Content area
Full Text
This research offers an ethno-musicological content analysis of country hate music from the 1960s. This analysis explains hate motivation in music by examining lyrics and musical themes in 23 songs. This research considers how white racial extremists use music to advance their goals and movement objectives through lyrics that dehumanize African-Americans and create imagery of white unity and solidarity. Most of the scholarly literature on "hate music" examines bands from the 1970s, such as the English band Skrewdriver, and hate-motivated heavy metal and racist skinhead music (Cotter). This study breaks new ground by examining an all-but-ignored time period in the history of the music of white racial extremists.
Introduction
Ethno-musicologists contend that music is a universal medium for conveying messages and meaning to listeners. So-called "hate music" is a medium used to spread intolerance, bias, prejudice, and disdain for particular "groups" held in low esteem by certain segments of society. Such music can serve to label, devalue, persecute, and scapegoat particular groups of people-namely minorities. While much recent attention has been given to "hate rock" (e.g. Brown; Cotter; Futrell, Simi, and Gottschalk; Hamm), such as racist skinhead and neo-Nazi music (e.g. Skrewdriver, Rahowa), there have been no empirical examinations of hate themes found within country music. This absence is particularly noteworthy given that rock music's genesis can be traced to folk and country genres. Our purpose is to examine songs that pre-date the formal advent of "hate rock" in the 1970s. We call these songs "country hate music" because they can be placed in the country music genre based on their musical style.
We contend that music which pre-dates hate rock merits examination given that these musical traditions build upon one another. In addition, "hate music" encompasses much more than "hate rock" given the origins of rock music (i.e. folk tradition, country music, blue-grass, Americana). Our purpose is to examine a select group of songs that can be classified as "country hate music." These songs appeared on a few rather obscure labels in the 1960s. This analysis will provide a greater understanding of modern forms of intolerant music by examining some of the hatebased music which came before it. Such an examination aids in a better understanding of white racial extremist movements and activists...