So What's the Deal With Phil Anselmo? - 371

Like us, are you somewhat uncomfortable of about Pantera playing with Metallica? Why exactly might that be? We need to explore what it is about Phil Anselmo that gives people that icky feeling.

This week we try to put some meat on the bones about the rumours that have dogged Anselmo for the last three decades of his career. White supremacist? Racist? Just a bit of a steamer?  What is it about this guy that has gotten him this reputation? Is it merited? And if it is merited, do we have any sort of obligation to act on that?

The Pattern of Behaviour

It's an issue that's dogged Phil throughout his career, but came into sharp focus at the conclusion of the Dimebash concert in 2016. The thing is though, focusing too much on that fiasco is that it allows flimsy and bad faith justifications. Too much alcohol is one. "Oh, he was just trolling" is another. They've been fairly successfully passed off as excuses for not just his misdeeds that night, but his behaviour more generally.

That smokescreen has enabled millions of paying Pantera fans to handwave away the evidence of their own eyes and ears. Denial is a powerful thing, especially when a band is so intrinsically tied up in the carefully guarded nostalgia of countless nineties teenhoods.

Anselmo's history with white supremacist rhetoric and imagery goes back a long way. It's been scattered, downplayed, obfuscated to such an extent that it's easy to lose track. We gather all those details in one place so you can make better informed decisions about where you spend your money and what sort of behaviour we seek to excuse on literally the biggest of the world's stages.

Episodes Referenced

Our interview with former white supremacist turned anti-extremist advocate Arno Michaelis: https://bleav.com/shows/unsung-podcast/episodes/in-session-12-arno-michaelis-author-anti-extremism-activist-and-former-white-nationalist-side-a-360/

Slayer - South of Heaven: https://bleav.com/shows/unsung-podcast/episodes/episode-203-south-of-heaven-by-slayer/

Highlights

00:00 Introduction and Initial Reactions

00:14 Why Pantera Supporting Metallica Feels Wrong

01:02 Your Money is Your Vote: Consumer Responsibility

01:54 The Pattern Begins: Early Controversial Incidents

03:42 The Dimebash Incident: Sieg Heil on Stage

06:07 A Decades-Long History of Problematic Behaviour

21:03 Confederate Flags: Heritage Not Hate?

25:27 Dog Whistles and Lyrical Controversies

30:32 The Night Everything Changed: Dimebash 2016

31:28 What Actually Happened at the Concert

31:50 Rob Flynn Breaks Ranks

32:55 The Silence Before the Storm

33:57 From 0% to 1000% Apologetic in Three Days

35:15 The Metal Press: Complicit in the Cover-Up?

36:58 Is Metal's "Radical Freedom" Part of the Problem?

38:12 Who Is Phil Anselmo Really?

53:31 Making Informed Choices as Music Consumers

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