Music and Environmental Concerns


Listen to the sounds emanating from your speakers. What do you hear? Are you a person who will listen, or a person who will change the station when a song you do not like comes on? You may be missing something you never knew was there. Are you familiar with the bands Megadeth or Earth Crisis? If you listen to just the radio you are probably not.

Megadeth is a heavy metal band, and this alone turns some people away from them right off. Those people miss a lot. The lyrics of their songs are very political. The song "Countdown to Extinction", from the album Countdown to Extinction, won the Doris Day Music Award in 1993 at the 7th annual Genesis Awards. The song has a very strong message and it speaks some strong opinions of the band. The song deals with the hunting with large game animals that are held in captivity until the hunt. The animals are let loose so that the hunter may shoot and kill them. The band has more to them than just long hair. They do know what they are writing about and want to bring their message across in music.

Earth Crisis is a vegan straight edge band. They are a Hardcore band. By being vegan straight edge they will not eat any meat or animal products, they will not do any drugs, tobacco, or alcohol either. That would come as a surprises to some if they heard the music, but didn't listen to the message. They are far from your main stream selections. The lyrics explode in harsh violent screams as the music is heavy behind them. The message that the band brings across in Destroy the Machines is that the we must save the animals and the environment. The lyrics bring out a strong message and if you don't care for their music I would still encourage you to read the lyrics. It is proof that music that is not main stream can have lyrics that promote a message.

I have always tried not to make judgment too soon on music. This year's winner of the Doris Day Music Award was Michael Jackson for the song "Earth Song". I am sure that there are examples on how musicians try to promote saving the environment, I am just not aware of them all. If you know of any please feel free to E-mail them. I would be very interested in hearing some of them.