Slaughterama

Annotation

Crossover Thrash metal band GWAR formed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1985. They mainly produced comedic material, with references to science fiction, horror films, and controversial political themes. They also featured obscene and graphic language. The group has had multiple changes to the line-up, with the Canadian Dave Brockie being the constant member. This is a concept album about the scumdogs i.e. the band GWAR, who came to earth to establish a reign of terror. This included the song "Slaughterama" (Metal Blade Records # 3984-17003-2), about the band taking part in a reality TV game show involving the brutal slaughtering of hippies, introduced as having a "Grateful Dead life" (a reference to the band Grateful Dead). These hippies "tried to tell us 'give peace a chance'", a reference to the famous 70s anti-war song by the Plastic Ono Band. The song moved onto the killing, with the narrator screaming "I blew your head clean off". He then revealed his experience in this area, with reference to the Kent State demonstration: "good thing I was such an expert shot with the National Guard back in Kent State". The narrator revealed his pleasure derived from hippie hunting, and promised the viewers that they would be back next week with another edition of the show, in which they killed off those "full of existential despair" and those who did not care with a "pathetic life". Although it is supposed to be comedic, the group sought to criticise the ideals and lifestyle of the hippies, essentially describing them as hypocrites.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Kent / Jackson State Songs

Thrash metal band GWAR formed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1985. They mainly produced comedic material, with references to science fiction, horror films, and controversial political themes. They also featured obscene and graphic language. The group has had multiple changes to the line-up, with the Canadian Dave Brockie being the constant member. This is a concept album about the scumdogs i.e. the band GWAR, who came to earth to establish a reign of terror. This included the song "Slaughterama" (Metal Blade Records # 3984-17003-2), about the band taking part in a reality TV game show involving the brutal slaughtering of hippies, introduced as having a "Grateful Dead life" (a reference to the band Grateful Dead). These hippies "tried to tell us 'give peace a chance'", a reference to the famous 70s anti-war song by the Plastic Ono Band. The song moved onto the killing, with the narrator screaming "I blew your head clean off". He then revealed his experience in this area, with reference to the Kent State demonstration: "good thing I was such an expert shot with the National Guard back in Kent State". The narrator revealed his pleasure derived from hippie hunting, and promised the viewers that they would be back next week with another edition of the show, in which they killed off those "full of existential despair" and those who did not care with a "pathetic life". Although it is supposed to be comedic, the group sought to criticise the ideals and lifestyle of the hippies, essentially describing them as hypocrites.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Metal Songs

Crossover Thrash band GWAR formed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1985. They mainly produced comedic material, with references to science fiction, horror films, and controversial political themes. They also featured obscene and graphic language. The group has had multiple changes to the line-up, with the Canadian Dave Brockie being the constant member. This is a concept album about the scumdogs i.e. the band GWAR, who came to earth to establish a reign of terror. This included the song "Slaughterama" (Metal Blade Records # 3984-17003-2), about the band taking part in a reality TV game show involving the brutal slaughtering of hippies, introduced as having a "Grateful Dead life" (a reference to the band Grateful Dead). These hippies "tried to tell us 'give peace a chance'", a reference to the famous 70s anti-war song by the Plastic Ono Band. The song moved onto the killing, with the narrator screaming "I blew your head clean off". He then revealed his experience in this area, with reference to the Kent State demonstration: "good thing I was such an expert shot with the National Guard back in Kent State". The narrator revealed his pleasure derived from hippie hunting, and promised the viewers that they would be back next week with another edition of the show, in which they killed off those "full of existential despair" and those who did not care with a "pathetic life". Although it is supposed to be comedic, the group sought to criticise the ideals and lifestyle of the hippies, essentially describing them as hypocrites.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: With a battle cry go forth which is, 'give the people what they want' / And what the people want could only be the senseless slaughter / Of the gutter-slime that litters this nation for cash and prizes / Yes, this is the show where people bet their lives to win something big / 'Cause when your life is shit, then you haven't got much to lose on / Slaughterama! This next geek is guilty of the following, a Grateful Dead life / In which he's been allowing, tried to tell us 'give peace a chance' / Met the National Guard and he shit in his pants, it's not you imagination / It's not a bad trippie, yes that's him, it's the big smelly hippie! / Hello Mr. Hippie, nice to meet you, hey, got a little shit between your toes / How's things at the ol' manure factory? How's little Tofu? What!? / She grew another head? Well, you gotta lay off that LSD you know / Kinda makes your offspring goofy-looking, so, how do you hide money from a hippie? / Put it under the soap, I'm sorry but that answer wasn't in time / You're gonna have to put your mouth on this, whoa! / I blew your head clean off / Good thing I was such an expert shot with the National Guard back in Kent State / There's nothing like hippie hunting....We've killed everyone worth killing / Hope you do the same, we'll be back next week for another edition of Slaughterama / It's full of existential despair, it's full of people who just don't care / Don't feel sorry for them, they've chosen there own pathetic life

About the artist

American shock-metal band formed 1984 in Richmond, Virginia. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Kent State

In collections

Kent / Jackson State Songs · Metal Songs