Editorial published in Metal Hammer
The British magazine Metal Hammer Phil Anselmo 's actions , where the vocalist made a Nazi salute and shouted "White Power," a slogan of the white supremacist movement. The editorial follows below:
WHY PHIL ANSELM'S WHITE POWER EXPLOSION SHOULD NOT BE IGNORED
Over the weekend, a fan-made video from this year's Dimebash, an annual benefit concert that brings together great musicians in memory of Dimebag Darrell, began to attract attention online. It was, in every respect, a remarkable night, with Dave Grohl, Phil Anselmo, Robb Flynn, Zakk Wylde, and members of Metallica, Alice in Chains, Stone Sour, and many more joining forces to pay tribute to Dimebag and raise funds for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund. The videos featuring Grohl, Anselmo, Robert Trujillo, and Dave Lombardo playing "Ace of Spades were especially moving, both as a salute to Lemmy's memory and a powerful reminder of the sense of camaraderie and community that unites the global metal community.
And then yesterday a second 21-second video appeared on YouTube showing Phil Anselmo greeting the Hollywood crowd after the show with a 'Sieg Heil' gesture and a shout of "white power," causing all the good vibes from that night to dissipate.
Reactions to Anselmo's actions were varied, and in some cases, alarming. Certain rock music websites failed to cover the event by not mentioning the incident, a shameful and negligent oversight that reveals a great editorial weakness. Other media outlets opted for conciliatory language, talking about what Anselmo "seemed" to have said and "seemed" to have done, as if perhaps we are unable to verify the evidence presented before our eyes and ears. Let's be clear: on the night of January 22nd, one of the most respected and emblematic vocalists in our world was on a stage in Los Angeles, where he made a Nazi salute and shouted a white supremacist slogan. These are the facts; let's not pretend otherwise.
A few hours after the video appeared online, Anselmo, under the name Housecore Records, posted a response regarding the growing controversy. Stating "no apology will come from me ," Anselmo insisted he was just joking, that it was an "inside joke," referring to the musicians present at the event drinking white wine, and concluded: "Some of you need to be thicker-skinned .
“There are a plethora of sons of bitches for you to implicate who have a more realistic agenda,” the singer added. “Fuck, I love them all, I despise them all, and that’s it.”
Let's go then, but not to see what's happening around here...
Remarkably, this frankly laughable explanation seems to have convinced a significant portion of the Rock and Metal community, leading journalists, industry figures, and musicians – normally very quick to share their deeply held and extremely important opinions on Twitter – to inexplicably remain silent on this specific topic. Why? The answer, assuming the industry hasn't become a haven for racist apologists, can only be that there isn't a widespread embarrassment about 'one of us' letting us down so badly. Either that, or there are a lot of cowards in this business, afraid of the consequences of speaking out against reprehensible behavior.
Compared to its global reach, the "industry" side of the Heavy Metal community is a relatively small and restricted group. About half of the journalists at Metal Hammer – this one included – have interviewed Phil Anselmo at least once in the last 25 years. Within our personal and professional circles, there are dozens of good people who have promoted shows for Anselmo's bands, arranged media rights for him, shared festivals with him, or simply shared a drink with him at some random bar. Almost all of these people have a story that helps promote the singer's image as an uncompromising, intimidating guy with a dry sense of humor, a sharp tongue, and a strong temper – but ultimately, a good heart.
Beyond the industry, of course, there are the countless thousands of headbangers who have bought tickets to see the vocalist of Pantera, Down, and Superjoint Ritual, and the millions who feel connected to him through the monumental albums he helped create. These people, after investing so much of their lives in the art created by Anselmo, will also identify in the vocalist the kind of man who is a "defender of the faith," a guy you're proud to call a 'brother in metal.' This is probably why Chris R, the guy who posted the videos on YouTube, had originally decided to cut Anselmo's actions from the final edit, before changing his mind.
The unpleasant truth, however, beyond Phil Anselmo's iconic image, is that the man has a precedent in this matter. After the release of the 1994 album "Far Beyond Driven," the vocalist was interviewed by MTV about his racist comments while wearing a t-shirt of the controversial New York band Carnivore featuring three interlocking number 7s, a symbol used by the South African white supremacist group Afrikaner Resistance Movement. Anselmo ignored the accusations but did not reprimand young people who shouted 'white power' at his shows, explaining, "I'm not them, and they'll shout whatever they want anyway."
In March 1995, during a Pantera concert in Montreal, the then 26-year-old vocalist told the crowd that although "Pantera is not a racist band" and that he and his bandmates had "friends of all colors and types ," he had a problem with rap artists because they "piss on white culture ." Furthermore, Anselmo continued, saying that calls from the African-American community to end "crimes of blacks against blacks" are interpreted as "it's okay to kill whites." White people, the vocalist insisted, needed to be more proud of who they are. "Tonight is a white thing ," Anselmo concluded.
The singer later apologized for his speech and the “harmful words that may have racially offended our audience ,” but the controversy haunted him for years. In recent years, in his more reflective moments, Anselmo has not hesitated to acknowledge the power of symbolism and speech to spread hatred and division. In a 2015 interview with the Hard Rock Haven website, the vocalist admitted that, in retrospect, he would not have incorporated a Confederate flag into the cover art of Superjoint Ritual's first album, and considered some of the content of the lyrics on the band's second album – “A Lethal Dose of American Hatred” – (where the lyrics of Stealing A Page Or Two From Armed And Radical Pagans shouted against 'the cowardly Muhammad' and 'the elitist Jews') to be regrettable. “I have a crazy sense of humor and I really do a lot of silly things,” he said, “but when something is as clear as black and white, people will read it as black and white.”
So, should we attribute Phil Anselmo's actions at Dimebash to another example of his "crazy sense of humor" and interpret the Nazi salute as a simple joke? That seems like a rather generous way of interpreting what happened. Is Anselmo a racist? He constantly denies the accusation, once citing his admiration for black boxers or the fact that he once had a black girlfriend, as if that proves anything, but the fact is that his attitude on the Dimebash stage doesn't help him at all.
A common response to articles about Phil Anselmo's attitude was "who cares?". Behind this forceful reaction, albeit unconsciously, lies the argument that we would be wise to separate the artist from the art he produces. It's a valid point: certainly the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be much less populated if all child abusers, wife beaters, and racists were removed from its ranks.
While no one is going to suggest you start burning your Pantera, Down, or Superjoint Ritual albums in response to the events of January 22nd, we, as a community, have a duty to call attention to the wrongs we see, and not turn a blind eye to intolerance, prejudice, and ignorance when it doesn't suit us to face reality. Metal has a proud reputation for its inclusiveness and tolerance, for supporting and nurturing the oppressed and mistreated, and these characteristics have remained fundamental in making the scene a global movement.
It would be naive to pretend that there aren't aggressive racists lurking within this happy family – read the comments below the post about Anselmo's actions on Metal Hammer's Facebook page if you have any doubts about that, but just as celebrated figures in Heavy Metal have sought inspiration in the darker side of human nature, a scene that celebrates individuality, diversity, and freedom of expression doesn't mesh with intolerant racist thinking. In the same week that the world marks Holocaust Memorial Day, it shouldn't be necessary to say that using far-right symbols and slogans is wrong, and Phil Anselmo doesn't have a free pass just because he's an icon in our eyes.
Fuck the Nazis and fuck racial hatred: all races and all types for our depth and strength*, as Phil once said.
*”every creed and every kind to give us depth for strength”, from the lyrics of Rise, by Pantera
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