Magnatar
Magnatar (album)
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Magnatar is the debut studio album from the thrash metal band of the same name, released in February of 1986 by Def Jam Records. [1] Many [
who?] consider to mark Def Jam’s transition from primarily a hip hop label to a thrash and heavy metal label. [2]
The album was initially released under the title
Don’t Be A Faggot, but was quickly pulled from the shelves after numerous retailers, including Tower Records, refused to stock it on their shelves. [3] With songs that explored themes of homosexuality, death, atheism, Satanism, insanity, murder, and Nazism,
Magnatar was one of the primary subjects of the Amended Attorney General’s Commission on Pornographic Media and Music.
Magnatar was a commercial success, peaking at #4 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album spawned a Top 10 hit, “Fight For the Right to Rock,” as well as the Top 40 successor, “Bombs Over Brooklyn.” A third track, "Cooky Puss," was released as a music video for MTV and was frequently played during the "Headbanger's Ball." [4]
Contents
1. Track Listings
2. Personnel
3. Singles
4. “Angel of Death”
5. “Patient Zero”
6. Critical Response
7. References
Track Listings
All songs written and composed by Magnatar
No., Title, Length
1. “Angel of Death,” 4:40
2. “Criminally Insane,” 2:40
3. “Bombs Over Brooklyn,” 4:34
4. “Jesus Save Me,” 3:05
5. “Fight For the Right to Rock,” 3:58
6. “Pussy,” 3:41 [5]
7. “Patient Zero,” 2:55
8. “I Am Reborn,” 2:48
9. “Slow Ride,” 3:03
10. “Rocket in the Pocket,” 7:11 [6]
11. “Cooky Puss,” 3:08
Personnel
Mike Diamond – lead vocals, percussion
Kerry King – lead guitar
Jeff Hanneman – rhythm guitar [7]
Adam Yauch – bass, backing vocals
Kate Schellenbach – drums [8]
Singles
Year, Single, Chart, Position
1986, “Fight For the Right to Rock,” 9
1986, “Bombs Over Brooklyn,” 35
“Angel of Death”
Magnatar’s lead track, “Angel of Death,” details human experiments conducted at the Auschwitz concentration camp by Josef Mengele, who was dubbed “the Angel of Death” by inmates. [9] The song led to accusations of Nazi sympathizing and racism, which have followed the band throughout their career. Rhythm guitarist Jeff Hanneman was inspired to write “Angel of Death” after he read a number of books on Mengele during a tour with his prior band, Slayer. Hanneman has since complained that people usually misinterpret the lyrics, and clarified: “Nothing I put in the lyrics that says necessarily he was a bad man, because to me — well, isn't that obvious? I shouldn't have to tell you that.” Magnatar has used the controversy over “Angel of Death” to attract publicity. [
citation needed]
“Patient Zero”
“Patient Zero” is a nearly three-minute long instrumental track that showcases the guitar styles of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, including ultra-fast tremolo picking and riffs in irregular scales. Despite the controversies associated with the
Magnatar album, “Patient Zero” was nominated for “Best Rock Instrumental Performance” at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards in 1987. [10]
Critical Response
On the strength of the first single, “Fight For the Right to Rock,”
Magnatar debuted at #8 on the
Billboard 200, and peaked at #4 two weeks later. It was one of the best-selling albums of 1987.
Magnatar was well received by the underground and mainstream music press at the time, and has since been considered a classic of the thrash metal genre.
Hammer and Anvil critic Carter Hopewell awarded the album an A+ grade, calling it a “genre-definer,” as well as “the greatest metal album of all time.” [11]
Metal! Magazine described the album as “simply the best thrash metal album, ever,” while
Rolling Stone opined that
Magnatar was the “second-heaviest album of all time,” trailing only the band’s follow-up album,
Reign in Blood. [12]
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NOTES:
[1] As you've possibly guessed, this replaces the Beastie Boys'
Licensed to Ill and Slayer’s
Reign in Blood (but see note 12). IOTL, the Beastie Boys were the surprise beneficiary of British Airways' ill-advised decision to sample a few seconds of one of their songs (“Beastie Revolution”) in a 1983 commercial. The Beasties sued and were awarded $40,000 in damages, which they used to rent an apartment in New York (the iconic 59 Chrystie Street) and practice their sound. Here, BA simply
pays the Beasties $500 for the rights to use the song and they essentially go nowhere until Def Jam hooks up them with Kerry King of Slayer – which, of course, happened OTL (on “No Sleep ‘til Brooklyn”). IOTL, the Beastie Boys got their big break on tour opening for Madonna in 1985; that doesn't happen here for multiple reasons.
As for Slayer, the band was plagued with problems of its own in OTL, including most notably the on-again/off-again nature of drummer Dave Lombardo.
[2] IOTL, Kerry King had reservations about signing with Def Jam records for precisely this reason; here, he spearheads their greatest success to date.
[3] This was indeed the proposed original title for
Licensed to Ill. There's a lot to be ashamed of in those early Beastie Boys albums.
[4] "Cooky Puss" was probably the Beastie Boys' biggest hit prior to
Licensed to Ill; it's a
very strange track that samples the band's crank call to the Carvel Ice Cream headquarters. Carvel was ubiquitous on the East Coast in the 1980s with ads for their themed ice cream cakes like "Cooky Puss" and "Fudgie the Whale."
[5] See note 3. This is a harder, thrash-metal inspired version of “Girls,” which is a pretty misogynistic song.
[6] This is indeed a cover of the Cerrone track of the same name, from the 1978 album
Cerrone IV: The Golden Touch. Cerrone was a huge influence on the Beastie Boys IOTL.
[7] While King did indeed play lead guitar on “No Sleep till Brooklyn,” Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman was never associated with the Beastie Boys IOTL.
[8] Schellenbach was, of course, the original drummer for the Beastie Boys during their
New York Thrash period. Schellenbach is a more traditional drummer, so Magnatar doesn’t have the double-bass drum sound of Dave Lombardo (drummer for OTL’s Slayer).
[9] This is basically the OTL Slayer song with minor butterflies.
[10] There is no OTL analogue to “Patient Zero,” although thematically, Slayer has frequently touched on disease vectors in their songs, including “Epidemic” from the
Reign in Blood album.
[11] IOTL, something substantially similar was said about
Reign in Blood by
Stylus Magazine’s Clay Jarvis.
[12] Similar accolades are heaped on
Reign in Blood IOTL.
