Titus writes:
One
genre I have not yet covered is grindcore/death metal. It is
predominant in Europe and the U.S.A. although its growth from the
eighties to now covers most places in the World. It’s a bit of a
‘Marmite’ genre – some, like me love it – others just dismiss it as “a
row” and hate it. I suppose it could be described as a fusion between
hardcore punk & heavy metal, although its abrasive style also
refers to it as being made up of thrashcore and crust punk. Either way,
it gained popularity here in Britain in the late eighties, and is
still immensely popular today, despite many cynics previously saying it
was a ‘flash in the pan’ or ‘here today, gone tomorrow’.
Needless
to say, John Peel latched onto it and promoted it, and early bands
like Napalm Death (more about them later) have been credited by laying
the foundations of the house of grindcore. In this country, other
bands sprung up like Extreme Noise Terror, Doom, Carcass, Bolt Thrower,
Cradle of Filth, Doctor and the Crippens. In America, it was Slayer,
Brutal Truth, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Pig Destroyer and Insect Warfare –
all of these bands I hasten to add are ones that I personally recall –
I’m sure there were, and are many, many more.
The
main common denominator of grindcore, is the ‘microsong’ – usually
much shorter in length than even the average punk or heavy metal ones.
The usual vocal style is variable to say the least. It can be almost
incomprehensible lyrics (in certain cases no clear lyrics exist),
occasional screaming, growls & barks – mayhem! A good example of
‘microsongs’ is Carcass’s 1988 album ‘Reek of Putrefaction’ wherein
there were 22 tracks, with an average length of under 2 minutes per
track.
This
leads me onto Napalm Death, who apparently support anarchism, humanism,
socialism and animal rights. Bassist Shane Embury said “As far as how
this whole thing got started, we were really into Celtic Frost, Siege
and The Swans. (hardcore & industrial bands). So we just created a
mesh of all those things, and it’s just everything going at a hundred
miles an hour, basically”. The founder of Earache Records, Digby
Pearson agreed, saying that Napalm Death “put hardcore and metal
through an accelerator”. It was interesting that in 1988, the NME
featured Napalm Death on their cover, declaring them “the fastest band
in the World”. Napalm’s ‘rivals’, Ipswich based Extreme Noise Terror,
had been described as performing “A pissed off hateful noise with its
roots somewhere between early discharge and disorder, with vocalists
Dean & Phil pushing their trademark vocal extremity to its absolute
limit” One of the most bizarre E.N.T. happenings, was their
appearance at the 1992 Brit Awards with the acid house group, the KLF.
Anyhow,
back to Napalm Death, and short musical tracks. In 1987, the band’s
first LP ‘Scum’ proved influential for the grindcore ‘movement’, and
together with their second album ‘From Enslavement to Obliteration’,
sold around 400,000 copies. 50 tracks combined, too! The band were
recognised by ‘Guinness World Records’ as having the shortest single
(called ‘You Suffer’) ever recorded, at 1.316 seconds long. They have
made sixteen studio albums, plus EP’s & Mini LP’s (I’m not sure of
the difference between these), and perhaps the most notable was an E.P.
entitled ‘Nazi Punks Fuck Off’, whereby the proceeds were donated to
anti-fascist organisations. The record (a cover of the Dead Kennedys’
single of 1981) was inspired by Napalm Death touring South Africa in
1993, when they encountered a lot of opposition from many white
supremacists, following the end of Apartheid.
None
of the original band’s original members have remained throughout,
which for a group originally formed in the pre-grindcore days of 1981,
isn’t surprising. The current line up is Shane Embury, Barney Greenway,
Mitch Harris & Danny Herrera, and they seem to be more popular than
ever, with a cult following of dedicated fans all over the World. The
two tracks I am requesting Lex to play are ‘Nazi Punks Fuck Off’ and
‘You Suffer’ which can be found here and here.