No Soilwork this week, folks. This week, as per a request from a friend of mine, I’m taking a look at a subject that has been on my mind a bit lately, even though it’s been two years since the events that inspired this column, and four since the events that inspired the events of this column happened. Be warned. This is not your typical editorial piece, like I usually write. This is something written purely off of emotion and gut feelings. Some of the things I’m going to say in this article may be offensive to some. Continue at your own discretion.

On December 8, 2004, “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott was murdered onstage, while playing a show with his band, <b>Damageplan</b>, by a young man named Nathan Gale. Widely regarded as one of the biggest tragedies in metal, many mourned the loss of Dime, whether they were musicians or fans, strangers or friends. Widely regarded as one of the most influential guitarists in the history of metal, Dimebag Darrell inspired countless fans and musicians, whether through his work with a guitar, or his amiability off the stage.

However, not everyone was hit as hard by the loss. Less than a week after his death, on December 14, a man named William Grim posted an article on the conservative website The Iconoclast, praising the murder of another human being. This article was entitled “Aesthetics of Hate: RIP Dimebag, and Good Riddance”. The article derided Dimebag, calling him an “ignorant, barbaric, untalented possessor of a guitar”, and “more simian than human”. Grim also stated that Dimebag was part of a generation that “confused sputum (matter that is expectorated from the respiratory tract, such as mucus or phlegm, mixed with saliva, which can then be spat from the mouth) (And yeah, I had to Google that) with art and involuntary reflex actions with emotion”.

Shortly after the article was publish, Robb Flynn, frontman of heavy metal band <b>Machine Head</b> had this to say in response:

<i>"And lastly, to the hatemongering son-of-a-bitch named William Grim, from conservative website The Iconoclast, who wrote the most disgraceful, classless article I've ever read entitled 'AESTHETICS OF HATE: R.I.P. DIMEBAG ABBOTT, & GOOD RIDDANCE'…

"You WILL burn in hell!

"What would YOU know about love or values? What would YOU know about giving to the world? All that you know is teaching prejudice, and your heart is as black as the 'ignorant, filthy, and hideously ugly, heavy metal fans' you try and paint in your twisted, fictitious ramblings. It's because of people like YOU, that there are Nathan Gales in this world, NOT the Dimebags and metal musicians who work to unite people through music.

"You just don't get it.

"You say, 'Americans should aspire to greatness.' Well, Dimebag was an American that did more than 'aspire' to greatness. He was an American that 'achieved' it. And you will NEVER know what it is to taste greatness William Grim. Because in order to achieve greatness, you must first believe in the greatness of people, no matter how 'ugly' or 'fat' or 'stupid' they are, on the outside... and Dimebag did just that.</i>

I’ll include the link to the post made itself, along with Flynn’s response at the end of the column. The band’s song, “Aesthetics of Hate”, off of their most recent album, <i>The Blackening</i> was written as a general summation of the statements above. The song certainly gets the message across. The first time I heard the song, and read about the meaning, it took me a while to find the article in question, mostly because I wasn’t as net savvy back then as I am now, even if it is only a couple of years. And ever since I read that article, I’ve wanted to write something like this about it. Now I have the public forum to do so.

Reading that article makes my blood boil, if I can even get through it without closing the screen in disgust at how fucking ignorant another human being can be. It makes my blood boil as a person for the total lack of compassion over the loss of the life of someone who helped shape such an amazing art. It makes my blood boil as a proud metalhead because Dimebag, and Pantera, were one of the first bands I started listening to when I first got into metal. <i>Cowboys From Hell</i> is still one of my all time favorite albums.

What gives someone the right to say that another man deserves to die? Granted, yeah, you could say someone on death row deserves to die for murdering hundreds of people, or raping children, or some other sick shit like that. But Dimebag Darrell never did any of that. He drank, he played guitar, and he got to live the American Dream. He got to make money doing something that he was not only incredible at, but something that he loved to do, simply because it brought joy to other people.

I am proud to call myself a metalhead. However, William Grim could not be farther from the truth in saying that we are a generation that confuses “sputum with art”. I think there are not many other finer art forms than the art of metal. Hell, music in general is one of the greatest art forms in the history of time. But metal truly is an art form. You may not like metal (and I know more people that don’t like it than people that do), but almost all of the people I know that don’t like it still appreciate it as a musical art form.

It actually takes talent to play the guitar like Dimebag did. It takes talent and incredible coordination to play the drums the way people like Joey Jordison, Lars Ulrich, Vinnie Paul, and Dave McClain (of Machine Head) do (and I would know, as a drummer myself, not to sound like a cocky asshole). It even takes talent to perfect that scream, those guttural growls, or any other form of singing included in the metal genre. It’s not as easy as getting up in front a microphone and yelling like you’d yell at your friends during an argument. So to say that metal is nothing more than bile, than something worthy of hocking up and spitting on the ground, is an outright insult. So I’d like to say to William Grim, where ever you are in the world, Fuck You.

And that’s just for starters. The things Grim said in his article make me sick to my stomach. He had the audacity to call the fans who gathered for a memorial service for Dimebag “<i>ignorant, semi-human barbarians who were filthy in attire and manner, intellectually incoherent and above all else, hideously ugly to the point of physical deformity. Here is a definite case in which the outer appearance of these “fans” accurately represented the hideousness of their souls. That the physical deformity of their ugliness was self-inflicted makes the spiritual tragedy of their misspent lives all the more tragic.</i>” and preceded that with <i>”The squalor, inhumanity, filth (both in the metaphorical and hygienic senses), depravity, ugliness and ignorance of everything that heavy metal represents (Like rap, I cannot use the noble term music in a description of heavy metal) creates a mindset among its devotees in which Mr. Abbott`s assassination was an event that was all but waiting to happen.”,/i>. He also called the fans who mourned the loss of a great man and musician “pathetic”.

Where the fuck does this man get off, calling people ugly, physically, and then having the balls to say that their souls are as ugly as their physical counterparts? Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. And as for your so called “standards” regarding what music is or isn’t, it doesn’t get any more narrow minded than that. Music is music. From the guys playing on tin cans and wastepaper baskets on the streets for a nickel in the city, to Britney Spears, to Dimebag and every other metalhead, to Yo Yo Ma and any other classical musician, it’s all music. Music is defined as “an art form whose medium is sound organized in time”. Someone who has all these clear cut rules and opinions should have clearly know that, asshole. And yeah, some metalheads may be a bit grungy and dirty, but there is far from depravity and ignorance found in those people. Metalheads are some of the most devoted, loyal people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, even if they were “single serving friends” at a concert. No other group of people follow bands around through countless amounts of states, buying every t-shirt, posting on every message board, getting tattoos, and whatever else you can think of, for their favorite bands. They know the words to every song, they sing along at every show. They know the meanings of all the songs, and they sing ‘em proud. That doesn’t seem like ignorance to me. And there is nothing pathetic about mourning the loss of someone who had an impact on your life. The only pathetic thing I see here is a bitter old man picking on people who can’t defend themselves directly to him. It makes me wonder: if something bad happened to William Grim, like the loss of someone dear to him, would he mourn? Because, to me, it seriously does not seem like he would.

 “De gustibus non disputandem est. Matters of taste are not subject to argument”- William Grim. I beg to differ. All that statement is, Grim, is a pathetic cop out for you to get away with whatever the fuck you want to say, for you to get away with calling people whom you find to be repulsive, ugly creatures. Those people, as lame and cliché as this may sound, are good looking to someone. And this man thinks that religion and so called “proper education” are the answer. Again, Mr. Grim, go fuck yourself. Preferably with a rusty fork.

Nothing pisses me off more in this world than someone looking down their nose at people they find to be disgusting, outright unacceptable human beings. And it seems that this is what William Grim excels at. Later on in the article, he goes on to say:

<i>”Part of the hard work of civilization is teaching young to be able to distinguish between the good and the bad in all aspects of life. If we teach our young children to obey the 10 Commandments and to obey the laws of the land, but don`t teach them to realize that Johann Sebastian Bach is superior to Dimebag Abbott, we have failed as parents and mentors. If a person has gone through 12 or 13 years of education and has not developed an appreciation for the greatest artistic achievements of mankind, that education has been an utter failure.</i>

So let’s see. He’s forcing religion down everyone’s throats, essentially threatening the parents of the young, the ones too young to understand what a tragedy something like the death of Dimebag Darrell is, that if they don’t bring their children up as God-fearing, Bible thumping goody goodies, and that there is only classical music, that they have not raised their child right. I’m all for freedom of religion. Religion may not be for me, but I can appreciate those who believe in whatever they believe in. Good and bad is not what is written in the Bible. Good and bad, for the most part, are taught from generation to generation, based on personal experience. If you want to teach your children that the 10 Commandments are good, and everything else is bad, fine. Go ahead. But if you don’t, if you choose to teach your children that good is what they make it to be, and bad is what they make it to be, that does not mean you have failed a parent. To me, that makes you all the more successful, for raising your child to have a mind of their own. And if that mind of their own includes choosing heavy metal of Bach, go for it. I have nothing against Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven. I like them all. I can appreciate what they’ve done for music, and I appreciate their talent. And after almost 13 years of schooling, I have realized, through meeting various people, that “the greatest artistic achievement of mankind” is being able to decide for yourself what great art is. Just because <i>you</i> say we don’t appreciate great art, as metalheads, does not make you right. It makes you a fucking asshole. Restricting your child to listening to only Bach, or only Mozart, is teaching your child to become everything William Grim is. It’s teaching your child to be a narrow minded, condescending prick, who gets off on looking down at those who celebrate other art forms, and who have a mind of their own.

Like Flynn said, Grim stated that “Americans should aspire to greatness”, which is what Dimebag did. He aspired to be the best at what he did, and depending on who you ask, he was. However, apparently, we should all be aspiring the greatness that William Grim thinks is acceptable. And that greatness does not include fans of heavy metal.  Apparently, working to bring people together through a common cause like music isn’t worthy of greatness unless your name is Johann Sebastian Bach.

Now, let’s get onto the song itself, and my little editorial of the night, because apparently I can’t get away from it, and I love it that way. “Aesthetics of Hate” is the third track on “The Blackening”, Machine Head’s sixth album. The entire song is born of pure aggression. The intro, a quiet guitar riff, leads into an explosive six minutes of some of the most honest lyrics you’ll ever hear. I’m not going to take the time to analyze the music, suffice to say that it’s perfect for the lyrics.

One critic said that the “biblical call for vengeance” in the middle of the song was unnecessary. This is referring to the section where the music dies down, and Flynn repeatedly whispers “May the hand of God strike them down”, even as the music builds back up over it. I think this is perfect for the song, however. A call for vengeance is exactly what we need in response to situations like this. Maybe not killing anyone who writes and article like Grim did, but something needs to be done about this. Praising someone who was mentally ill like Nathan Gale for killing another human being is a serious abuse of the Freedom of Speech included in the First Amendment.

Here’s the song, live at Rock Am Ring 2007. Rob Flynn’s speech at the beginning is pretty much what I typed at the beginning.

And the lyrics:

You tried to spit in the eye
Of a dead man’s face
Attacked the ways of a man
Not yet in his grave
But your hate was over all too soon
Because nothing is over
And nothing’s through,
Till we bury you

For the love of brother
I will sing this fucking song
Aesthetics of hate,
I hope you burn in hell

The words I read on the screen
Left me fucking sick
I felt the hatred rising
You son of a bitch
You branded us pathetic for our respect
But he made us Driven,
Such deep reverence,
Far beyond the rest

For the love of brother
I will sing these fucking words
Aesthetics of hate,
I hope you burn in hell

Yer!


Wow!
Long live memories
Live this freedom vicariously
Defend tenfold
His honor we’ll always uphold

For the love of brother
I will say these fucking words
No silence against ignorance
Iconoclast, I hope you burn in hell

May the hand of god strike them down

 

And finally, here’s the link to the article written by Grim, followed by the response by Flynn.

<a href=http://www.quickrob.com/weblog/?p=1074 >Aesthetics of Hate</a>

So that’ll be all for this week. I think I’ve said everything I need to say on this issue. Next week, I’ll be back with the next part of the Soilwork timeline. Till then, take care, and remember that no matter what your musical preference is, never let anyone bring you down for it.

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