THE HARD R: GOD FORBID’S DALLAS COYLE ON THE INTERNET, DOWNLOADING, AND THE RECORD BUSINESS
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 1:48pm by Dallas Coyle
Last week I talked about the state of metalcore and the week before that I talked about the word ‘nigger’ and how it should be used as an equal opportunity diss for all types of people. Not just for, wait for it — African-Americans. The power of the word is too great. I’m keeping it PC for now. My last two blogs seem to be getting a good response so far. I’m at odds with what to talk about this week because there’s so much we can discuss being it’s the internet and all.
OK. How about the internet?
The blog is called The Hard R for a reason. I think a lot of you can agree that the internet should be called the wild, wild internet. All bets are off here. How many times have you seen tasteless, generic comments from people on message boards who never put a name to the face or even a name to their comment. The internet helps the cowards spread their wings a little wider, which I approve of by the way. The more cowards, the more heroes.
This is the reason I came to MetalSucks to do a blog. I noticed a lot of their stories have a point of view about the state of things, and not just metal. I think that is very important. What disappoints me is the way a lot of these websites have biases that are unsustainable. A lot of these biases breed a following that hurts or helps the site. I commend Blabbermouth for cutting down the hate speak that was inherent on their site. It’s actually amazing to look at a God Forbid news story on BMouth and not see — ‘God Forbid are Niggers’. It’s refreshing. But Lambgoat, who doesn’t cover GF anymore but used to, posts a story about a death in a band and half of the kids on that site say they are happy said person has left this earth. But these kids don’t identify themselves because they are afraid of their own shadow. Can you see where the lines lay in the sand?
I think there needs to be a certain amount of decency in our lives but sometimes that decency needs to take a back seat. This is metal for fucks sake. This genre is all about testing the establishment and telling them to fuck off when you don’t like what they tell you. Since the day I was born I was a nerd. Metal kept me away from the things that could have destroyed me when I was younger. Even to this day, my anger can get the best of me but when I put on Meshuggah the anger subsides and I’m able to think clearer.
After my last two blogs, my brother had a ‘talk’ with me about these blogs. Essentially asking me to stop doing them because people listen to GF for only the music and our views on things shouldn’t be associated with the band. I said,”Fuck that!’ How can I do anything and not be associated with GF. GF is supposed to help me, not inhibit me from doing what I want. No one will censor what I’m going to say. As long as someone is willing to listen then I see no reason to stop. I’m not pissed about him asking me to stop, I’m pissed about why. He told me all of these people called him asking, ‘Aren’t you worried about what your brother says?’ He tells me the label had a meeting and the blog came up and they heard ‘Hillary Clinton is a nigger’ and they dropped their heads in shame. Let’s analyze these statements. 1) Why the fuck can’t any of these people who have my phone number talk to me about this stuff? Why call my brother? 2) I’m sure most at our label were laughing before they were ’supposed’ to drop their heads in shame. What the fuck are they bringing up a blog I do? If anything heads should be dropped in shame because they aren’t selling enough God Forbid records. Hopefully this blog will get more people to download our shit so they can hear the music, which we’ve had a problem with since we started. I hear, ‘You guys deserve so much more,’ I say, ‘we don’t deserve shit! We’ve already done more than I ever thought we’d ever do!’ We are where we are because of us, not anyone else. If our band gets any bigger, it’s because of our attitudes and our work. We’ve had bad attitudes, we thought we weren’t getting a fair shake, but it was all lies. Us lying to our ourselves. And through all of that lying we’ve made great music and have the best fans in the world and we’re still going. We couldn’t do it without the record label but that was then and this is now. Fuck the record business. We’re in the band business.
The record business is like your mother or father when you’re in a band. You hate them/love them. Unfortunately, the record business is going down the shitter. Right now they have cancer. But it’s their own fault. It’s a lack of good ideas and good judgement. Too much old thinking. Everyone wants to blame the internet but I think the internet is a scapegoat just like illegal immigration is a scapegoat for politicians to explain their failures in creating jobs. The internet helps the bands and the labels. The internet is a brita for all entertainment media. Get rid of the crap; keep the purity. The labels sign CRAP music so it’s no wonder no one is buying their shit. See, they think you are stupid. They think you will buy anything that they put out there. They underestimate your sense of smell. You can smell bullshit from afar. I encourage people to download our records because it’s hard to find our albums across the world. What’s the difference between a download or someone copying a CD for a friend to hear? Isn’t tape trading how Metallica began their grassroots following?
For the record, I didn’t title my blog, ‘Hillary Clinton is a nigger’. That was a BMouth spin on the blog. I hope some of you saw that. If you didn’t who cares. It’s out there now and it will be forever. I have the cojones to put my name to my opinions and if you have a problem with it you can speak to me about it. Most people aren’t like that. They post under anonymous, or heckler 18, or whateverthefuck.com… No one wants to be held accountable for their actions. Labels, internet trolls, etc.
All of you on the internet do have power but you have to make yourself known. There are many sheep in this world and honestly, sheep can’t be wolves. Some people are uncomfortable with following and some people are uncomfortable with leading. That’s the way of the world. If you have something to say, say it. Make sure the people you’re saying it to know it’s you. If you can’t do that, then you’re just wasting space…
- Dallas Coyle, God Forbid
Right the fuck on!! The entire world needs to learn to be responsible for themselves and stop pissing on anything that is new or out of their comfort zone. As far as the “new” music scene…it’s the same old shit that’s been going on for thirty years or more. Everything has just been given what some fat exec calls a more up to date image. Fuck image!! I can’t put image in my CD player and rock the fuck out to it!! Real metal isn’t for the timid or politically correct!
Wow, man. I couldn’t agree with you more about pretty much everything you’ve said.
Fuck censorship.
I really don’t know what else to say; you’ve hit the nail on the head with this blog post.
Keep it up; \m/
Hey Dallas, good read man. Tell it like it is.
Right on man. I’ve been a fan of the blog since the first one for the fact that you just call it how it is.
I noticed that there aren’t any ignorant shit heads posting any comments on here about how your band sucks because you somehow fall into a category they’re told they’re not supposed to like. Or the same shit heads trying to make you feel stupid for being intelligent because you used a few big words in your post.
I completely agree with you on the downloading too. If you don’t know what it sounds like, why the fuck would you buy the CD? It’s as simple as that. Music downloading is nothing more than radio on demand.
Now burning entire albums, not listening to them, and then selling them… I could go without that.
Good post all around.
Great post Dallas, except I do take exception with one tiny passage. You say, “…politicians to explain their failures in creating jobs…” It’s not the job of politicians to “create jobs”. They do, however, have the power to keep jobs from being destroyed by overtaxation, over-regulation and what I call “hidden taxes” – those insidious jumps they make people like me jump through just to run our companies. I can’t tell you how many hours I spend every year just trying to comply with regulations that serve no purpose other than to keep some bureaucrat employed.
But I’m nitpicking. That wasn’t the focus of your blog entry.
Thanks to Blabbermouth I found this website. Now I don’t need to read about a restaurant where Ozzy was spotted eating a sandwich anymore and actually read stuff where people use punctuation. Look at what everyone’s said before me! Capitalization, punctuation, grammar, wow! Nobody’s replied with a “u suck and ur band sucks- MESHUGGAH!” yet. This is by far my favorite metal news website. Props to you for choosing to make a blog here and props to the other guys who maintain this site.
Brett, u suck and ur gay.
Just kidding. Wanted to make u -er, you – feel at home.
Dallas is the man. That was an awesome read. Another reason why this website is my favorite metal site around!
Fantastic. I was very skeptical about this guest-blogging exercise, but once again MetalSucks has chosen wisely. Killer material.
I didn’t like GF until I heard Constitution Of Treason. I bought it the next day.
Stay metal.
Wow, 3 posts and it’s already my favorite blog. Always a pleasure to read, always on point. Looking forward to the new record.
I fucking love god forbid, killer riffs, killer groove & generally fucking brutal just the way I like it. I say generally because the fucking thing I hate is the clean vocal…This is just my personal opinion & this isn’t the topic…
I totally approve everything you say, and my arms fell to the ground when I read what your own brother told you. Talk about being assimilated by the machine…he probably feels the same way you do but doesn’t have the courage to speak up because he’s probably afraid to lose everything he gained over the years…this is just a wild guess & my opinion and can’t really judge him because I don’t know him!
A thing that makes me laugh really hard is the bunch of artist out there that bashes on the internet about how its evil and deprives them of revenues…well they are fucking hypocrites…they are the instigator of this movement, by copying tapes & passing them to their friends. I personally download everything…why, because I hate spending 25$ or 30$ on a cd before even hearing it, so if I like what I hear you can be sure that I will go & buy the cd or vynil or whatever other format it is released out. I will support your hard work, and if I don’t like it…well tough luck & better luck next time. It’s the same thing for everything…when you buy a car you test drive it, you don’t just pay & go…you try out your clothes before buying them. There would be no reason to download an album if every band put out the entire album available for streaming in low bit-rate via their website, myspace, imeem or whatever other medium. People could on the spot know if the like it or not and could send the link to their friends instead of downloading & passing the riped cd to their friends. Of course there will always be people who will always download a higher bit-rate version and will never go out and buy the cd, but this is like prostitution & organised crime no matter how hard you try & fight it, it will always remain, but one can do damage control by educating are youth about the problem instead of bashing on them…which in my opinion will only make mather worse.
I could go on all day about this issue, but I tried to sum it all up in a “brief” way, quite hard for a deep & complex matter like this.
P.S
Andre is my real name & the link is my real myspace so if you don’t like what I wrote well fuck you and send me your hate mail. I have the courage of my opinion & words so if I can say it I can take it equally :-). For the record my blabbermouth name is Squee.. My real name was already taken! To all the fuckers on BM that brags about first post, go fuck yourselves. You should get instant life ban.
Dallas for president!
Andre said “There would be no reason to download an album if every band put out the entire album available for streaming in low bit-rate via their website, myspace, imeem or whatever other medium.”
Deal. Can we get rid of limewire, ares, and all the rest of the file sharing sites now?
I respect your integrity, man. I think it’s important not to sacrifice your voice in favor of trying to please everybody.
I’ve been in bands before with guys that I didn’t see eye to eye with. Some dudes smoke dope, some don’t, some guys believe in religion, some don’t. It can be hard to face the issues that you care about if not everybody’s on the same page. I feel like I made the mistake of limiting myself as far as the subjects we wrote about, just out of respect for my bandmates or whatever – but I regret it now. That’s why I’m giving you props for staying true to yourself… because fuck it, you can’t please everybody anyway.
Been listening to GF since about ‘01, keep it up, and thanks for not being too cool to actually talk to your fans.
i’ve never bothered with your band but I think I will download something tonight and best be sure if I dig it (and i probably will) i’ll will be buying at the very least a t-shirt at your next area show ;)…blogs like this and live sweat are what makes fans…not fancy pants videos and packaging ;p
There are a lot of dudes in bands who don’t talk to fans, but don’t categorize them as assholes. We’ve been on tour with a bunch of bands where certain members are unable to spend time with fans for safety reasons. We have the luxury of being known but not so big it’s unsafe for fans to drink band members in the crowd or hang out in general. Don’t get me wrong though, there are some people who treat their fans like shit but it all comes around in the end.
Point taken. I only said that because in my experience, I’ve seen a few local guys I won’t name that tasted just a little bit of success and became very jaded. I didn’t mean to overgeneralize.
Respect! Underappreciated is this band… so are the words you speak Dallas. I recognize the a$$kissing that goes on between $hitty bands & labels to be PC -there is alot of crap being shelled out to shut up the masses and they won’t amount to anything in 5 yrs. … I can rant on & on too, but I just want to say I just recently caught ear of you guys, say the past few years. I wait patiently for the DVD. I was really looking forward to the Devil Driver show that was going to be put together & was bummed out that it got canceled – (For the Sno-OZ-Fest..?!) GF is 1 of the few bands, of the new breed that I really enjoy… BETTER DAYS!