Updated 24 August 2024

I put these songs in chronological order. Pick your favourites! My personal favourite is Youth of Today's "No more", of course. I bought a German pressing of the "We're not in this alone" album on a school trip to France in, I think, 1995.

Many of these songs I had not even come across until recently. And some of these songs I had in my "record collection" but I did not know the lyrics because the respective records did not come with a lyrics sheet.

For example, for the Beefeater song "A dog day" ... and technically, this is the best, most ingenious of all these songs ... the CD booklet (I had the combined "Plays for lovers/House burning down" CD) does contain the printed lyrics of pretty much all of the sings, with the exception of this song! Massive blunder, Ian MacKaye, Dischord, Tomas Squip. What were you thinking?

I also had a Euro release of the Cro-Mags' "Age of Quarell/Best wishes" (combined CD again) which had no printed lyrics. Until more recently, I didn't even know that John Joseph and Harley Flanagan were vegetarians. Of course, the cool punks have criticzed these NYHC fellas for their ribald behaviour, being macho, idiotic, superstitious, violent posers, etc. ... But hey, these guys have managed to become massively famous ... not always a clear sign of brilliance and integrity, of course ... and have written these anthemns about vegetarianism. And have been speaking out for animals (especially John Joseph), while the cool punks have not.

Be sure not to overlook the 1984 Conflict song "Whichever way you want it", which includes the line "Human freedom, animal rights, it's one struggle, one fight". Sounds familiar?

Below, in brackets, you can always see the album or EP (extended play, whoever came up with that term) on which the song, to my knowledge, first appeared.

1. Flux of Pink Indians: "Sick butchers" (Neu Smell EP, 1981)

Lyrics (Sick butchers):
"I used to graze in a field

I used to breathe

I used to be alive
Did chew the grass in the field
Could see and hear the world around me
See and fear man around me
Had a virgin skin but now sold in supermarkets
Now studded blankets
Used to hear the cars and the birds going by
And the people going by

They were my destiny
They were my reason, my purpose in this field
For their plates, their cold bodies, their car seat covers
My soul for your soles of shoes
You may like my taste

You may like my warmth
It may say in the bible that you can kill me
... but I don't want to die

I don't want to die

You try to stroke me in a field then go home and eat me as your meal"

The same EP also contains the following song:

Flux of Pink Indians: "Background of malfunction" (Neu Smell EP, 1981)

Lyrics (Background of malfunction):

"Man created greed
A choice of who to feed
A choice to live or die
A choice to smile or cry
A love to give to all
To make, to beg or crawl
A life there and the plans
A pass to say what was
Inventions like the bomb
A device to stop what's wrong
A chance to create a life
Similar to the last
Road to follow straight
Animal to fill the plate
Death, that is so sad
Rituals that are not mad
Like eating what is dead
I thought that made man sad
Obviously not the same
Breed animals to be tame
So man can show the fists
Cause only man exists
Lion eats a man
Man invades its land
Man prods it with a gun
Always proving man has won
Oh, lion eats all but shoes
Big business in the news
Shocks, horrors, families eating
Stuffing all the bleeding meat in
'What a savage, it ate a man'
'I won't feed the lions in the zoo again'
'This steak is a lovely piece of meat'
'I fancy a bit of rabbit next week'
'Come on Thomas, eat it up'
'Sometimes I don't think that you were worth the fuck'"

2. MDC: "Corporate deathburger" (Millions of Dead Cops, 1982)

Lyrics:
"Ronald laughs as millions starve
And profits forever increase
Your stenching farts as they smile
They say they try to please
Plastic chairs and fake shakes
To help it all go down
Polluting your children with their lies
And trying to destroy your mind
Corporate deathburger, Ronald McDonald
Corporate deathburger, Ronald McDonald
Change from your five
Ankles deep in blood
Make it your career
Sell billions every year
Golden arches and Ronald smiles
Golden arches and Ronald smiles
Golden arches and Ronald smiles
Ronald laughs as billions starve
And profits forever increase
Feeding all your grain to cows
Dead children rest in peace
The stench of humans rotting
Smells just like fish filet
Your sign neglects to mention
50,000 starved today
Corporate deathburger, Ronald McDonald
Corporate deathburger, Ronald McDonald
Change from your five
Torture camps for cows
Slaughter and starvation
From death corporation
Golden arches and Ronald smiles
Golden arches and Ronald smiles
Corporate deathburger, Ronald McDonald
Corporate deathburger, Ronald McDonald
Change from your five
Torture camps for cows
Slaughter and starvation
From death corporation
You say you're Christians but you're a fake
Multinationals on the take
Starving children deserve a break today"

MDC "Corporate Death Burger" T-shirt, 1987 or 1988,

made by Dave Dictor (the singer of MDC)

[Matt Gray, The NYHC Chronicles LIVE! Ep. #246, @~34 min]

3. Flux of Pink Indians: "Myxomatosis" (Strive To Survive Causing Least Suffering Possible, 1982)

Note that there are several different versions of this song, and the one linked aboved is probably not the original 1982 version (that's maybe why the lyrics below don't seem to completely match what is sung).

Lyrics (Myxomatosis):
"Keep your hands away from your eyes

No I don't wanna, I wanna be blind
I don't want to see man's murder anymore

Myxomatosis stinks

I don't want to see man's murder anymore

Keep your hands away from your eyes

No I don't wanna, I wanna be blind
I don't want to see man's murder anymore

Myxomatosis stinks

I don't want to see man's murder anymore

To live in peace we must reject

All oppression on all levels
There can be no compromise
One man's justice is another man's crime
Who has the right to decide
Where to draw the line

Myxomatosis stinks
Oppression stinks
I don't want to see man's murder anymore
(Keep your hands away from your eyes
No I don't wanna, I wanna be blind
I don't want to see man's murder anymore)
We're not very different, we're very much the same
Animals have feelings, animals have a brain
People have feelings, people have a brain
Animals feel pain, people feel pain
Myxomatosis stinks, oppression stinks
I don't want to see man's murder anymore
(Swelling of eyes, ears, mouth and external sexual organs
Listlessness leading to complete inactivity and eventual death)
Experimentation, vivisection, devastation, starvation, torture, war
All mindless slaughter are all basically the same
Man made oppression, man made pain
(Death follows in almost all cases
Within, at the most, three weeks of hell)"

On the same album there is an anti-vivisection song:

Flux of Pink Indians: "Blinded by science" (Strive To Survive Causing Least Suffering Possible, 1982)

Lyrics (Blinded by science):

"Pussey eyes is not a pretty sight
But to you it is not a high price
To have your hair shiny and bright
To have your eyes stand out like a light
Four million animals die in experiments
Each year in Britain for what?
So vivisectors can gain praise and a wage
For prodding animals as their bodies distort
Don't think by turning your face the other way
All pain and suffering will just go away
Eighty-eight percent of your experiments
Are done with the use of no anesthetic
But now you've put it's eyes in a bowl
He thinks the animal has been stunned
At the expense of animals' lives
Man has tested and discovered new drugs
But has also destroyed animals eyes
Just so we can live our convenient lives
It's up to you
If you think man is justified
But just save a thought for the animals
That have died in pain for you
Don't think by turning you face the other way
All pain and suffering will just go away
Don't be blinded by scientists
Like so many animals have been
If you think this cruelty is wrong
Protest against it happening
You don't have to use products
That contain animal abuse
There are many many alternatives
Go and have a look
Don't think by turning your face the other way
All pain and suffering will just go away"

They also have an anti-war song which takes into account non-human animals as vicitims of war:

Flux Of Pink Indians: "Tapioca sunrise" (Strive To Survive Causing Least Suffering Possible, 1982)

Lyrics (Tapioca sunrise):
"Your hateful nuclear weapons
Are mere props for your aggression
More tools for further oppression
Die with your possessions
The blatant colonel gave the command
And millions died in a faraway land
The atom bomb was dropped
Just as he had planned
And the whole city
Was reduced to sand
Innocent animal[s] and people of towns
Slaughtered as the bombs poured down
We won't fight your war
We've seen it all before
Millions dying in anguish and pain
We don't wanna see war repeated again
Another man dead is one less to fight
[... ... ...]

As proof of what is right
They've got atom bombs on the land
Part of the military strategy they've planned
They've got atom bombs in the air
Part of their deterrent - it's difference through fear
They've got atom bombs at sea
Just another pawn in their nuclear artillery
It becomes very plain to see
That I can't get away from the threat
That continually hangs over me
Soldiers on opposing sides
Both prayed to the same god in the sky
Hoping he would protect them
So they wouldn't have to die
But praying eased only minds
And didn't save anyone
The bombs still fell
Killing millions of innocent men, women and children
War is governments' arguments they have failed to control
War ain't fun, war is stupid, war is painful
And war can never be won
War does not pay
War does not pay
War does not pay"

4. Learned Helplessness: "Vegis" (The Master Tape compilation, 1982)

It seems that the band "Learned Helplessness" only had this one song released, and this was on a compliation album called "The Master Tape" on Nimrod Recors (re-released on Affirmation Records in 1983). It's a pro-vegetarianism song and has only been released on this compilation. Unfortunately, I don't have the lyrics. I would guess the name "Learned Helplessness" refers to animal experiments in which monkeys or other animals who are tortured by scientists in so-called scientific experiments learn helplessness, i.e., at some point they give up. The band "Learned Helplessness" consisted of Joy L. Norris (vocals), Slam Bam-Bam (drums), Rick [.] (bass), and "3-PM" (guitar). All the bands on this compilation seem to be from the United States Midwest.

Lyrics:

[currently missing]

"[...]

I eat anything you don't kill.

[...]

5. Subhumans: "Evolution" (Evolution EP, 1983)

A song about vivisection, i.e. invasive experiments with non-human animals.

Lyrics:
"Out in the garden there is a little white rabbit
Like Revlon torture for your clean little habits
As you wash your hair to keep it clean
You get to wonder why VosenesT green
And forget about the silent animal screams
Out in the garden there is a little white dog
Shampoo in your eyes like a burning fog
But it's tried and tested so you won't go blind
Animals killed for the good of mankind
For your shining hair so many have died
Out in the garden there is a little white cat
And you're catching cancer as you smoke that fag
"When will they find the cure?" you choke
When enough cats have died of smoke?
And they say that animals go for the throat
And the monkeys in the zoo they look so tame
In the name of science they removed their brains
To think that man evolved from this beast
Civilized savages down from the trees
The animals who run these laboratories"

6. Conflict: "Meat means murder" (It's Time To See Who's Who, 1983)

Note that there are different versions of this song. The version linked above is the one that also appears on the 2001 "There must be another way - the singles" release, and this is also the same as the one that appeared on the 1983 "To a nation of animal lovers" EP (see below), even though on this 3-song EP, the song is titled "Meat still means murder!" (but it's the same version of the same song). This slightly shorter version is the original LP version from the "It's time to see who's who" LP pictured below.

Note: Right below you can see the lyrics of the longer "To a nation of animal lovers" EP version , and then below that the shorter original "It's time to see who's who" LP version.

Lyrics (Meat means murder, longer version from the "To a nation of animal lovers" EP):

"I'm walking through the grey walkways of the city

And through the brightly lit shops and supermarkets

And I'm walking through the fields of the innocent

Passing by the fairytale farm

Balancing on the brittle edge of a short life

That is ended by the knife ... knife

The factory is still churning out all processed, packed, and neat

An obscure butchered substance, and the label reads 'meat'
Hidden behind false names such as pork, ham, veal, and beef
An eye's an eye, a life's a life, the now forgotten belief
And yet every day production lines are feeding out this farce
Just to end up on your table, then shat out of your arse
Yet still they're queueing, and still they're viewing
Sawing out limbs just right for stewing
Carcasses piled up in a heap
Sort juicy chunks from freezers deep
Well, can't you see that juice is blood?
From newborn throats red rivers flood
Blood from young hearts, blood from the veins
Your blood, their blood, serves the same
Now you're at the table, sitting, grinning
Sitting there eating you never realise [the filling?]
It's served upon a sterile plate, you don't think of the killing
The furthest your brain takes you, is it for frying or for grilling?
You moan about the seal cull, about the whale slaughter
But does it really matter whether it lives on land or water?
You've never had a fur coat, you think it's cruel to the mink
Well, how about the cow, pig, or sheep, don't they make you think?
Since the day that you were born you've never been told the missing link

As I'm gazing at the baneful products

And from behind the bright colours and false smiles I can smell the lingering death

And see the decaying skins

Forth from the green grass

The pungent smell of decomposing meat

That penetrates the walls of the kitchen

And from the red lorries on the black

In unison with the red lights and the red juice

The Sunday kitchen spills out the stench of the abattoir

Serves the same!

[.....................]

Serves the same

Serves the fuckin', fuckin' same

The Sunday kitchen spills out the stench of the abattoir

The butcher's blade glistening in the eye of the 'master'

The deadened life of a baby sits upon the plate

The spilt guts falling from the chute to the basting tin

The carcass from the car crash

In the age of the train"

Lyrics (Meat means murder, shorter version from "It's time to see who's who" EP):

"The factory is churning out all processed, packed, and neat

An obscure butchered substance, and the label reads 'meat'
Hidden behind false names such as pork, ham, veal, and beef
An eye's an eye, a life's a life, the now forgotten belief
And every day production lines are feeding out this farce
To end up on your table, then shat out of an arse
Yet still they're queueing, and still they're viewing
Sawing out limbs just right for stewing
Carcasses piled up in a heap
Sort juicy chunks from freezers deep
Well, can't you see that juice is blood?
From newborn throats red rivers flood
Blood from young hearts, blood from the veins
Your blood, their blood, serves the same
Now you're at the table, sitting, grinning
Sitting there eating you never realise [the filling?]
It's served upon a sterile plate, you don't think of the killing
The furthest your brain takes you, is it for frying or for grilling?
You moan about the seal cull, about the whale slaughter
But does it really matter whether it lives on land or water?
You've never had a fur coat, you think it's cruel to the mink
Well, how about the cow, pig, or sheep, don't they make you think?
Since the day that you were born you've never been told the missing link

Yet still they're queueing, and still they're viewing

Sawing out limbs just right for stewing
Carcasses piled up in a heap
Sort juicy chunks from freezers deep
Can't you see the juice is blood?
From newborn throats red rivers flood
Your blood, their blood, serves the same"

The band Conflict is still around. You can check out their merchandise on their own label (Mortarhate Records) website (not a paid link).

Also check out this live video of "Meat means murder" (at the Fender's Ballroom) in Longbeach, California, in 1985. This is the definition of punk.

7. Conflict: "Whichever way you want it" (To A Nation Of Animal Lovers EP, 1983)

Lyrics (Whichever way you want it):
"There's a place that's neatly tucked away beyond the other side

A place in which you'd never dream there would be a need to hide
For the building is surrounded by pastures pure and green
The image hides reality, and the distance kills the scream
That comes from inside, is never exposed to be fair, for the place Is packed
With scientists who show how much they care
The guard stands bravely at the gates, guard dog by his side
The same breed of animal is butchered inside
What a fucking waste of money, what a fucking waste of time

What a fucking waste of money, what a fucking waste of time

What a fucking waste of time, what a fucking waste of money

What a waste of human knowledge, what a fucking way to die
Human freedom, animal rights, it's one struggle, one fight
There ain't no fucking truth in the inspector's files
As he walks down the death corridors, he covers his sighs with smiles
He sees the pain and agony but remembering his position
He's got his place, another face, but he just ain't paid to question
He thinks it's rather funny that he's earning loads of money
His eyes are forced aside as out comes another trolley
Another tray of corpses, more unlabeled, more unmentioned
It's no good asking why

Why?

Because they never fucking listen

So liberate, liberate, liberate [repeated many times]
Animal testing to detect thalidomide
Torturing, killing, but there's loads more things to try
The suffering, the pain, that excruciating pain, it all goes over and over again
This fucking witchcraft won't solve anything, the same experiments,
OVER AND OVER AGAIN"

8. Anti-System: "Animal welfare" (Defence Of The Realm EP, 1983)

Anti-System are a punk band from Bradford, formed in 1982.

In a 2018 interview, the singer (Dean Martindale) says: "We’re also all vegan and vegetarian, cause it’s also all about animal rights. They have reason to be free just as much as we have. It’s all about friends, not food. Animals are our friends, not our food. [...]

[.] I think it’s great that veganism and vegetarianism is becoming very mainstream. People are now standing up and realising what’s wrong with the fur farming industry, that the meat industry is killing the planet. Even the dairy industry, how small calves are being ripped off from their mothers straight away just to be used as products. It’s fucking horrible." [31]

Also check out the cover of the 2019 version of their anthology and their 2019 "Live: in Durham City" album.

Back cover:

Insert (sorry, no better photo available at the moment):

Lyrics:
"
Brains in bits - Electrodes attached
Crowded in pens - For eggs to hatch
Rabbits don't cry - Mice don't fight
Join the animals - In their plight

The answer is simple
No we're not cripples
We should care
If you dare

The liberators - Got good intentions
But not through violence - Just break their sentence
Peaceful means - Should be used
To show disgust - At animals abused

Free the creatures
God's so called preachers
Let them live
Is that much to give?

Fux fur coats - And seal skin jackets
Look better on animals - Than hanged old faggots [! *]
Brains and guts - Death and pain
Needless killing - Cause they're so vain

Stop the culls
More smashed skulls
Just let them live
Or is that much to give?

Animal Welfare - Animal Welfare
"

[* I'm not aware of any statement by the band regarding their use of the word "faggot" here. It seems unusual as they are an anarcho punk band from Bradford - almost a cerificate for being anti-homophobia.]

9. MDC: "Chicken squawk" (Millions Of Dead Children EP, 1984)

The band name MDC is an abbreviation whose meaning constantly changed. Some of the meanings were: "Multi-Death Corporation, Millions of Dead Children, Millions of Damn Christians, Millions of Dead Cops, More Dead Cops, Missile Destroyed Civilization, Metal Devil Cokes, ...

In a 2023 interview, Dave Dictor (the singer of MDC) - who is still vegetarian - says that he became (or wanted to become) a vegtetarian in 1974/1975 (he was born in 1956, so he was 18 or 19 years old) and that he wrote the song "Chicken squak" already back then [11]. He even says: "Eat vegan, eat right" [11], and they show a photo of Dave Dictor wearing a "Freedom for animals ... vegan" shirt (around 2013)on which he comments "Here I am, vegan, about ten years ago [...]" (see references) [11].

Lyrics:
"When I walk into the store
They're selling chickens by the score
But eating dead birds just ain't for me
I don't eat roast beef or fish
Porky Pig is not my dish
Just go ahead and let your chickens free

In chicken circles it's Adolph Perdue
Wants to feed featherless chicken to you
I don't take orders from Colonel Sanders
Do you?
I don't wanna eat no hens
Not even every now or then
I just wanna let all the little chickens be
Bawk, bawk, bawk...

Swing to the east and swing to the west
Swing with the chicken that you love best
Come on down and do the chicken squawk with me

Wishing Daffy lots of luck
Cause Elmer Fudd's a hunting duck
They're dreaming about a little fricassee
And Bugs Bunny's a friend of mine
Eating him I'd feel like Frankenstein
Eating flesh seems pretty foul to me

Cooking chickens don't seem right, morning, noon, or late at night

Ain't no chicken ever done no harm to me

So on Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve

Give those turkeys a reprieve
Ain't no turkey got to die for me

Well, swing to the east and swing to the west

Swing with the chicken that you love best
Come on down and do the chicken squawk with me

Foghorn Leghorn wrote to me

Say's MDC's OK with me
We learned how to let our chickens free
We birds of a feather, we stick together

We set our chickens free forever

So go ahead and let your chickens be

Lordy Jesus this must be the end
They got us eating our cartoon friends
Emancipate those little chickadees

Well, swing to the east and swing to the west
Swing with the chicken that you love best
Come on down and do the chicken squawk with me"

10. Beefeater: "A dog day" (Play For Lovers, 1985)

Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens, Coriky) commented on this song in Moby's 2023 documentary film "Punk rock vegan movie" (also see here). This record is one of the iconic albums of the Washington, DC, punk scene's "revolution summer".

Side note: It also seems that Ian MacKaye has been vegan since around 1985. I assume this because in an interview with him in a German music magazine that was published in the summer of 2010, Ian MacKaye says that he has been vegan for 25 years [1]. However, in an interview with Ian MacKay published in Gabriel Kuhn's book "Sober living for the revolution", Ian MacKaye says: "I mean, I've been a vegan for twenty-two years now, Joe was a vegan for almost the entire time in Fugazi, and we were all vegetarians." [2] He means Joe Lally. I would assume they might all [still] be vegan (or were Guy Picciotto and Bredan Canty only vegetarian?) even though Ian MacKaye here uses the paste tense - but I'd love to be corrected me if I'm wrong. The book unfortunately does not provide information on when the interview was conducted. It may have been conducted three years prior, i.e., in 2007, so there would be no contradiction (2007 - 22 = 1985). Nevertheless, if Joe Lally was the first in Fugazi to go vegan but was not vegan right from the beginning of Fugazi (Fugazi was formed in 1986), then the 1985 date cannot be correct. Maybe ~1987 or 1988 (i.e., a little later than 1986) would be more accurate. Maybe the "25 years" above is rounded. Also, in an interview from 2013, Ian MacKaye says: "I’ve been a vegan for the past 26 years [...]." This would again indicate 1987 as the year Ian MacKaye became vegan (2013 - 26 = 1987).

... Also, side note to the side note: Brendan Canty, in an interview (by Dennis Lyxzen) posted on June 2023, says "I got rid of my Covid chickens", whatever that means but most people who have chickens (rescue or otherwise) aren't vegan [3], and whether getting rid off means killing them, having them killed, selling them, or discarding the dead chickens isn't clear. "Covid chickens" probably refers to the fact that many people in the US turned to urban chicken keeping, buying chickens to start their flocks, during the Covid-19 pandemic. This indicates that Brendan Canty isn't vegan (?).

Note: I've transcribed the lyrics to this song but I have (so far) not been able to understand every single word. The lyrics to the other songs are printed in the booklet that comes with the record, but not the lyrics to this song, maybe because it's more spiel than song.

Lyrics:

"I got a story about a dog
I got a story about a dog
This dog is walkin', somebody went wrong
He's mad at me, just to find out who to blame
[... ... ... ... ...] and [...] never changed
Yeah
This dog is walkin' down a hall
Mind, this dog, this is [...]
Think about the bone, about a bone
He's payin' me no mind, and I was yellin' at him
Tryin' to get him to turn his dog tail and head back home, throwing shoes at him
You can't tell a dog that he's in it for a [fog?]
but you don't know what time
It's a bad day for y'all
It is too
So this dog, this hungry dog, he kept walkin', he just don't stop,
... gettin' his dog [paw?] chewed up
We can't teach no dog brand new tricks
And I stood by as my man fell sick
And he got his foot caught and it won't let go
Pup's started yelping '[...] let go'
Painful to see this ain't no cow
But the [chain?] started chewin' anyhow
All the other cows, them just looked the other way
Them sufferin' through just another cow day
Worried about them own [guy? eyes?]
[Sippin?] on down until they die
The dog who stumbled is now struck down
And finished his life hangin' upside down
Gettin' his dog skin all pulled off
And the dog killer cow killer machine house can't get enough
Just can't get enough
[For?] the cow [... ... ...]
But you can't get enough, and the people [start?] chewin'
And you can't get enough
The people at the back door hangin' around, waitin' for the cow meat when our dog come 'round
Hangin' there all naked with his dog skin gone
Hangin' 'round with cows from the other side of town
And the hungry people talkin' then: 'poor, old dog, poor, poor dog'
That's what they talkin'
I heard that somewhere else
'Poor, old dog'
'Shame, shame, shame'"

11. The Varukers: "One struggle one fight" (One Struggle One Fight, 1985)

The Varukers are (!) a punk band from the town of Leamington Spa in central England (near Birmingham), formed in 1979 apparently. This record was recorded in Birmingham, is what the liner notes say, and the released it on their own record label, Liberate Records. Maybe The Varukers were the originators of the well-known slogan "Human liberation [or freedom], animal rights, one struggle one fight". I don't think The Varukers have a song directly about vegetarianism or veganism.

Back cover of the 2010 release on Havoc Records (USA). There's also a 2022 re-release on white vinyl on Radiation Reissues (Italy).

Their statement on fox hunting: "How can anyone consider the killing of an animal as a sport?"

Even though the liner notes say that there is one animal rights side and one human freedom side of the album, only a few songs are about animal rights and they are one both sides.
The Varukers' statement on anthropocentism (speciesism): "Man demonstrating his superiority over animals".

Label on vinyl

From the insert

Lyrics:

Human freedom
Animal rights
It's one struggle
It's one fight
"

12. Conflict: "This is the A.L.F." (The Ungovernable Force, 1986)

Lyrics:

"What does direct action mean?
It means that you are no longer prepared to sit back and allow terrible,
cruel things to happen
The camerman in Ethiopia took direct action
He filmed the worst disaster that has ever happened to human beings
He realised it was too enormous a problem to handle himself

So he took the films home in the hope other people would help
They did
Are you prepared to sit back any longer?
Direct action in animal rights means causing economic damage to those who abuse and make profits from exploitation
START!
It's possible to do things alone
Slash tyres
Glue up locks
Butchers, burger bars, the furriers
Smash windows
Bankrupt the lot
Throw paint over shops and houses
Paint stripper works great on cars
Chewing gum sticks well to fur coats
A seized engine just won't start
Sand in the petrol tank
means that delivery's going nowhere
When the new death shop opens up, make sure you're the first person to be there
If the circus comes to town, remember what goes up must come down
Stop contributing to the abuse
Yourself - don't eat meat, don't buy leather
Buy non-animal tested make up
Herbal soap and shampoo's better
Try and form a group of people that you know that you can trust

And plan ambitious direct action, sometimes risky but a must
Only when you have animal liberation, will we obtain human freedom
When the last vivisectionist's blade is snapped, it will be that one step nearer to peace
Direct action in the animal movement is sussed and strong
And our final goal is not far off
Animal lovers, vandals, hooligans, cranks ...

Recognise the labels?
They say we don't care about human beings
We say: All sentient beings,
animal or human, have the right to live, free from pain, torture and suffering
They say because we are human and speak the same, we matter more
Is our pain and suffering any greater or lesser than that of animals?
Human v. animal rights is as much a prejudice as black v. white or the nazis versus the jews, an affront to our freedom
Vivisection is a violation of human beings
The same as it is for animals
We have a chemical world built on a pile of drugs to thank for their experiments
Drugs are designed for profit, manufactured to suppress symptoms Human freedom,
animal rights,
it's one struggle,
one fight
When animal abuse is stopped, then human abuse will soon stop also
An attitude of mind
"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind"
Start by protecting the weak, the defenceless,
animals,
the sick,
the disabled
Compassion and emotion are our most important safety values
If we lose them, then we lose the vitality of life itself
Emotional?
Hooligans?
Cranks?"

13. Extreme Noise Terror: "Murder" (Radioactive Earslaughter, 1986)

The album "Radioactive Earslaughter" is a split album by Chaos U.K. & Extreme Noise Terror. The cover only says "Extreme Noise" rather than "Extreme Noise Terror" but the back cover has the full band name.

Lyrics:
"450 million animals are murdered every year
To be shoved down your throat and
shat out of your arse
Animals killed for pleasure,
slaughtered at the consumers' leisure
Murdered in your fucking abattoirs
Pneumatic bolt shot deep in the head
Splintering bones and gushing blood
Yet still you support this insanity
Brainwashing adverts on TV cover up the reality
and never show the pain and torture
No longer can the senseless slaughter of millions of innocent animals be justified
In a cruel and uncaring nation of
animal lovers
This barbaric trade of thoughtless
consumerism

must stop now

It is senseless, fucking murder
Here comes the reaper with the death of our scene
This disgraceful way of thought is here and is very real
If it's allowed to thrive, who knows where it will end
People's everyday lives can become a
dangerous nightmare because of the colour of their skin
But poor excuses of nationalist pride to us are wearing thin
The persecution of people who don't fit their mould is constructed out of their xenophobic reactions to innocent men, women and children - who in reality they have no real argument
What's needed is education, not alienation, as racism cuts both ways
But that's not only caused by ignorance on both sides
This could be stopped by people actually using their minds and having more tolerance for others, their cultures and also their ways
of life
Cultures must be united in love, equality and a need for each other, not hatred of the skin colour
So let's discard the systematically imposed conditioning of hate and ignorance and learn respect"

14. Cro-Mags: "Do unto others" (The Age of Quarrel, 1986)

This LP came with this lyric sheet insert (I'm not sure about the CD). On one side there are the lyrics and on the other is this drawing, showing, among other things, the salughter of a cow, a pigs head, a dog fight, etc.

While the "The Age of Quarrel" alibum came out in 1986, there was an earlier inofficial release featuring most of the songs of this album, called "Age of Quarrel". The song "Do unto others" wasn't on this 1985 release yet. But the same drawing was on the cover of the 1985 record:

Lyrics:
"Ain't really got nothing to say
It all comes across in a negative way
You best learn about being humbled
'cause you too will wind up stumbled
Not one bit of substance

in a word they speak
When they get outspoken
it's only with the weak
See these wars are happening
And then you're asking why
But just stop by some slaughterhouse
and hear the animals cry
You missed the point

It's over your head
I guess you'd rather be negative instead
You can't account for these things you've done
I'll bet you think this M.O.I. is fun
Take you down low
and show you some things you've never seen
Riding that borderline
But there ain't no thing called in between
Kick you with some advice

and show you now just what I mean"

Lyrics note: I'm guessing that "M.O.I." here stands for "memorandum of instruction".

Side note: I don't know when John Joseph (aka John Joseph McGowan) became vegan. But he has said (in a 2019 interview) that he first came into contact with the concept in Jamaica in 1980: "[...] I joined the Navy and met some Rastas in Jamaica in 1980. They ended up schooling me on “Ital,” which is a pure vegan diet. It didn’t really resonate with me for a bit, but the seed was planted." [26] The interviewer then asked "Right, so when did you go all the way with it?", and John Joseph replied: "A few months later, I met the Bad Brains at a gig in Norfolk, Virginia. H.R. [the lead singer] took me aside and schooled me on keeping a positive mental attitude and eating a plant-based diet. After my tour in the Navy was over, I came back to New York, and who do I see standing on the corner of Avenue A? H.R. - he’s there with the Beastie Boys.

I started hanging with them, and they got me a job in a health-food store. While I was working there, I started doing research and came to the conclusion that cutting out all the meat, dairy, and processed foods was the right thing to do. It helped me out so much." [26] He also says that ever since he has never gone back to eating animal flesh. And: "It was really a decision that was firstly for the animals. [...] When I started doing this diet and I went on tour [this seems to have been in 1981 [26]] with the Bad Brains, we had to bring all this rice and beans and tahini on the road with us." [26] Another article (from 2019) states: "In 1980, H.R., the lead singer of the seminal punk band Bad Brains, convinced him [John Joseph] to give up eating meat. [...] Since then, Joseph has followed a strict plant-based diet for 39 years [...]. [...]" [27]

Side comment: "Ital" is not always vegan. Different Rastafarians interpret it in different ways. Certainly many Rastafarians are not vegan. As far as I know, HR was only a pescatarian (not vegetarian and surely not vegan) then. As far as I know (I'm quite certain), no one in the Beastie Boys was vegetarian around 1980 or 1981. But this does indicate that John Joseph might have become vegan in 1980 or 1981, althought cutting out meat and dairy, does not necessarily mean vegan.

In an interview from around 1987, Harley Flanagan says that he has "been a vegetarian for close to five years now [i.e., since ~1982]. John has been a vegetarian for seven years [i.e., since ~1980]." [28] In a 2021 interview, Harley Flanagan says that he has "been mostly vegetarian since 1981 or 2" [29] This leaves it unclear whether he was partly non-vegetarian at some point back in time and/or whether he is partly non-vegetarian now. But in the same interview he mentions: "When I was in Rikers [Rikers Island prison], I ate chicken. What was I supposed to do, not eat anything? You do what you gotta do. If I lived in the woods, and I had to kill something to eat it, I fucking would." [29] And in response to the question what his diet is like now (i.e., in 2021), he says: "I usually don’t like to eat in the early part of the day, so I have a shake with protein powder and fruit, oat milk, or almond milk. That holds me off till later. Now it’s so easy to be a vegetarian. You’ve got all these different fake meat products. We didn’t have all that stuff back then. It’s really easy to eat well now. When I was training jiu-jitsu and competing regularly, I did start eating turkey and fish to see if I would feel any increase in strength after a period of high protein intake. But I did not feel any substantial increase in weight, size or strength, endurance, speed, or anything else. So, I went back to the diet I preferred [presumably vegetarian or vegan], and that is what I have stuck with more or less." [29] This again, doesn't give us a clear answer on whether Harley Flanagan is fully vegetarian or vegan now.

Side note 2: John Joseph has also completed ten Ironman triathlons (as of 2019) [26, 27].

15. Youth of Today: "No more" (We're Not In This Alone, 1988)

This song even has a music video. Below you can see the covers of different releases of this album.

Caroline Records (USA), 1988

Funhouse Records (Germany), 1988

We Bite Records (Germany), 1988

Revelation Records (USA), 1997

Lyrics:
"No more

No more

Meat eating, flesh eating, think about it
So callous to this crime we commit
Always stuffing our face with no sympathy
What a callous, hardened society
No More
Just looking out for myself
When the price paid is the life of something else
No More
I won't participate

No more

No more, no more, no more

We've got the power, we've got the might
To take whatever is in sight
Not even worried, it's an unfair fight
Well we've got a heart to tell us what's right

No More
Just looking out for myself
When the price paid is the life of something else
No More

I won't participate

No more

Our numbers doubled in '88

'Cause the people are starting to educate
Themselves, their friends and their families
And we'll have a more conscious, caring society

And are you with me?

Are you with me?

If you're with me, just say: No more!"

16. Cro-Mags: "Death camps" (Best Wishes, 1989)

Lyrics note: This song was written and sung by Harley Flanagan.

Lyrics:

"The organized slaughter of the innocent
Can't you see this is a hellish state we're in
No sympathy in their hearts at all
At the death camps in our midst
Execution without a trial
Think about that for a while
The day they're doomed they're doomed to be killed
So your foul desires can be fulfilled
Execution without a trial

Death camps in our midst
No regard for life at all

Death camps in our midst
Meat hooked conveyor belts line the walls

Death camps in our midst
Don't it remind you of Buchenwald

Death camps in our midst
You don't even see the genocide
I can see you only care for your own hide
And because of the ignorance that clouds your mind
You've left your compassion so far behind
You don't even know what it involves
Because you never see the bloodshed on the walls
Conditioned since childhood, kept you from the truth
They just go on lying and poisoning the youth
It's time to be intelligent and open your mind
Reach within yourself and see what you find
Do you really wanna be responsible
For the brutal slaughter of the animals?"

17. Gorilla Biscuits: "Cats and dogs" (Start Today, 1989)

Lyrics note: The lyrics to this song were written by Walter Schreifels (later Quicksand) but the song is sung by Civ (Anthony Civarelli).

Historian side notes: In a 2019 interview, Civ says: "I've been vegan since the late 80s. I went vegetarian in '86 or '87 [...]." [6] (He was ~17-18 years old in 1986/87 [13].) In the same interview, Civ also says: "My friend Danny Zick [not sure how the last name is spelled] was the first person out of our friends in high school that went vegetarian, and he was the first guy to kinda get into punk rock." [7] And: "But even, like, in [...] '87 [when we] went on tour with Youth of Today, those guys [the guys in Youth of Today*] were still eating, like, fish, and dairy [...]. [...] I was already vegetarian before, like, those people [the guys in Youth of Today]. [...] Like, I was already, you know, quietly indignant because there was like things on tour like 'If it has no eyes, it must die', like eating clams or eating mussels, and I was, like, on my high horse, and I was just like 'Yo, fuck that shit'. That's like my John Joseph [impersonation]: 'Yo! Fuck that shit.' [...] I took it [vegetarianism/veganism] [...] serious from the beginning. I still take it seriously [...]." [8]

In a 2023 interview, Civ says on this 1987 tour, he still ate dairy products but no eggs (and no meat, no fish) [14].

* On this 1987 tour, Youth of Today consisted of Ray Cappo, John Porcelly (aka Porcell), Richie Birkenhead, Walter Schreifels, and Mike Judge. Plus there were two roadies: Civ and "RJ".

In another 2023 interview, Civ says that he was already vegetarian in high school or towards the end of high school and that he worked at a health food store after high school [16]. Earlier in the interview he indicates that he was 17 or 18 years old when he started going to college [17] - so that would be ~1986 (see above). Later on in the interview, Civ says: "I [.] went vegetarian in '86. [...] My uncle Joe was a butcher, my dad was a hunter, and [...] my friend Danny [...], I think, he was vegetarian before me [...]. And I just was like '[...] Why do I kill something to exist?' " [...] And then like the first year I was probably like [..] bagels and pizza and pasta vegetarian. [And] it doesn't matter cause you're like 17, and you can eat anything. You could eat a paper bag and you're fine. [...] Even a falafel is like so exotic. [..] I remember the first seitan with Porcell at the Whole Foods [?] in SoHo. [...] That was probably ... '88 maybe. [...] It sucked to be vegan or vegetarian back then. [...] The first time the vegan thing came in was when I was in ... Europe in '89. I went to ... I was in England [...] and I went to a fur free march, and there was a vegan store [maybe he means stall]. And it had, like, shirts. [...] I wish I still had the shirt. I bought a coffee mug and a shirt. And it just said, it was like sentences that said like 'Animals don't ... , animals don't ... , animals don't ... ', like 'Animals don't drive cars - but they suffer because we do. Animals don't ... they suffer because we do.' And that was the first time I was turned on to the idea of animal agriculture and, like, what cows go through for milk, or like what chickens go through for eggs, [...] factory farming stuff. So I came back [to the US] like 'OK, I'm ready to throw some paint on fur. I'm ready to ... glue some locks. [...] Now I'm not vegetarian for that. Now I'm vegetarian because it's fucked up, not for like 'I don't want to kill stuff' or for health, I want this ... [It's] just fucked up that people are killing animals. And then it escalates and you read some books, [this was] before documentary, before like, you know, Cowspiracy [..]. [...] I remember going on tour with CIV [the band] and shit would be closed ... and being on the bus, I was steaming a head of cauliflower, with salt. All I had was like salt. And I ate that shit. [..] One time with GB [Gorilla Biscuits] [...], with Walter [Schreifels] and Mark Hayworth, we were playing this, like, castle, in like fuckin' Transylvania [...] in like a squat, hadn't eaten in fuckin' days, and we ordered pizza. It was some crazy pizzeria, like in the village, that would deliver, on like a moped, to this squat castle. [...] And they ordered me like a [tomato] sauce and vegetable [pizza] pie. And [...] it showed up and I cracked it open and it was fucking' pepperoni [salami] and cheese. I literally started crying. I took my sneakers off and threw them into the woods. It was raining. In protest. And then while crying I had to walk in my socks through the mud, at night, and try to find my shoes in woods. [...] And those guys, some of those guys were just like 'Just throw the pepperoni on the floor and we'll crush these cheese pizzas. [...]' [...] And then everyone's just like 'Oh man, you're in such a bad mood all the time.' And I'm like 'Yeah, I'm fuckin' miserable, I'm starving.' Fuckin' being vegan sucked." [18] He also says "I don't have to be, like, spouting off about being straight edge, like spouting off about being vegan. I don't talk about it. I don't give fuck. [..] There's a lot of things I don't do that I don't need to talk about." [including being vegan] [19] They then mention the Gorilla Biscuits song "Cats and Dogs" as an "animal rights song" (Toby Morse" and an "informative, smart, compassionate way that wasn't preachy" (Toby Morse), and Civ says: "It was a great avenue to take with it cause it wasn't ... It was just like 'Oh yeah, I wouldn't wann eat my fuckin' cat.' " Apparently (Civ mentions) the song also inspired Tal Ronnen (the "celebrity" vegan chef).

Side note: Civ also says he became straight edge at 17 years old [20].

Lyrics:

"Man's best friend is beautiful,

affectionate, an ideal pet.

Cats are the same, we make up their names,

and our love for them is real.

Listen up, I gotta ask you: How can we be so cruel?

You say you care, that's a lie.

My true compassion is for all living things

and not just the ones who are cute

So I do what I can

I wanna save lives and I've got a plan

Under the table he'll eat your dinner

like the veggies we can't stand

What kind of meal would he make?

We don't want to ask it

Tradition is all that keeps him alive

Listen up, I gotta ask you: How can we be so cruel?

You say you care, that's a lie

My true compassion is for all living things

and not just the ones that are cute
So I do what I can.

I wanna save lives and I've got a plan
Why am I so upset? Don't even own a pet

I'm trying to press my will

I'm not the first to say ...
THOU SHALT NOT KILL
Full is all ... is all you want to feel

We eat to stay alive

but it's their lives we steal

I think we'd like to change

but most of us are stuck

But cats and dogs have
ALL THE LUCK"

18. Conflict: "Slaughter of innocence" (Against All Odds, 1989)

Lyrics:
"The balding man sits compiling his next move
That mortgage hangs around his neck, now feeling like a noose
The new gas bill, oh God, how bad he feels
Those kids he can't reject, his emotional success
He's a man of set opinion; the weight of the world sits in his hands
He just cannot seem to reason, so he will never understand
They just won't listen to hardly anything I say
They simply smile politely, then with one accord turn away
A son stands at the pond observing the creation that is nature
Mother prepares dinner, roasting bacon taints the air
Dog sits as master barks, then leaps lovingly into the car
He waves and smiles emotionally, his assurance that they will go far
The stakes rise as each owner unfolds plans; men tempt and bait each other; money exchanges hands
Animal love now snarling hatred, muzzle unlocked, hair raised
He smirks from behind the wooden fence and shouts his destitute praise
Teeth tear, blood splashes the face of a young child playing
She cries out in disapproval but daddy's now immune to what she is saying
Driven mad and into frenzy, limbs torn, skin is shorn
Like sex perverts at their peep show, this is the ultimate in porn
Eyes glare, beast and master, animals both, crazed and weary
There can only be one real winner here; the results are now seen clearly
Teeth marks bare where fur once protected, flesh hangs dangling in shreds
Their faces grimace, rejected strips of meat exposed, selected
Bloodstains and saliva splatter the fuel of precious life
Master and servant segregate the ritual sacrifice

Driven mad and into frenzy, limbs torn, skin is shorn
Like sex perverts at their peep show, this is the ultimate in porn
The sacrifice of innocents who obeyed the spoken law
Tired beyond endurance but the spectators cry for more
Death before dishonor, a demand that is so obscene
The men they appraise each other to keep their conscience clean
Laughter hides the guilt they feel at every savage blow
Someone whispers 'cruelty' but they don't want to know
The balding man stands silent as slave fights for life
He thinks of all the good things that he has promised to his wife
She caught a glimpse of God through the windscreen of his car
She tried to rationalise her looks but time don't heal the scars
Some vague association she feels with the loser of the stake
She stares into those sightless eyes; what use for heaven sake?
The TV flickers images of the ideals she once knew
The fresh young girls displaying soap to keep us clean and new
She shrugs and folds her arms as he constructs the wooden box
To hold his faded hope that took the heaviest of knocks
Like pissing in the ocean, their options disappear
As they think about the overheads, they know the taste of fear
Kids to feed and clothing, they must show how much they care
But how to tell the birthday gift is lying dead out there
What should have paid for birthday cards went on the prime cut beef
Now celebrations of their birth make way for tears of grief
Did only what they thought was best to give some sense of pride
To give the kids a place in life and now the dream has died
And how to show his love for her; now she repels his touch
His remaining sense of manhood kicked away just like a crutch
He promised what he couldn't give, the master's ruling word
Urged the beast to glory, but the servant never heard"

19. Insted: "Feel their pain" (We'll Make The Difference EP, 1989)

Insted was a straight edge band from Anaheim, California (USA), who were active from 1986 to 1991. There is also a 2003 cover version of "Feel their pain" by Good Riddance.

Lyrics:
"Please.

Take your place at the table.

You don't give a damn.

The tradition of killing is the downfall of man.

Who set the laws on who lives and who dies.

For human satisfaction the animal fuckin' cries.

Hear my words - feel their pain.

Eating their flesh - you have nothing to gain.

A moral opposition to the murder of animals.

It's my philosophy.

To take life is criminal.

The smiling clown [i.e., Ronald McDonald] for the billions served represents to me bloodshed undeserved.

Hear my words - feel their pain.

Eating their flesh - you have nothing, nothing to gain.

Feel their pain.

Excuses, excuses is what, is what I hear.

For life, for life, it's so, it's so unfair. So unfair. Feel their pain. Please."

From a 2008 interview with Rich Labbate (bassist) and Steve Larson (drummer) of Insted:
"[Interviewer:] You guys in the song "Feel their Pain" talked about vegetarianism and then later on in "One World" there were sort of some environmental undertones. Was that a shared passion within the band or was that more of just Kevin's [the singer, Kevin Hernandez aka Kevinsted] thing?
Rich: It was shared.
Steve: Yeah absolutely it was shared.
Rich: Vegetarianism at the time that we wrote that song was a new thing for everyone for the most part and it's still something that we support to this day. We've never been ones to be super activist about anything but it's something that we believed in for sure.
Steve: Definitely and I think anybody that knows the band (knows) we were never a preachy band. I would almost call us a fringe straight edge band even. Though we were a straight edge band it wasn't really intended that way. I think it evolved into that. It was definitely a belief in our system and everybody was on board with it but it wasn't important to just jam it down people's throats. And the same thing can be said with the whole vegetarian thing. When I think of Insted I think the whole philosophy was sort of "choose for yourself." Live and let live. Let people be who they are. It's ok to be different.
Rich: And with the "One World" thing that was an issue at the time and it's still and issue today. I think both of them are probably even more relevant today than they were back then. I think there's more vegetarians in the world now, there's more people looking at the environment saying, "We'd better slow down or we're going to have nothing left to live on."
Steve: It's a whole lot easier to be a vegetarian now than it was in the 1980s.
[Interviewer:] Did you guys get much heat for taking stands like being a straight edge band and singing songs about vegetarianism?
[...]
Steve: We were conscious enough not to take sides in situations but to your point about controversial issues of the day like straight edge and vegetarianism there was a certain small group of people that wrote us off because we were friends with bands like Uniform Choice and Youth of Today. And then there was a small group of people who thought that we were "ultra posi," too positive or too uplifting for what was going on and that this (punk/hardcore) was not the type of music for this (attitude)." [4]

In an Insted video documentary from 2017, Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion/Epitaph records) recounts the story of how, after Insted had signed to Epitaph, Brett "spray painted" (Insted singer) Kevin Hernandez's brand new car: "One of the first things I wrote on it was 'Eat Meat'", in addition to a big swastika, "Take Drugs", etc. Brett says that Kevin was close to tears - before Brett revealed that it wasn't actually real spray paint and could be easily washed off [5]. To me, the anecdote doesn't just confirm the pacificist character of Kevin and the others in Insted but als what a jock Brett Gurewitz is.

20. Beyond: "Care" (No Longer At Ease, 1989)

Beyond were a hardcore band from New York City. Everyone in this band was (at the time of this record) vegetarian and straight edge. A post by Tom Capone (who was a member of Beyond) on the Revelation Records website from 2020 says: "[...] “Care” was a vegetarian song and about caring for others and animals. [...] Beyond made a conscious decision not to wear Xs even though we were all straight [edge] and vegetarian. [...]" [9] In an interview from 2019, Tom Capone mentions that he is not vegetarian anymore [10].

Lyrics:

"Do what you want and say what you will

but when it's hurting other beings

it becomes no longer a thrill.

Recognizing another's suffering

without feeling sympathy.

Is this the kind of people we ought to be?

What you call free

is what's hurting me

I've picked things up

not to have them thrown back down.

Say that nothing matters.

Well[,] I'll show you how.

Life's not fair.

But that's no reason not to care.

If you can feel it inside

(why deny that it's there[?])

What does it take to make you care[?]

You're so caught up in immediate sensations."

Compilation albums:

Various artists: "The Animals Packet" (1983)

Various artists: "This is the A.L.F." (1989)

More stuff:

1) The Damned: "Torture Me" (Dozen Girls EP, 1982)

Piano and vocals by Captain Sensible, the bassist/guitarist of The Damned.

Lyrics:

"Torture me
I'm just an animal, you see
I'm the slap for your lap
Not upset
You know pets don't really feel
Torture me
Why don't you carve my body up?
Throw me into a pot
Make it hot
And you'll have a lovely meal
Torture me
'cause you're the beauty, I'm the beast
For your feast
Weddings, bar mitzvahs and all
Torture me
Take my skin and eat my flesh
'cause it's fresh
Boil or roast'll be a ball
And if I can suffer more
And if I can suffer more
I'll improve your life for sure
And if I can suffer more
And if I can suffer more
And if I whimper, just ignore me"

2) Antidote "Thou Shalt Not Kill" album (1983)

I don't know very much about this New York Hardcore band. While this album does not seem to contain a song about eating meat, vegetarianism, or animal rights and I don't know of any other pro-vegetarian or pro-animal rights song by Antidote, the title of this album is "Thou shalt not kill" and the only image on the cover is the classic Hare Krishna/Hindu depiction of a man with a cow head slaughtering a frightened cow with a human head.

Side note: In 2024, Vic DiCara remembers the same drawing - man with a cow's head slaughtering a cow with a human head - being on the cover of a zine called "Razor's Edge" in Bleecker Bob's [record store], New York City, a zine that he and Tom Capone [see below] bought [12]. The same drawing was also on a Cro-Mags show flyer from 1989 ... and probably on many other things related to vegetarian New York hardcore bands.

Side note 2: It was Vic DiCara who wrote the Inside Out song "No Spiritual Surrender", including the lyrics. - before he descended into the darkest trenches of Hare Krishna fantasilandia with 108, from which by 2024, he seems to partly have ascended but not surfaced. Side note 3: If I remember right it was also Vic DiCara who, under the Hare Krishna name "V K Das" [Vraja Kishor das] wrote the vegetarian but anti-vegan pamphlet "Vegan and the Vedas" in the 1990s.

3) Captain Sensible & The Missus: "Wot! No Meat?" (Wot! No Meat?, 1985)

Captain Sensible, the bassist/guitarist of The Damned, and his (presumably) wife/girlfriend had a 7 inch "pop" single called "Wot! No Meat?" that included the songs: "Wot! No Meat?" (side A) and "Meat Sandwich" (side B). "Meat Sandwich" is more like a soundscape than a typical song.

Lyrics [I have transcribed these lyrics but couldn't understand every word]:

"What have we made of this world?
[And we wait?] and return it to battle
There's a war going on between man
and the first [piece of?] cattle
The frontline is there in your eyes
[Then do?] all of the things you despise
The hell, you can change it
Who are we to demand others' lives [... ...] to pay our price
'cause the blinkers are there on their eyes
and yet we see so nice
To the man who kills with no need
If he realized [... ...]
Hell yes, you will change it
I'm just [a?] meat crazy
It's just [the?] meat, baby
Wot! No meat?
I'm just [a?] meat crazy
It's just [the?] meat, baby
Wot! No meat?
[To the business?] [withhold?] the [calves?]
And they think they're so healthy
And their ploy is to fatten the calves just to feed all the wealthy
And you wonder why the hell there are wars
When in truth the [...] answers are yours
But of course you can change it
I'm just [a?] meat crazy
It's just [the?] meat, baby
Wot! No meat?
I'm just [a?] meat crazy
It's just [the?] meat, baby
Wot! No meat?
Wot! No meat?
Wot! No meat?
Wot! No meat?
[... ... ... ... ... ...]
Wot! No meat?
[... ... ... ... ... ...]
Wot! No meat?
[... ... ... ... ... ...]
Wot! No meat?
[... ... ... ... ... ...]
Wot! No meat?
[... ... ... ... ... ...]
Wot! No meat?
Wot! No meat?
Wot! No meat?"

4) One Last Wish [1986]:

In the 2014 documentary film about the Washington, D.C., 1980s punk scene, specifically bands associated with Dischord records, you can see a spray-painted "Animal Liberation" banner hanging above the stage that One Last Wish is playing on (in Washington, D.C., in 1986).

See the two images below. The four members of One Last Wish were Guy Picciotto (vocals, guitar), Brendan Canty (drums), Eddie Janney (vocals, bass), and Michael Hampton (guitar, vocals).

[15]

5) Moby [1987]

In a 2020 interview, Moby - who was a part of the New York City punk scence back in the 1980s - recounts that he has been vegetarian since 1983 (when he was 19 years old, he says, but that would have been at some point from September 1984) and vegan since 1987 [21]. Moby played guitar in the band Vatican Commandos, starting in 1983.

6) Soulside: "Trigger" (Trigger, 1988)

The song "Trigger" by the DC punk band Soulside includes the lines "[...] There's a lot to worry about in this world, a lot to stand up for and stand against ... whether it's the cigarette in your hand ... or the death of the animal in demand [...]".

The song "Name in mind" includes the lines "[...] You see food and I see murder. I see blood on your plate. [...]". There is a remastered version of the song from 2014 (the quote is at ~2:17 min).

The band Soulside, on this record, were Bobby Sullivan (vocals), Scott McCloud (guitar), Johnny Temple (bass), and Alexis Fleisig (drums).

7) Roger Miret (Agnostic Front) [1988/89]:

While as of 2024 Roger Miret, the singer of Agnostic Front, is not a vegetarian anymore (as of 2012; see side note below [22]). However, he was a vegetarian in the late 1980s and probably throughout the 1990s (I don't know until when exactly). In his book "My Riot, Agnostic Front, Grit, Guts & Glory", which was published in 2017, he describes how he became a vegetarian in prison. Miret writes: "In 1987, I got busted for transporng drugs and went to prison for 22 months." [23] That is, he must have been released in the 1989 or late 1988. It seems that he already became a vegetarian in prison, even though I'm not 100% sure what he means by vegetarian (he might mean pescetarian or that he was pescetarian first). Miret writes: "[In prison] I could get a loaf of raisin bread for two packs of cigarees. When they had chicken on special holidays, you could get a half-chicken for two packs. I quickly went vegetarian, though. The meat they regularly served was turkey and it was tinted green. I wasn’t gonna eat that shit. I wasn’t vegan; I sll ate dairy and there were people in the kitchen that would make you cheesecake for eight packs of cigarees. I did that a couple times and each time I savored it for two days. At first I was eating a lot of fish cakes, so I got three pieces of fish for a pack.

[...]

Wallkill [prison, i.e., Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, New York state] had a slaughterhouse on the grounds, and they taught prisoners how to butcher animals. That’s where the meat for a lot of the prison system came from. That’s another reason why it’s a good idea to go vegetarian in prison. Guys that have no skills killing animals or making cuts of meat are in charge of providing food for thousands of people. The meat always comes out tough and full of gristle. I never figured out why it was always green. Maybe they treated the meat with so many chemicals to preserve it that it changed color. I never got close enough to anyone who worked in the slaughterhouse to find out." [23]

Side note: in the 2012 interview he says: "PETA is a good thing doing positive stuff. I’m not a vegetarian anymore, but I raised my daughter for 18 years as a vegetarian, till she decided whether to eat meat. I support PETA in their fight against animal cruelty. The people who work there are good hearted. I’ve always said: ‘Why do we test on animals when there are pieces of shit in prison that have raped women and have molested children. Test it on them. What the fuck did the rabbit do to you?’" [22]

Side note 2: In a 2011 interview, Roger Miret replied to the question "How were things different when you got out [of prison]?": "I knew one thing for sure. I started working with PETA [People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals] because of all this stuff. I was fighting dogs [before the arrest, then after] I didn’t want to put any animals in any cages, because I knew what that was like." [24] (text in square brackets appears in the original [24])

Side note 3: In a 2018 interview, Rogert Miret replies to the question "Are you still vegetarian and sober today?": "Hum well (Pauses for a moment before giving a response). I am trying to do the vegan thing again right now, believe it or not. But I slipped out of that lifestyle. There are a bunch of reasons as to „Why ?“. Let’s just say I eat very healthy. Especially now that I’m a family man. Our family tries to eat vegetarian and at least eat consciously. I eat as healthy as possible but I will say that once in a while I enjoy chicken." [25]

8) Concrete Sox [1980s?]:

The punk band Concrete Sox, from Nottingham (England), seem to have been vegans at some point but also seem to have stopped being vegan at some point [30]. I'm adding them here because I heard them being mentioned by Karl Buechner from Earth Crisis in a recent podcast.

1990s:

Also see: vegan and vegetarian hardcore/punk songs from the 1990s.

References:

1) Ox-Fanzine/Joachim Hiller: Ausgabe #91 August/September 2010, Interviews, IAN MACKAYE & DISCHORD RECORDS, https://www.ox-fanzine.de/interview/ian-mackaye-und-dischord-records-3799 (last accessed 21 September 2023)

2) Gabriel Kuhn (ed.): Sober living for the revolution. Hardcore punk, straight edge, and radical politics. Oakland: PM Press, 2010

3) Dennis [Lyxzén] Deep Cuts: Dennis Deep Cuts #29 A Conversation with Brendan Canty from Fugazi, Messthetics and Fake Names, 8 June 2023, https://youtu.be/xXYLAxHcUaE?t=1765 [at ~29:25 min] (last accessed 27 September 2023)

4) Double-Cross, Dedicated to Hardcore [Tim McMahon / Gordo]: Steve and Rich of INSTED, 23 December 2008, https://doublecrosswebzine.blogspot.com/2008/12/steve-and-rich-of-insted.html (last accessed 30 September 2023)

5) Indecision Records (IND59), Larry Ransom (videography), Evan Jacobs (editing), Dave Mandel (additional editing): Insted - Proud Youth: 1986-1991 Documentary, 2017 (or maybe 2016), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO36BnBKzlE&t=1320s [at ~22:00 min] (last accessed 30 September 2023)

6) OG Talk: ANTHONY CIVARELLI, CIV, New York Hardcore:Gorilla Biscuits talks Punk, Vegan Straight Edge & Tattoos, 16 December 2019, https://youtu.be/NafnDCcgoZY?t=173 [at ~2:53 min] (last accessed 1 October 2023)

7) OG Talk: ANTHONY CIVARELLI, CIV, New York Hardcore:Gorilla Biscuits talks Punk, Vegan Straight Edge & Tattoos, 16 December 2019, https://youtu.be/NafnDCcgoZY?t=702 [at ~11:42 min] (last accessed 1 October 2023)

8) OG Talk: ANTHONY CIVARELLI, CIV, New York Hardcore:Gorilla Biscuits talks Punk, Vegan Straight Edge & Tattoos, 16 December 2019, https://youtu.be/NafnDCcgoZY?t=1460 [at ~24:20 min] (last accessed 1 October 2023)

9) Revelation Records: Feedback by TC3 (Tom Capone), 5 June 2020, https://revhq.com/blogs/speak-up/tom-capone (last accessed 25 December 2023)

10) In Effect Hardcore: Europe Bold 2019, [no date or author given], https://www.ineffecthardcore.com/features/archived-features-3/bold/ (last accessed 25 December 2023)

11) The NYHC Chronicles LIVE!: Ep. #246 Dave Dictor (MDC), 26 February 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBl_ooLbg_I&t=4852 [at ~1:20:54 hours and at ~1:15:18 hours] (last accessed 26 March 2024) "Vegan" shirt:

[at ~1:28:45 hours and again at ~1:29:19 hours] (The same photo is also on Dave Dictor's website. On another photo he's wearing an ALF shirt [~2018].)

12) The NYHC Chronicles LIVE!: Ep. #307 Vic DiCara (108/Beyond/Shelter/Inside Out/Burn), 14 February 2024, https://youtu.be/NWtJivS_EkI?t=2131 [at ~35:31 min and at ~38:40 min] (last accessed 27 March 2024)

13) Living Proof New York: CIV Gorilla Biscuits & Roger Gastman. Ep.148-Angel & Z Radio, 19 September 2023, https://youtu.be/jS6Hyc_EkLU?t=1225 [at ~20:25 min] (last accessed 4 May 2024)

14) Living Proof New York: CIV Gorilla Biscuits & Roger Gastman. Ep.148-Angel & Z Radio, 19 September 2023, https://youtu.be/jS6Hyc_EkLU?t=1448 [at ~24:15 min] (last accessed 4 May 2024)

15) Scott Crawford, Jim Saah: Salad Days, New Rose Films, 2014, https://youtu.be/ris-Xfatffw?list=PLX3r9tXaNb2HZ-i7sdb3IcY8KYqgHaL9u&t=588 (at ~9:48 min in part 6 of 8 [I'm unsure at what time this would be but probably around 1:04:23 hrs])

16) Toby Morse One Life One Chance: Episode 236- Civ (tattoo artist/singer- Gorilla Biscuits, CIV), 1 August 2023, https://youtu.be/QozP_owAtlA?t=1482 (at ~24:44 min) (last accessed 7 May 2024)

17) Toby Morse One Life One Chance: Episode 236- Civ (tattoo artist/singer- Gorilla Biscuits, CIV), 1 August 2023, https://youtu.be/QozP_owAtlA?t=378 (at ~6:18 min) (last accessed 7 May 2024)

18) Toby Morse One Life One Chance: Episode 236- Civ (tattoo artist/singer- Gorilla Biscuits, CIV), 1 August 2023, https://youtu.be/QozP_owAtlA?t=4328 (at ~1:12:09 hrs) (last accessed 7 May 2024)

19) oby Morse One Life One Chance: Episode 236- Civ (tattoo artist/singer- Gorilla Biscuits, CIV), 1 August 2023, https://youtu.be/QozP_owAtlA?t=6038 (at ~1:40:38 hrs) (last accessed 7 May 2024)

20) Toby Morse One Life One Chance: Episode 236- Civ (tattoo artist/singer- Gorilla Biscuits, CIV), 1 August 2023, https://youtu.be/QozP_owAtlA?t=5986 (at ~1:39:47 hrs) (last accessed 7 May 2024)

21) Stone Films NYC: The NYHC Chronicles LIVE! Ep. #81 Moby, Streamed live on 29 Nov 2020, https://youtu.be/MoCw-DFiGRw?t=4919 (at ~1:21:59 hrs)

22) Circles on the Water (Skye/Sanderz): Isn’t your mind curious? An interview with Roger Miret of Agnostic Front, posted on 8 November 2012,

https://web.archive.org/web/20130823205031/http://www.circlesonthewater.org/conversations-with/isnt-your-mind-curious-an-interview-with-roger-miret-of-agnostic-front/ (last accessed 27 July 2024)

23) Roger Miret: My riot, Agnostic Front, grit, guts & glory, with Jon Wiederhorn, New York: Lesser Gods (2017)

24) Alternative Press: Exclusive Interview: Agnostic Front's Roger Miret on his hardcore past and future plans, 24 June 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20151110232649/http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/exclusive_interview_roger_miret_agnostic_front (last accessed 27 July 2024)

25) Away From Life (Toeone):
Interview with Roger Miret of AGOSTIC FRONT (Part 2), 6 November 2018, https://www.magazine.awayfromlife.com/interview-with-roger-miret-of-agostic-front-part-2/ (last accessed 27 July 2024)

26) GQ: The Real-Life Diet of John Joseph, the 56-Year-Old Punk Icon Who Hates Meat, by Gabe Conte, 30 May 2019,

https://www.gq.com/story/real-life-diet-john-joseph (last accessed 27 July 2024)

27) Outside: A Plant-Based Diet Fuels This Punk-Rock Ironman, by Graham Averill, 1 September 2019, https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/john-joseph-ironman-plant-based-diet/ (last accessed 27 July 2024)

28) Threatening Society (fanzine): Cro-Mags, [interview with Harley Flanagan; the intervier's name is not given], originally published: Issue #3, circa 1987], https://threateningsociety.com/cro-mags (last accessed 27 July 2024)
Excerpt from the interview:
"[...]

[Interviewer:] How long have you been a vegetarian?
[Harley:] I've been a vegetarian for close to five years now. John has been a vegetarian for seven years. We're all vegetarians to a certain degree. We all watch what we intake.
[Interviewer:] How did you get into it?
[Harley:] I got into it through the idea of wanting to be in better shape. I was starting to exercise. For years I had known that vegetarianism is better for you. So it was strictly a physical thing, for my own health. Then, after I was a vegetarian for a while, I started to realize that the whole idea of killing other living entities just so you could chew on their flesh and eat their blood just isn't very appealing. And besides the fact, it's poison to the body. You can't digest it. Vegetarianism is definitely one of the biggest things I'm trying to push on people - not push on them, I guess expose them to. Because anybody with intelligence, when you put the facts back to back, you'll see the reality that meat eating is completely bad for you. Not only physically, but spiritually and mentally, it just really degrades you.
[...]

[Interviewer:] So would you consider yourself straight-edge?
[Harley:] I'm probably more straight-edge than most people because I'm a vegetarian. I used to crack up when people used to tell me, "Yeah, I'm straight edge. I ain't into all those drugs." And they're munching their Whopper and drinking their Coke, and I'm like, "Yo, you're still putting chemicals in your body. At least to me, straight edge was a much deeper thing than it was back then. Like I said, I don't push anything on anybody. I give them a chance to check things out on their own.
[...]

[Interviewer:] What do you think is the biggest problem in the world?
[Harley:] There's no real knowledge of God. That's one of the biggest problems. There's so many religions, but there are so few that actually understand religion. It says in the Bible, "Thou shall not kill." But I know only one Christian who is a vegetarian. If you're actually following what Christ was teaching, then you're doing REALLY good. I don't cut down any religions, you know, as long as people are actually trying. Eventually they're going to get home because it's a natural process. If you're sincere, ultimately you'll get to where you're going.
[...]

[Interviewer:] What's the Food for Life program and what's your role in it?
[Harley:] The Food for Live program is sponsored by Iscon [International Society for Krishna Consciousness, my comment]. Vegetarian food is prepared and offered to the Supreme Lord. It's distributed worldwide, all over India, all over America. All over the world they have FFL programs for feeding the homeless and feeding whoever is hungry. I used to help run the FFL program in New York because, when I used to live on the streets myself, that was like my only means of eating. I also really admire what they're doing. I respect it, and any way I can help, I always will. I'd rather do something positive with my time than something false.
[...]

[Interviewer:] What do you do in your spare time?
[Harley:] I have no spare time!!! I do tattoos, I play music, I go to the temple. If anyone wants to know anything about our spiritual beliefs, they should try to check out any Hare Krishna temple near them. Or any Iscon [International Society for Krishna Consciousness [comment by Threatening Society]] center. Try to come in contact with devotees. If you want to check out a vegetarian lifestyle, it's a great place to start because they're great cooks and they can teach you a lot about food and they can teach you a lot about spiritual awareness. So, anybody who's interested should really check them out.
[...]" [28]

29) Decibel Magazine: Health Awaits: Cro-Mags’ Harley Flanagan on Being In the Best Shape of His Life at 54, by Cosmo Lee, 7 April 2021, https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2021/04/07/health-awaits-cro-mags-harley-flanagan-on-being-in-the-best-shape-of-his-life-at-54/ (last accessed 27 July 2024)

Excerpt from the interview:

"[,,,]

[Decibel Magazine:] How does it feel to be 54?
[Harley Flanagan:] It feels amazing, because who knew I’d live anywhere near this long. I have to attribute that to having been mostly vegetarian since 1981 or 2. That’s the one thing that’s been really consistent despite all the other ups and downs in my physical and mental states.
If I’d known I’d live this long, I might have done things a little differently. I might have taken a little better care of myself. But honestly, I don’t feel like I’m any worse off. Obviously, I did a lot of drugs and a lot of drinking and a lot of self-abuse. I really think that being mostly vegetarian for all that time countered some of the abuse that I was doing, the toxins I was putting in myself.
But this is just me. I’m not one of these vegan “rah-rah” people. When I was in Rikers [Island [comment by Decibel Magazine]][prison, comment by me], I ate chicken. What was I supposed to do, not eat anything? You do what you gotta do.

If I lived in the woods, and I had to kill something to eat it, I fucking would. There’s nothing immoral about survival. It just becomes immoral when it’s this mass killing machine of animal brutality and mass poisoning of humans. That’s when it’s ugly. I don’t ever hate on anybody who hunts and eats what they kill.
[Decibel Magazine:] How did you become a vegetarian?
[Harley Flanagan:] It was really more about health reasons. I just started thinking about what I was putting into my body. I was looking around at the people around me—not just on the [music [comment by Decibel Magazine]] scene, but society in general—looking at the relation between what they’re consuming, and not just what they look like, but how they’re behaving. You can sort of see a direct connection from one to the other.
What happened with the whole Hare Krishna thing was that I was homeless, living in squats and stuff. The Hare Krishnas were serving free food all the time. The Seventh-day Adventists were another religious group that serves vegetarian food. I was taking advantage of all those places, because most of the food programs and homeless shelters served meat.
[Decibel Magazine:] In your book, you mention Whole Foods as an example of the gentrification of New York.
[Harley Flanagan:] It’s not so much that I’m against the store. I actually don’t mind the store. There’s not very much left that isn’t Whole Foods or Starbucks or Planet Fitness.
[Decibel Magazine:] If someone wants to eat healthy and they don’t want to go to Whole Foods, what would you suggest?
[Harley Flanagan:] I’m not saying, don’t go there. I’m very lucky. In my neighborhood, there are a lot of vegetable stands and fruit stands. I live in a very Dominican neighborhood, and for whatever reason, they love their fresh vegetables and their fresh fruit. I guess it’s an island thing.
I used to love drinking soda. I stopped doing that a long time ago. I just try to make sure that I don’t get a lot of sugar in my diet. Honestly, that’s more for political reasons than for health reasons. I just think that the sugar industry is really fucked up. Same reason I don’t buy anything that’s Coca-Cola products or Nestlé products. I know ultimately that no matter what you eat, somebody’s getting fucked. It’s impossible to not leave a footprint. But we do our best in this house.
[Decibel Magazine:] What’s your diet like these days?
[Harley Flanagan:] I usually don’t like to eat in the early part of the day, so I have a shake with protein powder and fruit, oat milk, or almond milk. That holds me off till later.
Now it’s so easy to be a vegetarian. You’ve got all these different fake meat products. We didn’t have all that stuff back then. It’s really easy to eat well now. When I was training jiu-jitsu and competing regularly, I did start eating turkey and fish to see if I would feel any increase in strength after a period of high protein intake. But I did not feel any substantial increase in weight, size or strength, endurance, speed, or anything else. So, I went back to the diet I preferred, and that is what I have stuck with more or less.
My wife is a great cook, so I’m really lucky. My average food might be pasta, grains, vegetables, salads, or any number of the things you will find in the upcoming cookbook by Laura Lee Flanagan, Hardcore Vegetarian: Feeding Harley Flanagan. With that book and a good exercise program, you should have no problem getting or staying in great shape.

[...]" [29]

30) Ox Fanzine: Concrete Sox, Britische Crust-Punk-Vorreiter reunited [in German], by Guntran Pintgen, issue 108 (June/July 2013), https://www.ox-fanzine.de/interview/concrete-sox-4647 (last accessed 27 July 2024)

31) DIY Conspiracy: Anti-System: We Came to Tell the Establishment to Fuck Off Again! Anarcho-punk veterans Anti-System are back and they have things to say, by Mittens XVX, 17 January 2018, https://diyconspiracy.net/anti-system-interview/ (last accessed 24 August 2024)

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Top 20 vegetarian/animal rights hardcore/punk songs from the 1980s

1. Flux of Pink Indians: "Sick butchers" (Neu Smell EP, 1981)

2. MDC: "Corporate deathburger" (Millions of Dead Cops, 1982)

3. Flux of Pink Indians: "Myxomatosis" (Strive To Survive Causing Least Suffering Possible, 1982)

4. Learned Helplessness: "Vegis" (The Master Tape compilation, 1982)

5. Subhumans: "Evolution" (Evolution EP, 1983)

6. Conflict: "Meat means murder" (It's Time To See Who's Who, 1983)

7. Conflict: "Whichever way you want it" (To A Nation Of Animal Lovers EP, 1983)

8. Anti-System: "Animal welfare" (Defence Of The Realm EP, 1983)

9. MDC: "Chicken squawk" (Millions Of Dead Children EP, 1984)

10. Beefeater: "A dog day" (Play For Lovers, 1985)

11. The Varukers: "One struggle one fight" (One Struggle One Fight, 1985)

12. Conflict: "This is the A.L.F." (The Ungovernable Force, 1986)

13. Extreme Noise Terror: "Murder" (Radioactive Earslaughter, 1986)

14. Cro-Mags: "Do unto others" (The Age of Quarrel, 1986)

15. Youth of Today: "No more" (We're Not In This Alone, 1988)

16. Cro-Mags: "Death camps" (Best Wishes, 1989)

17. Gorilla Biscuits: "Cats and dogs" (Start Today, 1989)

18. Conflict: "Slaughter of innocence" (Against All Odds, 1989)

19. Insted: "Feel their pain" (We'll Make The Difference EP, 1989)

20. Beyond: "Care" (No Longer At Ease, 1989)

Compilation albums:

More stuff:

1) The Damned: "Torture Me" (Dozen Girls EP, 1982)

2) Antidote "Thou Shalt Not Kill" album (1983)

3) Captain Sensible & The Missus: "Wot! No Meat?" (Wot! No Meat?, 1985)

4) One Last Wish [1986]:

5) Moby [1987]

6) Soulside: "Trigger" (Trigger, 1988)

7) Roger Miret (Agnostic Front) [1988/89]:

8) Concrete Sox [1980s?]:

1990s:

References: