Atheist Rock by The Vendettas

The songwriter says "...although the song pokes fun at both Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her detractors, it was written from the point of view of an irreverent twenty-something who had not been out in the world much. Now that I look back, I can see just how important her work was, and I have the utmost respect for what she did and the dignity with which she worked and lived her life in the face of being 'the most hated woman in America.' RIP, Madalyn."

The Vendettas were part of the 2nd wave of punk bands to thrive in the fertile Austin TX music scene, its alternative nexus being the famous Raul's club. They cut this single, with music and lyrics by lead singer Alan Frank, as a tongue-in-cheek tribute to (then-living) local pariah Madalyn Murray O'Hair. At one point O'Hair sent a representative to one of The Vendettas' gigs to suggest a collaboration: a plan was hatched to do a punk benefit for the American Atheist Center, with The Vendettas as headliners. It was to have been video-recorded, and every band on the Austin punk circuit wanted in. Eventually, other advisors convinced O'Hair that aligning herself with as radical a movement as the punk music scene was not to her benefit, and the whole thing fell apart. And then, for many reasons, so did The Vendettas.

Rockabilly at its heart, Atheist Rock stands the test of time. The New Wave-ish B-side, All About My Love, sounds a bit more dated now. Written by three of the band members, Alan Frank says it's the only set of lyrics he ever wrote with a thesaurus by his side.

Music & Lyrics © Alan Goldin

[to see authentic posters from the early days of The Vendettas, go to: http://www.gigposters.com/band/6914_Vendettas.html]

Category:

Music

Tags:

• rockabilly
• punkabilly
• Austin TX
• Vendettas
• Madalyn Murray O'Hair
• Atheist
• Atheism

[luciano9009]

Madalyn rock...

[PDelta41]

She was a pioneer, and at times she could be quite blunt. For the most part, though, she was indeed polite and well mannered. I guess the reason many (perhaps even among atheists) want to disassociate with her is because she was viewed as an incredible radical, she was outspoken, and she used the media to maximum affect to spread the message. Perhaps a comparison to the methods of Richard Dawkins could be useful? Richard is one of my all-time heroes, but Madalyn has my respect as well.

[KasparHauser4]

Good Video. I feel bad that even today many atheists want to lose Madalyn. I don't know why. if you listen to the audio files of her radio shows she was polite and well mannered and used many of the same arguments being used still today amongst the "new atheists" but poor Madalyn is still considered a pariah even amongst most atheists. Not including myself