Precious Rocks & Rare Heavy Metals: Chapter 3

The third 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 and second chapters here and here.

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

ALICE COOPER

There is no question that Alice Cooper himself is well respected and considered as a great example of a rock star. He is pretty much the leader of Shock Rock as people call it. His stage presence and theatrics had people talking for generations. But behind that creepy façade of his you may find a “born-again Christian”, a humanitarian, and an esteemed friend. He has become very talkative about his religious beliefs and has set up his own non-profit organisation called “Solid Rock” aiming to help teenagers in many aspects of their lives. Alice Cooper has recently received an honorary doctorate too and gave a strange speech. Full story here. 

Now, out of respect to his outstanding musical contribution and long career and due my own admiration of him as a human being and artist I will have to pass and try not judge Mr. Cooper about his recent religious enthusiasm. He is 64 after all and closer to the “light”. But there are some signs of (possible) dementia and I'm raising a red flag here. I’m no doctor but any sort of admiration towards the thing called Lady Gaga must surely mean that some neurological deficiency is present. He IS 64 after all. Full story and proof I’m not crazy here. On a lighter note, you can catch Alice in the new movie by Tim Burton alongside Johnny Depp. Now that I wanna see! 

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

Rage Against The Machine (RATM) are mostly known for their political and social activism. Their music and lyrics represent this and it’s no wonder considering that guitarist Tom Morello is a social studies graduate from Harvard University. There is no protest or march that Morello and de La Rocha are not part of. There is an interesting paper on radical criminology with an extensive analysis of RATM lyrics which I found very interesting (link here). Some less known “services” to the world include Morello’s stripper career! Full story here. 

If I was forced to listen to Nu Metal I would choose to only listen to RATM. The fact is I do and I like it. The combination of funk, metal, and a bit of rapping with that guitar sound and those lyrics is just remarkable. I cannot imagine a more cathartic and aggressive song than "Killing in the Name". Ok, maybe "Angel of Death" by Slayer but not for soul-catharsis reasons! Anyway, my point is, being an idealist myself, I find it comforting that there are people out there who (still) believe in ideas like civil rights, equality, world peace, etc etc. And believe it or not a political science graduate-cum-vegetarian stripper-cum-protest musician is part of this bunch. But the best part is that I don’t have to do a thing, just watch them from my couch and smile devilishly! Here is a fun video of a school marching band “covering” Killing in the Name. Enjoy!

SLAYER

 

Slayer is undoubtedly the most controversial of the “Big 4” in terms of lyrics, music, and pretty much everything else. Ideas like Nazism, white supremacy, Satanism, terrorism, war, murder, and all other awful-sounding words in the English dictionary can be found in the repertoire of the accusations towards this band. Kerry King’s feisty personality and uncounted feuds don’t help much either. Still, the band managed to leave its stamp in the Metal history as one of the most important bands and probably the most consistent Thrash Metal band of all. Recently, they joined the Heavy Metal marketing race when they named a wine after the hymn “Reign in Blood”. Full story here. It is only available in Sweden (where else?) and at the ridiculous price of €80! You may purchase here. The description for this wine is very impressive and effortful: 

"The wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon from California, is as uncomprimising [sic] and tough as the band. After a couple of Seasons in the Abyss, the wine has an undisputed attitude and a soft nose of dark berry fruits with oak and spicy nuances. Good mouth feel with hints of fresh fruit and juicy, smooth tannins. Well structured and rounded with subtle notes of oak, showing true Divine Intervention. Best company for the wine comes as no surprise, enjoy it while headbanging, riffing or with food, friends and great music. Reign in Wine!"

Honestly, Slayer was not one of the bands I listened to when I first got into Heavy Metal. But I was meant to and I soon realised there is not another band that “screams” more Metal than this one. I mean come on, even their diseases sound Metal: necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease that Hanneman contracted from a spider bite! What’s more Metal than that? Oh, perhaps a Jagermeister add featuring Kerry King? Watch it here. I just love this guy's look!

Watch this space for the next chapter of this series.

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Image credits:

http://www.radiometal.com 

http://www.ratm.com/ 

http://www.fasterlouder.com.au

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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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