“Wake up!” With those two words, the weirdest mainstream-crossover metal song of this century (its video has 1.5 billion views and counting on YouTube) still also stands as the loudest clarion call we’ve heard since Rage Against the Machine. That band’s protégé-ish followers, System of Down, took the baton from Rage and went on to come one of the most important “political” albums of this century: Toxicity.
Continue readingHow you likin’ Authoritarian America now? To all the conservative “disrupters” out there, The Bad Penny hopes this is what you were wishing for – and (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) that the wave of tyrannical terror sweeping the nation doesn’t drown you in its wake.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you; after all, we launched this On Tyranny franchise in December. But rather than subject you to “I told you so examples” from our 25-part series, we’ll instead suggest some of our favorite contemporary protest records that you can serve as your soundtrack for the weekend. Here goes, in chronological order:
Refused‘s The Shape of Punk to Come (1998)
System of a Down’s Toxicity (2001)
GOLD
1. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
2. Bill Hicks – Flying Saucer Tour Vol. 1 – Pittsburgh ’91 and Love, Laughter & Truth reissues (Rykodisc) Continue reading
1. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
2. Isis – Oceanic (Ipecac)
• Bad Penny interview: “Isis’ Aaron Turner In ’02: Oceanic Is ‘The Best Material We’ve Ever Written’ ”
• Bad Penny essay: “Isis’ Oceanic: Mystery Revealed?”
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1. System of a Down – Hypnotize (American/Columbia)
2. System of a Down – Mezmerize – (American/Columbia)
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