Megadeth's Dave Mustaine: Obama "Staged" Aurora, Sikh Temple Shootings

[All Along The Watchtower]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/16/13314799-megadeths-dave-mustaine-says-obama-is-behind-deadly-shootings

Poor Dave. He tries so hard to be edgy and relevant, and he ends up saying horrible, delusional sh*t like this.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Oh, God.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Thank goodness we have another truth teller to join the ranks of Roseanne and the rest of the bat**** crazy brigade.

[Person Man]

Whatever happened to liberal elites jamming their ideals of tolerance and egalitarianism down the throat of Middle America? Has Hollywood been listening to their accountants more lately?

[rwoy]

Does this mean he also thinks that Obama staged the Colorado Batman shooting?  The Ft Hood shooting?  The Bridgeville Sports Club Shooting?  The Arizona Shooting of Gaby Giffords?  The VA Tech shootings?

What about the other 125 shooting sprees which have happened since Columbine?  Were they are staged?

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/07/appalling-frequency-of-the-shooting-spree.html

Does he not know that Obama's policies towards firearms are actually considered "more favorable" by the NRA than George W Bush's?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Does anyone think Dave Mustaine can find CO or WI on a map?

[bgwah]

Always thought their music sucked.

[Mechaman]

I must admit, this story feels at least a little ironic.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The Sikh shooting was an awful tragedy that was based in evil, and hate. Aurora, on the other hand, is highly suspicious, though the so called "official story" is credible so far.

Always thought their music sucked.

It does.

Does anyone think Dave Mustaine can find CO or WI on a map?

Does he know what a map is, for that matter?

[Svensson]

I always had a distinct feeling Mustaine was a bit of the tinfoil hat sort. I mean, come on, Hangar 18.

[NVGonzalez]

I used to like Megadeth's music at one point. Then I grew up.

[Svensson]

I used to like Megadeth's music at one point. Then I grew up.

I still do, but ol' Dave still reliably makes me facepalm.

But hey, at least he's not as bad as Gamma Ray.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I always had a distinct feeling Mustaine was a bit of the tinfoil hat sort. I mean, come on, Hangar 18.

     There's also New World Order. Anyone who listens to Megadeth should not be surprised by his remarks here. Interestingly, his music started going downhill when he started politicizing it.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Poor Dave. Going senile must suck d.

[Person Man]

I wonder what the average rocker is on the spectrum. Are they like country stars of rappers? I know some bands like SoaD are obviously at least as left as Kucinich and Avenged Sevenfold is probably somewhere in between neoconservative and neoliberal nationalist.

[Zioneer]

Still like Megadeth music, but Dave Mustaine seems to be a lunatic.

[Mechaman]

I wonder what the average rocker is on the spectrum. Are they like country stars of rappers? I know some bands like SoaD are obviously at least as left as Kucinich and Avenged Sevenfold is probably somewhere in between neoconservative and neoliberal nationalist.

I would guess all over the spectrum.

A few early metal bands I listen to regularly seem to have leftist sympathies.  One friend of mine suggested that Black Sabbath had Marxist sympathies, citing this passage from their song "Heaven and Hell":

"They say that life's a carousel
Spinning fast, you've got to ride it well
The world is full of Kings and Queens
Who blind your eyes then steal your dreams
...it's Heaven and Hell, oh well

And they'll tell you black is really white
The moon is just the sun at night
And when you walk in golden halls
You get to keep the gold that falls
It's Heaven and Hell"

Ironically, a band that is one of Mustaine's influences.  Which brings me to another one of Megadeth's influences: Judas Priest.  I'm not really certain of there being any song that gives voice to criticisms of capitalism, like the above Sabbath example did, but there seems to be anti-hierarchy sympathies prevalent in the Priest catalogue.  Take the appropriately named "Tyrant":

"Your very lives are held within my fingers
I snap them and you cower down in fear
You spineless things who belly down to slither
To the end of the world you follow to be near (Tyrant)

Capture of humanity
(Tyrant) Conqueror of all
(Tyrant) Hideous destructor
(Tyrant) Every man shall fall"

There are a few suggestions as to what this passage means.  There is one view that this song is actually a veiled criticism of organized religion, specifically the monotheistic ones of an almighty powerful being that controls everything.  Given that Rob Halford, the aforementioned gay frontman, had writing credits on this song this could make sense given the strict view on sexual mores that a number of establishmentarian God based sects have while also exerting a tremendous amount of societal influence.  Some might even view this as a prophetic vision, given the rise of the Religious Right in the United States of America that has rallied certain religious types in a political force based on fear of damnation.

It's also to keep in mind that a lot of bands have members with differing viewpoints.  Take the Thrash Metal band Slayer.  Two of the contributors to the band are guitarist Kerry King, a very atheist man, and bassist/frontman Tom Araya, a religious Catholic.  Some of the music in the band is a flat-out criticism of Eternal Salvation/Damnation ("Hell Awaits", "Jesus Saves") while also attacking some secular notions like the pro-choice stance on abortion ("Silent Scream").  As a result of this there tends to be a lot of diversity of issues addressed in the lyrical content of heavy metal bands.  Taking Mustaine's own band, Megadeth for instance, the song "Foreclosure of a Dream" which was mostly influenced by the US Government foreclosing bassist Dave Ellefson's family farm in the 80's (although Mustaine back then probably was sympathetic).

I could go on and on, like list some Rush songs that are highly supportive of libertarian philosophy, Metallica songs dealing with authoritarianism, or Ozzy Osbourne songs dealing with mental health issues.  But, that would probably end up being an eight page essay.  I've tend to find that most metal fans are driven towards listening to metal music due to the hard and loud sound of it rather than what the bands might be saying.  Again, Mustaine's influences include not so friendly to organized religion bands like Sabbath and Priest despite Dave Mustaine being a pretty damned "Born-Again" Christian (though to be fair, a lot of the material from early Megadeth albums do have themes that do echo similar themes addressed by early metal groups with leftist sympathies).  A lot of metal bands now days don't really talk about the lyrical influences/ideology of their predecessors as they do about the playing style/musical structure of their influences.

Heavy Metal as I think of it doesn't really have any set ideological culture.  Which is I guess how you can have a guy like Paul Ryan be an avid Rage Against the Machine fan.  Then again, you could probably say the same of most music genres if you looked at the individual artists.

[minionofmidas]

They still exist?

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Great post, Mechaman. I'd only point out that Dave Mustaine still does seem to have economically leftist sympathies, while being a born-again Christian and a conspiracy theorist.

     Consider The Right To Go Insane, the last track on Megadeth's 2009 album Endgame. Without going into details, the plain sense of the lyrics is about someone going insane due to the pressures of poverty. The music video develops this angle into the protagonist embarking in a full-on rampage, stealing a tank and then driving it down the street and causing destruction.

     While I agree with Dave Mustaine on just about nothing these days, I must say that the man has a complex set of beliefs.

[Person Man]

So, would you say that they are an apolitical or at least not coherently political? Or at least that they are not part of "Red State" or "Blue State" culture, just like country or hip hop is respectively?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Remember what I said about metal being a right wing musical genre?

[Zioneer]

Remember what I said about metal being a right wing musical genre?

Actually, outside the US and excluding death metal, it seems to be very left-wing (most of the non-death metal guys take a lot of joy in going "Screw you, Nazis).

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Dave continues to be his own worst enemy.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

The world would be a better place if metal ceased to exist.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

The world would be a better place if metal ceased to exist.

Fuq u