Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Breaking through the myths: The facts about wigger slam

As I am prone to do every so often, I googled for "wigger slam" this afternoon. I was thrilled to see quite a few results, but it was clear that many people don't understand the genre

Please begin by reading my post from back in March, "Everything You Need To Know About Wigger Slam." Many people missed it because we didn't have as many readers then, but it's still a good place to start! Then, read all our other posts on wigger slam.

We ain't playing, son.
Apparently some people think that I am being ironic when I sing the praises of wigger slam. From Metal Sucks:
Reading all those Wigger Slam posts at Metal Inquisition usually makes me piss myself with laughter. I actually cannot tell if the posts are meant to be sarcastic, or if they really do like that music.
First of all, you must know that I am not joking even a teeny tiny bit about how much I love slam metal, especially wigger slam, and especially Japanese wigger slam. This shit is in my blood. While I'm at work, where I do things like market research for Pampers, Swiffer, and Febreze, I'm jamming Infernal Revulsion. When I'm at the gym, blasting my quads, you better fucking believe I've got Gorevent on my pink iPod Nano. I could go on forever. The point is that you are a poser that only thinks about wigger slam when you read Metal Inquisition, it's just a novelty to you. Wigger slam is a WAY OF LIFE for me.



Wigger slam is NOT deathcore
The next thing you need to understand is that these two genres are not the same thing, or even slightly related. For example, in the above Metal Sucks post, you can see that many people are confused (although some people in the comments do get it):
I can’t say as I get what all the hubbub is about — to these ears, wigger slam is basically just another, less cringe-inducing name for a genre we’ve all grown to hate — deathcore — with an occasional nu-metal influence — as if this is supposed to be a good thing.
To be fair, I can understand the confusion. Wait, actually I can't, they are completely different and I have no idea how they could get mixed up. I will be very explicit here so that there is no more room for stupidity:


People in deathcore bands look like this gaylord. If you photographed someone that was standing in the center of a Hot Topic when a bomb went off, it would look like the image above.

Deathcore = "Scene kids" playing shitty metalcore with blast beats and weak death metal-influenced breakdowns that aren't even good enough to be out-takes from a Green Rage or Extinction (click the link for funny pictures of Pete Wentz with dreads when he played in this horrible band) 7". Examples: Job For A Cowboy, Despised Icon, other wretched garbage they play on Headbanger's Ball all the time. Often they will mix in gay shit like singing or high-pitched screams in with their weak imitation of death metal vocals. They do not generally do guttural cricket vocals.

People in wigger slam bands look like this. If you are thinking that they look like the guy that comes to fix your air conditioning unit at work, it's because they probably are that guy.

Wigger slam = White trash dudes without two brain cells to rub together playing awesome, brutal death metal that is one Devourment-inspired slam riff after the next. The difference is that they often incorporate hip-hop references in their lyrics and the way they dress. This might seem strange, because we don't usually think of rap and brutal death metal as two things that go together. But it is actually very simple to explain: people who grow up as poor white trash (such as me) often listened to equal amounts of Eazy-E, Pantera, and Napalm Death. It is easy to see that combining those three is the formula for wigger slam. 

Wigger slam is also very popular with foreigners who don't understand how absurd it is to emulate this very American style. They have no idea how hilarious it is to see little Asian guys or dumb Swedes act like Long Island and Jersey shore trash. As Lucho Metales says, it's a little bit like watching Civil War reenactments. Although it's never not funny to watch their silly attempts at sounding tough, the Japanese are the masters of wigger slam.


(on another note, it's funny to see how upset the guy from Short Bus Pile Up is that I called his band wigger slam instead of just slam- and don't get wigger slam mixed up with cornfield slam!)



I hope that covers everything. In conclusion, please watch the above Devourment video. They aren't wigger slam, but as many readers already know, they are the pioneers of slam metal, and this video is a particularly good representation of them (featuring their original singer Wayne, who is now dead).



Also watch this Glossectomy video, particularly the very unusual dancing at around :33! I think it captures the silliness of Japanese wigger slam very well.

32 comments:

  1. Look at these two grown men going
    ROOOWROWROWROWROOOOWWWWW into their microphones!

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  2. Wow, the Short Bus Pile Up comment drama is absolutely classic. Very typical of Virginia. And I can say that because I've lived here all my life.

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  4. cricket vocals...are the most hilariously absurd thing metal has birthed.

    I'm pretty sure the word "poser" is not applicable in the case of Wigger Slam v. The Metal Community. Most of these doofuses are themselves are posers posing as the unposeable.

    Wigger Slam is fucking hilarious....because it's completely irrelevant.

    When I went to New Yorkment's page and saw the had a song called "Pit Riffment" I laughed for 3 days.

    This is comic gold, quit trying to ruin it.

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  6. im glad someone else loves the glossectomy videos, with the beanies and sweatsuits as the leading japanese trend. Im sure you are desperately awaiting the release of the new gorevent cd, know about the cemetery rapist relocating to the missouri pornfields, and are happy that people doing the rap hand movements at slam shows at an international level. keep it guttural!

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  8. from day one wigger slam has been a hotly contested topic. it's no surprise then that so much controversy would be stirred up. that's why i continue to support sergeant d's research. his erudite contributions to the scholarship on wigger slam are now more important than ever.

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  9. Dude. That Glossectomy track kicks ass. Truly.

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  10. so what band(s) do yo suppose started the "wigger slam" sub culture? I'd like to hear some opinions. closest I ever got to it was the long island shit from the early 90's. my interest startsand stops at that point on the timeline...

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  11. I think a valuable bit of thinking that will contribute to the quintessential qualities of slam is that apparently this is one of the few metal trends that are completely, or close to completely distanced themselves from the mothership. Slam doesn't acknowledge the Heavy Metal that birthed it in any shape or form as far as I've seen. The closest they might get is to say how much they like an oldschool band or two like Autopsy or Massacre but that's it. Most of their 'influences' tags in myspace are other gore, grind or slam bands. They namedrop much more hip-hop than HM. I think that slam therefore, is a reaction to traditional forms of HM for not being 'BRUUTL' enough. They seem ashamed of the oldschool, they think it's goofy or irrelevant. Pit riffing gutturality is the 'new school' for them and what is essential for today's 'scene', however that could be taken.

    Slam is trying not to be a subgenre of metal, but something culturally independent and it's all the more hilarious and awful for it.

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  12. so what band(s) do yo suppose started the "wigger slam" sub culture? I'd like to hear some opinions. closest I ever got to it was the long island shit from the early 90's. my interest startsand stops at that point on the timeline...

    i think the early 90s LI scene was the beginning: internal bleeding wasn't really slam, but certainly laid the groundwork, especially with their tough-guy reputation and image.

    the first true wigger slam bands were probably Repudilation and Entorturement (some of the same members), also from LI. Entorturement in particular, with their obvious rap influences.

    of course you have to have Dying Fetus in there as well, who were probably the first to namedrop rappers on a regular basis. however, they didn't really play slam, so it's tricky.

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  13. http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=1117

    http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=2735

    Genre(s)
    Brutish Groovy Death Metal
    Lyrical theme(s)
    Thuggery


    hahaha

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  14. in my 8th grade school picture i'm wearing a napalm death shirt i think. in my 9th grade school picture i'm wearing a cypress hill longsleeve shirt. 10th grade i'm wearing sepultura. i was so confused. i could have turned that confusion into starting wigger slam. i missed out.

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  15. Does the band Fate Of Icarus qualify as wigger slam? I mean... They were kind of death metal-ish and had a singer that dressed like Eminem.

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  16. oh my god. fate of icarus. there was at least one north face bubble coat in the mix.

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  17. Goddamnit, this has got to be the best running discussion going on the interweb!

    I agree with the comments about Internal Bleeding not being the origination of wigger slam, rather,(as was mentioned previously) the progenitors.

    Another interesting tie-in between rap and brutal death metal/wigger slam are bass drops. I believe (but am not certain) that Suffocation was the first to use bass drops on a death metal album (Pierced from Within). The most notable and influential use of bass drops occured on Devourment's "Molesting the Decapitated," who have been discussed as one of the main sources of inspiration for wigger slam bands.

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  18. Hi Ian. What is a bass drop? I'm familiar with Pierced From Within so you can point me to an exact time when it occurs?

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  19. good call on bass drops! along with super ringy piccolo snares, they are one of the best parts of wigger slam, and you don't hear nearly enough bands using them these days.

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  20. i agree too! I thought on Internal......but they didn't have all those slam elements..and on wild rags initially..they were jut fuckin' heavy. but they and dying fetus seemed to start the swere pipe vocals and chuggin shit.
    suffocation was just pure death.seems wigger slam reared its ugly head in the late 90's. fortunately, I was outta high school by then, so what i dont know can't hurt me!

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  21. I listened to Pierced from Within today and it's amazing to me how Suffocation, amongst other things, seem to do most of the trademark slam stuff (besides the unintelligible vocals) and they make them work and not come off as retarded, somehow.

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  22. Why do Jersey Guys hate Black Metal and love Wigger-Slam?

    ... because Jersey is the cultural asshole of the whole fucking world.


    ps... helm gets the analysis pretty dead on here.

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  23. LOL! This is Tim (former vocalist for entorturement). This is funny shit. Ok, yes Repudilation was the first to actually infuse a bit of Jazz into Death Metal. brian, their drummer, joined us and we wanted to do something different. So we went all out combining internal bleeding and suffocation with jazz,NYHC and Hip Hop. Growing up where we were you listened to Hip Hop. That was just how it was, mainly just NYC groups like Wu-Tang,Nas, Jay Z. It was like you are death metal (or deadhead,or jock) and you listened to hip hop. I am sorry for people taking it wayyyyyy out of hand. All the "thuggery" was taking the NYHC attitude at the time and multiplying 10 fold. In general, making fun of them.

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  24. "people who grow up as poor white trash (such as me) often listened to equal amounts of Eazy-E, Pantera, and Napalm Death. It is easy to see that combining those three is the formula for wigger slam. " Only in america then.

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  25. "Wigger slam is also very popular with foreigners who don't understand how absurd it is to emulate this very American style" actually wigger is from Japan. Slam death is from Texas. European slam is often more blasting and with epic slams. Get it right, you are an american.

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  26. Wiggers are possibly the most obnoxoius species on earth. It is an insult to the black community and an embarrassment to the white community. That being said, Wigger Slam?!? This shit is an abomination. I don't mind differnt genres of metal, but these assholes really know how to ruin a good show. Enough with the tough guy bullshit! And fuck your flat hats! Breakdowns used to be fun before you douche-bags showed up. Future wife beaters scissor kicking 14 yr old girls OUTSIDE of the mosh pit is fucking weak. That behavior is even unacceptable at a Goatwhore show. Save your moves for karate class. Again, it isn't the music that I despise. One out of 100 of these bands aren't horrible (I'm trying to be optimistic:)) Oh, fuck it, you guys all suck. You're not black and you're not metalheads. There are reasons why nu-metal died. As Chuck said, "Pull the Plug" If ask yourself, "Chuck who?" I just proved my point.

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  27. Down here in the south wigger slam is HUGE in North Florida. You have to remember this is the south so the IQ is much lower than most places. Anything thats not Brutal sucks and melody in music is for pussies id have to hear all the time. Shit ive even heard people say Slayer and Cannibal Corpse isn't evil/brutal enough! Its funny cause i was in one of these bands that worshiped wigger slam. I explained that those chugga chugga riffs were hardcore riffs not death metal riffs. The gutair player blew up shouting at the top of his lungs that its death metal riffs (cause down here death metal and hardcore kids don't hang together) I got out some hatebreed madmall and proved my point. Needless to say I wasn't in that band for very long.

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  28. Wow this site is really fucking retarded. Fuck wiggers infecting metal. It would be so much better if these idiots made sick music and werent into this whole new "brutal" stupid wigger scene and dressing like fucking high school kids.

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  29. I like how the poster thinks it's cool that the music takes zero intelligence to make.
    And that it's cool to be white trash.

    This is why we should nuke the south.

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  30. "Ok, yes Repudilation was the first to actually infuse a bit of Jazz into Death Metal."

    Not even fucking close. How old are you anyway? Ever heard of Atheist? Jesus fucking christ.

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  31. Tell you what, I've never heard of wigger slam until this article. I've been listening to slam as long as I can remember and half of those bands listed as wigger slam are some of my favorites!!! I could give two shits what they dress like, them 'niggas' slam hard. Dysentery is the shit, and if its 'wigger slam', so be it. Wigger slam all day nigga. Haha

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  32. I personally don't think of 'wigger slam' to be it's own genre, I just consider it Slam Death like any other, and I personally believe that the genre is more of a derivative of a joke, like say...'Crabcore' then anything else.

    Not saying I don't like it, the contrary, merely just posting my opinion on how I don't believe it is a valid genre, just more of a joke or slang term for a per-existing genre

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