April 22nd is Earth Day, since 1970. A day to demonstrate support for environmental protection. To commemorate this important day, I wanted to write about the relationship between veganism and music.
Many people refer to their way of eating as plant-based, and others say vegan. Both are similar yet they have some nuances too.
Plant-based vs. Vegan
Plant-based refers to a diet that involves a majority of plants but also may contain small amounts of animal products.
Veganism excludes every animal product and also is about the whole philosophy behind it, not just the diet. Don’t wear fur, silk, or wool (nothing that comes from animals), and don’t support the exploitation of animals for our food or entertainment (circuses, zoos, SeaWorld, etc.)
Animals are sentient beings, they have thoughts and feelings, just as we do.
Veganism’s goal is to protect animals as well as spread awareness of the harmful consequences of animal agriculture not only to animals (torture, mutilation, cruel living conditions, and ultimately their slaughters) but the effects that this horrible industry has on the environment and our health (obesity, heart attacks, diabetes, cancer). All provoked by consuming animal products.
Veganism is about ethics, not only the food
The Link Between Music and Veganism
Einstein and Da Vinci were vegetarians.
Musicians, in general, have never been good role models, especially in the ’80s, when they were known for the typical mantra “sex, drugs, and rock & roll” and most of them lived by that motto, which even took some lives.
Many musicians are now advocating for topics like veganism, healthy lifestyle, sobriety, climate change, etc.
Music, especially metal music is raising awareness for some social justice issues we’re facing right now, like climate change, and helping people become aware and start doing their part before it’s too late.
Metal is the perfect vehicle for this, because if not them, who else would do it? Pop artists only care to sell and make more money. Most of them have never had an important message to send.
People who listen to metal are usually the outcasts in the society. So, who better to fight and care for other suffering beings, like animals?
The link between metal musicians and veganism is recent. Even though some older rockstars are vegan (Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young), the first ones to raise awareness, as a movement, of these issues were the hardcore punk bands, especially straight-edge ones.
Besides being looked at as aggressive, Punk has always cared for different causes, and many of the musicians are involved in activism as well (veganism, feminism, equality, LGBT rights).
Straight Edge, is a subculture of hardcore punk, in which its followers don’t drink alcohol, use recreational drugs, or smoke. Some of them don’t consume animal products and don’t have promiscuous sex either. The term comes from a Minor Threat song, a hardcore punk band.
In the 80s, the members of the punk band Teen Idles were underage and couldn’t enter venues to play because those places were serving alcohol. So, to be able to enter and play, they and their fans, below 21 years old, got an “x” mark on the back of their hands. To not be served alcohol, but so they can be allowed to be in the venue.
Punk bands like Earth Crisis, Minor Threat, and Youth of Today speak not only of veganism and animal rights but of the activism side and animal liberation.
Vegan Musicians
+ Moby (Richard Melville Hall). American musician and animal rights activist.
Grew up in an unstable household with alcohol and drug addict parents, but his family used to rescue animals so he got very attached to them since the animals were the only trustworthy beings in his life.
One day he realized that animals have rich emotional lives and a profound desire to avoid pain and suffering and he stopped eating them.
He considers fighting for animal rights his job. Music for him is his creative side, his stress relief from thinking of animal suffering.
+ Angela Gossow. German metal singer. She is the former vocalist of the Swedish melodic death metal band, Arch Enemy.
She was raised as a vegetarian. Her grandfather was a butcher, so her mother witnessed how he killed animals and decided not to eat meat again.
Angela made the conscious decision not to eat meat around 16 years old, because of all the health problems that animal products convey and also to avoid suffering to them.
She became vegetarian and, shortly after, vegan.
+ Alissa White-Gluz. Canadian singer. Current vocalist of Arch Enemy.
She has always been a vegetarian because her family also is. She has never eaten meat and has been vegan for more than 20 years. Also, she is straight edge.
Alissa says that singing in such a powerful band, she uses her music which is aggressive and strong to be a voice for the voiceless.
For her, veganism is anti-conformism, the same as metal. Veganism is the ultimate form of rebellion. Because you go against the typical things to eat, to wear. Deep down you’ve always known those things are not ok. It’s about contributing less to someone’s suffering. It’s not a diet or a lifestyle, it’s just a matter of choosing compassion. It’s an ethical stand. Besides, there are a lot of vegans in the metal and hardcore punk community.
+ Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein (Paul Doyle Caiafa). He is the guitarist of the American horror punk band The Misfits and also of his band, Doyle.
He is the boyfriend of Alissa White-Gluz. When they started dating and went to eat at vegan restaurants because he didn’t want to eat meat in front of her. He enjoyed vegan food so much, its flavor, so he made the change.
Love and food won him over.
+ Davey Havok (David Paden Passaroafi). American singer of the rock band AFI (A Fire Inside).
He started his vegan journey when he joined the straight-edge hardcore scene and started advocating for animal rights. He says that in the hardcore punk shows there were always people from the PETA organization handing out flyers. So he began becoming interested in activism, to know which were the living conditions of the animals in the farming industry and got involved in the PETA campaigns.
He never liked what drugs and alcohol did to people and how they made them act, and refused the idea that the mainstream always pushed that lifestyle from a very young age. He didn’t want to be a part of that. So to rebel against that, chose the hardcore punk movement and straight edge.
Davey claims that if reason is the most important thing for humans, it must be used to discern and decide not to harm others, or yourself, keeping your conscience always clear. Not losing it with drugs and alcohol. That is essential to him.
+ Mark Andrew “Barney” Greenway. British extreme metal singer of the grindcore band, Napalm Death.
He became a vegetarian at 14 years old, after watching a slaughterhouse documentary. Now he is vegan.
He always speaks about social justice issues like the farming industry is not sustainable for our environment, and redistribution of wealth and resources. He finds it inconceivable that there are still people who die from hunger and at the same time in other countries people waste food and resources.
+ Tanya O’Callaghan. The Irish bass player (currently playing with Whitesnake and Bruce Dickinson) has been vegan since she was 4 years old when her brother made a joke that the piece of meat on her plate was her neighbor’s cow that she was very fond of. Then, she made the connection that meat comes from animals and stopped eating them and stopped having dairy because she didn’t like the taste either, she found it sour.
Tanya is an animal rights activist and has worked in an animal shelter doing rescues.
+ Derrick Green. American singer who has been the vocalist of Brazilian metal band Sepultura for more than 27 years.
He has been a vegetarian since he was 14 because he loves animals. He also joined the hardcore scene.
He is vegan now and believes that karma is inflicted on those who damage the environment and its wildlife.
Tanya O’Callaghan and Derrick Green have joined forces and have a vegan travel show on YouTube, where they show different recipes from other cultures, and interview musicians and other artists about these topics.
+ Joe Duplantier (Joseph Andrew Duplantier). French singer and guitarist of the progressive death metal band, Gojira.
He is an environmental activist, as shown in his lyrics.
Since becoming vegan he feels his energy level and performance onstage have improved immensely.
+ Cattle Decapitation. The American death grind band uses brutality in music and its album cover arts to talk against the exploitation and consumption of animals and other related issues like global warming, social justice, pandemics, and animal rights.
Most of their artworks and lyrics paint a picture of the animals putting humans through the same abuse and violence that they endure. Humans go through slaughterhouses as an act of revenge.
Their music reflects their thinking in a shocking yet effective way.
Some band members are vegetarians/vegans.
+ Miland “Mille” Petrozza. German singer and guitarist of the thrash metal band Kreator.
He became a vegetarian after getting sick with some bad hotdogs. He is vegan now and collaborates with PETA.
+ Tom Warrior (Thomas Gabriel Fischer). Swiss metal musician. He was the singer and guitarist of Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, and now Triptykon.
He likes to talk about the things that matter to him such as animal rights.
He became a vegetarian and then vegan, late in life, in his 50’s. He regrets not making the change before, even though he knew that the whole animal industry was cruel and not sustainable.
The last time he ate meat, couldn’t finish it because he kept having flashes of where that meat came from. Then, he made the switch.
He also doesn’t drink, smoke, or take drugs.
+ Geezer Butler (Terence Michael Joseph Butler). English musician. The legendary bassist of Black Sabbath has been vegan since he was a kid, when he was eating a piece of meat, saw its blood, and asked his mother where the meat came from. She told him it came from animals. At that moment, he stopped eating meat.
He’s vegan now and collaborates with PETA to raise awareness about adopting pets.
+ Chris Motionless (Chris Cerulli). American singer of the metalcore band Motionless In White.
Chris became a vegetarian in high school for health reasons, and in 2017 became a vegan as an act of solidarity, after his father had a heart attack to support him to take care of his health. He also started reading books about it and watching documentaries on environmentalism and health. He has said it wasn’t difficult for him and that he never looked back ever since.
Slaughterhouse is one of their heaviest songs so far, from their latest album, Scoring The End Of The World. In which Chris writes about social issues and pandemic times. This song in particular is a critique of the greedy capitalist system in the USA, comparing it to a slaughterhouse.
+ Rob Zombie (Robert Bartleh Cummings). American rocker, horror film director, and singer of White Zombie has been vegan since he saw footage of a slaughterhouse.
+ Chrissie Hynde. American musician, and singer of The Pretenders.
She likes to advocate against the pain and suffering animals go through in factory farming and all its negative effects: pollution and the destruction of rainforests.
+ Morrisey (Steven Patrick Morrissey). English singer and songwriter. Former vocalist of the rock band The Smiths.
He is known for being an animal rights activist, and vegan. He collaborates with PETA.
Morrisey became a vegetarian when he was a kid after seeing a TV show on slaughterhouses and couldn’t believe that that existed, that we ate that, and that we still do it.
He has said that nobody is that hungry to take the life of something that also wants to live.
+ Paul McCartney. The English legendary bassist and singer of The Beatles is a long-time vegetarian and animal rights advocate.
He became a vegetarian with his late wife, Linda. They had lambs on their farm and ate them until one day they made the connection that they couldn’t eat anymore these animals that they loved.
Paul and Linda had a tough time transitioning because at that time there weren’t recipes or vegan meals, but they managed to make it work.
+ Brian May. The legendary English guitarist of the rock band Queen has been a vegetarian for a long time and animal rights activist. Now he is vegan.
Brian says that every animal, every being that has feelings deserves respect.
He supports diverse pro-animal campaigns and promotes adopting rescued pets.
+ Bonus. Even though he is not a musician, he’s a great actor. Joaquin Phoenix has been vegan since he was 3 years old. When he witnessed along with his brothers a very violent fish slaughter and since that day he didn’t want to eat or support these industries.
Joaquin is a big animal rights supporter. Regularly participates in PETA and other organizations’ campaigns and demonstrations.
He doesn’t wear fur, wool, or any animal product in his movies. And frequently talks about the connection between animal exploitation and climate change.
He is the voice that narrates the powerful and graphic Earthlings documentary.
Other vegetarian or vegan bands and artists that I would like to mention are Heaven Shall Burn, Jeff Walker from Carcass, Eluveitie, Bryan Adams, Justin Hawkins from The Darkness, Joan Jett, Bless The Fall, Parkway Drive, A Day To Remember, Bleeding Through.
Musicians and artists in general are more empathic and sensible to these issues and suffering than society overall. So, they are a good vehicle to spread these messages. Although this seems like a long list, it’s a small sample, and I hope with time more musicians, artists, and regular people, just like you and me, join this decision, which it result in a healthier life, a better future for animals and our planet.
Whether you want to take a step for your health or ethical reasons (you don’t believe in the exploitation of animals) you don’t need to make a radical change. You could start with only eating vegan once a week, see how you feel and that tiny little change will already have enormous positive effects. If you want to continue and go even further it will be much better. It’s never too late. Make the change, go vegan!
… If you want to know more about the relationship between the hardcore punk scene and veganism, I highly recommend Moby’s documentary. Fascinating, eye-opening, and entertaining, enjoy! 🙂