I think a brief qualification is in order. Most of these songs (not all) make me feel green around the gills and without going into much detail I’d like to point out that no funds of mine where contributed in gathering the most racist and prejudiced tracks.
* ‘Hate’ by Cat Power
Self hate is perhaps the most insidious form of hate because the battlefield is on the inside and it’s participants, victim and aggressor, is oneself. I cannot think of a song that expresses this better then Cat Power’s paired down ballad ‘Hate’ from her 2006 album ‘The Greatest’.
* ‘Boom Bye Bye’ by Buju Banton
“Boom bye bye
Inna batty bwoy head
Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man
Dem haffi dead
Boom bye bye
Inna batty bwoy head
Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man
Dem haffi dead”
This chirpy little number has aroused justified controversy since it’s release in 1992. As inventive as Buju’s reggae infused Jamaican patois is, the essence of this hate song is the murder of gay people. How, I can hear you ask, did reggae, the music of love end up being so hateful? To be honest I’m not sure but there is a nasty visceral homophobic seam through Jamaica’s most important export that does the Island, and the tradition of reggea little credit. Outrage in the UK in mid 1990’s, by Peter Thatchel and other campaigners, cast a glaring and unwelcome spotlight on this strain in Dancehall and Reggae, to the point that Brighton and Hove even tried to ban the playing of ‘murder music’ in it’s boroughs.
* ‘Judge’ by Anal Cunt
Catchy moniker aside A.C. (as they are more commonly referred) is a staple of the the Grindcore scene in the U.S. and the band have been around in one form or another since the late 80’s although I note the lead vocalist has changed on a few occassions and it only takes one listen of this track to understand why. This track is taken from their album 1994 album ‘Everybody Should Be Killed’ which tots up a handsome 58 tracks. I’d be telling a fib if I was to say I actually understand what this song is literally saying but I think you’ll agree it’s not a love song!
* ‘Slappin White Boyz’ by Brown Fish Jahbu
Baltimore Hip Hop group pump out this funky blues riff around the thorny notion of when it’s justifiable to beat up white people. The track is hilarious and punctures the whole ‘N’ word debate brilliantly. It brought to mind the second season of The Wire where to black officers, Seargent’s Kima Greggs and Sgt Carver, are staking out a local street pusher, a white kid decked out in hip hop finery with all the lingo and patois of black Baltimore, Sgt Carver, a black man from Baltimore himself, says to his fellow officer whilst gazing at the pushers body language and liberal use of the ‘N’ word, “Thieving muthafuckers.. take everything don’t they”. ‘Slappin White Boyz’ is a musical expression of where the line is drawn when a white boy tries to take a liberty too far.
* ‘Droppin’ the Kids of in Harlem’ by The Racist Redneck Rebels
Jaw droppingly racist and creepily upbeat this country inspired outburst is from their 2003 album ‘Keep Hate Alive’. I’d like to think that there was an ironic twist to this ditty but I’m afraid there is not and rarely does a foot stomping tune get my fist a’ shakin’ then this track. I play it with greeted teeth and cannot muster the generosity to put a link to it. If you want to find out more, good luck to you!
* ‘Love & Hate’ by Mano Negra
This is an ode to jealousy and mysoginy that travels from the south pole of desire and love to the north pole of insecurity and hatred for women. Mano Negra are a gypsey punk fusion outfit started in the late 1980’s and their hybrid style of music was as panoramic as the emotions of this song. Primarily it’s about the near craziness of desire, in particular for Ornella Muti an Italian model that the band seem to have a collective fetish for. The outcome is a mixture of self hate and a frenzied hate for all the women they never had which is slightly disturbing and brutally honest.
* ‘Hate Your Friends’ by The Lemonheads
This is the title track to the 1987 album by a band who’s name came from a candy bar that was according to lead singer Evan Dando “sweet on the inside and sour on the outside”, a bit like the band he noted. And so with just too many songs dedicated to friendship from the perspective of love Dando penned a tune about hating your friends. Surely a sentiment that we all have felt from time to time.
* ‘Ilahiya Khinzir!’ (All Hail Allah the Swine) by Ayat
The title is in these times provocative in the extreme and this is exactly what this metal group from Beirut intend. They are “We never described ourselves as Anti-Islamic Black Metal. We are against the religious establishment in all its forms and Islam is just one form of it.”. This track is taken from their blistering 2008 album ‘Six Years of Dormant Hatred’.
* ‘I Hate CD’s’ by Legendary Stardust Cowboy
The great unsung country music hero Stardust Cowboy claims that he’s written more space songs then anyone, well whilst he was penning tunes for the heavens he had time to knock off this attack on the compact disc. Never before has the CD been so despised. I have noted that he still has not given up selling CD’s but I think he’s too angry to note the contradiction.
* ‘Hate Me Now’ by Nas featuring Puff Daddy
It sounds pretty generic now but this track from Nas’ ‘I Am…’ 1999 album was in fact born out of hate, the song being produced by D-Moet for Foxy Brown but she hated it and it was passed on to Nas who thought it a great duet piece for himself and Puff Daddy / Sean Combes. Puff liked it so much he decided to record it and be in the video which turned out to be very controversial as it showed both Nas and Puff on a crusifix. Combs regreted doing this scene almost immediatly and asked for it to be edited out as he is a Catholic. Either due to mischief or genuine error the unedited video was sent to MTV and broadcast leading to Mr Combs to barge into the offices of Nas manager Steve Stoute and assault him.
So ‘Hate Me Now’ managed to brew up it’s own cauldron of hatred although the song is actually about jealousy and how Nas and his wealth had engendered hatred and resentment, it’s pretty angry for a middle class son of a jazz musician born with a theasaurus not a needle and a gun. There you go I’m feeling the hate best stop now.
* ‘Mein Kamarad’ by Ariches Blut
By the neo-nazi group Arisches Blut this is a joyous attack on every foreigner who is ‘coming to take our land’. The group is one of the more active soft rock / leider bands that spend their musical energies celebrating the past and berating the present, forwarning of the future etc. Strangely for all it’s racist bile it does use the polite and formal “sie” when addressing the dreaded Auslander. Again I’m not up for linking as the act of finding this song tested the nerves and I’m sure my internet provider is wondering why a lefty cosmopolitan eco hippie like me is racking up white suprematist, neo-nazi and skin head sites in his search history. For the good of The Insulting Cabaret I just kept going.
* ‘Threat To The IRA From The UVF’ by unknown
A enlightening part of compiling this playlist for The Insulting Cabaret was forcing myself to listen to music from a perspective that is alien to me and none more so then from the Ulster loyalist tradition. Being brought up a southern Catholic in 1970’s Ireland I have countless republican songs in the back of my head, songs that as I get older seem more prejudiced and vengeful by the year. The good news is that, to a great degree, most of these songs of vengence are nostalgic (hope lives eternal) so I was intrigued by this song / sermon in the Johnny Cash mould of country music. The singer / speaker has a southern U.S. tinged Ulster drawl and tells of how the U.D.A. will get these “IRA scum” and have their revenge for their killing of innocent teenagers. It’s heart wrenching and viscerally angry at the same time and although it’s brief it packs a punch.
* ‘Snipers Promise’ by The Wolftones
This particular song is from the other side of the track to loyalism. Snipers Promise is a standard of the Republican trad scene although i think it’s probably not sung so much now which is a blessing. I honestly hate this song, I have memories of smokey pubs in the 1970’s where Snipers Promise was sung in these sickly sentimental tones and even as a child I could sense it’s moral ambiguity or perhaps that was just the horrendous lyrics.
* ‘Campaign of Hate’ by The Libertines
Hands up this is on the playlist becuase it has hate in the title and Pete Doherty has managed to illicit so much hate from the red top readers in this country I think that the song is an unintended reference to his own plight.
* ‘Hate Is All You Need’ by The Delgados
Hate is all around find it in your heart in every waking sound
On your way to school, work or church youll find that its the only rule
Build a different world, hate will help you find what youve been looking for
Hate is everywhere, inside your mothers heart and you will find it there
You ask me what you need hate is all you need
Taken from their 2003 album ‘Hate’ this song is an obvious reposte to the Beatles ‘All You Need Is Love’. It’s a magnificent and malevolent song from Scotland’s finest and although I’m not sure of the origin of the song it’s a biting attack on some optimistic soul known to the band at one time or another.
* ‘Fuck Off’ by The Frogs
The Frogs are a Wisconsin duo of brothers who songs may have inspired Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins but who’s subject matter insured that they were never to enter the mainstream. ‘Fuck Off’ one of their tamer little ditties and where we are used to artists crooning their loyal fans and expounding their joy at being honored to entertain this song takes a very different and hateful view of their fans. Jimmy and Denis Flemion recently played ATP and as usual managed to delight half the crowd and appall the other half.
* ‘Haters’ by Jay-Z & Kanye West
Jay-Z was at the end of lots of borderline hatred when he was announced as a headliner at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival. On this track from his most recent album ‘Blueprint 3’ he’s joined by another figure from the global hip-hop elite Kanye West who despite his obvious musical talent and creative bravery manages to whip some hate of his own. This is mostly due to his own outrageous public performances. ‘Haters’ is a shot back at all those who hate rap royalty just for being fabulous!
* ‘Hateful’ by The Clash
Taken from their second album in 1979 ‘London Calling’ this track is an ode to the pusher or fixer who for a price gets them what the want, who gives them via narcosis a door to freedom but this is just a pact with the devil. ‘Hateful’ is a realization of just how doomed a person is within addiction which was to some degree a self fulfilling prophecy as drugs and addiction would in time lead to enmities and departures from the band itself.
* ‘Hate’ by Nightmare
Honestly I’ve no idea what they are singing about but Nightmare, darling of the Japanese metal-lite scene are angry about something and who am I to judge!
