[4] The band and McNeil also conceived of war as a relevant metaphor for both life on the NYC streets, and also for opposition to elements of late 70s culture that they felt alienated from.
Rey describes the net effect as being a display of "comic book politics", and McNeil provides the perspective that they were all "white liberals", albeit ones that had (to use contemporary parlance) a very un-PC sense of humor.
[2] Wyndorf has compared the band's antics in the earlier part of their history to Vaudeville, and has stated that it was amusing to provoke the easily offended.
"[9] This satirical[10] but straight faced outlook was criticized, including being labeled as "proto-fascist" by the Village Voice, due to the provocative stage antics, and song titles such as Hey Little Gook.
Shrapnel would soon play at parties at Mailer's Brooklyn home, including one that was attended by Kurt Vonnegut, Woody Allen, Glen Buxton and José Torres.
The event was covered by Rolling Stone, with that magazine's Kurt Loder writing "It figures that author Norman Mailer would go for Shrapnel, a New York punk band whose act is derived from endless reruns of the old Combat!
"[13] In 1980, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #14 (by Frank Miller and Dennis O'Neil) featured a plot in which Peter Parker goes to see Shrapnel play at CBGB.
Gone were the combat fatigues, sandbags, and masked characters, although the band would still use a "bomb" as a prop during their performance of the song Chrome Magnum Man, to Alagro's chagrin.