Christopher Partridge
Popular music is no stranger to apocalyptic discourse.Whether focusing on biblical or secular apocalypses,musicians often want to tell us things about the end of theworld we may not have wanted to know in ways we may nothave thought about before. This volume seeks to introducereaders to some of these messengers and their anthems ofapocalypse.Roland Boer’s discussion of Nick Cave indicates thatreferences to the portents and monsters of the apocalypsehave been used to refer, not to an age to come, but to theauthorities and demons of the present world. Likewise,Kennet Granholm’s chapter on the vegan straight edge bandEarth Crisis shows that biblical apocalyptic provides alens through which to examine environmental politics.This is also true of the work of Rage against the Machine’sTom Morello, who, as Michael Gilmour discusses, providesa powerful socialist critique of capitalism, Americanimperialism, new left-activism and identity politics.Along with these ’secular’ uses of biblical apocalyptic are,of course, the more conspicuously Christian theologicaltreatments: Mark Sweetnam discusses dispensationalismin Johnny Cash’s music; Marcus Moberg exploreseschatological themes in Christian heavy metal; and SteveKnowles looks at the uses of apocalyptic imagery in themusic of Extreme. Alongside these are the perenniallypopular esoteric interpretations of biblical apocalypticthought. These are explored in Rupert Till’s analysis ofheavy metal and Sérgio Fava’s discussion of apocalypticfolk.
