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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Stone-Rolling the Money Dough

Yes I am pissed off. Who wouldn't be? But not with the band. Not really.

I am talking of course about the "outrageous" ticket prices for The Rolling Stones gigs. First, let's get things straight. They are The Rolling Stones and, yes, a logical person would have expected the ticket prices to be as high as they are. I mean, come on, did you really think you can watch the Stones for free? Have you heard about a thing called money? You know, the most important thing in the world, the moving force? No? Then take some socio-economical lessons, or simply look around you.

I don't understand how would anyone think the Stones are above money; why would they be? Sure, you paid for their food in the last 50 years [and their Bentley, their villas, their drugs etc] but didn't you get something in return? Records, cassettes, CDs, gig experiences. This is a two-way process, they offer a "service" for your money. It is an exchange; you pay, you get. You did not "make them a favour" as I heard many say. The only favour you make, is to yourself; passing through life with a good taste in music.

Now that I cleared things in that front, I'll move to the angry part. Of course, I am angry. But as I said not with the band or the ticket prices. And here I mean the prices as set by the Stones management and not the re-sell ones. As a logical person would do [and I do not praise myself here], I set a limit on how much I was willing to pay to see them live. I said, given my current circumstances, I'd pay a maximum of £250, the approximate price for a festival ticket. 'Cause lets face it, the Stones are worth 100 bands together. Yet I wouldn't pay significantly more than I paid for the legend that it is Bob Dylan, or Black Sabbath, or even Dio.

BUT! As it happened with the Zeppelin tickets, the posh "disagreeable persons" (that is the kindest version of the word assholes) and the ticket touts got them all. As a fan, I made sure I got access to the pre-sale by hunting down my O2 friends for their "priority" benefits. Priority my ass! It shouldn't surprise me that my "connection is down", or that their "server is down", or that I "have been placed in a queue", or even that my "request is being processed" while all the touts with their tricks, fiber-optic broadband, and hundreds of staff, where already purchasing all the lower priced tickets and re-selling them for 4 times their face value.

Unsurprisingly, same thing happened on the general sale day. And I ask! Why do we, the fans, allow this to happen? These people put a £106 ticket for £19,000!!! Seriously, instead of boycotting the gig, why not boycott these websites? You are part of the problem, so stop complaining about the prices when you would happily pay these websites your money on other occasions. If the price is right [and I mean face value] go for it. But stop being hypocritical... It's all about the money after all, be it selling or buying.

The best solution for me is The Rolling Stones playing a three-day festival-like gig somewhere in a big empty space where 400,000 people could attend each day; not the O2 "arena". Do the maths: nearly a million proper fans [cause the posh disagreeable persons would not go into the muddy fields even for a Stones gig] each paying £100, and the Stones having a cash in of more millions they can ever spend in their remaining years! And that's just in UK. But hey, what do I know, right?

In the meantime, I take control of my rage, wish The Rolling Stones good luck with their gig and with having Paris Hilton and all the other "disagreeables" in the front row (!), and head off to buy my Alice Cooper Halloween tickets for no more than £44 per head!

See you on the next Pirates of the Caribbean Keef!
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Image credits:
http://www.billboard.com
http://noisey.vice.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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