As John Lydon does all he can to piss on the legacy of punk and the Sex Pistols, through wearing his MAGA hats and moving further to the right and dissing the left, the true voice of punk in the 21st Century belongs to the likes of the visceral voice and unyielding energy of Bob Vylan, the most important UK punk act to emerge in recent years. And from the US, while musically treading a poppier punk path but with no less anger and resentment towards a countless list of deserving targets it’s the turn of THE MUSLIMS “a crunchy, kickass punk band of Black + brown queer muzzies.”
If you have ever been called a lefty snowflake and love to rattle the cages of your local flag waving statue defending, blue passport loving, pint glass with a crown in Wetherspoons frequenting, “White Lives/All Lives Matter” chanting, “Coming over here and taking are jobs” whining, racist, xenophobic, bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, balding overweight gammons, then this is the album for you. With more triggers than the arsenal held in the head office of the NRA, one shot of this album will have them seething, their faces turning purple with apoplectic fury, bursting blood vessels in their bulging rage filled eyes while frothing at the mouth and screaming all their well-practised racist mantras. To quote the band…”Your racist dad is a piece of shit and THIS IS NOT A SAFE SPACE.”
Provocative Riot of Rousing Tunes
The band name and album cover alone will set them off, the afore-mentioned current anti-hero of the apologist right wing never-were-punks, Lydon, complete with “God Save Rotten” badge, receiving a well-deserved skelping. As for the music, don’t expect any subtly nuanced politically correct tunes and ditties. As soon as the starter pistol is fired, The Muslims are off their marks and they don’t let up for the entirety of their twelve high octane blasts of melodic punk, mostly sub or just over 2 minutes long, the longest, Illegals, clocking in at 2.43. These are straight for the jugular, punch to the solar plexus, angry slices of seething pop punk, no pussy footing around or dancing around the subject matter, there is no denying who the targets of their justified ire and wrath are. Despite all this, the album is Fun with a capital Fuck, proving that you don’t have to be po-faced to make a point, you can create a provocative riot of rousing and colourful party tunes in the process.
Fuck These Fuckin Fascists
You can probably tell from song titles alone, but trigger-happy racist police, excuse the pun, “cop” it from the off with the likes of Hands Up, Don’t Shoot and Crotch Pop an Cop. From then on, the targets are in their sights and they don’t miss. But they do it in such a way that is entirely entertaining as well as pin-point accurate, take the sing-a-long chorus of the earworm that is Fuck These Fucking Fascists, if I say NSFW its only to do with the profanities, the message should be sung from the rooftops wherever you are. If anyone I know “defends a fucking fascist they can fuck off ‘til they die”.
Do they care if they offend anyone? Do they fuck. As they tackle parents and homophobes on IDGAF. Anyone who is offended by the themes dealt with in the songs, well, they deserve everything that is coming their way as they probably hold a barrowload of offensive views themselves. Homophobes are also the subject of Froot of the Loom while class traitors are dealt with on GCDC.
Unity
Don’t rest on your laurels though, even if you are a “lefty snowflake” as the biggest snowflakes of all, the right wing gammons would describe you, that isn’t enough. Empty statements and gesture politics, as pointed out in Unity and its accompanying video, makes you part of the problem, not the solution. Unless you are prepared to actually be the difference. As we’ve seen with recent events across the US, are the Democrats really any better than the Republicans? Is there such a thing as the least-worst option? Angela Y Davis said, “In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” Next time someone says, I’m not the problem, I’m not a racist, or the other classics, I can’t be racist because I have black friends, or I’m not racist but… call them out and remind them of this. Be pro-actively anti-racist.
Illegals
White people take a deserved beating on Illegals, the longest and perhaps one of the strongest songs on the album. Whether you live in the US, the UK, Australia, you name it… you’ll have heard the same cries from the lazy white/redneck/trailer trash/dole scroungers (delete as appropriate) about immigrants “coming over here” taking over “are” culture, stealing our jobs. While all the time they manage to conveniently forget history.
Penultimate song Live Laugh Lead is like a punk end of the pier music hall romp before the quirky John McCain’s Ghost Sneaks Into The White House and Teabags the President once more proves that you can have a sense of humour while still making a ferocious and serious statement.
Play this album loud and proud. Fuck ALL fucking fascists, goad the gammons, rile the racist, humiliate the homophobes, belittle the bigots. Don’t accept the unacceptable.