Song Masterpieces

There are rock and metal songs that are catchy. Their simple and repetitive chords and relatively simplistic lyrics make them memorable and rather enjoyable. Everybody knows them, everybody likes them (smoke on the water is an example).  There are songs that make you happy, sad, those you can headbang to, those you can dance to.

Yet there are those rare sings, the masterpieces as I like to call them, that draw out all of your emotions - it's like the combination of music and lyrics personifies into a god-like hand that reaches into your psyche and grabs what's in there and pulls it out and lays it there in front you. "This is your soul, this is you" it says.

You know you've heard that song when you first of all have that familiar body reaction, the goosebumps. But it is more than that. It is a song that you feel in your core, in your spine, in your brain, your every heartbeat. It embraces your being. You may cry, you may smile, you may hold your breath. When it ends you feel exhausted, euphoric, fulfilled, awed. You want to kneel and worship the genius(es) that created it.

It is primal. I'm not going to explain that, I'm sure you can do your own research (e.g. Biological Templates for Musical Experience: From Fear to Pleasure).

I have my own musical/lyrical masterpieces that I want to share here. You may find that some are universal but each one of us have their own personal masterpieces. I'm sure there are more that I left out so I will be updating.

Stargazer by Rainbow: This is the only one I will describe because it is my ultimate song, the one that "touches" me the most. I can listen to it all day every day for a week and still react to it as if I heard it for the first time. This song is me, now you know me. The combination of Dio's voice, Blackmore's guitar, Powell's dumming, and the Munich philharmonic orchestra..... THE MASTERPIECE. Dio and Blackmore I thank you.

Song of Yesterday by Black Country Communion: Highlights include Bonham's drumming and Bonamassa's guitar solo and his overall delivery.

The Times They are A-Changing by Bob Dylan: Highlight is the whole song.

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Metallica: Highlights include Burton's bass.

When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin: Highlights include Bonzo's drumming of course.

Diamond and Rust by Judas Priest: Highlights include Halford's vocals.

Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath: Highlights include the re-birth of the famous diabolus in musica interval.

Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones: Highlights include Merry Clayton's vocals.

Hurt by Johnny Cash: Highlights include the fact that Cash owned it. 

etc.

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Aging Bodies, Aging Minds, Aging Bands

The inspiration for this piece of writing comes from a brief twitter chat I had with a dear “under-web ally” of mine (i.e. an online yet still underground co-defender of the Rock) @RockCyprus. Chatting about the recent Download 2013 line-up announcements, our conversation went something like this:

@Tzellofouska Rammstein & Maiden in one go? Surely, you don't wanna miss that! 

@RockCyprus It's been Maiden and Metallica from the 1st row in the last 2 years. Hard to beat that I'll have to have a break ;) [plus the prized possession of Kirk Hammett's guitar pick! ;)]

@Tzellofouska Metallica...Second most disappointing live band after Megadeth. And am a keen thrasher; just 20 yrs too late [ 90s vs 00s.... The price to pay for my age!]

@RockCyprus It's a big discussion, but surely Hetfield or Araya can never be 20 and alcoholics ever again ;) :D

And it went on for a few more tweets. Now, just to clarify, my aim is not to get into a discussion about disappointing live shows from [previously great yet still legendary] bands. I will only pose a few of my contemplations in the hope of initiating a healthy exchange of opinions.  

It all started with me seeing Metallica live for the first time. Then it happened again when I saw what Axl calls Guns N’ Roses nowadays. And it all happened for the third time when I saw Megadeth at this year’s Download. What a disappointment it was, I cannot emphasize enough! Performance-, passion-, stage presence-wise, you name it. 

At the time, I used to say to myself and others equally disappointed as me, that you wouldn’t expect these bands to perform to the same level as 20 years ago for example. It is of course a valid point. Or perhaps a good rationalisation of why I spent £60 on a gig that hasn’t changed me in the least. Because, you see, I only appreciate gigs that change my life, even a tiny bit at a time. I shall elaborate... 

Every band or artist has what I call a pre-defined persona. Meaning, they are known for specific elements of their live shows. Take Rammstein, for example, known for their extreme pyro shows complemented by heavy German rumblings [which I love by the way!]; or Iron Maiden with Eddie and an over-enthusiastic Mr. Dickinson; or Motörhead with their deafening decibels and a Lemmy; or even Kiss with their outdated yet oh-so-entertaining outfits; or Black Sabbath with a playful Ozzy and a quiet Iommi that communicates through the riffs. ALL bands have their pre-defined persona; from the time of their conception to today.

Now, when I go to a live show, I expect to see, feel, and experience that persona. I am easily satisfied though. Just having the opportunity to see legendary bands is an excitement on its own, considering most are at the end of the “road”. I surely don’t expect to see the SAME level of energy and passion as I see in videos of their earlier shows. Or should I?

Having been to so many gigs in the past decade alone means that I saw many of these “dinosaur” bands as people call them but not in their prime years. From this experience alone I realised that while there might be an expiration date on creativity for making good albums, passion is meant to stay put. Aging is not an excuse for a bad live for me anymore. 

If you can’t support that pre-defined persona of the band with the same level of passion anymore, just don’t bother touring; because then it shows that you are doing it purely for the cash. I’m sure Alice Cooper will retire once he’s not able to hold that boa on stage anymore. There were a few gigs that made an impact and changed me the way I wanted; Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, Anthrax, Motörhead, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Kiss, Rammstein, and even the remaining of The Who! One can see that age is not the point here; some of these guys get a social security check at the end of each month! 

I would love, and I’m sure I’ll have more opportunities, to see Metallica or Megadeth again so that I prove myself wrong. But in the meantime, yawning at a gig, where one of your favourites is performing, is not a very good sign. Either love what you do or quit while you can. Performing is just another job you have to enjoy doing in order to survive in this business. I will repeat: there is no such thing as aging bodies; just aging minds.

You may follow @RockCyprus  on twitter for updates on upcoming shows in Cyprus. Otherwise, just follow him anyway because he's got some great tweets!

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Image Credit:

http://www.last.fm/

http://www.collapseboard.com/

http://tzellofouska.blogspot.co.uk/

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Precious Rocks & Rare Heavy Metals: Chapter 2

The second of a series of fun articles aiming to explore the impact that Rock and Heavy Metal artists/bands had on the world and the impact the world had on them. This series will cover a number of artists so all favourites are presented. Read the first chapter here . 

Please note: There is no specific reason (e.g. greatness, preference etc) for the order bands are presented!

JUDAS PRIEST

The leading band of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWBHM) music, with its frontman Rob Halford, a.k.a. the Metal God, introducing homosexuality to the once thought of as the “macho” music genre. Halford also defined the whole Heavy Metal image with the introduction of leather, denim, studs, and everything S & M. Priest’s history though has been stigmatised in the late 80s, with court battles where they had to defend their music. The Vance Vs Judas Priest trial made subliminal persuasion a trend in that era. One good thing came out of it though; society realised how stupid people can be when it comes to interpreting simple phenomena.

It’s sad that what comes to mind for many when they hear Judas Priest is the crazy court battles over subliminal messages. The act of playing a vinyl backwards showed that people had too much free time in their hands and nothing better to do. Parents should have been more focused on the rising pandemic of childhood obesity considering all the cleverly chosen logo colours by the McDonald’s empire and the more obvious, not that subliminal, increasing number of fat children! An informative article can be found here. 

MOTÖRHEAD

I don’t think I’m wrong when I say that Lemmy is Motörhead and the most versatile thing out there for that matter. So low profile as being able to walk amongst mortals undisturbed, yet so high volume as to make even the strongest eardrum “kneel” before his bass; this man needs no introduction. In the past he was invited to the Welsh Assembly by the conservative party of Wales to give his opinion on drugs and more specifically heroin. To everybody’s surprise he argued for the legalization of the drug he, himself, hates so much presenting some good arguments. Full story here.

In a world where all Rock stars sold their souls at some point, Lemmy still remains the only one true to himself and his fans. Sure he’s been high, wrong, broke, with hundreds of women, but he rose from the hippies, defined Heavy Metal, admired by Glam Metal, inspired Punk Rock, re-established Heavy Metal, and still surviving Nu Metal. Lemmy is immortal. If you haven’t done so, I highly recommend reading his book and watching his documentary.

METALLICA

The leaders of the thrash metal movement, this band has produced more controversy than good records in the past few decades. A favourite to pretty much everybody, from your average hardcore heavy metal fan to your, below standards, typical pop music lamb. Still, there is more to their music that we know about. Apparently, some songs by Metallica have the same effect on monkeys as the St. Anger album has on fans, i.e. general apathy! In an experimental study by psychologist Charles Snowdon (University of Wisconsin) and cellist David Teie (National Symphony Orchestra), the behaviour of 7 pairs of tamarin monkeys was compared after two listening conditions:

1. Listening to two ballads and two more aggressive songs, one of these the "Of Wolf and Man," by Metallica. 
2. Listening to two calming ballad-type songs and two more aggressive heavy metal-like ones but this time incorporating the pitches and sounds of the monkeys and matching them to their tempo (x8). 

It seems these mokeys are indifferent to the No 1 condition, i.e. human music. But condition No 2 did induce some strong emotions! You may read the full article here.

Now my purpose is not to ridicule Metallica (again). As most of us I am a big fan and we have a saying in the Cypriot dialect, i.e. “Απ’αγαπά παιδεύκει” which roughly translates to “he who loves, tortures” (let me know if there is anything equivalent in English!). So therefore my point is: yes the St. Anger album left me with that cow-like expression which really translates to the more pedestrian “What the fuck?”. I will not elaborate on the feelings of mass-destruction caused by listening half a song from LuLu! Oh, and did I mention they want to put their music in cereal boxes now? [link] Aaaaaanyway, if you wish to read the lay-person summary of the above study, it can be found here.

Watch this space for the next chapter of this series.

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Image Credits:

http://www.last.fm

http://www.fanpop.com/

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Heavy Metal Under Study

The days of court battles, PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center), and accusations of satanic lyrics (and other “evils”) by Heavy Metal bands from religious fundamentalists and journalists alike may be long gone but that era has definitely left its mark on our favourite musical genre. You assume that a well-educated person, meaning a person with rich life experiences and the ability for critical thinking (rather than actual degrees – what I would call “reservoir toilet paper of the highest quality”), will be in a position to look back and laugh at the naive and ignorant society of the 80s. And most do.

But the stigma that Heavy Metal carried through to the 00s has become such mainstream that it attracted the attention of the higher levels of the academic and scientific communities.  Along come academic research and the New wave of “Metal Studies” (NWOMS – my own abbreviation!). After the ridiculous attack from the even more ridiculous ignorant PMRC in the early 80s, psychologists and other scientists decided to look into this social phenomenon in more detail.

Studies stripped down Heavy Metal; from song lyrics and MTV videos to stage presence. They looked for subliminal messages in songs of bands like Judas Priest and Twister Sister, the promotion of sex, drugs, and self-destructive behaviours and many more. Below are some scientifically derived (?) yet really hilarious conclusions about the Heavy Metal fans:

“. . .a mass following of youth, their denim clothes covered in studs and appliqué, their hair long and wild so as to swing freely when they shook their heads in time with the music – what they called head-banging”

Cashmore (1984, p. 37)

“Contingents of longhaired, denimed males . . . consuming large quantities of beer and playing imaginary guitar runs in sycophant homage to their alter egos performing on the stage”

Chambers (1985, p. 123) on the Reading and Knebworth festival goers

Now I am not saying these scientists were crazy for researching the relationship between Heavy Metal music preference and anti-social behaviours, suicide, anxiety, and depression. But as expected of poor and highly biased methodologies, studies offered conflicting evidence in all areas, be it psychological, social, or cultural and not many reliable conclusions. Brown (2011), from which the above quotations were extracted, reports that research has now shifted its focus from looking at Heavy Metal as a social problem to a more cultural and musicological approach (i.e. NWOMS).

This sort of research may not appeal or even be known to the average Heavy Metal fan and really, who cares what happens within the scientific/academic community, right? Well, it may sound boring but truth is that proper research approaches and methodologies undertaken by serious researchers who understand the Heavy Metal music and its “culture”, will manage to catch the attention of fans and educate them about the important aspects of their favourite genre.

My new found respect for the NWOMS derives mainly from people like Sam Dunn a Canadian musician, film director, and anthropologist (you probably know him as the director of Metal: A Headbangers Journey, Global Metal, and Iron Maiden: Flight 666) as well as Keith Kahn Harris a writer, sociologist, and music critic.

Heavy Metal music intrigues scientists and inspires research that may even lead to joke-like quotations like the above-mentioned, benefit to our own amusement. It might have given birth to strange phenomena such as head-banging, air guitar and provocative attire but at least it’s not responsible for plague-like phenomena such as women who want to be called “Lady”, have a weird fond of umbrellas or wish for you to hit them one more time!

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Article reference:

Brown, AR (2011). Heavy Genealogy: Mapping the Currents, Contraflows and Conflicts of the Emergent Field of Metal Studies, 1978-2010. Journal for Cultural Research, 15 (3), 213-242.

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Image credits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/

http://www.examiner.com

http://www.imdb.com

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Why I Choose Heavy Metal (Why Should You?)

I tried...technically! I can't say that I haven't.

I tried to listen to popular music, when at the age of 9 or 10 (I don't really remember and honestly, I try not to), I found myself collecting photos of boybands (you know, the ones that surprisingly enough have lost their other half and cry their eyes out because they are alone singing on a rainy night? Those ones!). You see, boybands where a hit in the 90s era. The thing is, though, I don't even know a song of theirs if you ask me now (it is a fact that your brain automatically blocks stressful or negative experiences).

People who know me would say that hearing is not the best of my 5 (or maybe 6?) senses. My own little research suggests this is probably attributed to several vain attempts to listen to a whole Britney Spears song instead of several years of Heavy Metal madness.

You see, even then, I kind of felt that pop (where the hell does that term come from anyway?) was not the music that "touched" my heart (probably because it's empty, shallow, and useless) and I realised that quite early in my life - thankfully long before I had my ears exploding from all the crap they had to endure and before all my brain cells had the chance to melt away, while I was trying to discover myself!

My induction to the "Heavy Metal Family" happened when my heart skipped a beat while listening to the combination of Ozzy's vocals and Iommi's musical genius on Electric Funeral. My full conversion took place while listening to AC/DC when I realised I was actually heading for heaven and not hell, as instructed...



Heavy Metal has always been misunderstood by society although it's the most genuine genre out there (not considering the blood-sucking production companies - hey, the world is not that perfect - and the odd band complex with money - yes Lars I am talking about you).


On the contrary, pop music has been reduced to vanity because of:

1. The song lyrics - a 10 yr old would come up with a better line than "umbrella, ella, ella...oh!" or "hit me baby one more time" (honestly shoot the guy that writes this crap, it's an intellectual if not a social crime damn it)
 2. The music - which is completely computerised and basically indistinctive (wait a minute, I thought music = instruments, no? Well, what do I know!)
 3. The voice - better put a cow sing since the performer only needs to move lips and other appropriate body parts
 4. The "artist" - who is made to order (too much make-up, too little clothes, few brain cells and even less synapses)

Music needs to make sense, right? Just an overview of the great musicians and performers of all time indicates that most come from the Rock n' Roll and Heavy Metal music genres (truth is in these genres if you are crap you are ripped to pieces by fans, deservingly so!). Heavy Metal artists appreciate the experience of producing something great and most of the times meaningful (I admit there are some "diamonds" out there too - the glam years produced most of these and so did the 00s).


What I am trying to say is that Heavy Metal with all its oddities (Marilyn Manson, Alice Cooper), its strange/invalid connection to the occult (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin), its social stigma (i.e. sex, drugs, & rock n' roll), its weird phenomena (air guitar, headbanging, sign of the horns), its exceptional vocalists (RJ Dio, Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, Robert Plant etc), its musical geniuses (Tony Iommi, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page etc), its out-of-this-world lyricists (RJ Dio - yes again!, Lemmy Kilmister etc), its uncounted lawsuits (Twisted Sister, Judas Priest, Manson), its anthems (Stairway to Heaven, Smoke on the Water, Back in Black, Sweet Child of Mine and many more), is undoubtedly the most versatile music genre which remains strong even after 40 years, which still recruits more and more fans, a genre which, when it evolves, it does so in the most creative and amazing way possible.


Allow yourself to go to just one live gig, watch the passion and energy with which each band member delivers and the ecstasy of the crowd, and tell me then if you actually need drugs to get you that high!

Welcome to the Heavy Metal world!
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Image credits:
http://www.metal-army.com/
http://www.black-sabbath.com/
https://www.acdc.com/uk/
http://www.ledzeppelin.com

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