Anal Cunt

Anal Cunt, also known as AxCx and A.C. for censorship reasons, is an American grindcore band that formed in Newton, Massachusetts in 1988. Since its inception, the band has undergone a number of lineup changes, currently consisting of core vocalist Seth Putnam, guitarist Josh Martin and original drummer Tim Morse. Known for its grindcore musical style and controversial lyrics, Anal Cunt has released eight full-length studio albums in addition to a number of compilations and extended plays ^{Anal Cunt discography} .

They have been categorized as grindcore,

 
The founding of the band

Anal Cunt was formed on March 1, 1988 in the city of Newton, Massachusetts, near Boston ^{Boston, Massachusetts} , by Seth Putnam, who had previously been a member of bands such as Executioner ^{Executioner (band)} and Satan's Warriors. The name Anal Cunt came from Seth Putnam's attempt "to get the most offensive, stupid, dumb, etc name possible" . A common misconception is that the band is named after the song "Anal Cunt" by GG Allin, but in fact Allin's song was written years after the band had started . The band did however later in their career render tribute to GG Allin by recording a version of "I'll Slice Your *** Throat (If You *** With Me)" by him and The Murder Junkies.

In Q Magazine's 2005 book The Greatest Rock ^{Rock (music)} & Pop ^{Pop (music)} Miscellany Ever!, Anal Cunt was included in a list of "25 Band Names That Should Have Stayed On The Drawing Board". The band was meant as a joke, and was supposed to only record one demo and do one show; however, they are still active as of 2009, despite several brief breakups.

Originally, the band was to produce a form of 'anti-music', without rhythm, beats, riffs, lyrics, song titles or any other of the normal features of a band, an approach exemplified by the 5643 Song EP.

Yet another tour followed (this time a fortnight-long one with Eyehategod), during which Scott Hull was replaced with John Kozik. After this tour, the band was again close to breaking up (for the second time), but instead decided to change the lineup once more. The problem seemed to be with Tim Morse, so he was kicked out of the band—Seth Putnam was now the only surviving original member of the band.

The band was on hold for a while, the only thing they recorded being a song ("You’re Gonna Need Someone On Your Side") for the Smiths tribute album The World Still Won’t Listen, with Scott Hull on guitar and Seth Putnam doing the drums and vocals. During this period, Seth Putnam also did backing vocals for Pantera’s The Great Southern Trendkill, in New Orleans, and lead vocals for an Eyehategod show.

Seth Putnam was again tempted to end the band (for the third time), but instead hired a new guitarist, Josh Martin. Martin was a student at New York University in 1994/1995, when Anal Cunt used to play in New York a lot, and they had become good friends. Indeed, this was a friendship that would continue, as Putnam and Martin would join forces later in Adolf Satan and acoustic black metal band Impaled Northern Moonforest. Now, Martin had moved to Boston, following his graduation and was appointed by Putnam as the new Anal Cunt guitarist. After trying out a lot of drummers, they ended up with Nate Linehan.

Yet another tour followed, this time with Incantation and Mortician, and then the release of their next full-length, I Like It When You Die, which they had recorded prior to the tour. This album was essentially a collection of insults and featured the songs "You’re***" and "Technology’s***", as well as a guest appearance from Kyle Severn from Incantation. A lot of the songs refer to things being ‘gay’, as this was a common slang word in Massachusetts and in junior high schools across the United States at the time.

Following the tour, Linehan left the band and again the band was on hold because of line-up difficulties. Even so, Putnam and Martin recorded a few songs for a Black Sabbath tribute, In These Black Days Volume 1, which was a split with Eyehategod and featured Seth Putnam on drums. A few months later, Putnam asked Nate Linehan to rejoin the band and he agreed.

Another two tours later (one in America with Murder One, one in Japan), Anal Cunt recorded what would be their last album on Earache Records, It Just Gets Worse, which was released at the end of their 1999 European tour with Flächenbrand. This is the most offensive of the band’s albums and was surrounded by much controversy; the label changed some of the song titles and also censored the lyrics to two of the songs. Nevertheless (or probably because of this fact) this is now considered to be a classic cult grindcore album, which was criticized heavily by the general music press but praised just as much by the underground grind community.


2000s

Despite being dropped by their label (although Earache did later make them an offer to come back, which they turned down) and Nate Linehan leaving (again), Anal Cunt continued on, now with John Gillis on drums. Some more touring and a few releases followed, such as the Defenders of the Hate EP. There was also a Defenders of the Hate tour in 2001, featuring two legs—one to California and back, and one to Texas and back—and the band released a limited tour edition of the record as part of the tour. This tour showed that Anal Cunt were still as violent as ever, however, the band issued an official press release at the end of December 2001 saying that they had broken up (again). This time, the band seemed to have permanently disbanded, with only a few compilation tracks and the Very Rare Rehearsal From February 1989 CD being released.

In October 2004, Seth Putnam went into a coma for nearly a month as a result of a drug overdose. Initially reported as a sleeping pill overdose for legal reasons, he later claimed it was a combination of alcohol, crack, heroin, and a bottle of sleeping pills. Doctors thought that even if he survived, he would suffer permanent serious brain damage and were intending to "pull the plug", before Putnam's mother intervened. Even after coming out of the coma, Putnam was now paralyzed and had sustained severe nerve damage, needing months of physical therapy to recover. In fact, for the first show that Anal Cunt played following this coma (which was a show with Eyehategod), Seth Putnam had to remain seated in a chair throughout.

Although some thought it was poetic justice, Seth Putnam says he will continue to play songs such as "You're in a Coma" and has promised that the band will release "new" material soon. He confirmed that there will be a new Anal Cunt album ^{Assholes and Troublemakers} , most likely to be released in 2009 due to delays, which was originally to be called Wearing Out Our Welcome, before Putnam changed its title to Assholes and Troublemakers. Anal Cunt also released a Defenders Of The Hate full-length, which features bonus now-out-of-print tracks, such as those from the 13 Bands Who Think You're*** and Thrash of the Titans compilations, as well as the tracks from Split with Flächenbrand. Other releases that have been promised include a sequel to Picnic Of Love, Picnic Of Love II and an Anal Cunt/***Bar split, featuring unreleased Anal Cunt material from the Putnam/Martin/Linehan era on one side and a recording of Seth Putnam in a*** bar on the other.

Anal Cunt performed at the Los Angeles Murderfest Version 3.0 on March 24, 2007. Seth announced on Anal Cunt's myspace page that Tim Morse would be playing drums again full-time for the first time since his departure in 1996. On November 17, 2008, the original Anal Cunt line-up (Seth Putnam, Mike Mahan, and Tim Morse) finished recording their 110 Song CD. The CD was made as a celebration of the band's 20th anniversary. The album's musical style is the same as Anal Cunt's earlier work (47 Song Demo, 88 Song EP, 5643 Song EP, etc.) in the way of the songs having no titles or lyrics and the songs are all blurcore/noisecore.

Another compilation CD of obscure Anal Cunt releases is planned to be released by Wicked Sick Records, (Seth Putnam's label) later in 2009. It is said to include rare releases by the band like the Breaking the Law 7" and the Howard is Bald EP. It will also include very rare never before heard Anal Cunt recordings including the first Anal Cunt demo that was never mixed, songs recorded for compilations that were never sent, and demo recordings, etc.Anal Cunt's style has changed much since 1988, as originally they formed as a noisecore band before incorporating elements of grindcore and hardcore into their style. Songs in the 'early years' were often no more than a few seconds long (their 5643 Song EP being an extreme example), although this later increased so that the average song length was between 40 seconds and 1 minute. The typical Anal Cunt song is short and loud with extremely distorted guitars played randomly up and down the neck, near incomprehensible screaming and blast beat drumming. Some songs show influence from punk rock, powerviolence, doom metal and sludge metal .


Lyrics

Anal Cunt are often cited as having common lyrical themes that include misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism, racism and ridicule of the unfortunate ^{Schadenfreude} , although this has not always been the case. Many of these songs included insults, either general or specific to one person.

Their I Like It When You Die developed the idea of containing insults in their songs, with a recurring song title being "X Is***", with X being a person, place, thing, idea or event. Examples include: "You're***", "Technology's***", "Recycling Is***", "The Internet Is***", "Windchimes Are***" and even "The Word 'Homophobic' Is***." Another recurring song title is "You X", with examples including "You Own a Store", "You Live in a Houseboat", "You Are an Orphan", "You Go to Art School", and "You Keep a Diary". The band even parodied themselves about this with the songs "You (Fill In The Blank)" and "I'm in Anal Cunt".

The 1999 album, It Just Gets Worse, took the idea of intentional offense a step further with more extreme examples of racism and ***ism, which proved controversial, as they covered topics seen as taboo. Examples include: "You Were Pregnant So I Kicked You In The Stomach", "I Lit Your Baby On Fire" and "Women: Nature's Punching Bag." The lyrics to two of the songs on this album were censored and one of the songs on this album had its name changed from "Connor Clapton Committed Suicide Because His Father ^{Eric Clapton} Sucks" to "Your Kid Committed Suicide Because You Suck" because they were working for a record label in Britain ^{United Kingdom} , where libel laws are very stringent.

It was also in this album that the band began to joke about the Holocaust in numerous songs, including "I Sent Concentration Camp Footage to America's Funniest Home Videos". This theme of seemingly glorifying Adolf Hitler and his actions continued on their subsequent EPs, with songs such as "Hitler Was A Sensitive Man", "Body By Auschwitz", "I Went Back in Time and Voted for Hitler" and "Ha Ha Holocaust."

Another common lyrical theme in the band's material is that of insulting other bands, as well as music in general.

Next to this offensive material, some of their other songs which are more light-hearted appear even more confusing and hilarious. This includes the satirical Picnic of Love album, and also covers of songs completely different from their style including "Can't Touch This", "Stayin' Alive", "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)", "Theme From Three's Company", "You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side ^{Your_Arsenal#Side_A} ", and "Hungry Hungry Hippos" as well as their bizarre karaoke rendition of the "Steve Miller Band" song "Abracadabra ^{Abracadabra (song)} " (with the lyrics changed to "Sabbra-Sabbra-Cadabra") on the split EP with Eyehategod. Other contrasts are provided by the innocent silliness of tracks such as "I Got Athlete's Foot Showering At Mike's".


Criticism

Critic Steve Huey called their album 'Morbid Florist' "barely listenable".

In one interview, Seth Putnam admitted that they had sent material to publications they knew would hate it, just to get bad reviews.;Current members
*Seth Putnam / vocals ^Singing , guitar (1988–present)
*Josh Martin / guitar (1996–2003, 2006–present)
*Tim Morse / drums ^{Drum kit} (1988–1996, 2008–present)
;Former members
*Fred Ordonez / guitar (1991–1992, 1992–1993)
*Paul Kraynak / guitar (1993)
*Scott Hull / guitar (1995)
*John Kozik / guitar (1992–1995, 2003–2006)
*John Gillis / drums (1999–2001, 2004–2006)
*Nate Linehan / drums (1996–1999, 2003–2004, 2006–2007)
*Mike Mahan / guitar (1988–1990, 2008)*Everyone Should Be Killed (1994)
*Top 40 Hits (1995)
*40 More Reasons to Hate Us (1996)
*I Like It When You Die (1997)
*Picnic of Love (1998)
*It Just Gets Worse (1999)
*Defenders of the Hate (2001)
*110 Song CD (2008)