gaman said:
Hey Charliebox, did Al touch a nerve with you that might indicate you are overly identified with metal music and maybe you took that post in a personal way?
I ask this because Al's post seemed to set off a quite lengthy defense of heavy metal music and also the whole industry. After reading the forums for a while (and maybe you have already) you can see that there are many instances where people get triggered by some post and respond strongly defensively, and then some of them find out by working through it that they were locked in to a certain viewpoint or overly identified with something.
So, I point this out as something you might look at. To me, Al's post seemed to be an observation of how some areas of popular music have changed over the years and pointing out a different focus "back then".
Hey gaman.
I'm not sure if my post came across as I had intended. I had already been planning on writing a post about 'negative lyrics' and was actually on my way to this thread to post one, when I came across Al's response. Al didn't touch a nerve at all (I don't think) and instead of making my post out to the group, I identified Al simply because he was the last poster and he referred to the music as 'hate music'. I just wanted to clarify the difference between hate and anger/depression. Al actually helped me figure out what I was trying to point out because I think he was the first to refer to it as 'hateful'.
Maybe I misunderstood his post and he could have been talking about all music - mainstream and non-mainstream. I figured it was about metal simply because all but one of the posts before his were directly discussing heavy music.
I have no problem fully admiting that the majority of metal is not the type of music that is educational or liberating. Most bands are in it for the shock value. But as I had said, those bands tend to fade quickly (like a 'one hit wonder'). Others are all about thier image (being dark and black). Both of the above mentioned basically spew gibberish just like the majority of today's mainstream music. There are those 'gems' though (ie Metallica, before they became mainstream, when they talked about issues with drugs, war, politics, parental relationships, religion etc) who are able to put meaningful lyrics into the heavy style of music.
I was simply talking about my experience with 'negative lyrics' and how, to me, I find them liberating. Living in North America, where apathy seems to be par for the course and growing more by the day, I think it's refreshing to be able to listen to artists who have the guts to say what they think about personal, and more importantly, global issues. While the style of music has the image of being black and agressive, the majority of the time, the lyrics are anything but. It is quite an enigma. One sees these bands with black shirts and long hair singing about injustices in the world or the hypocracy of organized religion. Simply judging by appearances, one would not assume that these topics are part of thier lyrical content. I can definetly understand the assumptions one would have just by looking at them, hearing the music itself and the
style of singing.
Also, when one only looks at the surface of song or band names, it easy to assume they are hateful. A perfect example of this is a song by Slayer entitled 'God hates us all'. Just looking at the name, one would think that it's pretty brutal. But if one goes on to read the lyrics and understand the mentality of the authors, one realizes that it's a poke at the belief system of one all-powerful, seperate and most imporantly benevolent entity. They speculate, tounge in cheek, that if there really is an all-powerful, seperate entity in charge of the fate of humankind, he/she must really hate us considering the pain and suffering that has been inflicted upon our planet throughout human history.
As a quick sidenote I find the 'peace and love' lyrics almost akin to the new age motto of, 'love and light, everything will be okay if we sit in a circle holding hands'. After reading the series on Larel Canyon, it really makes me wonder. I'm not sure if I can explain this properly or not, but don't the majority of humankind (outside that 6+/-%) want these things? Aren't we all pretty much striving for that? What in that music is telling us things we don't know? Did we get any smarter or more aware because of it?
More importantly, was the music of that time actually instrumental in the demonstrations and political awareness of the Vietnam era, or did it serve to pacify people? How many 'would be' demonstrators went into the fields, dropped LSD and had sex? How many potentially politically aware individuals went and fried thier brains? Did the music enourage people to get off thier butts and become aware, or did it actually prevent people from doing? I don't know the answers to these questions. It's just something I've been thinking about when it comes to 'rainbow/ lollipop' type lyrics vs 'hard hitting/ slap you in the face with a dose of reality' lyrics.