Posted on 09/20/2005 7:38:56 AM PDT by frankjr
At first glance, Eric Paone does not seem your typical conservative true believer. The 35-year-old guitarist of the New Hampshire thrash metal band Candy Striper Death Orgy (yeah, no typo) has a flowing mane of hair, swears like he’s in a Make-the-Sailor-Blush contest and cackles as he relates dirty jokes. His band’s odd name was inspired by an…um, adult feature Paone and his friends checked out once in college, which is appropriate enough, actually, since the thrasher’s day job consists of running a string of adult bookstores christened "The Moonlight Readers."
When he’s behind that counter selling “marital aids” and creatively titled magazines, however, Paone’s always wearing either a George W. Bush hat or button along with his Nuclear Assault T-shirt and Napalm Death shorts. Contradiction? Hypocrisy? Paone doesn’t see it that way.
“The commies have closed more porno stores from us than the Bible thumpers ever did,” he said authoritatively. “There are people on both sides that want to take away everyone’s fun, whether it’s for the kids or the environment or whatever. They’d have no porn stores and we’d all be riding horse-drawn buggies to work if it were up to them. Still, nobody believes me, but the Republican party really is the party of tolerance these days.
“I’d never start in on guys in my store wearing Kerry shirts or Howard Dean pins the way they start in on me for my Bush gear; for thinking different than them, basically,” Paone added. “I’d never stoop that low. Never. But liberals do it all the time.”
As one might imagine, supporting Bush in the last election cycle wasn’t exactly a cause celeb in the underground music scene and Paone took more than a little guff for his politics at shows and on online metal gossip forums. He’s been mocked and blacklisted, but never defeated, only emboldened. In fact, the worse he’s treated the closer he assumes he is to the truth, he said.
Paone’s experience speaks to a larger truth: There always has been a delicious-yet-maddening irony in anarchists and punk rockers — for who the individual is supposed to be supreme — vociferously supporting candidates that want to expand government and narrow the ability of individuals to function as they choose.
“These bands and kids are dumping on government all the time, talking about all this conspiracy theory stuff and how we’re like this Nazi fascist state, and then when it comes time to vote they fall for this mindless talk and vote liberal,” Paone said. “They vote for more government. They fall into the trap. They hate the government but they’re basically asking for it to run their lives.”
In order to make as clean a break with that way of thinking as possible (and to further enrage the people who wanted him to shut up), Paone recently went back and rewrote the lyrics to several older songs from the band’s 15-year oeuvre to take away any sort of lefty slant possible, turning some older bits on nuclear warfare and environmental devastation into ruminations on terrorism and a call to arms to fight it.
“I don’t want people thinking I’m liberal because I’ve got long hair and play guitar,” Paone lamented. “So I got to be careful to be very clear. I don’t want to get lumped in with these Rock Against Bush idiots.”
Paone talks about politics like the uncle who just discovered the Drudge Report, reeling off a litany of Clinton missteps and shortcomings from the 1990s and rejecting the Democrats’ desire to fight the War on Terror by “sitting around the U.N. building and feeling sorry for crazy terrorists.”
“People say to me now, ‘You’re starting to sound like Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh,’ and I just have to tell them, ‘Fine by me. I like those guys,’” Paone laughed. “I want lower taxes. I am all for cleaning up that mess in the Middle East. Try telling that to anyone raised on this Hollywood garbage, though. It’s impossible. They want everything handed to them and they don’t care if some working stiff has to pay for it all.”
A self-described right-leaning independent, Paone said he never liked John Ashcroft and was open to voting for a Democrat in the last election — he looked seriously at Wes Clark — but ultimately stuck with Bush when the “insanely liberal” Kerry was nominated.
“In the middle of a war they want me to vote for a guy who crapped all over his brothers when he came back from ‘Nam?” Paone asked incredulously. “I don’t think so. I never knew what he was talking about. His wife had more of an agenda than he did. I could vote for a Democrat in the future, but not any like of liberal like they put up this last time. And if it’s Hillary? Forget about it.”
It can be surreal to have a guy you once heard bellow “God bless nuclear warfare” at a dirty beach club explain his theories on skyrocketing gas prices.
“Look at the EPA,” he said. “We haven’t built a refinery in years. They know where the oil is in Alaska and how to drill for it without making a mess, but the tree huggers won’t let us go get it. GPS is good from something other than spying on ourselves, you know.”
According to mainstream-media mythology, Bush pulls the wool over voters’ eyes by playing the average guy, not by convincing them his policies are right. So, if that’s true, what does an adult-bookstore-owning thrash-metal guitarist have in common with our in-bed-by-10-P.M. president?
“I don’t want a president exactly like me,” Paone answered. “You know, I’m all for screwing or whatever, but I like that Bush has always been with Laura and is kind of boring. Clinton was a party animal who worked in as many ladies as he could, and look what that got us: A nuclear North Korea, Saddam spitting in our faces and Osama bin Laden having plenty of time to do whatever he wanted. Thanks, anyway. I’ll take boring any day.”
Perhaps he's a South Park Conservative? You may not agree with SPCs on every issue, but they voted for Bush, too.
Here's a page with opinions on SPCs:
http://aretino.mydd.com/story/2005/6/2/161744/4082
One post: "Further explanation of SPC: Rejecting the image of conservatives as uptight squares. We have long hair, smoke cigarettes and cigars and cherish South Park-style comedy for its illumination of hypocrisy and stupidity in all spheres of life. It just happens that most hypocrisy and stupidity takes place in the liberal camp."
though most of the posts sound moonbat-ish:
"The term South Park Conservative is bunk. WTF does it mean? Since when did conservatives like swearing, poop and sex jokes, etc?"
>>The older ones do tend toward country but that's OK too
I (43 y.o.) like both country and folk, but more country than folk...for the musical qualities. Politically, they can be quite
different--as I've pointed out in the quotes from Cheryl
Wheeler ("If it were up to me/I'd take away the guns")
and Toby Keith ("'Cause we'll put a boot up your ass,
it's the American way...")
The way I see it, and I'd like to think that I'm as conservative as they come...that many old school metal-heads are very right-wing. Musical preference should have nothing to do with political leanings. Heck, I listen to: Rammstein, KMFDM, those guys are yelling something in German! I don't even speak German, but man does their music (lyrics aside) kick serious ass!
Back in FR time:
Attention Punks and Metalheads on F.R.
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3a82f211341d.htm
Author: mrexitement
Posted on 02/08/2001 11:22:57 PST by mrexitement
It seems that there are quite a few punks and metalheads on Free Republic. How did so many of us end up as conservatives? Maybe we grew wise in our older years (my 29th)? I think it's our excellent musical tastes. What say you?
I remember hearing about Candy Striper Death Orgy way back, 10 or 15 years ago. How'd they come around now, after all these years?
Henry Rollins said that Fugazi would not grant an interview to Rolling Stone Magazine, unless there were no alcohol or tobacco advertisments in that month's issue. I bet you can guess what happened to that interview being published.
had hair down to my shoulder blades in my twenties as I voted for Reagan
short cut hair as I voted for President Bush
metal is my music of choice
and real country
I just knew there were people like this guy out there, glad to hear from him
I'll have to give his music a listen
Many conservatives are often very surprised to find out who is a conservative.
Slayer <--- big conservatives
Who would have guessed?
Seems to me that hardcore music - including rap - is one ultimate expression of freedom, even when "offensive". If "under God" is offensive to liberals, then my definition of offensive is the opposite.
Include Disturbed, Korn, Jerry Cantrell & Alice in Chains, Tool, A Perfect Circle, Velvet Revolver, Rammstein, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Pretenders, Psych Furs, RHCP, System of a Down, many more. Even some Eminem.
Can't get over the in-your-face political rants of Rage Against the Machine, though.
Can you tell that my house has teenagers and several guitars?
Yet you like System of a Down. I find them to be more in your face than Rage. At least with Rage the music kicks ass. System just blows.
I saw System open for Metallica a couple years back. One of the worst performaces I have ever seen. And I have been to hundreds of concerts. I have seen better performances at Open Mic Night.
Don't forget PUNKS FOR BUSH!
http://www.blogsforbush.com/mt/archives/000820.html
That axe looks like a Dean. Boy is this guy from the 70's. ooops.
Bump for bookmark
SSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
I've only heard System produced. Well between us, we cover the spectrum don't we? hehe
{holding my arm up lighting my lighter}
I don't have a lighter, but I do have my yankee candle up in the air...... Yeah for this rocker!!!!
This is how I've thought about EVERY Supreme Court Nominee...
Silent Scream is really an amazing song about abortion.
Slayer is definately my favorite of all time.
I saw them twice in concert and they just rock!
I watched Alice in Chains get booed off the stage when they opened up for Van Halen in '91.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.