Subgenres and Money

            In chapter six of Extreme Metal, Keith Kahn-Harris talks about subgenres of extreme metal.   I thought this was pretty interesting because it directly related to my popmatters article, writing about a subgenre that uses classical music as an influence.  “At the forefront of this experimental tendency have been some of the members of the early 1990s Norwegian black metal scene.  Bands such as Ulver and Arcturus have incorporated classical music, ‘trip hop’, sampling operating singing, and drum and bass into their music” (Extreme 133).   Experimenting in music is something that I think is necessary in order to make new sounds and helps transgress the genre.  However, sometimes transgression is not necessarily a good thing.  I think that as a whole, the subgenre of nu metal was a bad form of transgression.  Bands such as Korn and Limp Bizkit took over the musical scene and became almost as popular as heavy metal in the 1980s.  They had singers that rapped over down tuned guitars and sang about “the dysfunction of the singer” (Extreme 135). 

            One thing I thought was interesting was the authenticity factor of metal.  “Grossberg argues that in postmodernity authenticity remains an important value in rock – as it is in extreme metal where to be ‘true’ and not ‘trendy’ is paramount – but an authenticity that acknowledges the impossibility of differentiating between the authentic and inauthentic” (Extreme 145).  I think that this is why a lot of times the metal scene is not very popular.  They don’t want to be trendy and give in to social norms; instead they want to be different.

            However, heavy metal bands suffer from the same problems as popular bands.  Even though they don’t want to be ‘trendy,’ they need to make money and have to have some aspects of their music to conform to social norms.  As was the case with extreme metal band Mayhem, when one of the members wanted to videotape torturing a member to death in order to sell more copies of their album.  However, this didn’t go as planned and they got in a fight about a record contract, ending with the stabbing of guitarist Euronymous.  So the influence of money does not only affect popular music, it affects extreme metal bands like Mayhem.  

Global Metal

I found this weeks subject matter and readings very interesting because we have spent so much time talking about globalization in the business world. It is true that the world is becoming more and more connected. Less than one hundred years ago, the only way to get across the world was by boat which would take months and months. However with the advent of the commercial airplane, you can travel to China in a matter of hours. On top of this, with the introduction of the Internet in the last twenty years, you can send files and talk to people from across the world instantaneously. It is absolutely amazing and it comes by no surprise that this phenomenon has affected the music world and more specifically the metal world.

Watching Sam Dunn's documentaries Metal: A Headbangers Journey and Global Metal, he points out the differences in metal across the world. It was so interesting to learn about how metal differs from place to place. I thought it was very interesting how in Bali (I think) they sang about topics of everyday life. Instead of singing about fictional brutalities or about witches and dark topics, they just sang about their lives. When you listen to the song, it doesn't sound that way because they sing with a harsh, raw voice. In contrast, when San Dunn went to Norway, he found that the bands sang about ancient Norwegian gods. It just shows that the sound of the metal stays constant, but what they sing about is completely different.

The article Heavy Metal Cairo, the author talks about metal in the middle east. In this example, metal heads were persecuted by the government and put into jail to be tortured. On January 22, 1997, The dawn “fajr” occurred where "machine-gun wielding Egyptian security forces in full body armour bust down the doors of some 70 middle-class homes, dragging the dreamers from their beds and locking them in squalid jail cells." I find this so outrageous that the government would come into people's house while they were sleeping and arrest them for listening to metal. They persecuted them by asking them personal questions that were ridiculous such as "do you spit on graves?" The only thing I can relate this to, but on a much lesser scale, is when the US government and church groups were so against metal and tried their hardest to rid it or censor it. However, Dee Snider represented metal as a whole in front of a grand jury and stood up for metals rights. Maybe this is something that needs to happen in these countries.

Women and goth metal

This week we talked in depth about goth metal and the rise of women in heavy metal. Grunge godfather Kurt Cobain once said that "the future of rock belongs to women" (Krenske). Although this is somewhat true, it has not taken full effect yet, especially in heavy metal. Some bands have taken the liberty to include women as their lead vocalists, but they are still being used as objects like in other types of media. For instance, the band Arch Enemy has a women front runner and she is made out to be a sex object, wearing makeup and often posing for album covers in front of the band in provocative poses. However, by her posing in front of the band, it helps prove Cobain's point that women are the future. She is the main part of the band while the rest of the band merely is backup.

This is also true with goth metal vocalists. The music is not all that challenging with the guitarists just playing basic metal riffs while the woman vocalist soars high above. I thought that our classmate made a really good point comparing goth metal to Black Sabbath. In the song Iron Man, Black Sabbath sings along to the same tune as the guitarists during the chorus. In this case, the band and the singer are in unison and on the same page. For other goth metal bands, the singer sings above the rest of the band making her the focal point of the music.

I think it is important for women to enter the heavy metal scene. It adds another dimension to the music and helps the genre transcend into different territories. However, I don't think that you can really call the types of goth metal discussed in class as heavy metal. Just because they play with distorted guitar and sing about dark topics such as witches and trolls doesn't mean that they can be labeled as heavy metal. Their sound is so much cleaner than the true heavy metal bands and it lacks that raw emotion. The singers usually sound like they are classically trained as opposed to the rawness of other heavy metal bands. On top of that, their concerts are very produced as opposed to the authenticity of other heavy metal bands.

The Fans

In the article Heavy Metal Carnival by author Karen Bettez Halnon, she describes a mutual dislike among the general public for heavy metal. "For example, whereas millions 'like or strongly like heavy metal,' many more 'strongly dislike it' (Halnon). This is something that I can strongly relate to. Some of my friends like heavy metal and even darker death metal. But overall, I would say that most of my friends extremely dislike it to the point where they cannot even listen to one second of it. It is funny to see how polarizing a musical genre can be. I think it has to do with what Hanlon talks about as devil music. People hear the songs with the singers either screaming or singing in low, inaudible voices. People are so used to hearing popular music and do not want to broaden their horizon.

Carnival metal is such a different genre than any other genre of heavy metal. In a way it is a more extreme version of glam or hair metal. It is all about the show that they put on and the outfits that they wear. Artists like Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper are good examples of this because of their onstage antics such as bat chomping, fire breathing, and blood spitting. Other bands such as GWAR, Insane Clown Posse, and Slipknot all have similar qualities to Ozzy and Alice. They have insane and outrageous outfits often taking things a step further than most bands. I feel like with their outfits and songs, their musical "scene" almost has a humorous aspect to it.

The article by Jeffrey Arnett describes the type of crowd that attracts metal crowds and how they are usually all young white males. It is almost like a type of religion or cult following, everyone wearing the same outfits. "They wear black t-shirts with (often violent) heavy metal logos depicted on them; black is the color of mourning and it reflects their dark view of what the world is like and what society's prospects are for the future" (Arnett). I have only been to one metal concert in my life, Rage Against the Machine, and the demographic at that concert was exactly what Arnett describes in the article.

In one of the videos we watched in class, one artist talked about how metal is the music and the scene for needs or not popular students. I think that is not always the case, but I do think that metal is a good outlet for misunderstood kids. I also liked how in one of the movies watched in class it described how the people at metal concerts are very nice even though the music which they listen to can be very mean. It is a good crowd that can all get along because they share the same musical taste and everything that goes along with that including politics, clothing, and personality.

The most extreme black metal

Chapters one and two of Extreme Metal introduce the fundamentals of extreme metal. This term can be interchanged with black metal, death metal, or thrash metal. This type of music uses the "tritone," or the devils music. For hundreds of years, the catholic church banned the use of the tritone in any type of music. This is reason why we feel like this sound is so dark, because they were deemed inappropriate for so long. One of the things that I found so interesting was the fact that the majority of extreme metal's audience is predominately white, suburban youth. I think that this makes perfect sense. At this age, teens are trying to find an identity. They are confused going through adolescence and trying to figure out who they are. On top of this, they are living in a dull, boring place. They aren't living in the hustling city, they are just living in the mundane suburbs. Because of this, they develop some anger and rage which comes out in their music and style of music they listen to.

Another topic presented in the readings was the idea of transgression and globalization. I think these two topics go hand in hand. Metal is a very transgressive musical style to begin with. "Transgression, like extremity, implies a sense of testing and crossing boundaries and limits" (Harris 29). Metal has always tried to cross boundaries and limits starting with the early stage metal bands. Starting with Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple, bands tried to take the heavy sound one step further. After progressing this heavy sound for decades, extreme metal was finally born. That is the nature of the music. Once a band cannot make a new sound, they usually just die out.

Another thing I thought was so interesting was the relationship between the "musical side" and the "commercial side." "The scene has a 'musical side' and a 'commercial side' but the relationship between the two is confused" (Harris 14). I think that the the commercial side can overstep the boundary of the musical side. A lot of times when bands get signed to a major label, they loose sight of their musical focus and they start making music just to make money. This happens more often an not and usually bands start making terrible music because of it. I am not sure if this happens very much with extreme metal because many of these bands have not had major commercial success. But I would assume that many dark metal bands sounds have changed due to different record labels.

Thrash

The article “Thrashing All Around” by Glen Pillsbury talks about the origins of thrash metal, specifically the start of Metallica.  Pillsbury argues that the start of thrash metal came in 1983 with the release of Metallica’s first album, Kill ‘Em All.  The sound on this album had never been heard before.  This is clear with the vocals of lead singer James Hetfield.  “Hetfield’s short opening shriek that coincides with the introduction of the bull band texture is also crucial for making the fast tempo sound aggressive: his short, high-pitched, distorted vocalization coming across as a blast of transgressive energy” (Pillsbury).  This in-your-face attitude was soon to be one of the main characteristics of thrash metal. 

After Metallica’s success on Kill ‘Em All, they decided to sign a deal with a major record company.  This decision was not based on the music, rather it was a purely business decision.  They were going to be able to get more money, publicity, and better recordings than before when they were on an independent label.  However, they were not selling out like many thought as Elektra did not force Metallica to change its habits and let them do as they pleased and as a result, their sound did not change.  Most of the time when a band signs to a major record label, their sound becomes much more produced and the band loses their identity.  It seemed like the best option for Metallica to sign with Elektra, and it is something that I would have done as well.

With the success of Metallica, other bands started to change their sound in order to keep up.  Bands such as Slayer and Dark Angel were left in the dust and had to change their sound in order to be successful.  “The energy was there, the talent really wasn’t for all the bands involved; like Slayer was a crazy cover band called Dragon Slayer, and Dark Angel was really bad at the time too.  All of a sudden something got cohesive.  Metallica got good and everybody said, ‘look we gotta step our act up’” (Get Thrashed).  So because of Metallica, thrash metal would not be where it was today.

One thing that was common throughout all of metal was that it was purely about the music.  Most of the bands enjoyed underground success, but there was no money involved.  It wasn’t about making millions; it was just about the metal sound.  Because of this, the sound progressed and new sounds were created.  I think that this has slowly been taken away from metal in recent years.  One of the things that helped Metallica gain such success is the fact that kids were making copies of their tapes and giving it to their friends.  This is exactly what was happening with the rise of the Internet and illegal downloading.  Kids were downloading tracks for free and Metallica’s drummer, Lars Ulrich, lost sight of this and filed lawsuits against violators.  In my opinion his is rich enough, and needs to start making better music. 

The Underground

Chapter four of Waksman's book deals with metal, punk, and the crossover between the two. One band in particular, Motörhead, blends these two styles and creates their own genre. Their sound is unique in that it uses very fast blues riffs. You can definitely hear the heavy blues influence in their music. It was said in the documentary watched in class that all lead singer Lemmy wanted to create was a British version of MC5. Their sound is very similar, but they put their own twist to it. Lemmy's raspy voice sounds like he has been smoking cigarettes since birth, and that helps give them their own sound. Where Motörhead crosses over with punk is their song lengths and sped-up riffs. But I think that they are extremely different. They are different in that Motörhead is heavier, has more musical structure, and has shredding guitar solos. I think that they do have some similarities but I think after Motörhead is where the line between punk and metal is drawn.

Motörhead is just one of the bands from the new wave of British heavy metal. Some of the other bands that came out of this new phase were Iron Maiden and Def Leopard. Some of the other bands around at the time were lumped into this category even though their music was not metal at all. I thought it was so interesting that there was a metal disco in England where metal heads could gather and headband to new cutting edge music. The Kingsbury Bandwagon debuted all of the new music and was a key part in popularity of british new wave heavy metal. It was so interesting that the staff of the Kingsbury would put together a chart of the top demo tapes.

I can't even imagine listening to a new Iron Maiden demo tape. It must have been so raw and like nothing else at the time. It is so crazy to think about how different music is today. Back then if you got a demo tape, you had something special. It was a listening experience, where you would get together with your friends and listen to the whole demo in it's entirety. Now most people download singles from iTunes and only listen to one sone and because of that the idea of an album has died. It is sad to think about that, and it makes me with that I were alive when music was different.