Representative Albums: "Hands off the Animals," "The Reveille of Midnight," "Cube"
Biography
Memphis, TN's Raid inaugurated the era of vegan straight-edge bands in the hardcore scene nearly single-handedly. Together with California's Vegan Reich and England's Statement, Raid's militant approach to animal rights, environmentalism, and the drug-free lifestyle influenced bands like Earth Crisis, Framework, Abnegation, and Another Victim in sound and ideology. Their music was as uncompromising as their lifestyle politics, punctuated by dive-bomb guitar squeaks, chunky riffing, and hoarsely barked vocals that made use of words like "anthropocentric" in ways later-era metal stars could never hope to handle. Their earlier work was more closely linked to traditional hardcore punk, with their last five songs being heavily influenced by the then-fresh metalcore movement spearheaded by Cleveland's Integrity. Raid formed from the ashes of the decidedly Christian-oriented straight-edge band One Way. Vocalist Steve Lovitt, guitarists Jason VanAuken and Chad Cathy, bassist Mark Whitlock, and drummer Steve Capehart weren't just musicians, they were spokespeople: first for vegan straight-edge, then for a new movement called hardline. They self-released a demo cassette in 1989, then in 1990 put out a 7" single called Words of War through Hardline Records. In 1991, the sessions for a proposed single tentatively titled Under the Axe were compiled with the 7" tracks and two demo songs as the Above the Law CD. Raid broke up shortly after, with most of its membership gradually falling away from the vegan straight-edge lifestyle. In 1995, Victory Records reissued the CD, retitling it Hands Off the Animals. ~ Ryan J. Downey, All Music Guide
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A frame from a US animated TV commercial for Raid Outdoor Ant Spikes
Raid is the brand name of a line of insecticides produced by SC Johnson, first launched in 1956.
The initial active ingredient was the first synthetic pyrethroid, allethrin. Raid derivatives aimed at particular invertebrate species can contain other active agents such as the more toxic cyfluthrin, another synthetic pyrethroid. Currently Raid uses Permethrin, Tetramethrin, Cypermethrin and Imiprothrin to kill insects.
The product's advertising tagline, "Raid Kills Bugs Dead," was created by the advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding. The phrase itself is often attributed to the poet Lew Welch, who worked for the agency at the time.[1]
The line was first used in commerce in 1966 and was trademarked in 1986. Legendary animation director Tex Avery was the producer of the first "Kills Bugs Dead" commercials. Artist Don Pegler developed the bug characters used in the US and continued animating them for forty years.
The slogan has been part of a successful, long-running advertising campaign. Conjuring up images of an Eliot Ness-style raid on an illegal bar during Prohibition, the television spots have featured the cartoonbugs plotting some silly scheme like invading a kitchen, only to be foiled by the magical appearance of the product which swiftly dispatched the bugs to various giddily horrible deaths. The bugs would scream, "RAAAIIIID!" and then a huge cartoon-style explosion would occur.
Similar campaigns have been run in other countries, either by dubbing the US cartoons or by producing local versions.
References
^ Saroyan, Aram. Genesis Angels: The Saga of Lew Welch and the Beat Generation. New York: William Morrow, 1979.