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Music / Clawfinger

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Speak the truth don't you dare lie to me,
I've seen it all before the way you disagree,
The way you always attack all the thing that you say,
The way you turn your back and then you walk away,
Shut your mouth and open up your eyes,
You better take your time and try to realize,
That no one's free from sin and when I look at you,
I scream within WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!
"The Truth"

A Rap Metal band that specialize in subverting expectations: A lot of attitude and bad language to cover the fact that pretty much all of their lyrics are heavy on morality and philosophy - under the veneer of offensiveness, the whole thing is very wholesome and politically correct.

Of course, this made the message even more offensive in the ears of conservatives, racists, sexists, et cetera.

Some of their lyrics feature a Villain Protagonist - when you think of it, it becomes obvious that the literal message is simply a Strawman Political for something the band dislikes, and that the real message is the exact opposite.


Tropes, tell me the tropes! The tropes, motherfucker!

  • Agree to Disagree: The main aesop of Two Sides (of every story) is that atheists, christians, moslems et cetera should simply respect each other and let each other be, instead of trying to shove their ideas of salvation down each other's throats.
  • Careful with That Axe: Jocke in the first verse of "Are You Man Enough?".
  • Cover Version: A Whole Lot of Nothing contains a cover of "Manic Depression" by Jimi Hendrix. They also covered "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" for a Pink Floyd tribute album that ended up not being released; they instead released it as a B-side on the single release of "Out To Get Me".
  • Drunk with Power: The song "Power" preaches that political power leads to this and is caused by this. Also invoked in "The Truth".
  • Destructive Romance: Described in "I Need You". Also the backstory in "(Love is just a) Four Letter Word".
  • Jesus Was Crazy: In the song I'm Your Life And Religion, well, Jesus (and any other similar figure) is presented in a way designed to make God look like a narcissistic personality disorder egomaniac.
  • Jerkass: The self-righteous protagonist of Pay The Bill. Also the father-figure (as well as the kid's implied future self) in Do What I Say.
  • Miles Gloriosus: The song "Biggest & The Best" is the perfect soundtrack for this kind of character. The music video also made it a pretty good soundtrack for a Jerk Jock.
  • Metal Scream: Jocke uses type 4 a few times, most obviously here.
  • New Sound Album: Twice. A Whole Lot of Nothing had a sound which was much more electronic than any of their albums previous or since. On Zeros and Heroes much of the electronic sounds were removed and more focus was put on the guitars.
  • N-Word Privileges: Subverted; the song "Nigger" is actually against the use of this word and "nigga".
  • Parental Incest: Debated in a very creepy yet very efficient way in the song "Little Baby". The male character keeps droning on about how what he's doing is okay and that she mustn't tell anyone and no one would believe her anyway and of course he loves her... The female character simply repeats "this house is not a happy home" over and over, while sounding sad and anxious.
  • Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Step Aside", although the lyrics are anything but gentle. They also tend to have one or two songs ("Don't Wake Me Up" as an example) per album that are sung entirely as opposed to rapping.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: In the music video for "Biggest And The Best", Zak spends most of it demolishing pre-teen boys at various sports. At the very end, the three boys appear with their fathers. The fathers are jacked, and roughly twice Zak's size. Zak stares at them for a few seconds, then sighs and looks down as the video ends.
  • Villain Protagonist: Several of the songs are from the point of view of a character designed to be unsympathetic and/or mentally unhealthy. For example Pay The Bill - ignore the video, just listen to the lyrics.

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