Blatantly racist songs that have managed to pass under the prejudice-radar

what about sub-radar anti-Arab racism in US music - been much recently?

one of the stooges dudes was into that memoribilia shit too, can't remember which one

Ron.

Lemmy is a funny case.

Clapton continued:

"I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans and fucking (indecipherable) don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don’t want fucking wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fuck's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he’s a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he’s our man, he’s on our side, he’ll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he’s on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"[70]

I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.
I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.
I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.
I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.
I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.

is a white guy in a native American headress automatically racist? I dunno

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/images/2008/06/13/calvincoolidge.jpg

agree about the white on black text thing ugh why do people do that

Racist.

Funny that: Elvis Costello's Ray Charles remark fatally stalled his career in the US, while not really harming him much at home. Nor did anyone in the UK/Ireland ever think he was a racist - his explanation - that he was trying to wind up an annoying yank - was pretty much accepted.

Shoulda just gone with the ol' "tampon on the head" routine.

hang on what the actual fuck @ clapton

yeah LJ, he's much more than just the most boring ass soloist of all time

I think this song's subtly racist, the "Don't know the difference between Iraq and Iran" part, subtext being, "and I don't care/need/want to, because I love me some Jeebus."

"Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)"

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Out in the yard with your wife and children
Working on some stage in LA
Did you stand there in shock at the site of
That black smoke rising against that blue sky
Did you shout out in anger
In fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry

Did you weep for the children
Who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below

Did you burst out in pride
For the red white and blue
The heroes who died just doing what they do
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself to what really matters

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Driving down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her
Did you dust off that bible at home
Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak with some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watching
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns
Did you go to a church and hold hands with some stranger
Stand in line and give your own blood
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

The greatest is love
The greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day

already do not like his music and attitude but there is a single eagle crying tears in heaven 4 the remainder of time @ eric klansman

I remember some people having a mild kerfuffle over Tim McGraw's "Indian Outlaw" but that obviously hasn't hurt his career.

Then there's this post 9/11 jam:

Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue
(Angry American)
Sung by Toby Keith

American girls and American guys
Will always stand up and salute
Will always recognize
When we see Old Glory flying
There's a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our head

My Daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
Till the day that he died
He wanted my Mother, my Brother,
My Sister and me
To grow up and live happy
In the land of the free

Now this nation that I love
Is falling under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flying in
From somewhere in the back
As soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man we lit up your world
Like the Fourth of July

Chorus:
Hey, Uncle Sam put your name
At the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly
And it's going to be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringing her bell
And it will feel like the whole wide world
Is raining down on you
Brought to you courtesy
Of the Red, White and Blue

Oh, justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
You'll be sorry that you messed
With the U.S. of A.
Cause we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way

Hey, Uncle Sam put your name
At the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly
And it's going to be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringing her bell
And it will feel like the whole wide world
Is raining down on you
Brought to you courtesy
Of the Red, White and Blue
Of the Red, White and Blue
Of my Red, White and Blue

I dont detect any racisms in that toby keith song

we covered Ian MacKaye's "Guilty of Being White" on some other thread, but he's hardly a figure on the level of Clapton. Maybe Siouxsie Sioux.

there's plenty of execrable sentiments in modern country, but I think by and large they're pretty careful to appear enlightened/not racist. the stigma against being publicly and outwardly racist is pretty intense (as it should be)

As recently as 1998, Virginia's state song was "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny"

Carry me back to old Virginny.
There's where the cotton and corn and taters grow.
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring-time.
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.

There's where I labored so hard for old Massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn;
No place on earth do I love more sincerely
Than old Virginny, the state where I was born.

Carry me back to old Virginny.
There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow;
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring-time.
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There let me live till I wither and decay.
Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wandered,
There's where this old darkey's life will pass away.

Massa and Missis have long since gone before me,
Soon we will meet on that bright and golden shore.
There we'll be happy and free from all sorrow,
There's where we'll meet and we'll never part no more.

Carry me back to old Virginny.
There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow;
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring-time.
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.

Outkast in redskin drag is pretty recent, but did generate some response.
Here's one that always baffled me.
There's a Motley Crue video where, for no apparent reason and unconnected with the actual song, the guys barge into a Chinese restaurant, grab a handful of food, eat it and then grimace and spit it out on the floor.
It was on MTV all the time in the 80s. How did that pass? Why the fuck would they go out of their way, in the limited time available in that video, to share their distaste for Chinese food? Yeah, I know they're boneheads, but still.....

Toby Keith and Old Virginny certainly did not pass under the radar.

That Courtesy of the Red White and Blue song has no racist lyrics in it, as far as I can see. Please clarify

It's not really racist to dislike Chinese food.

Here's the video

i bet motley crue likes hotdogs, they seem like the type

that extended Clapton quote isn't even the full thing either. It starts with:

Do we have any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands. Wogs I mean, I'm looking at you. Where are you? I'm sorry but some fucking wog...Arab grabbed my wife's bum, you know? Surely got to be said, yeah this is what all the fucking foreigners and wogs over here are like, just disgusting, that's just the truth, yeah. So where are you? Well wherever you all are, I think you should all just leave. Not just leave the hall, leave our country. You fucking (indecipherable). I don't want you here, in the room or in my country. Listen to me, man! I think we should vote for Enoch Powell. Enoch's our man. I think Enoch's right, I think we should send them all back. Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white.

class act all the way.

"new kids on the block had a bunch of hits
chinese food makes me sick"

Good, someone else remembers that vid.
Of course it's not racist to dislike Chinese food.
Don't you get some implied revulsion towards Chinese people in that?
Maybe I'm way off.........

wow, something to hate about Eric Clapton more than his guitar playing!

I'm not a big fan of oriental food in general, though I do like some other kinds of asian cuisine. I have no grievance with Asian people at all, Chinese or anyone else.

Even in the context of that track, still doesn't seem racist.

Wow, that sounded oddly defensive.

bret michaels (was he in crue or poison?) has diabetes but maybe also MSG sensitive?

he dislikes Michael Schenker Group?

surprised there's people here who hadn't heard about this Clapton outburst before, it's pretty legendary...

would've expected ol Eric to blame it on the booze n blow honestly

!.) Nikki Sixx sees food, almost takes a sample, but drops it to go follow his band.

2.) Returns from confrontation, remembers to take a bite this time.

3.) Opponent takes pause as opportunity to whack Sixx across the back of the head.

4.) Nikki Sixx wins confrontation. Returns to food. Turns out, it was nasty the whole time!

PUNCHLINE.

i think there are definite grey areas as to whether imitating an accent is a consistently racist thing or not. for instance, are ween racist for adopting a fake mexican accent in 'buenas tardis amigo'?

No, that's cool.
I might be overreacting.
That one scene just always seemed unnecessary and pissed me off.

--Other messages have been posted since you last looked... Please review and if you want to change your message, do so before posting.--

Oh dang. I missed that whole storyline. Thanks PP.

re: ween - I dunno, maybe. it is a caricature of/homage to mexican murder ballads. otoh it is a great piece of storytelling.

yeah, it's definitely a great song.

DJP: Wow, what a time to lose internet connection for an hour. First of all sorry for the ass/stick comment but I genuinely think we had crossed wires there. I am in total agreement that intent is not a mitigating factor.

Lots of people in the UK thought there was something fishy about Elvis Costello's use of the N word in Oliver's Army and were proved right by his unforgivable outburst against Ray Charles. (This and Clapton were motivating factors in the formation of the UK's Rock Against Facism organisation.) He has since gone on to claim that he was only trying to cause offence. This is mealy mouthed cuntery of the highest order. A cunt is very much a cunt, no matter what his retrospective weasel words are.

And to the poster above... you're wrong. Costello has turned his back on the UK. The press here don't take him seriously like they do in his adoptive homeland, America.

bret michaels (was he in crue or poison?) has diabetes but maybe also MSG sensitive?

― Philip Nunez, Friday, November 19, 2010 4:46 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha A+ tuomasing philip

surprised there's people here who hadn't heard about this Clapton outburst before, it's pretty legendary...

would've expected ol Eric to blame it on the booze n blow honestly

― you can sub out "bipartisan solutions" for "some of my dick" (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, November 19, 2010 4:47 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

i had never heard of it at all! i just thought he was shitty dad rock!

surprised there's people here who hadn't heard about this Clapton outburst before, it's pretty legendary...

would've expected ol Eric to blame it on the booze n blow honestly

― you can sub out "bipartisan solutions" for "some of my dick" (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, November 19, 2010 4:47 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

i had never heard of it at all! i just thought he was shitty dad rock!

surprised there's people here who hadn't heard about this Clapton outburst before, it's pretty legendary...

would've expected ol Eric to blame it on the booze n blow honestly

― you can sub out "bipartisan solutions" for "some of my dick" (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, November 19, 2010 4:47 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

i had never heard of it at all! i just thought he was shitty dad rock!

what in the hell

basically, i think imitating people's accents is precarious at best. i think that it can be a sensitive thing irrespective of what kind of accent you're talking about. i'm an australian, who has several years experience living abroad, and i'm confronted with a lot of smarmy types taking a dig at my accent. as a one-off it can be funny, just like all the fosters, crocodile dundee cliches etc., but if it's a regular thing it can become grating/ borderline offensive.

Shakey: I'm trying to think of any post-60s that even really got INTO one. an American making a speech similar to the one Clapton made would have been banned, picketed, boycotted, etc

What about Phil Anselmo. I mean, he's a pretty big deal in American metal circles.

And to the poster above... you're wrong. Costello has turned his back on the UK. The press here don't take him seriously like they do in his adoptive homeland, America

True now. I meant then. It did him some damage, but he remained generally a respectable figure, and producing the debut Specials LP - fr'instance - would have been problematic if he was widely perceived as a racist.

And it was Rock Against Racism, not Fascism (or even Facism)- and it predated Oliver's Army.

I know who Phil Anselmo is and know he has a reputation as being a jerk, but I'm not sure what you're referring to specifically

xp

Lots of people in the UK thought there was something fishy about Elvis Costello's use of the N word in Oliver's Army and were proved right by his unforgivable outburst against Ray Charles. (This and Clapton were motivating factors in the formation of the UK's Rock Against Facism organisation.) He has since gone on to claim that he was only trying to cause offence. This is mealy mouthed cuntery of the highest order. A cunt is very much a cunt, no matter what his retrospective weasel words are.

also not to be ~that guy~ but there's at least some irony in tip toeing around "the N word" and then dropping "the C word" like yr job. i mean obv there's a US/UK divide here, just sayin

ANYWAY

And Costello actually played at an RAR open air show at Brockwell Park in '78.

xp

In which case I'm getting my anti-fascist organisations mixed up, as he was an instigating factor in one of them. (AFL?)

GBX - I don't know what you're talking about.