Anal Cunt

Anal Cunt was a noisegrind band from Boston. They are often referred to by their initials A.C. Due to the perceived—indeed intended—offensive nature of their name, many of their album covers simply displaying the initials A.C. However, the band has managed to subvert even this abbreviation, by drawing these letters in a manner resembling an anus and a vulva. Their musical catalog consists almost entirely (barring the overwrought satirical Picnic of Love album and a number of cover songs) of ridiculously offensive material. The band has often been criticized for its popularity being based solely on their controversial song titles and lyrics rather than any musical ability, and is often mentioned when a debate is being made against the grindcore genre of music. One ongoing dispute is how much Anal Cunt actually believes in what they say on their albums.

Common lyrical themes include misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism, racism, ridicule of the unfortunate, and insults directed towards other bands of a similar genre (“Anyone Who Likes The Dillinger Escape Plan Is A Faggot”). Some examples of their controversial song titles are “Hitler Was A Sensitive Man”, “I Hope You Get Deported”, and “Your Kid Committed Suicide Because You Suck” (the original title was “Connor Clapton Committed Suicide Because His Father Sucks”; it was changed because Earache records were afraid that the label might have been sued in response to this song). One recurring song title is “X is gay”, with X being a person, place, thing, idea or event. Some well-known examples are: “Technology is Gay”, “The Internet is Gay”, “Windchimes are Gay”, and “The Word ‘Homophobic’ is Gay”.

The sound of a typical Anal Cunt song is that of loud, extremely distorted guitars playing very simple riffs (often using only open strings), blast beat drumming, and loud (often unintelligible) screaming.

Anal Cunt was founded in 1988 in Massachusetts by Seth Putnam. He chose the name by making a list of obscene words, and then trying to find what he believed to be the most stupid, offensive combination of them—Anal Cunt. The band was meant as a joke, and was to only release one album and do one show; however, they are still going strong.

Anal Cunt’s take on making song titles a joke in themselves may have influenced many other hardcore and grindcore bands who attempt to get laughs from humorous, but often cryptic, titles.

Since 1997, Anal Cunt has also become known for its acoustic black metal side-project Impaled Northern Moonforest, another joke band.

In 2000, they released Split With The Raunchous Brothers. The tracks on the album are: “I’m Hitler”, “The Guy Who Shot His Kid Up With AIDS is Awesome”, and “I Went Back In Time, And Voted For Hitler”.

Additionally, infamous punk rocker GG Allin has a song titled “Anal Cunt”, but there is no relation between them, although according to Putnam, Allin requested Anal Cunt to be his backup band on one particular tour. This never happened, most likely owing to Allin’s death.

In October 2004, Seth Putnam overdosed on “a combination of heroin, crack, alcohol, and two months worth of Ambien sleeping pills done all at once.” As a result, he was comatose for several days and sustained severe nerve damage, needing months of physical therapy to recover. According to Putnam, doctors had intended to “pull the plug”, fearing he’d spend the rest of his days as a vegetable. Some observers considered this poetic justice, given such Anal Cunt song titles as “Jack Kevorkian Is Cool” and “You’re in a Coma”. Surprisingly enough, in the same news post he confirmed that there will be a new Anal Cunt album.

Seth Putnam died of a heart attack on June 11th, 2011.