Monday, April 27, 1937
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Analysis By Tish Mockler
Staff Reporter
I was cold, clammy and a little
depressed before talking to a
band with a reputation in the
journalism world for punk-rock
crimes and gang violence. I expected
long, caustic rampages about how
everyone (including their peers) had .
done them wrong, but instead, Suic
idal Tendencies' lead vocalist Mike
Muir, patiently answered questions
in a soft-spoken, sometimes ram
bling style. He repeatedly stressed
individual responsibility and the
sentiment, "I don't think that any
body owes me anything."
Concert Preview
Suicidal Tendencies, who will
play at Chestefield, Bottorasley and
Potts Tuesday, has a definite image
problem. In a country more obsessed
with package than product, they
don't want an image and would be
happy if people just paid attention
to their product.
Their band is a radical mixture
and their music is a combination of
punk rebellion against conformity,
hard-core energy to fight the con
formity and an impending hard metal
edge. According to their press inform
ation and the interview, punks don't
like this band because the members
don't dress in leather; hard-core
people consider them metal; and
heavy metal fans consider them
punk. Also, one their self-titled
album began to outsell other hard
core albums and their music got
commercial TV and radio play, they
were accused of selling out. Non
etheless, Flipside magazine readers
who voted them "Worst BandBig
gest Assholes in 1982, voted them
"Best Band" in 1983.
uicidal Tendencies' response
to labels and categories is best
summed up in the song "Join
the Army": "Well I don't care
'bout the clothes you wearit's
the size of your heart, not the
length of your hairDon 't make
no difference to me, the color
that you beBlack, white or
brown, it 's all the same to me. "
Muir said that most of the racist
criticism and accusations has been
of "selling out" cannot be taken
seriously because the opposition
comes from punks who have nothing
suitable for airplay.
"It's maybe sad to say, but it's a
business . . . last week we bought
our equipment," he said.
They recently signed with Caro
line Records and were given total
artistic control of their records,
after turning down several seven
year contracts from major labels for
fear they would get lost in the
record-company shuffle.
"Institutionalized," a classic song
about adolescence, tells the tale of
a kid sitting in his room trying to
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Suicidal Tendencies will play Tuesday night at Chesterfield's.
figure things out when his mom
comes in and insists that he is on
drugs. He tries to convince her that
he's only thinking and just wants a
Pepsi, but his parents decide he
needs professional help. In the song
Muir replies: "What are you try
ing to say?That I'm crazy?
When I went to your schools ?
When I went to your church
es?When I went to your insti
tutional earning facilities ?So
how can you say that Vm
crazy?"
The song was taken from his and
a younger friend's experience, and
Muir was surprised to find that
anyone else could relate to it.
"I ad-libbed it in the studio, and
it's pretty real because it's the way I
talk," he said.
"Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right
(but they make me feel better)" is
about Muir's father telling him "two
wrongs don't make right." He would
have to agree but added, "it makes
me feel better." His dad would kind
of laugh and then send him to his
room.
"I think it's a cute song," he said.
"Suicide's An Alternative You'll
Be Sorry" is just what the title
implies, Muir said.
"What more can I say? . . . If we
believed it (in suicide) we wouldn't
be a band we'd be dead," he said.
"We're making fun of someone who
can't kill themselves, because it's a
stupid thing to do . . . Suicide is a
taboo word, you can't say it ... .
Anyone really into the band would
know we're against it."
"P
nsoner is about Deing
your own worst enemy.
It s about some high-school
punks who dress or act so that they
will be condescendingly stereotyped,
and then use it as an excuse for
failure.
"People put so much time and
energy into complaining about their
situation, and if they spent half that
energy on going to school and get
ting a job (they wouldn't have a
problem)," he said.
The horror stories about the band
have reached "mythical proportions,"
according to Spin magazine. Spin
and Rolling Stone indirectly impli
cated them in club shut-downs,
gang fights and various violent acts.
Their manager, Ron Peterson, embel
lished some stories which Muir
denies that Muir said were a regret
table publicity ploy.
"Bad press isn't going to hurt the
band if anything, it will sell more
records but I don't want it," he
said ... I don't want to be like the
Dead Kennedys. I want people to go
(to shows) because they like the
music. If the bad press has helped
us, I don't want any help. I don't
want people getting beat up at
shows. If people go to see violence,
there's something wrong in their
heads."
When asked if the shows get
out of hand, he said it is a
matter of terms.
"Some people would see football
as pure chaos . . . any given show
people will slam and some people
will think it's barbaric," he said.
"It's not like if you go to a show you
are going to get slammed. It's like
the Golden Rule. If you don't want
to get socked up the head you
don't do it ... . You have to be
responsible for your actions."
Bill Jones, who has put on num
erous hard-core shows at the Brick
yard, said they're have never been
problems with violence at shows.
"As far as the kids are concerned,
nobody hurts anybody," Jones said.
"The music is supposedly about
uniting and accepting people for
what they are."
The only problems the Brickyard
Courtesy of Caroline Records
had were when people not inter
ested in the music came to start a
fight or when older kids saw people
thrashing for the first time, he said.
Many saw it as an opportunity to get
really rough, which is not its intent,
he said.
Chesterfield's Manager Brady
Wiebeck said, "I don't expect any
trouble at all, but I think you have
to be responsible in preparation for
the show. A typical football Satur
day can get out of hand with drunk
fans who, get enraged when their
team loses. I've been punched on
more football Saturdays" than at
any other time, Wiebeck said.
uir is growing tired of accu
sations about the band.
"It's frustrating to go to pla
ces and people say, 'God, you're
pretty nice.' People think we're
gonna bite their heads off," he said.
The biggest stumbling block for
them may be their lack of facts to
use in contending with fiction since
they haven't toured in a year and a
half.
Suidical Tendencies will
play at Chesterfield's Tues
day. No one under 16 will be
admitted. Tickets are on sale
at Dirt Cheap, Pickles, Par
agon and Trade-A-Tape.
M
oarol clears D J of obscenity charge
By Charles Lieurance
Senior Reporter
KZUM co-founder and programmer,
Ron Kurtenbach, was exonerated
Saturday at a public hearing ot
having broken Federal Communications
Commission and station policies con
cerning the use of "indecent language"
on the air.
A specially appointed hearing board
made up of members of KZUM and peo
ple from the community with expe
rience in communications law, said
there was insufficient evidence of a
violation in Kurtenbach's case.
On April 4, during Kurtenbach's
radio show, "No Commercial Poten
tial," he allegedly violated decency
standards by commenting that "some
people had f-ed over KZUM, KZUM has
been f--ed over." Kurtenbach has been
openly critical of Lincoln's public access
station for more than two years, having
been brought before hearing boards
three times in that period. He was put
on probation at KZUM last summer for
"libel against fellow programmers,"
said station manager P.T. Martin.
The FCC, which last week announced
it would crack down on "indecency vio-,
lations" in accordance with 1975's
Pacifica ruling on the broadcast of
George Carlin's comedy routine "Seven
Dirty Words," defines "indecency" as
the broadcast of language that "des
cribes in terms patently offensive as
measured by contemporary community
standards for the broadcast medium,
sexual or excretory activities and
organs." The FCC also ruled that dur
ing a news or public affairs program
language can be broadcast that might
otherwise be considered indecent, pro-
scientific value.
According to KZUM policy, "profane
andor sexually explicit language over
the air is prohibited under most cir
cumstances. The exceptions are be
tween 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. if the lan
guage is of a 'socially redeeming nature.'
Even then, use of potentially offensive
material is strongly discouraged"
At 10:20 p.m. April 4 Kurtenbach,
after a discussion with callers of recent
developments at the station, gave a
vided the station gives sufficient warn- warning that he was about to say some-
ings and the programming's context
warrants use of language based on. the
program's literary, artisitic, political or
thing intended for mature listeners
,and then, jsaid the allegedly indecent,
words.
The hearing lasted two hours; Kur
tenbach and the station had an equal
number of speakers. Kurtenbach was
represented by attorney John Snowden
from the UNL College of Law, who said
the hearing was "set up" to look like
due process but KZUM rules were
poorly structured as to jurisdiction.
Snowden questioned the board's juris
diction in the case, intimating that the
KZUM Programming Board should hear
the case.
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