Favorite songs - Dropdead
Man Afraid were the first hardcore band I listened to and really understood. They focused on typically leftist politics but were noticeably educated within the hardcore scene. I’ll tell you how many bands have ever rhymed “hegemony” in their songs - one and their name was Man Afraid. Around the same time, Los Crudos were playing and also doing incredible work. Take the almost completely homogeneous hardcore scene, add some gay Hispanics who only sing in Spanish (except on “We’re that spic band”) and you’ve got something that’s obviously trying to expand that subculture in positive ways. But “What Once Was Life” by Dropdead has to be the most satisfying, blistering 2 minutes of noise ever put to wax.
Just as a small exercise, compare the waveform of that track by Dropdead:
to another song, say, Van Morrison’s “Moondance”:
I shouldn’t need to point this out, but one is as pleasing as a summer day, wind chimes, or Enya, and the other tries very, very hard to crush your skull. So please set your speakers to 11 and then let it.
What once was Life
My murder has become-justified
In your sick-barbaric world
My skin is ripped-from the bone
What once was life-you-ingest(Industrial part)
A holocaust-unrealized
My lifeblood feeds-a selfish world
My suffering-goes unknown
What once was life-you-ingest