As I sit in my room with my guitar by my side and Symphony X roaring from my boom box, I look around at all of my autographed band posters and promos and I wonder, “Where did this all start? Who started it? Why has it caused such polar reactions in the past?”. All of these questions often lead to more intricate and detailed questions. Questions like “What are the different genres?”, “What exactly determines a bands genre?”, and “what are its philosophies?”. These are questions that not only myself, but many other metal fans have pondered since its establishment.
As I lay and my fingers interlock behind my neck, I think of how many fans of metal would like to argue that metal was started in the late 60’s or early 70’s. But in fact, metal, as a music, has been around since the mid 19th century with the famous composer Richard Wagner. However, the idea of metal goes even further back to approximately 1789. In 1789 there was tension between those who wished to remain colonies and those who wanted a centralized federal group (D.L.A.D.M.B.M.R). This left Europe with a vast amount of internal religious infighting descended from their discordance of the middle ages. The egalitarian movement contrasted these differences. The egalitarian movement wouldn’t actually take effect until after WWII when we all shared a common enemy. And when the egalitarian movement did take effect, it became known as the counterculture.
Although people don't usually associate heavy metal with Classical music and Opera, it is these influences that make metal unique. Around the time of the Classical Era of music, composers weren't allowed to use a certain chord called the tritone because it had a flat or diminished fifth note (Dunn). This note made what ever chord it was played in sound evil. Back then, when people heard the tritone, they immediately thought "EVIL" or "THE DEVIL". Richard Wagner (19th century composer) broke the rules by often using the tritone in his music. Wagner also invented an instrument called the Octa-bass to make his music heavier and to compliment the impact of the piece (Dunn). This instrument required two people to play it due to its vast height. One person to pluck the strings and one person to press the frets to bring out the notes. This created a strong and heavy bass sound which shook the rafters.. Much like opera, metal requires a very strong vocal ability depending on the genre. When people listen to heavy metal for the first time, they tend to almost always overlook the operatic vocal production in bands such as Judas Priest or Iron Maiden. Classical music and opera indeed had, and still have, a huge impact on the creation heavy metal music as it is today.
Many of metal’s originators were birthed in the early 70's. Most of these were bands were bands like Cream, Blue Cheer, and Mountain. These bands influenced bands like Deep Purple, Rush, and Uriah Heap. It wasn't until the 80's when heavy metal became recognized as an official genre of music. As I flip through my vinyl record collection, it hits me that Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Dio are the main ones responsible for making that happen. Judas Priest with its operatic vocals, killer guitar riffs, and fast paced drumming along with Iron Maiden's signature guitar harmonies and Black Sabbath's memorable vocal melodies set the standard for heavy metal music as we know it today. This is when heavy metal started to define its own sound and was being played on car radios and in garages across the nation.
Although many great things were happening for metal in the 80's, the 80’s are also known for its attacks on heavy metal. Heavy metal was known as unsophisticated music for unsophisticated people. This is when a desperate, yet paranoid, climate emerged from commercial music. Artists wanted to put out music but had to be very careful about the content of their product. Until heavy metal, most music has dealt with puppy love and the ideology of neo-Christian beliefs of peace reigning down on earth if we all treated each other equally. Heavy metal spoke of both the good and bad. In the 1980's, society only wanted to hear the good and ignore the bad. Most fans of heavy metal back then were only used to seeing and/or experiencing the bad in life, therefore, found solace in knowing that they weren't the only ones going through hard times. When people are feeling down or angry, they don’t want to turn the radio on and listen to the temptations. Most people want to listen to a song that maybe sounds like something they might be going through. For some reason, the government and the media had a major issue with reality and needed a scapegoat. Going straight towards heavy metal seemed to be the right thing to do for them.
On September 19, 1985, Dee Snider (front man for rock band Twisted Sister) was invited to present his ideas regarding the labeling of certain albums for their content. The first accusation had been addressed by Al Gore's wife, Tipper Gore. Mrs. Gore had accused Dee Snider of writing a song that encouraged sadomasochism, bondage, and rape. In fact, the song ('Under the Blade') was about the throat surgery of the band's guitarist (Dunn). Dee simply replied with "That the writer could misquote me is curious, since we make it a point to print all our lyrics on the inner sleeve of every album. As the creator of "Under the Blade," I can say categorically that the... only sadomasochism, bondage, and rape in this song is in the mind of Ms. Gore.". This infuriated the senate.. Tipper Gore said that it isn't a leap of the imagination to think that the song was about sadomasochism. Dee replied saying that people looking to find bondage and sadomasochism will find bondage and sadomasochism. People looking for surgical references would find what they are looking for too. The senate was very impressed at the fact that Mr. Snider could construct a sentence of the English language fluently. This caused the media to back off a little bit for a while.
Unfortunately, not all cases against heavy metal were as easy to deal with. 2 days before Christmas in 1985, two young men shot themselves ultimately ending in one's death and one's extreme disfigurement.. Prior to the event, both men had consumed excess amounts of alcohol and smoked marijuana (Moore). Because they were fans of Judas Priest, their parents immediately turned to the music as an easy escape. They tried to sue Judas priest for putting subliminal messages in their music that supposedly told the two young men to kill themselves. The parents claimed that Judas Priest placed ''Let's be dead'' and ''Do it.'' into their songs to make their diehard fans (no pun intended) kill themselves. The singer for Judas Priest pointed out the simple fact that commanding their fans to kill themselves would be counterproductive. It is just illogical. He also said that if they were to insert subliminal messages at all, they would say "Buy more of our records" (Moore). If these kids pay their life's savings to see you, if these people buy every album you put out, why would you want them to kill themselves? This is how extremely desperate the public was. Eventually the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.. The singer of Judas Priest explained that that the words "do it" had no direct message. Sadly, the young man that survived his suicide attempt died 3 years later due to a painkiller overdose.
During the 90’s is when the Black metal and Death metal movement started. Black metal is the most attacked and most controversial genre of metal that there is. It often involves live stage theatrics, a technique of heavy palm muted tremolo picking, and guttural vocals. The reason the it is disliked so strongly, is because of its stand on religion. Most black metal is against Christianity. Not necessarily Satan worshiping, but against Christianity. The guitarist from the thrash metal band Slayer once said how amazed he was because of how Christianity is the only acceptable cult and how it is nothing but brainwashing. In black metal, this is how many people feel about Christianity Varg Vikernes is one of Norway’s most infamous black metal musicians and the poster boy for anti-religion. Varg Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the burning of three Norwegian Churches. Upon receiving this sentence, a smile gradually crept up his cheeks. When asked for his reasoning behind the arson, he replied "They [the Christians] desecrated our graves, our burial mounds, so it's revenge." "For each devastated graveyard, one heathen grave is avenged, for each ten churches burnt to ashes, one heathen hof is avenged, for each ten priests or freemasons assassinated, one heathen is avenged." This event most certainly gave heavy metal a terrible reputation. Day by day, Rap stars and Hip Hop "artists" are arrested for violence, drugs, and sometimes murder. Until this incident, fans of metal were able to say that people were looking for reasons to hate metal. Varg Vikernes gave society a reason.
While I place my ax on the peak of my knee and pluck the nickel wound strings to the tune of my imagination, I start to think to myself "What exactly is it that distinguishes metal from other genres of music like rap, country, and rock?".. One huge difference is the affect it has on people. I speak for myself when I say that no other music can make the hair stand up on the back of your neck like metal. When I first heard the guitar solo and orchestral harmony in the song "Sacrificed Sons", I almost cried! No other music could possibly do that for me. How many people can say the same for the latest 50 Cent single or the new T.I video? Not many. Heavy Metal has a certain factor that not many other genres can attain. Many rap artists, singing groups, or hip hop singers have other people write their music. Whether it be the computer generated beats, the lyrics, or the vocal melody, it is rare to find an artist in the mainstream music scene that composes all of their own music.
A main distinction between heavy metal and hard rock is the influence that each genre took. Lots of rock music is derived from distorted blues and other genres of that sort.. For this, most groups use guitars with little distortion, a simple jazz drum kit, and a jazz bass. Metal takes most of their influence from classical music, opera, virtuosic concepts, and some different folk genres. This gives metal groups a wider variety to work with. To get it's distinct heavy metal sounds, most metal bands use very distorted guitars, 5 string basses, double bass drum pedals, customized drum kits, and the occasional keyboard.
Vocal styles also very from genre to genre. As you might know by now, rock singers ten to have more of a raspy or whiney voice. Often when they sing, they sing at a very low volume with the microphone close to their mouths. There are many different vocal styles used in heavy metal, but for this example, I will specifically use power metal. Power metal singers usually have a very distinct voice and a distinct timbre to their voices. When they sing it takes a tremendous amount of effort because of the sound that they aim for, and the level of difficulty that they want to give their music.
So after all of this, I lie on the couch in my room with both hands interlocked behind my neck and in my head I start to dissect my experiences with heavy metal. Since I first heard it, I fell in love with it. What exactly is the meaning or philosophy behind it? What is it that keeps me coming back to it? Many people refer to music as a form of art or a catharsis. And just like any form of art, metal has a philosophy to it. The main philosophy behind metal is, just like any other kind of music, to simply just express yourself (Ahonen). It is to let us express ourselves and to let us look further into the beliefs behind that expression. I can speak from first hand experience in saying that it definitely works! If the music is made correctly, it will contain the ability to transfer an emotion that others have experienced. If you have gone through a very sad time in your life, like losing a loved one for example, and write a very sad song, other people will be able to experience the emotion that you felt at that very moment. Some of the ways that not only metal but many other genres of music are able to let you experience this is by imitating life. Metal reflects life in it's sounds. It uses rhythm to imitate motion. It uses tone to reflect the mood. What is different about metal is the fact that it embraces all moods and experiences. Not just the ones that people love to hear or feel like many other genres. It can capture anger, happiness, sadness, repentance, melancholy, and even fright. Essentially any emotions or feelings you might feel throughout life. Metal reflects life in it's sounds. Metal chooses it's audience based on what the audience perceives the world to be. Those who choose metal find an evocative and realistic experience in music.
What has come clear to me is that there is no explanation for what draws people towards heavy metal music. Maybe it is metal's ability to embrace what we often ignore, to face what we often fear most, or to introduce you to an emotion that you maybe don't sense or feel all the time. But what I know is that you either love it or you don't. To some metal could be a catharsis. You could go to work or school and have a terrible day, but at the end of that day heavy metal is there. It isn't there to criticize you, it isn't there to judge you, and it isn't there to tell you that you are wrong. People find confidence in metal because it is a strong type of music that gives you the ability to think and/or stick up for yourself. Metal presents you with other possibilities. Possibilities top transcend the everyday mundane routine of life. Now that my radio is turned off, now that my guitar has been gently placed on its stand, now that my vinyl record collection is now put back in order, the siren kicks me from a sleep.
