Artist: Atari Teenage Riot
Title: Destroy 2000 Years of Culture
Format: 12" single
Label: Digital Hardcore Recordings
Catalogue Number: DHR15
Year of Release: 1997
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Tracklisting:
A1 Destroy 2000 Years Of Culture
A2 Paranoid
B1 Destroy 2000 Years Of Culture Remix
B2 You Can't Hold Us Back
"Destroy 2000 years of culture
Destroy! Destroy!
Destroy 2000 years of culture"
ATR make a good case for revolution in this brilliantly noisy, clattery, shouty single taken from the 1997 album Burn, Berlin, Burn!. Well, when I say good, perhaps I mean forceful. The logic of the argument itself is pretty weak:
Me: So tell me, why should we destroy all culture back to about 3 BCE?
ATR: I don't fear the chaos!
Me: erm... right... what's your reasoning behind this quite aggressive stance?
ATR: Move! we gotta move! move! we gotta move!
Me: OK... maybe you could clear up for me whether are you referring to culture in the wider sense of the way we
live, or the narrower, Sunday-paperish sense of books and films an'
that?
ATR: Your money is full of blood and I know this for sure!
Me: Calm down now...
ATR: I won't calm down! I won't calm down!
[The rest of the lyrics can be read here. You can hear a bit of the track at this site, along with some pictures of buildings blowing up.]
Even if we were won over by force of argument alone, I'm not sure that destroying 2000 years of culture (Destroy!, Destroy!) would be a good thing. I guess what we need to do is draw up a list of pros and cons.
Pros (or things I wouldn't miss) |
Cons (or things I would miss) |
| Air Travel Some pretty major religions The Internal Combustion Engine Working 9 to 5 The Cult of Celebrity Pop Tarts The death of Imperial consort Fu, of the Han Dynasty Quantum Physics Government by Focus Group Slavery |
Central Heating The Guardian Public Transportation Life Expectancy of 30+ The Cult Sushi Exile of Julie the Elder from Rome, on account of treason and adultery Rain* Freedom of Speech |
It's a close call... I'd welcome other suggestions of 'Things that would be missed if we Destroyed 2000 Years of Culture (Destroy! Destroy!)'
Track A2 was kind of reviewed in this post.
Track B1 is an even noisier version of A1, with less obvious drum loops.
Track B2 is an instrumental.
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*Two points:
1) Rain was actually invented on 15th July 853CE by Swithun, Bishop of
Winchester, at the behest of Ethelwulf, King of Wessex, as a way of
defeating the Vikings.
2) Anyone who believes that rain is not an important part of cultural life in Britain is very much mistaken.
