Themes
Since the band’s Up in It era, certain themes have been noted as developing Dulli’s songwriting for The Afghan Whigs and beyond – in particular, his mixing of black humor with dark topics such as drug addiction, abuse, and suicidal thoughts, which often seem more personal and provocative due to their frequent embrace of the first person. As well, Afghan Whigs’ classics also are rooted in exploring power battles in sexual and romantic relationships. Gentlemen in particular has been cited for its frank and uncomfortable exploration of masculine tropes and expectations, including elements of sadomasochism and alienation. Songs like "My Enemy" off Black Love, meanwhile, tackle big issues like revenge, slander, and survival.
Dulli’s songs with Afghan Whigs also betray a fascination with and sympathy for the anti-hero, which he attributed to an influential conversation with his grandfather during childhood: "I remember as a kid watching a cowboys-and-Indians movie and I was rooting for the cowboys… My grandfather asked me why, and I said, `Because they're the good guys.' And my grandfather explained to me that the Indians were fighting for their land and that the cowboys were trying to steal it from them. Then he said something to me that I never forgot, which was, `Good people aren't good all the time and bad people aren't bad all the time.' I've been exploring that gray area ever since, the idea that saints can fall and sinners can transcend."
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Famous quotes containing the word themes:
“In economics, we borrowed from the Bourbons; in foreign policy, we drew on themes fashioned by the nomad warriors of the Eurasian steppes. In spiritual matters, we emulated the braying intolerance of our archenemies, the Shi’ite fundamentalists.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)