Mother Jones Interview With Henry Rollins
Via Mother Jones:
Henry Rollins is best known as the frontman for the hardcore punk band Black Flag and later for his solo project the Rollins Band.
He performs regularly as a spoken word artist and a comedian, and has written and published books of prose and poetry. Rollins is a radio and TV personality, actor, and voice-over artist. He's done several USO tours to Iraq since the war began.
Mother Jones recently spoke with Henry Rollins about his USO tours, punk rock, the newest season of his television show, and the art of storytelling.
Mother Jones: The first thing I wanted to ask you about was your USO tours. Can you tell me about how and why you got involved doing those tours?
Henry Rollins: I do it because that's my way of protesting the war, and it's my custodial duty to go behind this president that started this needless war that's hemoraging [sic] everything from needless lives to money and everything else. And the fact that the soldiers don't dictate policy; they just go and do what they are told, leads me to believe I don't really have a beef with the troops, I have a beef with the people who sent them into where they are deployed. So I go and I meet these people without any hesitation and I quite like them. Read more...
Henry is a true Patriot I'm so proud of what he has become.
I never heard of him before but from this article, I would say he has his head on straight.
Sorry to start the comments off on a sour note, but Henry Rollins is exactly the WRONG guy to be interviewing for his Iraq war views. The man is, well, let's just say his mind has been fried one too many times. He rarely makes any sense at all, has trouble putting together complete sentences (if you've ever seen him live, you know this), and has been pro-gun, pro-war, pro-macho B.S. many times in the past. He's just now jumping on the progressive bandwagon because he thinks it might help his "career". How he ever made it beyond Black Flag is beyond comprehension.
Who edited this article?!
"through" instead of "threw," "doushebag," "metal" instead of "mettle"...
Yikes.
Rollins is cool
Green Machine @ 3:
How do you know his mind has been fried? Do you know something different from this claim in an interview he did?
Rollins' daily priming before concerts helps reinforce his high level of discipline. "I don't do drugs, unless you call caffeine a drug. I drink coffee. I don't do any of that dangerous, intense shit. When I'm home, I write, I lift weights, I sleep, and I leave to go on tour. That's all I do. I eat Campbell's Soup and cheese sandwiches for dinner. I'm a very boring person. I don't have some kind of underworld life. I don't even drink."
http://www.edwebproject.org/rollins.html
What, no video clip?
pissed off patricia @ 2:
P.O.P. Maybe C&L will put up a video of him tonight...he's a total freakazoid...in a good way...and on a more superficial note, he's got a great body. Oooooooooo, Henry Rollins, emmmmmmmmmm.
Ack! Crooks and Liars found my youth! Black Flag and Fugazi....them were the days...d.c. and Boston. In fact, I think D.C. has been underrated as a music scene....throughout the 70s and 80s, it was a great place to hear new music.
.
Rollins' teed off on Bush and IMPEACHMENT!
OUCH!
.
Rollins is amazing. I don't care for his music, but his stand-up is great; as is his show.
Freedom is under attack.
Green Machine @ 3:
You must be thinking of another Henry Rollins, because the Rollins in my post doesn't drink or do drugs, is extraordinarily articulate, intelligent and has been against the debacle in Iraq from the beginning.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-12-22-uso-cover_x.htm
Rollins, 44, has made six USO tours. The former lead singer for the punk-rock group Black Flag said he generally keeps his anti-war views to himself at USO shows.
"The troops, they're my heroes," Rollins said. "You don't need me out there like some Tokyo Rose. I wouldn't go on a tear on Bush out there, because it'd be distracting."
Rollins said he breached his own no-politics rule in 2004, causing a stir at a U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan. He said the base commander briefed soldiers on how to re-adjust to life back home, then gave the microphone to Rollins.
"Your commander would never lie to you," Rollins told the crowd. "That's the vice president's job."
Rollins recalled, "I watched the USO people and some officers go, 'Ohhhh, boy.' Some people laughed. Some glared at me. I couldn't help it, because (Vice President) Cheney makes me mad."
Henry Rollins is incredibly well traveled (he's been to every continent and nearly every funky place that lets you plug in a microphone, and some that don't), and reads a ridiculous amount of books (I guess he got flagged as a "person of interest" for reading the Yale Published "Taliban" after some pig on the flight didn't like the title of the book). He's also totally straight edge, so if you think he's just some drug toasted hippie, you're wrong.
He's more of a libertarian than anything, in the vein of Penn and Teller. The guy really is a patriot, but he's a blusterer and rambles like crazy when talking (his live specials are hilarious and thought provoking, but he gets on tangents while on OTHER TANGENTS), so people may think he's kinda out of it or nuts. Trust me, he's not.
I respect Rollins' right to his opinion, but I think he's wrong about the soldiers' lack of culpability. Soldiers have the moral responsibility to refuse to fight an illegal war. I can appreciate that saying "No, I won't go to Iraq," is a difficult action which will land you in prison, but the simple fact is, the excuse "I was only following orders," didn't wash in WWII and it doesn't wash now.
Karen-
Yeah, the DC scene was great, and very influential, thanks , in no small part, to Ian McKaye and Jeff Nelson of Dischord Records(and Minor Threat). Even when the DC hardcore bands got- ahem- "big", they never let it go to their heads. It was always cool when Minor Threat or Marginal Man or Scream or Fugazi came through yer area because they were so accessible.
Not that DC bands could claim exclusivity to that brand of humility- the LA bands Black Flag and the Minutemen were great folks to talk to- but too many hardcore bands copped the "rockstar" attitude.
brynn @ 14:
If you're just talking about refusing general service you're an idiot. If you're talking about refusing to commit atrocities or violate the Geneva Conventions then yeah I agree.
If everyone got to pick the wars they fought in this world would be a very different place. For my friends in the military the general creed is to keep yourself and your buddies alive, do your duty, and go home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgSBhlw-o9E&mode=related&search=
Green Machine @3-
WTF? Are ya sure it wasn't you whose brain was fried? Couldn't ya follow the non-linear nature of Henry's poetry(and point out some good examples of linear natured poetry if ya will, please) or somethin'?
Green Machine @ 3:
Show me.
When your best friend gets killed right in front of you, I don't believe you go 'pro-gun'.
Henry Rollins open letter to Laura Bush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRNp2VT1U_U&mode=related&search=
Henry Rollins is best known as
the frontman for the hardcore punk band Black Flag and later for his solo project the Rollins Banda man with very obnoxious tatoos that make him hard to take very seriously.
I also like his spoken word like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut9-hgFbJWs
"Freedom is under attack...under attack by hysterical and well-funded Christian psychotics; intellectually undernourished leaders who lie and manipulate information; over-fed, Baby Huey, coward-bitch motherfuckers like Karl Rove and their suck-up coward-weakling apologists like Sean Hannity. To question authority is to be somehow unpatriotic? un-American? and in league with terrorists world-wide? Fuck you!"
And this one is good too Henry Rollins - "This Is How I Protest The War"
brynn @ 14:
Extremely well said. Your comments are backed up by the Nuremberg Principles which did indeed state that following orders is never an excuse. If Fabricated at #16 would take the time to see the incredibly moving 2006 documentary Sir! No Sir!, which chronicled the story of the GI Resistance that took place at or near military bases at home and abroad during the Vietnam War, as well as following the example of Lt. Watada, he would soon realize that your words ring true.
the soldiers don’t dictate policy; they just go and do what they are told, leads me to believe I don’t really have a beef with the troops,
I have a beef with those who choose to be an accomplice to a thing we know is wrong. No false pride, no undue shame.
I'm with Buffy.
"Without him Caeser would have stood alone"
Green Machine @ 3:
I hope it works. Be nice to think that we have more to offer an artist than the hawks do.
Logan Murphy
Rollins may have been "against the debacle in Iraq from the beginning" but the interview also has Rollins saying that he is hesitant against speaking out about the Bush administration and the occupation in front of the troops because it would be "deleterious to [their] morale." It sounds like Rollins is more intent upon emulating Bob Hope, who was careful in not saying anything negative about the Vietnam War when he did his pro-government USO tours, than in daring to be a little edgy in front of the troops the way Jane Fonda was when she and others conducted the FTA tours in the early seventies. FTA technically stood for Fun, Travel and Adventure or Free the Army but to the sellout crowds of GIs who saw her and her entertainment troupe in Japan, Okinawa, and the Philippines [the military was terrified of Ms. Fonda and would not allow her to be seen in Vietnam] FTA stood for Fuck the Army because the soldiers knew that Jane Fonda had their anti-war interests at heart and was not afraid to stand in solidarity with the soldiers on the stage when the FTA was performing. If only Henry Rollins had the same courage to do the same thing that Jane Fonda and the other members did while performing for the FTA those many years ago.
Rollins "spoken word" performances are more like standup comedy to me. There are some funny moments, but overall he's doing the same thing that many progressive comedians/activists are doing. He just does it at a louder decibel level. It's an extension of his punk, angry at the world stuff he did in Black Flag. I don't know too much about past political beliefs of his (many punk musicians are usually nihilisitc, so they stray towards some sort of libertarianism), but he's entertaining enough. He never really goes into any great insight or depth, though.
Henry Rollins is great. I like him more for his writing than anything (Solipsist really helped get me through high school, and he's by far my favorite contemporary writer), but his tv show is great, too, whenever I get a chance to see it. I don't know if I've been a fan of anyone I've seen him interview, but he always makes it really interesting with a great vibe. In terms of spoken word, though... nobody beats Jello Biafra.
logan,
sometimes i think libs are their own worst enemies
you dont do uso tours to criticize the government....you do the tours to entertain the troups...who have placed themselves in harms way
al franken does uso tours too...and he was a critic of the war from the getgo...but doesnt criticize the war or the gov in front of the troups
oops....my comment was meant for errol, not logan
“Freedom is under attack…under attack by hysterical and well-funded Christian psychotics; intellectually undernourished leaders who lie and manipulate information; over-fed, Baby Huey, coward-bitch motherfuckers like Karl Rove and their suck-up coward-weakling apologists like Sean Hannity. To question authority is to be somehow unpatriotic? un-American? and in league with terrorists world-wide? Fuck you!”
This rant by Rollins proves my point up thread. Thanks, Thing-Fish.
"Sorry to start the comments off on a sour note, but Henry Rollins is exactly the WRONG guy to be interviewing for his Iraq war views. The man is, well, let’s just say his mind has been fried one too many times. He rarely makes any sense at all, has trouble putting together complete sentences (if you’ve ever seen him live, you know this), and has been pro-gun, pro-war, pro-macho B.S. many times in the past. He’s just now jumping on the progressive bandwagon because he thinks it might help his “career”. How he ever made it beyond Black Flag is beyond comprehension."
wow GreenMachine, you are SO far off - doesnt drink or do drugs, has been articulate and a massive reader even in the Black Flag days, and has never been pro gun or pro war (though he did make anti Saddam jokes at one point, but how is that pro war?). he plays macho but also makes fun of it talking about how lifting weights is a reflection of his own insecurity. his live talking performances are VERY sensitive, and when he talks about the war it isnt 'fuck war dude', no its long rants about obscure important items you'd find on crooksandliars like about Karen Kwiatkowski. the dude knows his stuff, perhaps not as much as some people, but he comes across well, and comes across honest. And this is nothing new to help his career, he's been anti-Iraq war from the get-go, I know because I was there at his live show when it was about to happen and he was basically asking the crowd (canadians) for forgive the US for how awful it is and pray that it gets better.
So basically, slag off - way to be wrong on EVERY point about the man.
and unlike what a person said earlier, he's no libertarian, he's very much a liberal - not a hippie liberal by any stretch, but liberal. he respects other peoples rights but if you say 'libertarian' at all at most he'd be a Bill Hicks or Bill Maher level libertarian, and not the very right wing Ayn Rand sort of libertarian.
So Henry Rollins doesn't blame the troops for what's going on in Iraq right now and even performs for them. Let's lump him and our military in with Bush, Cheney, Rove, McConnell and Delay. Yeah, that's really productive.
Henry Rollins....hmmmm...I haven't heard Howie Klein drop his name.
man I am sick to death of celebrities saying being a soldier in an unjust war is a good thing. like hell it is. when did right wing political correctness dictate people have to say that? it makes me want to puke.
Henry Rollins Bites clenches to the truth like a Pitbull!
This simplistic hyperbole of "troops = murderers" is exactly what keeps assholes calling the left unpatriotic appeasers. You do us all a disservice.
Green Machine @ 3:
Your so far off it's comical.
TonyinLA @ 19:
His song Civilized doesn't sound very pro-gun either.
I'm sitting in my room in your prison doing time
Bars on my windows because you got so good at crime
Standing on the corner with nothing in your head
Shirt on your back and a gun in your pants
Thinking you're the man but you're only a stand in
Standing in line to be the next bad guy
I see what you do when you use what you got
But what do you do when you do what you want
You're so civilized
You get brutalized
I see you get yourself cut down
Getting your mind off some guy's record
Making his money off fools like you
Singin' about killing like it ain't no thing
But you'll do the time when you live it for real
Paying his way from your Death Row cell
You're the last one to see that you got sold out
I hear you say you hate pigs so much
Then why the hell do you act like one
A gun in your hand makes a fool out of you
A gun in your hand makes a target out of me
Freedom?
You want your freedom
You can't handle freedom
You're dying for it.
Rollins is a great guy. Thanks for posting the interview
Shatner and Rollins...
really really great song (dont mind the cat)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqwRO3eqVfk
Um, but not the Libertarian party or its corporatist views if that's what you mean. Most punk rockers tend towards Social Democratic, libertarian Socialist or Anarchist political perspectives. None that I have ever known (including myself) have anything but a total disregard for corporatists, corporations or their political astroturf (fake grassroots) Libertarian party.
Interesting to see how many people here who know exactly nothing about punk rock or Henry Rollins in particular making such wildly off the mark statements.
uncle joe mccarthy @ 30:
Uncle Joe
""...but doesn't criticize the war or the gov. in front of the troops." Pray tell, why not? Why should this illegal war be made sacrosanct in front of the troops, who must certainly be aware that they are fighting, not for a noble cause, but rather for a lost cause. As I attempted to explain in post # 27, apparently to no avail, Franken, your hero, decided to take the easy way out by emulating Bob Hope instead of Jane Fonda. Since the majority of the troops in all likelihood resent the fact that they fighting and risking their lives and limbs for absolutely no justifiable reason whatsoever, there is very little for Franken to lose by coming out, like Ms. Fonda did during the FTA tours when the Vietnam War was raging, and criticizing the government for putting the troops in the situation that they are in.
Franken, the liberal icon of the people, favors a timeline for withdrawal but is adamantly against immediate withdrawal meaning, of course, that more soldiers will be at increased risk to return to this country in flag draped coffins and even more of them returning maimed and crippled, missing arms and legs, paralyzed, blinded, severely burned, brain damaged, and returning to this country suffering from PTSD. But to Franken, who once proclaimed on his show "Thank God I didn't go to Vietnam!", this apparently presents no problem to him at all. One wonders if he would feel the same way if his son and daughter were actually risking bodily harm in Iraq.
You stated that "Sometimes I think libs are their their own worst enemies." What liberals like you seem to forget or are unwilling to acknowledge is that it is the U.S. military which is the catalyst for the violence that is occurring in Iraq. Once that fact is established, then it should stand to reason that there is no justifiable reason why those troops should remain in that abattoir [an abattoir of America's own making]. But to people like you, Al Franken, who advocates to unnecessarily keep those troops in harm's way, practically walks on water and can never be allowed to be criticized. Franken can do all the Bob Hope-type USO tours he wants but it will never disguise the fact that his claim that he supports the troops is a sham. The fact that he was a critic of the war when the war first started should not insulate him from being criticized. If he really gives a damn about the troops, he would be calling for their safe removal from that slaughterhouse-now. Get his son or daughter in Iraq and see how fast he changes his tune.
Janeane the Acerbic Goblin @ 32:
What point would that be Janeane?
NoPartyAffiliation @ 17:
Pretty good. Can't wait to hear his "Letter to Laura Bush."
I was right. It was pretty good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRNp2VT1U_U&NR=1
"Drunken Lynne Cheney reading aloud from Mein Kampf"......classic!
Thing Fish @ 48:
That Rollins's rants can be amusing (like that one), but nevertheless they are rants, and they are not particularly insightful and are void of any real depth. Yeah, Rove sucks, yeah, Bush sucks, but most of us with brains knew that in 2000. It's like preaching to the choir.
Janeane, again - as someone who knows the full spectrum of what Rollins does live vs. video, in song, in book, etc - he's varied. That segment of his show is just a few minutes long, and he puts together a quick entertaining rant. LIve for example, he will talk for 25-30 minutes on one topic. Different mediums = different presentation. You point to this rant of his as evidence that's all he's about or can do, and you're wrong.
best rollins song the rage filled "what have i got"
H : HENRY ROLLINS : non-album songs
HENRY ROLLINS
What Have I Got
I've got a wantless need
I've got a thoughtless mind
I've got a wantless want
I can't unwind
I've got a heart that hates
I've got hands that like to break
They tell me : hold on
They never let me go
I am a clenched fist lookin' for a wall to kiss
I am a locked door lookin' for a foot to kick me to the floor
What have I got? I've got everything
What have I got? nothin' much at all
Self rejected, well protected, to lock myself inside myself to get free
Self-hated, frustrated, my hands turn to fists
Violence - so hard to resist
I get so mad I do things that I regret
So stupid, so stupid, not stupid enough to ever forget
Got no need, got no brain - inside my mind I feel no pain, no
I feel the pounding in my head
Start lookin', start lookin' - you better look out
I'm not feelin' too nice today
........................
I can't stop, I can't stop - it pulls me together then it tears me apart
Just like that
Janeane the Acerbic Goblin @ 51:
Fair enough. They are rants. But Rollins does something. Visiting wounded could be viewed as not protesting the war. But it is doing something. And not only ranting about it.
Henry is the original angry prep school grad.
Henry is the
originaltypical angryprepmilitary school grad.oh green machine, you ignoramus. I dont know where to start with your comment. Im sure your regretting it now.
You may not like his music, (im not a huge fan, and im a GIANT music fan) he is so intelligent and articulate, that his evolutionary limit has far exceeded anything you might ever accomplish. I'm pretty sure about that.
Maybe you can start writing some books, acting in movies, writing meaningful songs and the list goes on. feel free to do a little research on what the hell you dont know.
Thanks for nothing.
I like Henry on a lot of levels but he screened out my comments on HuffPo merely for mentioning Israel (at least I suppose that was the reason - you can never really tell there). Nothing I can't stand more than sanctimonious gatekeepers. I've seen him on cable TV do his spoken-word stuff before an audience in Israel and he seemed to kiss a lot of butt without even mentioning the Palestinian view of things. That being said, the more people that see ShrubCo for the disaster it is the better.
Fabricated @ 16:
My grandfather was in the Wehrmacht.
Should we simply say 'hey, he was just a soldier following orders'.
No, without the army most of these madmen are powerless.
'All it takes is for the good people to say nothing...'
Maybe the people in the US will figure out that they are constantly being played for fools.
Like in a poker game. First lure them in, then keep them in by telling them the costs will be to high to leave now.
No matter how much the people were against the war before the invasion, they will support anything afterwards just to make sure none of 'their guys' died in vain.
We are suckers because we fall for the same traps over and over again.
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