This song is exactly what the last seven years should've sounded like - fired up, indignant, relentless, unified. The subject of the song, Lon Mabon, is behind the Oregon Citizens Alliance, who are responsible for the most viciously homophobic and anti-abortion ballot measures in Oregon. 1992's Measure 9 was Mabon's attempt to define gay rights as "special rights" in the state constitution and basically write discrimination into the law. He lost by a narrow margin, but revisited the topic again in 1996 and 2000.
I was happily living in Portland in 2000 during the height of the debate over measure 9 part 3, which wanted to make it illegal for Oregon public schools to "encourage homosexuality" which meant not talking about it at all. My life consisted of maybe 12 square miles of metropolitan Portland, which meant I was surrounded by "No on 9" stickers, tshirts, window displays, etc. I was convinced that Measure 9 was the work of crazy, delusional Christians who clearly didn't know what they were up against. When the votes were counted, the measure was defeated but by such a slight margin, 47% for, 53% against. Complete shock, I had no idea who these people were that wanted to legally prevent teachers from saying the word "gay." Who would keep Oscar Wilde, one of the few important things I discovered in 4 years of high school, out of classrooms. Who were so fearful they would try and pass a law.
But 2000 was nothing compared to 1992, and Lon Mabon was an even greater menace back in the early nineties when "Song" was recorded. The Oregon Citizens Alliance had already passed similar discriminatory laws at local levels, was lobbying heavily in the state, and lent massive support to like-minded political candidates. Mabon even ran for Senate himself. The desperate and forceful opposition to him cannot be spoken more succinctly than Crackerbash's song.
The careening guitar rings out like an alarm, slicing through the insistent rhythmic unity of the bass and drums like a killer. You can actually hear the spit machine-gunning out of singer Sean Croghan's throat as he runs down Mabon's agenda. The lyrics are necessarily reductive and brutal; the song is a battle-cry, not a debate. It's almost as if the persuasion takes place in the instrumentation instead of the words - the wordless explosion of fury and defiance after a sudden break is far more compelling than the wailing "what makes you so right?" that precedes it. But at the same time, it feels clearly empowering to sing along, and the vocals definitely provide an anchor for the listener.
"Song For Lon Mabon" is the first track on Crackerbash's Tin Toy EP, which contains brief liner notes for each cut. The ones to accompany "Song" talk about Mabon's "fundamentalist preaching and media terrorism" but makes an even more important point. The band directly questions the listener: "Is there a Lon in your backyard? Probably!" It's great to rage out and skitter across the floor with all the fire of the song, but it's important to remember there's a real-world component to these feelings. That the song isn't just about one guy and his cronies in Oregon, but a world-wide network of bigotry.
This isn't to say there's not amazing protest/opposition music being made today; everyone from DROPDEAD to Bruce Springsteen has made an effort to remind the world that change is in our hands and these choices are up to us. But I still haven't heard a song as spirited, as genuinely provoked and hostile as "Song For Lon Mabon" and it seems like the world could probably use one.
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