Our Top Story: Emmure vocalist Frankie Palmeri has addressed his own career in a moment of self-reflection, saying "I emotionally and spiritually reject almost every lyric I’ve ever written. It all stems from material pain, a fragile ego, a inability to cope. It’s unfortunate anyone has ever identified with any of what I’ve said in my music."
After that created confusion, he clarified that he doesn't regret writing any of his songs, but he no longer identifies with the person who wrote them, or the feelings captured within them. He went on to say that being around people who don't listen to metalcore (though this extends to much of metal as well) opened his eyes to the "unnecessary onslaught of bullshit emotions" it entails.
I don't think I've ever listened to an Emmure song, so my interest in this topic isn't about Frankie at all. I'm intrigued by the larger question; what do we make of music when it's rejected by the person who created it? We don't have a lot of examples of artists rejecting their own work, partly because many of them aren't self-aware enough to criticize themselves, but also because they don't want to do anything to impact the ability to sell the music.
Hearing someone you look up to telling you enjoying the music you've connected with is unhealthy is not something to be taken lightly. A lot of modern rock and metal is swamped in pain and anger, and there are serious questions that must be asked about how much we can absorb before it becomes dangerous. Music can be a catharsis, a means of getting the negativity out of us, but it can also reinforce it and drive it deeper. We, as listeners, have to know ourselves and be able to tell what the music is doing to us, and where the limits are. I'm not comfortable saying many people, myself included, can do that. It's one of the reasons I try to avoid music that is actively miserable. I didn't expect to hear that thinking mirrored by someone who made that sort of miserable music.
It's a rare moment of existential reasoning I didn't expect to come, and am rather shocked by. We don't get much deep thinking from heavy music, and even if I will never be swayed to listen to Emmure, I appreciate the attempt to start a deeper conversation surrounding the music we listen to. It's needed.
In Other News: The good news is that Dave Mustaine is doing better in his battle against cancer. The bad news is that means Dave is now going to start talking again. In some of his first comments since returning to the road, Dave has not only shoved his entire foot down his throat, but he has reinforced every reason I've considered him one of metal's biggest assholes.
Talking about an incident in 2012 where he accused President Obama of staging the Aurora massacre, among others, Mustaine excused his behavior by saying "I have no regrets. If you weren't there, you won't know what happened. We were in Asia and soon discovered that the guy doing our monitors really wasn't a monitor guy; the first two shows had been disastrous. We got a local guy to help us and it was a fucking mess. Naturally, I threw caution to the wind and we knew we couldn't take the gig too seriously."
Yes, Dave Mustaine is defending his false allegations that the President of the United States faked murders by saying he was upset his sound on stage wasn't good enough, and that he was just joking.
I don't say this lightly; Fuck Dave Mustaine.
Humor is subjective, sure, but there is nothing funny about accusing people of heinous acts, or even crimes. It is a sign of a severe personality disorder that Dave would consider that an appropriate response to a gig going poorly. He's deeply insulting on two fronts. First, his comments are an indication that he didn't give the people who paid good money to see him that night his best effort, which is insulting enough. Second, he passing the blame for his actions onto a member of the crew. No one made him say those things other than himself. No one planted the seeds of conspiracy theories in his head other than himself. No one told Dave to be an asshole, and a possibly racist asshole at that. He did it all on his own.
We aren't all going to agree on politics, but there's a world of difference between have a policy discussion and accusing those on the other side of committing ghastly crimes. But we know who Dave Mustaine is. He has a long history of saying deeply offensive things, making it quite easy to connect the dots between him and racism (he said he knew President Obama wasn't born in The United States - a racist statement), him and sexism, and various other issues. You would think that being nearly 60s years old, and having just faced his own mortality, Dave would have grown up at some point. But he hasn't.
Dave Mustaine is still the same as he ever was; a person too dumb to realize he's not smart. Every time he opens his mouth, he taints Megadeth's legacy even more than the last twenty years of albums have.
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