Whatever your political affiliation, I think it’s safe to say at the very least that the middle of the last decade was an interesting time to be an American. Still reeling from post-9/11 paranoia about terrorism, the country having split into vehement factions either for or against going to war in Iraq (for all the good it did, either the war or the protests leading up to it), George W. Bush‘s reelection in 2004 — things seemed to be tripping over themselves to fall apart. But you know, you had to go buy an iPod or the terrorists won.

Through all this mass psychosis and jingoistic fuckery, The Hidden Hand released their second album in 2004’s Mother Teacher Destroyer. In my opinion, it’s the strongest of the Wino-led trio’s three albums — striking a balance between 2003’s punkish Divine Propaganda and 2007’s more progressive The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote — but more to the point, it’s a solid and concise chronicle of the sentiments in both the public conscious and unconscious. Together with bassist Bruce Falkinburg and drummer Dave Hennessy, Wino made some of the most explicit social commentary of his career.

To wit, the third song on the album, “Desensitized.” At six and a half minutes, it was the longest track on Mother Teacher Destroyer, and while other songs delved into Zeppelin-style epic themes and tales of battles lost and won, “Desensitized” and “Travesty as Usual” stood in the tradition of protest songs, each driving riff serving as another mark of resistance. The lyrics echoed this sentiment as well:

Sad times are here today all around
Strange vibes here to stay to bring us down
For the people they don’t care
Pushing all into despair

No, it can’t be true
It couldn’t happen to you
Hey, it must be clear
They’ll try to keep us in fear

Disinformation is the tool
Media controlled, divide and rule
Anxious minds their questions lead
To the structure of deceit

No, it won’t be true
Don’t let it happen to you
Hey, it must be clear
They’ll never keep us in fear

Note that the last chorus ends in a hopeful tone, but there’s something too in the verses that seems to know the size of the struggle being engaged. Wino‘s always had a socially conscious side to his songwriting, but that was never quite so prevalent as in The Hidden Hand, and they were nothing if not timely in their arrival.

Here’s “Desensitized” in HD. Happy Wino Wednesday:

Tags: Mother Teacher Destroyer, Scott "Wino" Weinrich, Southern Lord, The Hidden Hand, The Hidden Hand Mother Teacher Destroyer, Wino, Wino Wednesday

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 at 5:19 pm and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.