“Hate The Police” by Mudhoney
One of the legends behind “Hate the Police” was it being inspired by the death of Joe Campos Torres, or more specifically his murder. Torres, who was a Mexican-American veteran, was beaten to death at the age of 23 by a group of Houston Police officers in 1977.
Police Brutality
Now circa the 2020s, police brutality in America is a hot topic that has even been acknowledged by the mainstream. Rappers are also known to expound on this topic regularly, even dating back to the early days of hip-hop. But as for “Hate the Police”, it originally came out back in 1980, even before the advent of rap music per se. That may explain why the vocalist, at least for the most part, takes an indirect approach to the matter at hand. But either way, this is a pretty-creative take on the topic of abuse at the hands of police.
And that’s because with the actual verses, the vocalist himself takes on the role of a policeman. In the defense of law enforcement, those of us who are or have lived in America know that not all police are unjustifiable violent, but many of them are. And it is one of such individuals whom Mark Arm is portraying.
Readers from other parts of the world would likely attest to the reality that there are abusive police everywhere. But the reason we know this particular narrative is set in the United States is because said character utilizes the terms “ni-g-rs and Mexicans”, which is racist terminology pointing to minorities in America.
Pure Racism
As widely known, it is the likes of Blacks and Latinos who have a higher chance of being victimized by law enforcement. In other words, the character the vocalist is portraying is a racist policeman who appears to take a particular pride in abusing non-White people.
And it isn’t such that the vocalist is publicly bragging about this per se. Instead the addressee of the first (and last) verse is his mother, and the person he is speaking to in the second is his dad. In the first, he alludes to being a changed man now that he “got a gun”, or let’s more specifically say having been granted the license to kill as a police officer. So as presented, it would even behoove his own mom not to rub him the wrong way when he’s “had a bad day”.
In the second verse, the vocalist is obviously under the impression that his dad should be “proud” that his son “got himself a good job killing ni–ers and Mexicans”. So the implication here is along the lines of this character perhaps having been raised in a racist household.
Overall, the message being put forth is that this cop is very dangerous, especially if he finds himself in a confrontation with someone like the aforementioned Joe Campos, who isn’t White.
Chorus of “Hate the Police”
The chorus takes us in a different direction and basically features Mudhoney threatening the police. Or rather it revolves around the notion, as apparently espoused by the selfsame policeman in the second verse, that no one escapes from justice.
So the idea being put forth is that since police brutality is also a crime, then its perpetrators will eventually face appropriate justice also, even if not at the hands of the system proper. Or at least Mudhoney is idealizing or fantasizing about such a possibility.
In Conclusion
In closing, it should also be noted that this band (as well as the writers of this song) are Caucasians themselves. So this piece is a clear illustration of the world not being as black and white as some people would like to believe. In other words, there are also many White Americans who are perturbed by how the police tend to mistreat minorities, even well before Black Lives Matter and that type of stuff.
And ultimately that’s what this song can be taken as, i.e. a White version of N.W.A.’s “F*ck the Police”, if you will.
When was “Hate the Police” released?
“Hate the Police” was originally dropped in 1980 by a since-defunct crew from Texas known as The Dicks. It was the following members of that band that wrote the song:
- Gary Floyd
- Buxf Parrott
- Pat Deason
Meanwhile, Mudhoney is a late 1980s’ rock band from Seattle. Their rendition of “Hate the Police” came out as part of their debut album, an EP titled “Superfuzz Bigmuff”, which Sub Pop made public during October of 1988.
Sub Pop is considered to be the label primarily responsible for the late 20th century grunge movement. The label also supported the early goings of other Seattle-based acts such as Nirvana and Soundgarden in that regard. And it is one of their most-prominent employees, Jack Endino, who produced this track.
Mudhoney Members on “Hate the Police”
Having formed in 1988, Mudhoney is still active to this day. Vocalist Mark Arm, guitarist Steve Turner and drummer Dan Peters, who participated on the recording on “Hate the Police”. The trio remained members of the act into the 2020s. And back then they were joined by bassist Matt Lukin, who left the group in 2001.
