Unreality Check #12: The Second Playlist

As I continue querying (is anybody out there?) I spend time between letters putting together a ‘soundtrack’ for ‘Unreality.’ I’m happy at this point to unveil the second of four I plan to complete. This list was inspired by the second quarter of the book, in which the stage has already been set and the madness ahead begins to reveal itself.

Some of the selections are based on the narrative, so playing it in order makes sense. But ALL are based on the tone and themes and I’ve found that shuffle also creates an enjoyable ride.

This list starts with Humble Pie (also featured on the first…can you really have too much ’Pie!?) and ends with early-2000s Sacramento metalcore heroes Catherine. Artists tickling your ears in between range from DNCE to Slayer, with Anderson .Paak, Biggie (x2), DJ Shadow w/Run The Jewels, Ministry, and many more pouring out of your speakers before the ride is over.

At 50 songs (~3.5 hrs) long it’s perfect for your next house cleaning, poker game, pool party, barbecue, or smoke sesh. Listen today. Listen again tomorrow!

Protest 100: Consolidated – ‘Friendly Fascism’

Artist:          Consolidated

Song:           Friendly Facism

Album:        Friendly Faci$m

Producer:     Consolidated

Label:          Nettwerk

Year:           1991

Notes:
“Today’s Big Government-Big Business tyrants are just as willing to use violence. But they do it more efficiently than the old-time fascists– with higher tech and lower costs to them. They have the best looks, politicians, celebrities, and control mechanisms that money can buy. Yes, their own conscience tells them that true democracy would be nice. But suppressing their conscience, they undermine the rights of the working and middle classes. Their operating principle is “Might, Money, Male, Murder– and also White–Make Right.” They wreck the environment. They fool you, rule you, use you, abuse you–and make you like it. They divide you by race, sex, class, and nationality. But they fear the power of the powerless. They’re afraid of what you could do if you get off the boob tube and drugs, out of the night clubs and cut-throat competition–and work with others for equal rights.” – Bertram Gross, ‘Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America,’ 1980, M. Evans and Co., New York, NY.

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
If Amber had wanted to deal with being somebody’s girlfriend or mistress or concubine or whatever, she could have stayed up in Stillwater and kept milking those professors and doctors and stuff.

Lyrics
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the end of the
Twentieth century and the arrival of friendly fascism.
Regrettably, millions will die as before.
But just think of the tremendous selection and savings you’ll gain.
Of course, the loss of freedom and democracy are tragedies,
I know, but consider the entertainment value contained within.
And to remind you, it is you, the people,
Who have mandated this course of our fate so please come with me…

Look at the new face of power in America
This is your future
You can never leave

Who said tyranny can’t be fun?
Friendly fascism having so much fun!
What else do you need?

You’ll learn to like what you must do
If you resist you are suppressed
You are told who to fight and when
By Bush the Nazi fascist friend

Alienating technology wipes out our sense of community.
Millions will die just as before
We disconnect and start the war

We make life a commodity
We turn animals into machines

Kinder and gentler slaughterhouse

Big business and government
Distract us through entertainment

They manufacture our consent
While we destroy the environment

[Spoken: Sample Speech of L.D. Barkley 21-year-old African American spokesman for the Attica Prisoners, killed by New York state troopers on September 13, 1971]
What had happened here
Is but a sound before the fury of those who are oppressed

All of us have realized that where ever is that struggle
There is a sacrifice!

[Spoken: Sample Speech to the Attica rebels by Herbert X. Blyden,
One of the African American leaders of The Attica Brothers prison rebellion group]
We ain’t gonna quit (aren’t going to)
You wanna know why we won’t ever quit? (do you want to know)
Because we are one!
We are one unit!

We are tired of being beaten
We are tired of being oppressed

[Spoken: excerpt of a speech sample by a bearded Scientist in John Carpenter’s 1988 movie They Live]
The poor and the underclass are growing
Racial justice and human rights are nonexistent
They have created a repressive society
And we are their unwitting accomplices

Their attention to rule rests with the annihilation of consciousness
We have been pulled into a trance
They have made us indifferent to ourselves, to others
We are focused only on our own gain

Please understand they are safe as long as they are not discovered
That is their primary method of survival

To keep us asleep, to keep us selfish, to keep us sedated

Look at the new face of power in America.
This is your future
You can never leave

Who said tyranny can’t be fun?
Friendly fascism having so much fun!
What else do you need?

[Spoken: excerpt of a speech by a Politician also from the movie They Live]
The feeling is definitely there
It’s a new morning in America
Fresh!
Vital!
The old cynicism is gone

We have faith in our leaders!
We are optimistic about what becomes of it all!

It really boils down to our ability to accept
We don’t need pessimism

There are no limits!

‘Protest 100’s mission is two-fold: dispelling the myth that heavy metal is a brainless, socially unaware music genre, and raising awareness of the issues facing our country in the Nov. 3, 2020 election. The path won’t be exclusively metal—some punk and rap and other stuff will be in here too, including the classics—and is not a ranking. All songs are songs I’ve heard while putting this list together, ordered in a manner designed to entertain and educate.

Protest 100: Luke Juarez – ‘Mind Control’

Artist:          Luke Juarez

Song:           Mind Control

Album:        n/a

Producer:    Lucas Juarez

Label:          n/a

Year:           2020

Notes:
Business Machines’ frontman Lucas Juarez hasn’t been laying idle since the band’s late-2019 reunion. COVID-19 tore a hole right through further rock n’ roll domination, so instead he’s expressing his disaffection with the current state-of-affairs through an EDM prism. ‘Mind Control’ would have fit right in with the ‘80’s greats, but at the same time it urges us to rise above our collective  past by forsaking the old norms once and for all. Here’s hoping an extended remix lands soon!

Excerpt from ‘Unreality’  —
“Bradley’s mind drifted. He had long ago given up on redemption.”

Lyrics
The lights are on
The (Republican) party’s over
The mask is off
But no one knows it
Right now!! (Right now!)
Right now!! (Right now!)
Right now!!

We’re being led through the wilderness
By the light of a fucking gas lamp
With a huff and a puff
Down comes your house of cards

Wolves in sheep’s clothing
Wearing nothing at all
There’s nothing to see here
Nothing at all
If you don’t want to die don’t get involved!!!

Right now!! (Right now!)
Right now!! (Right now!)
Right now!! Mind KKKontrol!!!

Right now!! (Right now!)
Right now!! (Right now!)
They’re fucking with you!
Mind KKKONTROL!!

…now
if I were to come to yer house and tell you
“Don’t go outta your house
‘cuz there’s a man out there
with a machine gun
that’s gonna blow you away.”
Now, whether I’m telling you the truth or not
is immaterial
What really means something
is if you believe me
And if you believe me
then you act upon what I say
And I control you

It’s 2020! Not 1984!
It’s high time
We shut and lock the fucking door
On the old ways
We were born into
It’s not our choice
It’s not what we believe

The Nazis lost.
You’ll lose again
It’s time to draw your line in the sand.
I was blind but now I can see
All the ways you been fucking me!

Right now!! (Right now!)
Right now!! (Right now!)
Right now!! Mind KKKontrol!!!

Right now!! (Right now!)
Right now!! (Right now!)
They’re fucking with you!
Mind KKKONTROL!!

‘Protest 100’s mission is two-fold: dispelling the myth that heavy metal is a brainless, socially unaware music genre, and raising awareness of the issues facing our country in the Nov. 3, 2020 election. The path won’t be exclusively metal—some punk and rap and other stuff will be in here too, including the classics—and is not a ranking. All songs are songs I’ve heard while putting this list together, ordered in a manner designed to entertain and educate.