Coming Up: Dee Snider - yes, that Dee Snider!!
Dee
As much
as we are a verbal species, we don’t mind a little shorthand from time to time.
And that’s probably as good an explanation behind the use of symbols as any.
Instead of telling someone your politics lean to the revolutionary left,
proudly wear your Che t-shirt; support the war? No need to join up, put a yellow ribbon sticker on the back of
your car.
Of
course just as Pavolv’s dogs salivated at a sound they associated with food, so
too can you get someone’s own mouth foaming when symbols seem to lose their
meaning.
Case in
point: metal horns. Where at once this was a proud symbol thrown to show your
allegiance to the loudest of music, it’s now come to mean some idiot thinks
they are “metal” e.g. wild and crazy. And this watering down has one musician
so angry he started “Take Back the Horns” campaign.
The slavering-mad musician
is Dee Snider of Twisted Sister who was inspired by an article in the satirical
news site The Onion entitled “Metal Council Convenes To Discuss 'Metal Hand
Sign' Abuse.” According to the fictitious leader "The metal sign,
or 'sign of the goat,' has all but lost its impact as a token of respectful
recognition for something truly 'rocking' or 'metal,'" SMC (Supreme Metal
Council) president Terence "Geezer" Butler said.
Dee is no secret to campaigns. He spoke out in the 1980s before
the United States
senate against the Parents Music Resource Centre that launched parental warning
stickers on records.
But now
there’s no senate floor, just a bunch of metal fans and the internet; Dee thinks they can both be used for the right affect and
and writes at the site:
It’s time we--the heavy metal community--take our horns
back! We need to lay down the law and reclaim that which is rightfully
ours. Let’s identify the perpetrators/ violators and let them know that
they are treading on sacred ground! Let’s post photos of celebrity
violators on this website and send them e-mails, citations and letters calling
them out on their misuse and demanding they cease Metal Horn usage! We
will let them know that we know...and we don’t like it.
I’m
with you Dee. And so too will you once you hear his impassioned plea coming right up on my show!
And
you? Are there any symbols you feel have been unfairly co-opted? Faux punk
bands wearing anarchy A’s; trucker hats on hipsters?
