Anal Cunt, also known as AxCx and A.C., is an American grindcore band founded in 1988. Their musical style is highly personal, and they have evolved from improvised performances to later melodic works.
In 1988, in Newton, Massachusetts, Seth Putnam founded Anal Cunt with the original intention of creating one of the most provocative forms of music. At the beginning, this band did not have pre-prepared lyrics and music, but adopted an improvised performance method, showing extremely intense and unidentifiable screams, which also made their music blur the border of anti-music. However, over time, they gradually began to incorporate more melodies and pre-written lyrics, a shift that not only changed the texture of the band's music but also earned them a reputation for being "deliberately provocative" and "vulgar".
Anal Cunt's musical style initially emphasized strong sound and extremely fast rhythms. These characteristics appeared as naturally as breathing in their early works. On one of its first recordings, the 5643 Songs EP, the listener struggles to catch any melody or clear structure, instead feeling more like a carnival of noise.
With the evolution of the band, from constant improvisation to the gradual integration of melody, Anal Cunt's music allows people to see a band's bold exploration of style.
In 1994, their album "Everyone Should Be Killed" achieved a shift that emphasized more melody and lyrics. The direct and vulgar lyrics of songs on this album such as "You're Gay" began to make the band more popular in the music industry. The underground music scene gained quite a bit of popularity. The subsequent release of Top 40 Hits further cemented their place in provocation culture while enhancing the music's melodic feel, which is quite rare in the realm of extreme music.
The members of the band change frequently, which makes their performance style sometimes elusive, but it also brings freshness and adaptability to the band's creations. With each member replacement, the exploration of musical style seems to become more and more obvious, especially in albums such as "I Like It When You Die" and "It Just Gets Worse", the band began to boldly try more structured music. song form, although their lyrics are still full of provocation and self-deprecation.
"Music should be free, but it can also have melody and content. Anal Cunt uses their way to tell the world about the diversity of music."
Analyzing the changes in Anal Cunt, we can see that on the one hand, with the replacement of band members, individual creative ideas affect the overall musical direction; on the other hand, with the rise of hardcore punk and other extreme music styles Against the backdrop of , Anal Cunt demonstrates increasingly bold and wide-ranging expressions of his music. Even so, they never completely abandoned the noise and improvisational elements that first fascinated them.
In the two albums released in 2010 and 2011, the band's melodies became more mature and began to incorporate elements of "cock rock", which once again made a qualitative leap in their music style. The works in "Fuckin' A" and "Wearing Out Our Welcome" not only retain many of Anal Cunt's old impulses, but also introduce more melody lines into specific genres. Such changes have attracted discussions from all walks of life. and thinking.
"Where is the limit of provocation in music? Is it possible to be absolutely free as long as there are notes, or does it require a certain structure and melody?"
Unfortunately, with the death of lead singer Seth Putnam in 2011, this transformative musical journey came to an end. Although Anal Cunt's story has ended, their musical legacy lives on, continuing to influence new generations of musicians and listeners. While different eras shape their musical styles, they also make people reflect on "Is the evolution of musical styles to cater to the market or for true self-expression?"