NAPALM DEATH
By Matthew Timbang [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via WIkimedia Commons
ABOUT
Napalm Death was started in 1981 in England as a five piece band, none of who remain in the current day lineup. In the early years, Napalm Death emerged as an Anarcho-Punk band before shifting towards heavy metal, eventually pioneering the Grindcore genre. Their songs can be described as a “noise attack” as they are extremely brash, fast paced, short, and accompanied by shouted lyrics. Napalm Death is even recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records as having the world’s shortest song. The band’s characteristic sound juxtaposes the pacifist and humanitarian implications of their lyrics. The band’s name alone, Napalm Death, is a direct anti-war statement. The goal with the harsh sounds was to create a paradox between the message and delivery of their songs.
ABOUT
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1980s
Discography
ALBUMS
Fistful of Metal (1984)
Spreading the Disease (1985)
Among the Living (1987)
State of Euphoria (1988)
1980s
Discography
ALBUMS
Scum - 1987
From Enslavement to Obliteration - 1988
1980s
Band Members
MEMBERS
Nicholas "Nik Napalm" Bullen – vocals, bass
Miles "Rat" Ratledge – drums
Simon "Si O" Oppenheimer – guitars
Graham "Grayhard" Robertson – guitars, bass
Daryl "Daz F" Fedeski – guitars
Finbar "Fin" Quinn – bass
Marian Williams – vocals
Damien Errington – guitars
Justin Broadrick – guitar, vocals
Peter "P-Nut" Shaw – bass
Mick Harris – drums
Jim Whitely – bass
Frank Healy – guitars
Bill Steer – guitars
Lee Dorrian – vocals
Jesse Pintado – guitars
"Scum"
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Scum - 1987
“Scum” was written about people who are so afraid to die that they never actually live. Instead of going out and doing more than simply surviving, people are living stuck behind their televisions creating their own existence. The song’s genuine message contrasts sharply with the nearly inaudible delivery in the song.
ABOUT
In your mind
Nothing but fear
You can't face life
Or believe death's near
A vision of life
On television screens
An existence created
From empty dreams
People are living with so much fear, that it becomes the emotion that ultimately controls their life.
Hide behind T.V
Hide behind life
You should be living
But you only survive
Life holds nothing
But pain and death
Don't look for love
There is none left
When there is so much more to life than simply surviving, people should learn to have an existence outside of their fear and created realities.
It is easy to establish an existence separate from the dangers of life by living attached to a screen that acts as a buffer.
LYRICS
VIDEO
Live performance of "Scum" in London 1989. This video depicts the antics of the band members as they continually fling themselves into the crowd in the first half of the song before beginning to sing.
"Multinational corporations"
Scum - 1987
Fairly self explanatory, this song repeats the same two lines repeatedly. As the first song on Napalm Death’s album Scum, it sets the tone for a theme of a distrust of big industry and a need for humanitarian efforts.
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LYRICS
Refers to big industry
There is a direct implication that large corporations are responsible for not only the starvation occurring elsewhere in the world, but ultimately their death.
A Limmits Diet refers to a fad diet in the 1980s that consisted of eating meal replacement cookies to lose weight.
VIDEO
Live performance of "Multinational Corporations" in Sweden, 1988.
"Instinct of Survival"
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Scum - 1987
“Instinct of Survival” is a criticism of corporations producing their products at the detriment of poor communities and countries in a “never give but always take” relationship. The belief is that these corporations will stop at nothing simply for the feeling of security.
ABOUT
clingfilmed flesh and genocide,
contented life, while millions die.
Instinct of survival
The multinational corporation
takes its profits from the Starving Nations.
Indigenous people become their slaves
from their births into their graves.
Advertise the product you make,
never give, but always take.
Kill and lie for security.
On supermarket shelves death to see.
Instinct of survival
Advertise the product you make,
never give and always take,
LYRICS
Corporations take as much as they possibly can while giving as little as possible.
While this is a dramatic picture, it gets the point across that many of the items on the shelves in stores get there through unethical means.
Showing their socio-political activisim, Napalm Death references the issue of modern day slavery.
VIDEO
"Instinct of Survival" Live performance in London 1989.