off: Angel of Death was Re: OFF: Duran Duran

bart bart at AEOLIANS.BT.CO.UK
Fri Jun 14 05:53:22 EDT 1996


Chris said -

> Well you might want to be able to argue against them or point out to
> othres where lyrics are distasteful. I mean I've never met the thrash
> band Slayer but I care that they wrote a song about Josef Mengele,
> surely not a fit thing to create *entertainment* about!

Err, why not ?

I think Tom Araya's argument would be "hey, the subject matter got us noticed
as a band and now we're extremely popular ! Thanks Josef"  :-)

I would have a problem if the song *advocated* what happened, but what people
(not necessarily you, Chris) have got hot & bothered about with the lyrics is
the ambiguous moral viewpoint and almost neutral presentation of events. I
can't think of a line in the song that infers Mengele was onto a good idea, or
whether the lyricist was impressed. Its just a radical change from the "I want
to rock you all night long baby" school of lyrics.
(Besides, didn't someone here say Araya listens to soul music at home ? :-)


Tim

... and 'Reign In Blood' *is* a storming album...



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