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Metal Mythology


MaxFaust

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In physics, heavy metal is a generic name for all metallic compounds that are heavier than iron ... meaning that they weren't created by normal stars but by supernovae. In pop culture, the word was first used by William Burroughs in 1962, and he was explicitly referring to drugs and drug culture, which to Mr. Burroughs represented the ultimate in consumer mentality. For instance, he talked about "the heavy metal people of Uranus and their heavy metal music". Which is probably why so many early proto-metal bands would refer to Uranus (not just because it's pronounced like "your anus" at least as often as "ooranoos"). It's also worth keeping in mind that to the Beatniks -- that Mr. Burroughs represented -- the word "heavy" was used for things that were grave, serious, profound, etc. ("That's heavy, man!") 

Most musical genealogists agree that "heavy metal" (as a separate musical genre) grew out of the psychedelic rock (psych, or freakbeats) of the 60s, and that the real turning point was the fuzz box. Up until musicians learned to take proper advantage of this effect, they tended to use keyboards (organ) for sustain ... but the fuzz box allows you to hold a guitar tone for much longer, so the sound landscape started to gravitate towards more of an emphasis on the guitar. It's fairly easy to detect how that shit went down if you listen to a lot of music from the late 60s and early 70s. At the same time, the so called "comedown era" began in America (after seeing popular drug culture peak with the so called summer of love in 1967). Everything started to get darker and grimmer. At the same time, drugs got harder and more "speed" oriented, as opposed to the "acid" period that preceded it. Music journalists at the time picked up on this and started to use "heavy metal" as a generic name for this new type of sound. 

Meanwhile, in Birmingham, England, the blues-rock outfit Earth had been to the cinema and watched a Mario Bava film called Black Sabbath, which must have made an impression, because they decided to change their name and start making "horror music". At the time, Birmingham was one of the most heavily industrialized cities in Europe. It was said to be "black at day, red at night", like a modernist vision of Hell. Everywhere you could hear the pounding and hammering from steel mills and metal manufacturies. (Rob Halford -- who is also from Birmingham -- has spoken extensively about this in various interviews that's easy to find on YouTube.) As everybody knows in the clarity of hindsight, Black Sabbath, although not much liked by critics, hit right home with the audience. They became big stars overnight, particularly in the British working class, whose future prospects were rather bleak at the time. Yet they never thought of themselves as a heavy metal band. That wouldn't happen until the other big band from Birmingham, Judas Priest, decided to throw away their hippy garments and go for a more sadomasochistic look, with studs and leather and all that, in 1975, thus becoming the first band to openly and proudly call themselves (and their music) heavy metal. 

The whole Satan thing came into play because it's just the most convenient go-to guy when you want to make horror. Particularly in the early 70s. It behooves you to be aware of a crucial fact when it comes to our favourite arch villain ... and that is "the power of faith". When you don't actually believe in any actual devil, it's just one of many fictional strategies you can employ to create the proper mood of horror ... but if on the other hand you do in fact believe in spiritual warfare and Satan trying to turn humanity away from Christ the saviour, the picture is going to look a lot different. Crazy as it may be, believers are prone to see "signs" all over the place, not least in how rock'n'roll ever since the 50s seemed to be seducing the young and encouraging them to indulge in sex and drugs. This shit hit the fan for real when in 1980, the book "Michelle Remembers" was published, sparking what has later come to be called "the Satanic panic" of the 80s. Which looks utterly insane to any person who's rational and reasonable ... but it made all kinds of sense to the believers. By an unfortunate turn of events, the publication of "Michelle Remembers" coincided with "The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal" ... so you didn't have to be Nostradamus to predict how that shit would play out.

Is there a correlation between liking horror movies and horror music (i.e. metal)? I don't know if this has ever been properly researched ... but it is, in my highly personal and anecdotal experience, more often than not the case. I am also fairly certain that most metal heads are either agnostic or atheistic when it comes to religion (if they are even interested in religion). As a general rule, metal heads (hell, even rock music fans in general) are mostly in it for the kicks. They like the raw power, the loudness, the massive onslaught of sound ... caring less about the cleverness and musical acumen. This is very hard to explain to people who don't like "the noise". To them, it seems ugly and incoherent, like so much modernist art. Which is why they fail to comprehend that as sheer musicmanship goes, contemporary "extreme metal" is up there with the Miles Davis class of jazz when it comes to musical complexity and how good you have to be at mastering your instrument to be taken seriously anymore. I recently managed to piss a lot of people off by stating that even Eddie Van Halen -- although sensational in 1978 -- wouldn't be much more than an average axe man today. But that's how I see it. The younger generations of metal are insanely adept at their thing. In fact, I take my hat off. Metal has never been better than it is today ... and I've been in this business since 1972, when at the fine young age of 9, I managed to make my grandmother pay for the album Paranoid by Black Sabbath, which was my gateway drug to the scene, so to speak. I was deeply and permanently impressed. The music spoke directly to my already quite morbid soul. And I've never looked back.

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It seems a bit of a foregone conclusion ... but does anyone know of any metal fans who doesn't like horror movies? I've certainly never come across any. I think the horror trope is as important to the metal genre as the fuzz box. In my opinion, there is a quite specific reason for this. Terribilis Est Locus Iste ... as the freemasons say. Meaning "this is a terrible place" ... that is to say, this world that we live in and, by extension, the human condition. Okay, so I've met a moron or two ... but overall and on average, I'd say that metal fans are usually smarter than the general population. They are also more empathic and "emotionally wise". Again, I have no numbers or research to back this up, but it is my impression, based in my subjective life experience.

How to express the anguish of existence? How to deal with a world where evil men rule and stupid people are genuflecting before the golden calf of money and shiny stuff? In many ways, hard rock and metal can be said to be "industrial blues", a way to cope with the ugliness and absurdity of it all, given that you can't just pretend as if everything is hunky fucking dory. There's gotta be an outlet, some way to deal with all the frustration and aggression that's naturally building up within any sane and reasonable person when watching the news and trying to relate to all the dumbshit and outright insanity that's happening out there.

Rather than political, I'd say this is a philosophical thing. How to be honest in a world of lies and pretence? Music is art, and of all the arts probably the most emotional one, foregoing language and "explanations" as a way to connect with the world. It's not the music that's vile and destructive, it's the world that it reflects. This point seems to be entirely lost to "the opposition" who seems to think that the right and proper way is to live in a bubble of make believe. 

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On 29.4.2018 at 2:51 PM, FatherAlabaster said:

Me.

Would you care to expand a little on this? Like I said, it seems to me like there's a connection between a taste for the bizarre in terms of music, and a taste for the bizarre in terms of other art forms, such as cinema and television (let alone what's reflected in the cover art and other "symbolism" of your average metal act). I'm genuinely curious.

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12 hours ago, MaxFaust said:

Would you care to expand a little on this? Like I said, it seems to me like there's a connection between a taste for the bizarre in terms of music, and a taste for the bizarre in terms of other art forms, such as cinema and television (let alone what's reflected in the cover art and other "symbolism" of your average metal act). I'm genuinely curious.

Horror does not necessarily mean bizarre, though.  Many horror movies, stories, characters, etc. have become deeply ingrained in modern culture (at least in the U.S.).  Some are just as typical as movies of any other genre.

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8 hours ago, Balor said:

deeply ingrained in modern culture

I suppose both Freddy Kruger and Jason ... hell, even Michael Myers are characters like that, with strong general recognition effect. "The zombie apocalypse" is a talking point that's become detached from the actual zombie genre. Some even use it in much the same meaning as in that movie "Idiocracy" (when stupid people get to rule the earth). That being said, I suppose "bizarre" may not be the word I'm looking for. My point is that it's more common than not for metal bands to use imagery that would make you think "horror movie" if it was used in a poster for some film. 

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6 hours ago, MaxFaust said:

My point is that it's more common than not for metal bands to use imagery that would make you think "horror movie" if it was used in a poster for some film. 

I am not sure that that is necessarily the case either.  There are a myriad of examples of metal albums with cover art that does not evoke the aesthetics of horror movies at all.  For instance, many atmospheric bm bands use pictures of forests.

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On 5/1/2018 at 6:51 AM, MaxFaust said:

Would you care to expand a little on this? Like I said, it seems to me like there's a connection between a taste for the bizarre in terms of music, and a taste for the bizarre in terms of other art forms, such as cinema and television (let alone what's reflected in the cover art and other "symbolism" of your average metal act). I'm genuinely curious.

It's been a little difficult for me to put my finger on. The best way I think I can say it is that I don't like seeing people suffer,  and nearly every horror movie I've seen focuses on suffering in a way that seems cheap, or too visceral, or both. It's not art to me, and it's not fun, or enlightening, or cathartic. It just makes me feel bad, and in the worst cases it sticks with me for years. There's enough of that in real life, I don't need more. I'm not huge on movies anyway. Music, visual art, and books do a much better job of plumbing those depths of the human condition in a way that's meaningful to me. 

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On 5/3/2018 at 11:21 AM, FatherAlabaster said:

It's been a little difficult for me to put my finger on. The best way I think I can say it is that I don't like seeing people suffer,  and nearly every horror movie I've seen focuses on suffering in a way that seems cheap, or too visceral, or both. It's not art to me, and it's not fun, or enlightening, or cathartic. It just makes me feel bad, and in the worst cases it sticks with me for years. There's enough of that in real life, I don't need more. I'm not huge on movies anyway. Music, visual art, and books do a much better job of plumbing those depths of the human condition in a way that's meaningful to me. 

This is mostly how I feel about horror movies. I always want the best for the people being attacked and I feel bad when they get it (mostly). As a father, too, I simply can't watch anything that endangers children or makes them scared. I don't find that very entertaining. 

I do like movies like The Shining, however, I guess because I know the kid gets away and it's more psychological than gorey. 

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This is mostly how I feel about horror movies. I always want the best for the people being attacked and I feel bad when they get it (mostly). As a father, too, I simply can't watch anything that endangers children or makes them scared. I don't find that very entertaining. 
I do like movies like The Shining, however, I guess because I know the kid gets away and it's more psychological than gorey. 
The Shining is brilliant, one of my favorite horror films. Kubrick was the master, he excelled at everything he tried, and horror was no different.

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Yeah, The Shining is probably my favorite movie ever. What I can do is to only reiterate what everyone has already said. I like my horror to be heavily psychological, messed up and intriguing. 
The psychological/atmospheric stuff is the best for sure, slasher BS doesn't hold much appeal for me. The campy stuff can be pretty fun though.

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4 hours ago, Requiem said:

This is mostly how I feel about horror movies. I always want the best for the people being attacked and I feel bad when they get it (mostly). As a father, too, I simply can't watch anything that endangers children or makes them scared. I don't find that very entertaining. 

I do like movies like The Shining, however, I guess because I know the kid gets away and it's more psychological than gorey. 

Yeah, being a dad has made me even more of a softy. 

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1 hour ago, BlutAusNerd said:

It has a funny way of doing that.

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Seriously. I cry at sappy bullshit I would have rolled my eyes at ten years ago, find new significance in some of the most trite dialogue, and feel vaguely queasy about casual violence even in dumb comic book movies. Let's keep that between us, though...

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On 5/3/2018 at 3:21 AM, FatherAlabaster said:

I don't like seeing people suffer

Dude ... are you ever on the wrong planet. 

Life means suffering and inevitable death, probably in scary and painful ways. That's a fact. So buckle up and be ready.

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3 hours ago, MaxFaust said:

Dude ... are you ever on the wrong planet. 

Life means suffering and inevitable death, probably in scary and painful ways. That's a fact. So buckle up and be ready.

This makes me think... does anyone know of any Buddhist metal bands?

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No matter how high your quality of life may be, you're still going get old, get sick, and ultimately die.

That's like the most predictable thing of all.

As for Buddhist metal, I'd look to Japan. If Hindu (which is to Buddhism what the Catholic church is to Lutherans) does it, I have been quite fond of Rudra -- name for the Hindu storm god, like Thor or Zeus -- for quite some time.  

The blazing chariot refers, of course, to the scene from the Mahabharata, when Krishna tells Arjuna about the futility of life, death and suffering, also known as Bhagvad Ghita. (Relevant to the subject matter.)

 

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Thoughts on horror movies...

Most horror movies have a terrible story and boring characters. That's why I rarely watch horror movies. I find that a horror movie is sometimes nice to watch when I feel some anxiety, but I rarely watch one anyway. I think the best horror movies are the ones that are carefully taken from a well-written novel, or something like that. As it stands though, horror movies are more focused on scares than anything else, which is unfortunate because I don't find any of them scary really.

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Thoughts on horror movies...
Most horror movies have a terrible story and boring characters. That's why I rarely watch horror movies. I find that a horror movie is sometimes nice to watch when I feel some anxiety, but I rarely watch one anyway. I think the best horror movies are the ones that are carefully taken from a well-written novel, or something like that. As it stands though, horror movies are more focused on scares than anything else, which is unfortunate because I don't find any of them scary really.
That seems to be a pretty myopic view of a longstanding and broad genre of cinema. Sure, there are plenty in the field that do just go for jump scares and cheap thrills, but that's hardly indicative of all horror. That's kind of like writing off power metal just because you've heard how bad Hammerfall is, or writing off death metal because of how bad Six Feet Under is.

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What horror movies would you say stand out of the crowd? When I think of a horror movie, I usually think of something like Insidious or Alien. I actually like Alien, but not because of the story or characters. I just think the atmosphere and filmography are quite good, and that's how I feel about most horror movies (but not all of them). It could be that I'm out of the loop or just watch the wrong horror movies.

To be clear, I don't have any problem *at all* with the concept of horror as a genre of film. I do find that the particular horror movies that I've been exposed to, for the most part, fall short on story and characters. Now I don't think a film has to have a good story and good characters to be enjoyable, but it seems to me like there are certain horror film formulas that have been used over and over. I can pick out almost any paranormal horror film and have a similar experience, for example. I think large budget horror films could really do a lot better in general, at least based on what I've seen.

What do you think?

 

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