No Guts...No Glory
1983 | Rock
“How many times must good men die? -- How many times will the children cry? -- 'Til they suffer no more sadness, oh, stop the madness.”
Trivia
- No Guts...No Glory hit #59 on the Billboard 200.
- The cover photo was reportedly shot at Six Gun Territory, in Silver Springs, Florida, A long defunct theme park.
- The album No Guts...No Glory featured a return of original vocalist Danny Joe Brown. (How you know they're southern? 3 names.)
THE HOT TAKES
Luke Tatum
Yes, yes, I know this song is about JFK and John Lennon. The question I want to focus on is the same one that Molly Hatchet is asking: "How many times must good men die?" I have no illusions about the nobility of John F. Kennedy, but there are so many good men and women out there. So many freedom loving people, learning and teaching and building for tomorrow. Politicians do not deserve epic progressive rock tributes like this. Talk about a shameful mismatch between purpose and message! But people--productive people--do deserve it. Peacemakers are people who contribute to society, which is to say they interact nonviolently in the thriving and beautiful market economy. They sell their talents, services, goods, and so forth to others who are willing to pay, whether in cash or in kind. And yet, we have a society that wants to idolize politicians and demonize capitalism. If I'm properly understanding rock as rebellion, then that's worth rocking about, man.
Sherry Voluntary
While I like this song, (I think it’s in my social contract as a Southerner to like Molly Hatchet) I find it ironic that of the two “peacemakers” in the song, one was a politician. Not only was the Cuban Missile Crisis an aggression in the name of anti-communism, JFK was still a part of the system of violence that forces taxation and other ills on people. I’m not trying to pick on Molly Hatchet, they like most people, probably had never been exposed to the idea that violence doesn’t become magical because you rename it government. While Kennedy tried to do some things that I would consider good, overall he was a ruler and legitimized his family through politics. A family that needed to be legitimized because his bootlegging father had profited from the prohibitions that The State had against alcohol. It’s a real American fairy tale. It begins in regular people trying to make their way in the world, progresses respectability through political power, and ends in blood.
Nicky P
I'm not a fan of either man in this song...I am a fan of molly hatchet though. I'm also a fan of 8 minute songs with rippin guitar solos...guitar harmonies too. I'm not saying I'm gonna gloss over some terrible history for a bunch of solid guitar work...maybe. I'm gonna take another tack on this one. Let's put on our conspiratorial hats. Both of my cohorts covered the...fallibility of this songs tributes but I think that only makes the message stronger. I'm not gonna ask you suspend your disdain for these men because they were imperfect. That means little to me. What I want you to focus on is that peace is so unpopular a message to some people you can catch bullet poisoning despite otherwise being a statist shill. Putting those two names together really exemplifies the lengths warmongers will go to for even simple lip-service. I'm sure i'm off on conspiracy island but some things package up too neatly and I'm conveniently from a different era. When you listen to the song why not add in MLK too? See what picture starts emerging.