USMC advertisement--heavy metal soundtrack starts at around 0:40
Reading:
- Jonathan Pieslak (2009) “Music as an Inspiration for Combat,” and “Metal and Rap Ideologies in the Iraq War,” from Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War
Listening (all available on Blackboard):
- Eminem, “Go to Sleep”
- Drowning Pool, “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor”
- Bloodhound Gang “The Roof Is on Fire”
- Metallica, “The Four Horsemen,” “Seek and Destroy,” “One”
- Slayer, “Bloodline”
Optional:
- Listen to clips from Pieslak's interviews with soldiers about the use of music in the war: http://jon.pieslak.com/asom/
8 comments:
Question:
Jonathan Pieslak's articles explain that the main genres of music that soldiers in the Iraq War listened to were rap and heavy metal. I would be interested to know whether this was because this was the music that these soldiers enjoyed listening to, in general, or only because it psychologically pumped them up before battle.
Artifact Discussion:
Many of these that we had to listen to, I have heard before. This is definitely not my type of music, and not what I enjoy listening to casually. However, the reason why I am so very familiar with many of these songs is because they used to be blasted out of amplifiers in my high school football locker room before our games. Our coach would make us be in the locker room six hours before every game. The only thing that we would do in there, besides briefly reviewing plays, is sit and listen to heavy metal to get us pumped up.
The reason why I bring this up is because I believe that Pieslak's argument extends beyond more than just the battlefield of war. He discusses that soldiers would listen to rap and heavy metal before going out in combat to get an adrenaline rush and to get in the right mindset. The angry music, usually with lyrics about killing and death, and its loud and heavy beats, certainly achieve such a mindset. Soldiers' accounts from the war in Pieslak's article describe that there would be days where they were feeling sluggish and not in the mood to go out and fight. However, instantly after hearing songs such as "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" by Drowning Pool, they would be amped up and ready to go out into battle. I would argue that the same can be extended to any social context where a human has to get psychologically prepared for some sort of physical activity. These types of songs stir something up in human nature. As the article describes, even the Iraqis, who have never heard this type of music before, would get excited to fight when they heard the metal rock blasting. Whether it is soldiers going to fight in war, or football players preparing for game time, there is no denying that the lyrics, instrumentals, and rhythms of popular rap and heavy metal get a man's blood boiling and ready for action.
Is gangsta rap an appropriate genre of music for such violent, wartime settings? Or does it induce a reckless attitude towards killing and violence within the soldier, over-motivating soldiers to seek and destroy anything and everything?
I find it interesting that Pieslak draws a parallel between the "survival of the fittest" attitude of gangsta rap used within the context of the Iraq War and its predominant role in depicting gang activity within ghetto urban areas. I agree with Pieslak that both environments--the battlefields of Iraq and the urban American ghetto--mandate participants to constantly be on their guard against danger and potential attack from all sides. So then, why is music like Little John's "I Don't Give a Fuck," which seems to make a mockery of suck danger, appropriate for such locales of peril? Pieslak argues that such seemingly indifferent attitudes really indicate "a power element, the power of an individual to survive and wage violence against anyone or anything that threatens survival" (138).
In my opinion, this attitude towards life is reckless. I understand the need for such "pump-up" music to motivate soldiers in terrifying situations of war. But should our soldiers really be listening to music that encourages them to shoot anything and everything? This could lead to friendly fire or civilian casualties. Perhaps gangsta-rap provides too much motivation to kill.
Question:
I understand the idea of a soldier listening to metal and rap that he would not normally listen to as a means to get pumped up. However at the end of the Pieslak article, one account compares this music to the explosions and machine gun sounds, explaining that, in fact, that is the music while on the battlefield. With this in mind, is it not unhealthy for soldiers to be listening to this music on their own time, almost an extension of the battlefield into everyday life (separate from pre-mission listening)?
Artifact Discussion:
The rap song “I Don’t Give A…” is all about how much better Lil’ John is than all those other rappers, his “enemies”. He raps about f**king n**gers up, about how he can do whatever he wants, and about how he doesn’t “give a f**k”. He also raps about how no one can touch him or “f**k with” him, which seems to me is the type of mental toughness encouraged in a soldier. In class we talked about different types of music having different perceived levels of masculinity. I would say that “I Don’t Give A…” provides a good example of music that puts a good amount of weight into masculinity, specifically an African American sense of masculinity.
The music is angry and loud and I would say it does a good job of pumping one up to do something like killing the enemy. It provides the adrenaline rush mentioned by Desert Storm troops in the Pieslak article. While metal was a more popular genre in that war, the article mentions that the global accessibility of music today provides a greater variety in the types of music that troops listen to.
In relation to this particular song, Jennifer Atkinson says that they called this adrenaline rush “getting crunked” (50). The soldiers would chant the refrain “over and over again until they were pretty much screaming it”(50). It makes sense that a song like this would be able to get soldiers “hyped up and ready for anything” (50). Its fighting words and general volume provide the fighting spirit that the soldiers need. I think it also worthy to note that this song is used as a pre-mission ritual that the soldiers bond over; that coherence is probably very important on the battle field.
Question: Pieslak cites metal and rap as important genres to psychologically prepare soldiers for battle and interrogation. However, are other genres, such as spiritual or classical, used to do the opposite (i.e. calm down the solider, allow him to accept death, etc.) or even serve the same purpose to pump up the soldiers for killing?
Artifact discussion:
After listening to “Bodies” by Drowning Pool, it makes sense why soldiers would listen to this song before combat. The tempo is very static, consisting of a heavy beat, and really entices the listener to be engulfed in the lyrics and explicit use of the guitar. Some of the guitar riffs closely mirror machine guns and are very percussive in nature. The soldier’s subconscious could utilize the sound around him/her to become very psychologically ready for combat. As discussed in the previous class, the purpose of basic training was to break the soldier of their civilian role and make them accept a new, ranked way of living in the military. The genres of rap and metal could also be an extension of this training to further make soldiers embrace doctrine. The encompassing of genres like metal and rap, not only help to prepare soldiers for combat, but to also create a sense of unity among the troops through tastes in music.
Furthermore, the explicit lyrics of “Bodies” also conjure up the image of war quite graphically. Beyond the battlefield, lyrics of killing, blood, and “Bodies” would make men’s blood boil and make them very aggressive and ready to seek action. This is the mindset required for war – one where primal instincts, rage, and anger all will help you stay alive. Only someone sadistic could be calm and happy during war. Therefore, one may think of songs like “Bodies” and other songs in the metal and gansta rap genre as songs that transform normal, sane soldiers into people capable of killing.
Question:
Have mixes and mash-ups of rap and metal (like Linkin Park and Jay-Z) become popular amongst soldiers too? Peislak mentions a few pairings in the beginning and their general popularity, but I’m curious about the appeal of the mash-ups to soldiers.
Article Discussion:
Pussy by 4th25 evokes elements that make metal and gangsta rap successful amongst soldiers. It obviously fits into the gangsta rap category, insofar as the rapper barks and curses into the microphone. There is not one moment where he sings. His melody is constant, hard and powerful. The lyrics seem to insult a “pussy” soldier, including ones that earned awards of honor. It almost invites the listener to toughen up and prove his or herself, regardless of the reward. But it is also bizarre because it does not mention the enemy or violence. It is just a litany of insults for members of the army who are not strong. Maybe it is a call for soldiers to be tough and help themselves and the unit. Otherwise they are pussies. Additionally, the beat is not the focus of the song at all. It is repetitive and ominous, and does not change.
In my opinion, the rapper’s voice is the entire song. His lyrics could be played over any dark noise and create the same effect. The moment in the track at 1:15 when the lyricist’s voice is layered over itself reminds me of metal. The track becomes complicated, fast, and hard to understand. It reminds me of the effect metal has on soldiers of imitating the fastness of the battlefield and the shots from the automatic rifles. The layering is complicated, almost like a sergeant screaming at you for all different angles.
“Music as Inspiration for Combat/ the Listenings”
Question:
As I listened to the songs, I heard repetition, some screaming of words and phrases, violent lyrics, haunting words, experience, realness, “choice words”, and some that painted terrifying pictures. I arise from the reading with the understanding that war is a difficult scenery, but my most pressing question would be if the music in wartime is often used to pump/ hype the populations of soldiers who are about to enter into situations the civilian may not be ready for or be able to imagine, if it can take warriors to a place of de-sensitivity where they do what they feel they have to do, what kind of impacts do such music have on people who aren’t in these situations? Are these effects positive? Can they be negative?
Furthermore, why are heavy metal and rap particularly attractive as “hype/ preparation” music? Might there be other styles/ forms of music that can serve the soldiers in a similar way? What in particular, draws soldiers (soldiers of different nationalities are brought up in the discussion) to these styles?
The article was definitely enlightening and the recruitment video, telling of the place music has in war. From its capability to boost morale, to the usefulness of it providing a “touch of home”, to “welfare” and the “recreational” purposes it serves, I would say that there is certainly a power in music that uplifts, and keeps people surviving even in the midst of the most devastating or traumatizing experiences. In terms of manhood, I was brought back to the discussion on hi-fi and the build it/ hands on component that seems present in the ability of soldiers to include music while operating their daily machinery: for example while riding in tanks, particularly on page 49, where soldier, CJ Grisham describes the sound system the soldiers created in their truck. However, the main component of manhood that struck me was the element of camaraderie that music provides and perhaps it can be said that regardless of the content of the music, or maybe even because of it, the “shared experience of music” (54) and music itself gives the soldiers something to connect/ bond over.
For soldiers, music “soothed them”, “prepared them mentally” “pumped them up” gave them “motivation”, for doing the unthinkable promoted “teamwork and oneness” and “established identity of the group”. “Ritualization”, “sense of community”—these are phrases that also came up in the article that were reflected in the recruitment video. From the soldiers mouths came words such as: “My buddy’s next to me; I’m gonna be there for him and he’s gonna be there for me”, which reveals a sense of fraternity and brotherhood; “honor, courage, commitment” were spoken as more patriotic music, and horns were played; Being a marine is the “proudest thing I’ll ever do in my entire life”—these words bring to life the honor and fulfillment that we associate with serving your country/ being a marine. These are the same ideas that are emphasized through music, which has a place in war I have been further made aware of.
Question:
I’m sure there are some soldiers who don’t listen to heavy metal and/or rap before joining the army. I’d be curious to know if these genres become a big part of their ipod playlists after their service is up. How might that affect their behaviors/attitudes once their back out in the real world? Does this music become associated in their minds strictly with the army or does it now become part of who they are and how they view themselves?
Artifact:
I’ve never been a big fan of heavy metal or gangster rap, but I do hear it often when I’m in the weight room at the gym. There’s no denying the ability that the heavy bass lines and hard-hitting power chords have over the human psyche; regardless of what the lyrics of the song are saying, you definitely feel an urge to move, to let out any repressed aggression, to take control of your surroundings (even if it’s only to turn off the loud racket coming from the stereo). These genres embody everything “we” want the American soldier to be: bold, loud, unafraid, powerful, strong, and even a little frightening. Therefore, we wouldn’t want to have soldiers listening to something like Coldplay or Phil Collins- music that would calm them and make them look inward. We want them listening to music that compels them to act and do, not to think.
Beyond the instrumental and compositional aspects of the music soldiers listen to, I also found something very interesting within the lyrics. As my peers above me have pointed out, they all talk about death and killing and exercising one’s strength over one’s enemies. However, I’m tempted to think the message goes a little bit beyond that. As we see in Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” and Eminem’s “Go to Sleep,” there is this concept of destroying one’s enemy because they owe something or because they are to blame for something negative in one’s life. In Bloodhound Gang’s “Fire Water Burn” and Drowning Pool’s “Bodies,” however, the focus seems to be more on the individual’s suffering and misfortunes; it seems as though death is no big deal in this depressed person’s life. This is an important concept to introduce to the troops, as they will face both a lot of suffering and a lot of death. Therefore, it seems as though songs like this aren’t so much emphasizing a need to kill at all costs, but rather presenting death as something of little significance, something the soldiers should remove themselves from, the way a paramedic removes him/herself from an accident victim. Killing your “enemies” won’t be difficult if you’re removed from both them and the idea of death. Thus, perhaps sometimes the songs soldiers listen to aren’t always meant to be a shot of adrenaline, but may also be a subtle yet high dosage of novocaine.
Question:
Is the takeaway message of heavy metal just personal power -- or is it about acting out aggression? And is that "good" or "bad"? (Meaning a positive, helpful construction of masculinity or not)
Artifact Discussion:
I do find it fascinating that the military would choose to use heavy metal in their advertisements, especially after the connections made in the "Metal and Rap Ideologies in the Iraq War" article suggested that the military is trying to appeal to the power of the individual person. The empowerment of the individual person is obviously not by nature a bad thing and is probably a good thing. However, it seems that the use of heavy metal to promote the military also seems to suggest something about men, aggression, and what it means to conquer the world or defeat the enemy. There might be some serious ethical ramnifications for this kind of message, although I can see why it would be a useful tool for the military to recruit with as it probably draws the type of men who identify with a specific relationship to their gender role. I listened to "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" and the primary emotion that seemed to come through the music video and the song was ANGER. I can see why instilling a sense of anger would lead someone to become aggressive which is useful for preparing people for war. However, I think this might account or at least contribute partially to the way "aggression" is linked to the male identity and seems to be understood as the only expression of male emotion.
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