The Three Best Metal Songs About Native Americans

I'm glad that the movement for the Washington Redskins to change their name is picking up. Owner Dan Snyder might be sure that his own childhood nostalgia matters more than the dignity of an entire race of people, and I know he speaks for a lot of folks who are attached to the name without meaning any harm. Still, I doubt Snyder will call the name "a badge of honor" to any of the Oneida Indian Nation spokesmen he's been dodging meetings with.

The Redskins should change their name, and the fans will get over it, just like they got over the changed lyrics to their theme song ("Scalp 'em, swamp 'um/We will take 'um big score") and the team's integration (original owner/virulent racist George Preston Marshall held out until 1962, when Bobby Kennedy threatened to take away their stadium.)

In honor of a group of people getting disrespected by a billion-dollar industry and this weekend's federal holiday (not to mention John Boehner's shutdown cutting off their healthcare and education funds), here are three songs to play loud this weekend.

1. Iron Maiden, "Run to the Hills"



Easily the best metal song written about American Indians, and probably the best over all song about their tribulations at the hands of the Europeans. Informative without being heavy-handed, "Run to the Hills" is carried by Iron Maiden's most recognizable intro and that eternally rousing chorus, ripping centuries of colonialism out of the history books and writing in the parts about murder, rape and enslavement. Maiden would go on to make more great albums, and still be the best live metal band in the world 30 years later, but by "Run to the Hills," they'd already cemented their place as a cultural force.

2. Anthrax, "Indians"



This used to be the only song that I would ever skip on Among the Living, Anthrax's 1987 classic that's often nominated as the best New York City metal album ever. Listening again, I'm remembering that the music and verses rock pretty hard--it's just the irksome chorus ("Cry for the Indians! Die for the Indians!") that makes one wish that Anthrax had stuck to writing about comic books and Stephen King. Still, "Indians" means well and gets by on the riffs and drumming. Half-Iroquois singer Joey Belladonna was not the cause's most articulate spokesman, but as dreadful songs like the Cult's "American Horse" and Rebel Meets Rebel's "Cherokee Cry" prove, he didn't have an easy task.

3. Testament, "Native Blood"



Testament have always been a small cut below the Big Four, both artistically and commercially, but they were arguably the most consistent, an honor that was upheld on 2012's excellent Dark Roots of Earth. If anything, they've gotten heavier over the past 25 years, and not due to compression. Lead singer Chuck Billy had addressed his native heritage before ("Trail of Tears," "Allegiance,") but never as searingly as on "Native Blood," which won the band a music video award  at the American Indian Film Festival. Also, unless we're counting proto-metalhead Jimi Hendrix, Billy is metal's most accomplished American Indian.

Diamond Head at St. Vitus Bar

What do a few scores of metalheads packed in to see Diamond Head at St. Vitus Bar have in common? All male, you might guess, and you'd almost be right. But more so, they all read about metal. Some fans hear the songs, decide which ones they like and leave it at that. None of them were at Friday's show.

Lightning to the Nations, Diamond Head's debut and their one album that anybody listens to, is out of print, unavailable on iTunes and starting at $29.99 on Amazon used. They've never charted, and didn't tour America for their first 37 years as a band, but when Metallica covers four songs from the same album, people will track it down. All four songs were played on Friday (in total, every song from Lightning except for "Sweet and Innocent,") and a crowd of mainly fortysomethings who took their metal very seriously thrashed along with every riff.

After two stupendously terrible bands (the worse of which was named Brohammer), Diamond Head took the stage around midnight with a sound that launched a few bands that launched a thousand other bands. New singer Nick Tart was an ideal replacement for Sean Harris, young enough to recharge the band's batteries and experienced enough to hold his own with Brian Tatler, whose monstrous riffage on songs like "It's Electric" and "Shoot Out the Lights" proved that even in the voluminous world of NWOBHM bands, Diamond Head created and perfected their own niche, an extra grimy variation on the genre's operatic vocals and wild soloing. "The Prince" and "Helpless" reminded us that Diamond Head were one of the first metal bands to embrace punk's musical mentality (if not their fashions), and their show-stopping "Am I Evil?" sounded even better in a club than it did when the Big Four covered it three years ago. No matter how many talents you can get on one stage, that song rips hardest with two guitars, a rhythm section and a guy who can sing better than Joey Belladonna.

"That was like seeing Iron Maiden in your living room!" my buddy said while we were leaving the bar. It was almost impossibly cool, and made me hope that someday we'll see something equally rare--Diamond Head in a stadium.

Anthrax for Bobby Digital

My office comrade, Bobby Digital (no, not that one), got to see Anthrax play Jimmy Fallon. Right as I was congratulating him, he described the event the way that Jesse Helms would probably describe an Anthrax show. No surprise there--Anthrax aren't a band that inspires a lot of indifference. But Bobby D also enjoys Iron Maiden and Metallica, so I sought to give him an audio discourse on New York's greatest metal band.



Anthrax for Bobby Digital

1. Bring the Noise
2. Only
3. Antisocial
4. Got the Time
5. Caught in a Mosh
6. Hy Pro Glo (Al Jourgensen remix)
7. Inside Out
8. What Doesn't Die
9. Among the Living
10. Cadillac Rock Box
11. Taking the Music Back
12. Think About an End
13. I'm the Man
14. Madhouse
15. I am the Law
16. Fueled
17. Refuse to be Denied
18. Metal Thrashing Mad (John Bush version)

One look at Anthrax for Bobby Digital gives me away. I am a John Bush fan. In most circles, that's like saying you prefer Van Hagar, but the fact is that Anthrax were at best with John Bush's growls and not Joey Belladonna's mewls.

Of course, the Joey period is their most popular, and there are plenty of killer songs. "Caught in a Mosh" and Madhouse" should be in any metalhead's collection. Anthrax caught up to their peers in the Big Four by rapping ("Bring the Noise," "I'm the Man,") covering new wave ("Got the Time") and telling jokes (S.O.D.) better than any other metal band. "I'm the Man" has got to be the deftest rap parody outside of Fear of a Black Hat, and "Antisocial" reinvents hard rock as punk rock, but their signature is "Bring the Noise," a perfect rap-metal bridge to Public Enemy that took both bands to their peak while paving the way for Rage Against the Machine and the Judgement Night soundtrack. I like it more than "Walk This Way."

But if Anthrax spent the Reagan Era in the shadow of Slaygadeth, they caught up with John Bush's debut on Sound of White Noise. "Only" and "Hy Pro Glo" deliver a TKO punch to mid-'90s grunge, and "Fueled" earns its Bukowski reference by sounding like it was sung by him. "Inside Out" scores with their best video (because it re-enacts a Twilight Zone episode) and their most ripping solo (because Dimebag Darrell plays it.)

Best of all though is We've Come for You All, their jaw-dropping 2003 comeback, where, amidst the worst publicity of their lifetime (we hope,) Scott Ian and the gang roared back to show the world who the real Anthrax is. From the zombie anthem "What Doesn't Die" to the rifftastic "Cadillac Rock Box" to the all-time heaviest "Think About an End" and beyond, Anthrax claimed the best Big Four record in the past decade. Not that it paid off commercially, but nothing more can be expected from metal's greatest team of underdogs.

Finally, I've alerted you to appearances by Al Jourgensen, Dimebag Darrell and Public Enemy. See if you can find Roger Daltrey.

Download here: Anthrax for Bobby Digital