHOST: http://www.metalinjection.net/politics/ghost-endorse-bernie-sanders-over-donald-trump

Scott Ian: http://www.metalinjection.net/politics/anthraxs-scott-ian-backs-bernie-sanders-thinks-donald-trump-is-a-joke

As well as several others. I guess my question is, as metalheads, should we even give a fuck about politics? And should bands engage in these endorsements and propaganda that we're seeing?
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this.

I'm pretty sure I'm not oppressed for liking metal, so no I don't really think there's a reason why we should care "as metalheads" as politics. Individually? Of course. Or if you are a part of some other group that would benefit from a policy change.

Bands can, of course, take whatever stances they like politically. That's been a thing in music since like forever.

Yeah I know that politics has always been a common theme in rock/punk/metal but I guess what I find so intriguing is that these bands are actively making imagery that is either endorsing or chastising the candidates. Those shirts are essentially political cartoons.

This is one of the more controversial elections in a while, so it's not really so surprising. In the 80s, everyone shat on Reagan left and right. And hell from a pure marketing standpoint, it makes perfect sense.

Yep, this.

Plus, I bet that anti-Trump t-shirt is gonna sell like hot cakes.

I see a lot of hatred for Trump but he appears to be quite popular according to the polls. So maybe his detractors are just more vocal or many supporters of him remain silent due to fear of being labelled as bigots.

And, let's face it, would it really make much of a difference if Trump ever got into office? it's not like he'd become undisputed God Emperor of the US of A. He'd have a senate and congress to deal with who'd most likely give him the thumbs down if he tried to do something crazy. As for his foreign policy, he'd probably start a new war somewhere... just like every American President in the past 60-70 years. So...

Why do mainstream-alternative musicians take it upon themselves to become political pundits? Whether you're on the left or the right, surely there's more interesting political commentators than Corey Taylor and Ted Nugent.

Yeah, that's the news media's fault though, if they treat Corey Taylor like some kind of authority and write stories about it. Like Dudemanguy said, bands can say whatever they want at shows or on social media, though.

Is that Bernie Sanders on the tank? Cringeworthy. The MW is a good one if you share the view sponsored on it, but this one is retarded. Mockery and satire are good, partisanship belongs on the twitter feed of braindead retards.

^He's firing at Hillary Clinton. It's not blind partisanship at all, and they obviously support Bernie.


There's no such thing as bad publicity.

A valid point. I would never wear either of these shirts (even though I like both of the bands) but when I saw the one of Trump blowing his brains out I thought, "Not only is that fucking brutal, it should happen in real life." And then I saw the one of Bernie Sanders smoking a huge joint and running over (most) of the douchey candidates in a tank I thought: "Yes, this also needs to happen." Haha

That All Shall Perish one is gonna be dated in like two weeks when El Jebbe drops out.

As far as musicians having political thoughts: they're people. People have opinions. Playing in a band doesn't somehow make them less qualified than any other random asshole. And yeah, it's totally not up to them when Blabbermouth writes an article about their views.

I think a better question is "should we as metalheads give a fuck about musicians' political views?" And the answer for me is a big fat no. Ideology is at most a tangential factor in my enjoyment of music/respect for a band. As for your original question, yeah, why not? People can have multiple interests.

All of it is topical, obviously. I think the press and urgency of this election, which comes at a strange time in American history with all the political division and discord, seep into a lot of things, and it's really not surprising that bands are doing shirts or whatever to convey their stance. Really, it's no different from the average joe writing on his Facebook about Trump or an artist drawing a picture of Bernie Sanders powerbombing Jeb through a table.

Please tell me this is a thing. Please god tell me this is real.

It can be. It should be. Well, maybe not a powerbomb. Bernie seems more like a Kudo Driver kind of guy.

I found this interview with Tony Foresta of Municipal Waste about the shirt:

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/municipal-waste-donald-trump-shirt

Pretty interesting, and it's funny how he brings up the fact that people are making a big deal about this despite their past imagery and lyrics.

Yeah, I also found it amusing that some people got up in a tiff about the shirt given the whole history of Municipal Waste and really metal in general being offensive. Though to be fair the article pointed out that those types were a relatively small minority.

Somebody should make a shirt of Trump reading the Communist Manifesto. Marx would probably be proud. And so would Lenin, of course.

Yeah, I had to cave in and buy one of those Trump suicide shirts. I don't even really care that much about the fella (as long as he doesn't actually fucking win), but the shock value is priceless. It was on like a 3 week back order when I ordered mine yesterday, so if you're thinking of making some post-christmas impulse buys, that might be the one to go with.

I don't know, maybe I'm getting old but I wouldn't wear that. It's pretty distasteful and isn't going to make people like Trump less. And what's a 'wall of death'?

If I was still in college and around people my age more I totally would buy one. But yeah, as great as it is I really don't need that covering my tits when I go to buy cereal and beer or whatever. Also the back print is godfuckingawful.

Wall of death is a some mosh thing, btw.

"Distasteful" is subjective Tipper gore, don't tell me what to wear!

I bet wearing actual Trump campaign shirts or hats would upset way more people if that's what you're going for.

The metalhead in me doesn't give a crap about politics, but the citizen in me does care about who runs this country.
I'm sick of some metal musicians grandstanding about politics (I'm thinking in particular about Dave Mustaine, who incidently seems like a typical Trump supporter.)
That said, I agree with the sentiments of those T-shirts, but I probably wouldn't wear either one, and I don't care for either band.

The idea of a metal musician supporting Trump is fucking ridiculous, given that a big part of the reason metal was such a hit in the 80s was all the anti-Reagan sentiment floating around. I don't much like the idea of metal bands supporting candidates, but I 100% support metal bands being against them.

Wouldn't wear a t-shirt like that because it's in poor taste and I don'r feel comfortable wearing something that depicts an actual person dying. Even if Trump is a douche, I don't want the dude to off himself.

Another t-shirt I'd never wear, despite finding it funny, is that Craddle of Filth "Jesus is a Cunt" t-shirt.

Also, aren't Municipal Waste taking a big risk with this? I mean someone as powerful as Trump could easily sue them, couldn't he?


They can support whoever they want as long as it doesn't interfere with their music. Dave Mustaine can say in interviews whatever he wants about any political candidate and finance their campaign out of hsi own pocket if he wants to. If he starts rallying for support of people and ideologies I don't agree with in his songs, then I'll just stop listening to his stuff bearing such content.

Metal was fueled by anti-Reagan sentiment? Tell me more about it. I'm always willing to learn more about metal and musical history as whole.

Metal and politics don't mix!

Now excuse me while I sing the 1970 classic War Pigs...

It was just a time when the conservative baby boomers essentially ran the country, instituted "Reaganomics", and were enacting a lot of other conservative policies. It's like how Thatcher galvanized a lot of punk and metal over in the UK.

If I recall that was also the period in time when the Republican party started really heavily, publicly catering to the Christian right, which was obviously something people reacted to, and which Satan needed to make war against via long-haired teenagers.

I could be wrong, but I think this falls under the same reason tabloids get to make up shit about Megan Fox birthing reptilian half-breeds or whatever. They're public figures. Trump especially has forced himself out there. It'd be entirely different if it was a picture of some random private citizen.

Well it's also because it's not actually a photograph of him. It's an artist drawing of Trump, I'm pretty sure that makes a difference.

But the Christian Right was already big before Reagan, right? And before the Republican party began catering to them, who used to do it? The Democrats? After all, they were once the more conservative party, but they seem to have switched sides after the civil rights movement. I recall reading about that some years ago.

Probably best just to read about it – the History section in this Wiki article on the Christian right has more on the topic than I can offer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_right

not to mention, its all shall perish and municipal waste. MW hasn't been a thought in my mind since I was 19, and All shall perish is.....deathcore. My point being both shirts will probably go undetected by the entire trump candidacy.

Besides, if they called them out for it... no such thing as bad publicity as they say.

Wasn't Tipper Gore leading the PMRC and effectively the one who spearheaded that whole movement? And wasn't Al Gore a Democrat?

Tipper Gore wasn't leading the Christian right, and she doesn't have anything to do with Republicans being aligned with the Christian right in the '80s. Just read the Wiki page.

I did read it, and I'm not denying that the Christian right are a bunch of retards, or how awful most of this year's batch of Republicans are. But as far as going after metalheads in the 80's, Tipper Gore arguably did more for that than Reagan or anyone in the GOP, so painting it as purely an issue among Republicans is a bit disingenuous.

No one was painting it that way, nor was anyone talking about the Christian right "going after metalheads" in the '80s. I believe you misinterpreted.

I mean theres this facebook page...
https://www.facebook.com/BernieThePatrician/?fref=ts