What exactly makes a metal musician a "scab"?

People are calling Simon Wright a "scab" simply because he is playing in Tate's band now?

He can easily outplay 95% of all metal/hard rock drummers who ever picked up sticks.

Most bands would be fortunate to have someone like him in their ranks.

i have no idea - I dont really understand what makes someone 'metal' or not.

I'd be happy to explain it to you.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I'd be happy to explain it to you.

and i would probably disagree

Hmmm, not sure, as "scab" is a VD where I come from....

I'd wager that the term is used similar to how it's used when any "worker" crosses a picket line of striking union members and goes to work in their stead. I understand that QR isn't a "union" to an extent, but in some eyes one version is valid and the other not. Thus somebody playing in the others stead. This theory wouldn't hold water in court or anything and even in the example I gave, a "scab" could do better work than any of the union members he crossed the line to go towork and still be a scab in thier opinion.

I think the Scabryche quip is funny, but silly as well.

So scabs = people that make their own decisions and don't let the herd decide for them?

Sounds like one of the highest compliments one can receive.

According to wikipedia :


A strikebreaker (sometimes derogatorily called a scab or a blackleg) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired after or during the strike to keep the organization running. "Strikebreakers" may also refer to workers (union members or not) who cross picket lines to work.

Strikebreakers are employed worldwide, often occurring wherever workers go on strike or engage in related actions. However, strikebreakers are used far more frequently in the United States than in any other industrialized country.[1] The Mohawk Valley formula calls for the use of strikebreakers when dealing with striking employees.


I'm not sure how that term even applies to Wright or anyone else in the band, because like James said,it is rather silly.

Temple of Blood wrote:

So scabs = people that make their own decisions and don't let the herd decide for them?

Sounds like one of the highest compliments one can receive.

I can't for the life of me figure out how you got that from my response to your question ? I was trying to ad lib the dictionary definition that 007 last posted. Seems I missed the mark ?

Wright went on to play for a guy who is responsible for breaking up another band.

Let's say you have a successful band and suddenly a band member leaves/gets fired. The next day that band member decides to take your band's name for himself and makes another band using the same name. The musicians he manages to get for his band could be considered "scabs". They are in some way replacing the original members without legal right to do so (and they are probably working under worse conditions), considering the original members are still continuing under the same band name.

And as it's generally considerered that metal musicians are one big family, it's basically a case where your friend is having a salary issue/strike with his employer, and you decide to phone his boss and say you're available to do his work for less money. That makes you an ass. And a scab.

So I'm guessing that means Todd LaTorre is a scab vocalist as well...since nothing has been legally decided yet on either side.

S.D. wrote:

So I'm guessing that means Todd LaTorre is a scab vocalist as well...since nothing has been legally decided yet on either side.

makes sense to me.....context is everything

you gotta pay the bills somehow, who gives a crap what anyone else thinks.

I can't see that Simon Wright is a scab, it's a well used term in the U.K, particularly in the Eighties when Unions were still very strong, if anything, there's an argument that Le Torre IS a scab because QR fired Tate and replaced him in Tate's job while a dispute was ongoing, something that Tate feels the band have no right to do. Simon Wright has merely joined Anton's new cult (I mean Tate's new band ), something that Tate always going to form as he is a musician Wright probably doesn't care what it's called so long as he gets paid.

It's impossible to really say that the term applies though as you are talking about partners in a business rather than an employer/employee relationship, and it's a whole different set of rules.

S.D. wrote:

So I'm guessing that means Todd LaTorre is a scab vocalist as well...since nothing has been legally decided yet on either side.

For sure the same applies to him.

Obviously all these people just want to make ends meet, but they cannot be completely oblivious to all the hoopla surrounding their new "jobs". Replacing someone while that someone is unwilling to be replaced is a tough spot to be in. There's a good chance you make enemies that way. Another person could have turned that job offer down: "you work out your issues with the band and the name, and if there is still a job available after it's all settled, I'm in".

Nothing makes a musician metal or otherwise a scab. I may prefer David Lee Roth over Sammy Hagar, but that does not mean Hagar is a scab, if Hagar had said no, they would moved on to someone else, not simply beg for DLR's forgiveness and beg him to come back.

So the term scab escapes me as far its meaning when it comes to metal artist

manny wrote:

Nothing makes a musician metal or otherwise a scab. I may prefer David Lee Roth over Sammy Hagar, but that does not mean Hagar is a scab, if Hagar had said no, they would moved on to someone else, not simply beg for DLR's forgiveness and beg him to come back.

So the term scab escapes me as far its meaning when it comes to metal artist

I agree - In a genre where people come and go from bands, its really difficult to define 'scab'.

My guess is it's a musician who kind of hops from band to band.

manny wrote:

Nothing makes a musician metal or otherwise a scab. I may prefer David Lee Roth over Sammy Hagar, but that does not mean Hagar is a scab, if Hagar had said no, they would moved on to someone else, not simply beg for DLR's forgiveness and beg him to come back.

So the term scab escapes me as far its meaning when it comes to metal artist

Agreed!

nevermore wrote:

My guess is it's a musician who kind of hops from band to band.

Just like to Ripper Owens

Gilbert wrote:

nevermore wrote:

My guess is it's a musician who kind of hops from band to band.

Just like to Ripper Owens

or Tommy Aldridge...

Given the controversy and legal dispute the band is involved into, I think scab is fitting, albeit a bit offensive way to describe anyone willing to join Tateryche's line-up.

jettafiend wrote:

Gilbert wrote:

nevermore wrote:

My guess is it's a musician who kind of hops from band to band.

Just like to Ripper Owens

or Tommy Aldridge...

I wouldn't equate neither to this term only cause they are not in bands with ownership of a name in legal termoil.

The term scab is more about an employee breaking solidarity with his fellow workers and helping the employer to screw other workers over, it's a very serious term and doesn't mean someone who moves employers on a regular basis.

The only musicians that I can think of that possibly fit this description are Rob Trujillo and Mike Bordin when they helped their employer's attempts to erase other musicians work from history because they dared to ask for payment for their contributions. If I had been asked to do this, I would have refused point blank out of respect to the guys who made such a huge contribution to those records, but they didn't, they did whatever Sharon told them.

I heard a rumor that Metallica had gotten Trujillo to replace all of Jason's bass lines on 'And Justice for All' but no-one noticed because you still can't sodding hear them!

kmorg wrote:

Hmmm, not sure, as "scab" is a VD where I come from....

Its pretty much a VD no matter where you come from I think.