A subtweet is when a person tweets about somebody else without mentioning them by name, usually in an insulting fashion. With that said, ThePRP noted that Six Feet Under frontman Chris Barnes decided to sub-tweet today:
#Payola is still is alive and well in the music business..#lettheDJsingOnYourAlbum
— Chris Barnes (@sixfeetofficial) March 8, 2017
It doesn't take a private detective to figure out who Barnes is talking about. Suicide Silence notably invited SiriusXM Liquid Metal / Octane DJ Jose Mangin to sing on the lead single of their controversial new album. Heck, when they played the song for the first time at Ozzfest Meets Knotfest last September, Jose got up on stage with them.
Implying that there was any sort of payola involved, which is illegal in the United States is taking it too far.
We're assuming Barnes is upset because the Suicide Silence single has been the #1 song on Liquid Metal's weekly countdown show, The Devil's Dozen for three weeks now. While Liquid Metal does not make public how it determines the countdown, I'm sure no actual money was exchanged for the positioning. I'm sure Barnes was not being literal, and just implying that the band pulled a calculated move by inviting Jose on what would be their lead single because they knew he would play it more often.
While that's an understandable hypothesis, anybody who knows Jose, knows that he would've blasted that single if he appeared on on it or not, because he is a big fan of Suicide Silence. Jose has many bands he champions besides Suicide Silence including Twelve Foot Ninja, Kyng, Gojira. He was the only person spinning the last Morbid Angel record when everybody else was not into it, because of how much of a fan he is of that band. From the three years that I worked as a DJ at SiriusXM Liquid Metal, I can tell you firsthand that for Jose it's never about the money, it's all about the music.
Coincidentally, Six Feet Under's lead single "Sacrificial Kill" was featured on the countdown on the lower end for three weeks before dropping off. I'd like to imagine that if Barnes was aiming to get more airplay on the station, this was not exactly the best way to go about it.
Barnes has since commented on ThePRP questioning if he subtweeted Suicide Silence and Jose by tweeting…
Nah.. Just an observation ? https://t.co/S9zcyFBumG
— Chris Barnes (@sixfeetofficial) March 8, 2017
Barnes' Twitter also features a pinned tweet which seems like another reference to Suicide Silence:
My promise to you, the Fans:
"I vow to never release an album with clean vocals."
Yours truly,
Chris Barnes— Chris Barnes (@sixfeetofficial) October 27, 2016