"A Drug Against War" is a song by

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten a ...

band

KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art project. ...

, taken from their 1993 album ''

Angst Angst is fear or anxiety (''anguish'' is its Romance languages, Latinate cognate, equivalent, and the words ''anxious'' and ''anxiety'' are of similar origin). The dictionary definition for angst is a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insec ...

''. It was released as a single prior to the album. A music video, featuring animated depictions of the band's previous album covers and singles, was made for the single, and was subsequently shown on the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

cartoon ''

Beavis and Butt-head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...

'' on July 11, 1994. It was re-released as a 7" in 2009. On December 16, 2010, it was made available as a downloadable song for the game ''

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

''. In late 2011, the band released a new version of the song called "A Drug Against Wall Street", with lyrics in support of the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

movement, and made it available for free download from their site.

Song

The song includes several militaristic samples. The primary one, in which someone calls for the bombing of enemy troops, comes from a live news broadcast about the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

that Konietzko taped. The lyrics mix social criticism with regular reference to war, and the instruments simulate the sounds of missiles and gunfire. Eventually, the martial symbolism becomes so overt and over-the-top that academic S. Alexander Reed identifies this as a sign that it is meant satirically. Reed compares these militaristic themes to the "

war on drugs The war on drugs is a Globalization, global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of prohibition of drugs, drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the Unite ...

", which is ironically referenced in the song's title and turned into an anti-war motto. According to Reed, the song's ironic use of militarism marks it as yet another social ill to be criticized.

Critical reception

Andy Hinds, in the 2002 book ''All Music Guide to Rock'', called the song KMFDM's most over the top moment to date. Ten years after its release, Brad Filicky of ''

CMJ New Music Report CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'' said "A Drug Against War" was one of the most potent

speed metal Speed metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It ...

songs ever. Joshua Landau of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said that while the song was "one of the best introductions to KMFDM's antagonistic guitars and viewpoints", the four track single was "only of interest to serious fans". "A Drug Against War" was ranked No. 47 on ''COMA Music Magazines 101 Greatest Industrial Songs of All Time.

Track listing

1993 release

2009 7" reissue

Personnel

Sascha Konietzko Sascha Kegel Konietzko (born 21 June 1961), also known as Sascha K and Käpt'n K, is a German musician and record producer. He is the founder, frontman and "anchor" of the industrial band KMFDM. Konietzko jokingly purports himself to be the fath ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(1-4), programming (1-4), drum sequences and arrangement (3, 4), production *

En Esch Nicklaus Schandelmaier, (born 23 March 1968) is a German musician, better known by his stage name En Esch, and has been a member of the bands KMFDM, Pigface, Slick Idiot, and . And more recently with NUKES, a 16 member band that includes Chris C ...

– drum sequences and arrangement (1, 2) *

Mark Durante Mark Durante is an American musician and songwriter who is based in Chicago. Career Durante began playing guitar in 1966 after being inspired by the fretwork of Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Merle Travis. Ten years later, Durante founded a rock ...

–

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(1-3) * Svet Am – guitars (1-4) *Christine Siewert – backing vocals (4)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drug Against War, A 1993 singles KMFDM songs TVT Records singles 1993 songs Speed metal songs Wax Trax! Records singles Songs written by Sascha Konietzko Songs written by Günter Schulz Songs written by En Esch Songs written by Chris Shepard