Matewan Massacre & Battle of Blair Mountain / Byzantine

[Gamespider10567]

damn fine video surprised by all the hate shown by 4freespeech, stashkingjunior, and tarheel1217 these close minded people are the ones that make all of us look bad 

[vudu8ball]

The history of struggle between the corporations and workers has been suppressed in this country. The rich and the corporations have never given a damn about the people they employ. Put any kind of music behind it you want. If it will get kids to watch it bravo!. It kills me when poor people and workers defend the rich and oppose efforts to bring social justice.  Makes sick.

[dixieunited]

@bullawaya

you gotta go with real mountain music not man of constant sorrow...

you need something like dont come out of the hole, swing that hammer, or daddys dinner bucket.

[dixieunited]

@bullawaya

you have to be kidding me bubba. the devils music? rele?

have you never heard of christian metal? im a hardcore protestant and i love country, bluegrass and metal.

[fireofenergy]

This is that something cleaner...

oil storm solar

[joshramsey]

I love this video, I love this band. It's great when I see heavy metal being used for educating others

[fireofenergy]

Learned about this JUST today because i read about the anti mountaintop removal... So yes, this is a good video that has real history that should be told. It should appeal to all Americans

Coal was the energy basis, it should not have been controlled by thugs. Now, we ought to replace it outright with something cleaner.

[gonzoroot]

I use this video in a course on terrorism/counterterrorism in a section on "Political Violence in the Labor Movement." It always surprises students from the region that they've not heard of these events in their history courses or elsewhere.

[rngrchad]

Interesting video. I have spent some time Matewan area's mountains and it is always neat being able to put some story and meaning to what that lies beneath those mine shafts and mountain tops amongst the surrounding land.

[Craggse]

Very interesting story - but what a racket, you're not going to appeal to anthing more than dissafected teenagers with that so-called music.

[JonahTorn]

@Craggse That would be a good thing if you want those teenagers to learn this history. Or you can take the "You kids stay off my lawn!" approach.

[hillbillyproud]

Hadn't watched this video for a while. After watching it again it is one of the ones I am I am most proud that we have made. Some teachers use this in schools to get kids interested in their history. That is humbling.

Keith

[1canyonguy]

The "Union" of man?

[oeyamatsuna78]

Gonna miss Byzantine. Thanks for posting this.

[nicklawrence1]

I love this video so much! My history teacher showed this to my school!

[coletrainwvu]

The music really fit the subject well. The subject is about rebellion and standing up for rights, it's not only a history lesson. To throw in a classic bluegrass soundtrack would be to say that "this is all history and no longer important in today's world", to throw in metal and something more current is to say, "these people stood for a valid cause and this is what it takes sometimes to push important issues, whether it be yesterday, today or tomorrow"

great job on the video guys.

[Cory4474]

why cant i see matewan movie on the youtube? can you put it on?

[JonahTorn]

@Cory4474 There are bits and pieces on youtube.

[LT1HILLINGHOE]

Music could have been better....instead of a battle it sounded like music to a drug head fest.

[bdonikian]

Great Video! as a 52 yr old Am History teacher, whatever drives the point home to my kids is fine....In a way, the "hardness of the music" can be interpreted as the way they felt as a people during that time. We need more videos to appeal to our kids, so we can TEACH THEM! Thinking that you have to play bluegrass and harmonica is great for you and me (I agree, the music is not my "cup of tea"), but the kids need to learn the principles of what we are trying to get them to know....

[WVAK47]

I like it.

[vrghiks]

What's al that stupid screeming in the

background?

[4freespeech]

What's with this horrible JUNK noise to go

with a video about WV history?

The period music was mountain bluegrass-

banjo, dobro & harmonica. The NOISE is

an offense to the ears and numbing to

the mind. Proof that people now have

been brain-damaged so they enjoy "music"

which sounds like a toothache FEELS.

[kathymardis]

@4freespeech nice response given that your username is 4freespeech... only your version i guess

[oeyamatsuna78]

@4freespeech

"The period music was mountain bluegrass-

banjo, dobro & harmonica"

...all of which sounded like "junk" to those that were old and out-of-touch.

[Gamespider10567]

@4freespeech your username is 4freespeech well it's not a fitting name for one who would so willing insutl someone's expression of freedom of speech if you listen to the song and the lyrics it's 100% about the mine wars the guys that made this song are from Logan County it doesn't have to be period music the song is informational about the actual event so maybe you should think for a damn second about what you're saying before you say it

[kristinbrodeur]

My English teacher showed me this and this is awesome! The song is phenomenal and the pictures give it so much power! God bless the miners. I want to thank them all for their contribution to our nation.

[dadswizz]

as an x militant & miner here in the UK i find this stuff fascinating, some of the facts we have been taught here in the UK are different to the actual accounts, long live the memory of them men who thought for the right s you have today ! i'm still a member of the N.U.M. even though we have no pits left here, the government shut them so it could import coal from Poland and Germany which was subsidized by their governments to undercut our coal.. no more jobs, no more community's, no more future

[byan70]

HOME SWEET HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cnychu]

Excellent, excellent job! Unfortunately most Americans no nothing of this story. Let's hope that changes. Thanks for posting. Love the music too!

[stashkingjunior]

ha ha...hillbilly's indeed! wat they represent a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the american population now? ha haha haha ha!!!!

[Gamespider10567]

@stashkingjunior i'd love to see you come here and say that you wouldn't make it out of here nearly everyone has an ancestor would fought in the Mine Wars and i'll be damned if some ignorant jackass like you is going to belittle the entire heritage of an area that made national history for rebelling against all of you damn CEOs from New York, London, and Chicago hell all of the other labor movement don't have shit on us we actually fought against exploitation all of you other pussies took it

[RiverBirch1967]

We all take for granted what we live on for energy and we need to honor these men and women.

[darrellmellissa]

The feds are coming..

[memberunderground]

Excellent editing job, and the message was spot on. The music was a modern day translation of the desperation and rage from Boone, Mingo and Logan county miners (where I am from). A good resource to get the complete picture is "Thunder in the Mountains" by Lon Savage. Matewan is a great movie, but the book fills in much of the info lost in the movie. Again, from a proud Redneck from a family who fought with the miners, Kudos and Respects!

[stripes154]

byzantine fucking owns !!! logan county !!

[tarheel1217]

is it really respecting the memory of this even with a slideshow and some idiot screaming horribly to bad music i worked these mines i find it insulting and shows complete ignorance

[hillbillyproud]

Sorry you feel that way. Not sure why you think it shows complete ignorance. The goal is to make the history of our state interesting to kids who otherwise wouldn't watch the History Channel or PBS. So many have told us that they had never heard of these events and have been thankful that we took the time to make a video about it. We are also thankful for a metal band such as Byzantine that records music about their history instead of lyrics about nonsense or evil. We salute your hard work.

[Mindcrime68]

I also worked these mines. I worked on Blair Mountain for 10 years . My grandfather was in this very battle. To say this is disrespectful because you dont like this style of music is ridiculous and shallow. I for one swelled with pride when I came across this. Good Job Byzantine. Keep up the good work. We could use a few more mountaineers who are proud of what they are.

[twatson04]

I also was very proud to have had family in the war on blair mountain and working with coal mines myself do believe that if it was even opera music it would make any miner or miners family proud simply because we're being shown a little bit of respect

[XanltheCSG]

@tarheel1217

I don't even know where this is and I already agree with you.

[Gamespider10567]

@tarheel1217 it's called expression believe it or not these "idiots" that make this "bad music" are part of a genre of music that expresses a political ideologies that other wise would not be expressed by any other musical genre these "idiots" play this "bad music" that no one else has the skill or ability to play and express an intelligent ideology and pay homage to their heritage and it's a damn shame that you'd let your personal preferences as to how they should sound get in the way of that

[siewen1]

that's true. But even if they do stay out, the president will still continue to let the coal mines ruin our great state. i mean really, blast mining? come on!

[fartsmachine]

MONTANI SEMPER LIBERI!

[gilligan369]

Great piece! People want to knock WV as ignorant hillbillies, wonder if they realize our fathers gave them their freedom? There are more medals awarded to WV soldiers than all other states..combined!

[cathead77]

Thank you for posting this. I do the music for a play in McDowell County, WV called Terror of the Tug written by Jean Battlo. The play is based on the coal wars of southern WV. We, the cast, did reenactment scenes of this very event for The History Channel, and it aired last fall. It was called Hillbilly....The Real Story. Thanks again for the post.

[gncc1]

cool video

[siewen1]

eh nobody cares bout us hillbillie unfortunately. But Fuck them they are just mad cuz they suck

[gilligan369]

be glad they don't care, maybe they'll stay out of WV!