in honor of the newest moral panic about a thing that is being blamed for suicides, a look back at when people claimed heavy metal would have that effect.
fundies moved from the tent show to the talk show, popularizing the idea of hidden messages in music. that idea turned up in a few cartoons, tho not always in the genre of metal…
remember when gi joe’s enemy organization cobra started a band, for mind control purposes? pepperidge farm remembers.
that was a pretty catchy one, but the brain of “pinky and” fame had better lyrics. “ain’t you a tall drink of water?” “actually, madam, i am a laboratory mouse on stilts.”
let me know of any others i should add to the post.
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omg
“Paul is dead”
lives
These are series with musical mind control as the premise, but you can probably find clips on the Tube.
Hypnosis Mic The evil matriarchy makes men fight in bad rap battles.
Bakumatsu Rock The shogunate clings to power with mind control concerts; rocking rebels challenge them.
Not a cartoon, but a great example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtedDwFT5lo&t=40s
Then there’s that scene in “Serenity” where River watches some weird semi-cute nonsense on a pub TV screen and starts killing people…
The music of mind control:
Mind control through music was all over the place through pop culture in the 1970s and 80s. “Buck Rogers” (featuring Jerry Orbach as a sleazy music producer), “Wonder Woman” (Wolfman Jack as the villain), “Electrowoman and Dyna-Girl” (a show I did not imagine – it was real), “Get Smart,” “The Monkees” etc. As late as the early 2000s, “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” (the TV show) used that theme.
A lot of rock and roll anxiety there, I think
in the affected vernacular of bubba bo bob brain, thanks. you all.
there’s a lot of amusement to be had in my comment section today, particularly for thems that follows links or looks shit up on yewchoob.
This is basically the premise of The Manchurian Candidate, though it’s not music but phrases which trigger the mind control. South Park had the disgusting brown noise episode, though being foul is sort of their schtik.
I had forgotten how much I despised the voice of the head bad guy in that obnoxious GI Joe cartoon. Thankfully my sons preferred Thundercats, and Transformers. More than meets the eye.