Metal 101

I have gotten a fair amount of static throughout my life for loving heavy metal. As a consequence I have actually felt a little shame from time-to-time (I remember one time in graduate school, I turning down a Priest song in the parking lot when I saw a classmate walking over to greet me).

Well, I have explored this at great length and have come up with some conclusions about metal that have helped me understand my love of this type of music. Here it goes: Metal is not music. My mother was correct. What she did not understand, however, is that heavy metal is, in fact, therapy.

When observing a real metal band playing, there tends to be four or five men working exceptionally hard at conveying their anger and frustration in a controlled, yet authentic, manner. They are using their instruments (insert Freud here) to channel and project their feelings into a highly charged musical composition. Those guys on stage are all working together, but are doing all they can to tap into their individual pain, anger, frustration, or whatever emotion cannot usually be expressed behind the machine or desk that people in our society are supposed to be tied to these days. This experience is so overwhelming that they bang their heads, rock back and forth like lunatics, often scream at the audience with rage, and spit vitriol in the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlF0amKrkhY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0AGUywHntw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIXZDz2uzyQ&feature=related

The unfortunate requirement that music be popular, and accepted by the masses, turned this amazing form of expression into a spandex wrapped joke in the 80's when everybody wanted to dress like teenage girls and sing about getting drunk on the way to a party. This music is not real metal, but an extension of 60's rock and roll. The intent of that type of music is to alter and enhance an experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZHVkJ1wVFM ("Daddy says, 'She's too young, but she's old enough for me." WTF??)

Real metal, on the other hand, attempts to provide us access into parts of ourselves that we usually cannot bring forth. It is angry, or sad, or volatile, and usually pretty ugly (Lemmy could never wear lipstick). There are silly commercial bits, but that is just to get paid.

Well, Okay. The mechanical hand in the following clip is just...dumb, but just ignore that and listen.

NWOBHM:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4yHyHdJK5g

Thus, the popularity of the grunge bands, and return to quasi-punk in the 90's. It was a much more realistic portrait of painful emotion than what metal was capable of dishing out.

In my opinion, a true metal song is always a failure. There is something that everyone is trying to express with lyrics and instruments, but it just doesn't cut it. They are trying like hell, but can't do it. It is like they are saying: "I don't think I am getting through to you. Since your not listening to what I am saying, maybe this guitar solo can help you understand how I feel." That is how I experience an actual metal song, as opposed to a distorted rock and roll tune. I think this helps explain why bands turn to disturbing imagery and the occult, as a focus for their music. It is another way for the shadow to be brought forward and into awareness. So, as a result, metal viedeos and concerts are sometimes a little: aberrant, abnormal, absurd, antic, bizarre, deformed, distorted, eerie, extravagant, extreme, fanciful, fantastic, flamboyant, freakish, grody*, gross*, incongruous, ludicrous, malformed, misshapen, monstrous, odd, outlandish, perverted, preposterous, queer, ridiculous, strange, surrealistic, uncanny, unnatural, weird, weirdo, whimsical

This is also why metal shows are so much fun! They allow us to experience our darker nature in an acceptable way and with other people. Now some of these people may worry you when you see them! But they, like me, are just trying to reach a place where they can, for a short time, integrate more of themselves. These are a few of the masters:

Halford/Priest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mYsET2Z3nQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djvkqiPmfJM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugJDx4ScF8Y&feature=related

Megadeth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQgOR0_t7UQ

Maiden:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqpZDqrv4Xo&feature=related