I’m looking forward to it so much that I’m SCARED.
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Oh. My. God.
If you need someone to watch it with, I’m in. I’m having flashbacks of “Decline of the Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years.”
Uhm – that movie is so brilliant.
Yeah – I’ll see when it’s opening and let’s GO.
Metallica in group therapy???? What??
Sheila,
Maybe you can enlighten me. I’m a big classical music fan, and I’ve never understood the appeal of metal. Why do you like this stuff so much?
Always looking to expand my aesthetic horizons…
Bryan: I love classical music too – but my music tastes are extremely MOODY. Metal satisfies the loud-mouthed rebel in me – it satisfies something so deep, so primal – it’s hard to explain.
Perhaps if you think of an overwhelming feeling that you get listening to your favorite symphony – how it lifts you up out of your life – or at least up and out of the mundane …
This loud thrashy music (if it’s good, and Metallica is the best) can lift me up out of the mundane, out of my head, like there’s no tomorrow.
It’s not just that it’s loud. It’s that it’s EXCITING. I can’t really describe it.
It makes my heart pound faster when I hear “Enter Sandman”. I remember where I was when I first heard it, I remember feeling like the hairs stood up on my arms … I like that feeling.
I can only take Metallica in small doses though. They’re too harsh for everyday use. (For me, anyway)
Sheila,
Your description reminds me of Longinus’ description of the sublime, and that interests me. I can relate to what you’re talking about, since my favorite composers (Beethoven, Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler, Nielsen, Schoenberg, Hartmann, Shostakovich) tend to be the loud and aggressive ones. I’m glad you mentioned a song title. That will give me a place to start.
Bryan:
Not to sound like a TOTAL ASS but Enter Sandman is a good one because – it’s been, in the long run, so influential. You can hear Nirvana in “Enter Sandman” – and it’s better than Nirvana.
The lead singer wrote the song because he grew up terrified of dying in the night – his parents were Christian Scientists and it was pretty grim for him.
Okay. Geekiness over.
Sheila:
Total ass? Why would I think that of you? We aren’t talking about rump parliaments again are we?
But in all seriousness, thanks for the recommendation.
hahaha No, it’s just that … I could feel myself getting kind of Rainman-ish about Metallica.
(Imagines Dustin Hoffman as Rainman as a headbanger…whoa.)
;-)
Okay, a little bit more autistic knowledge here for ya:
They became millionaires and hugely successful with next to no radio play. And yes – they made their records in garage studios and people passed around bootleg copies – That’s how Metallica became successful.
But with “Enter Sandman” something else happened – (I saw a thing on VH1 about it). They decided to take it to the next level – and to embrace their success. By that I mean: write a damn rock anthem that would get radio play.
And that was the result. Pretty cool. Even the band members were like: uh … wow … that’s a pretty great song we just wrote there.
Oh and one last Rainman-ish thing:
After the Black Album came out (with Enter Sandman) and it took over – many of their hardcore fans thought they had sold out. You know, the kinds of fans who resent it when their pet bands become huge successes.
I saw an interview with Lars Ulrich once – Ulrich is … completely wacked. But somehow, in some strange way, I like him.
And the interview asked him, “So how do you answer the criticism from your fans that you’ve sold out?”
And he shot right back, “Sell out? Yeah, we do sell out. In every city. At every show.”
my wife has sort of the same streak: she got her phd in renaissance lit, loves marvell, has had articles published on sydney and milton, and loves metallica, led zep and van halen.
I dislike Metallica, but man, fascinating article. Especially this: “If a band’s entire aesthetic is based on the musical expression of inexplicable rage, what’s left when that rage is vanquished?” Great question.
Red,
I loved your mentioning that you love classical as well, its just that sometimes you need something a little different depending on the mood.
My tastes as well are very eclectic, from classical to industrial, from reggae to rock, from lounge to polka, every song has a mood and songs augment what I’m doing at certain times. It not just about music, but the feeling you get from the music, or (at the risk of sounding like a total existentialist whacko) feeling the music. Feeling the beat with your body, feeling the high notes strain at the page they must have been written on, feeling the pathos of the musician or lyricist.
There are a couple songs by bands I normally wouldn’t listen to that seem to do the trick. One is “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit. Sometimes, listening to that song loudly, is very cathartic and cleansing in a way. I find my brain slate is wiped clean and what I was feeling is now behind me. I am ready to go on.
I remember listening to “Enter Sandman” at my job years ago and realizing that the band was relevant, if only to me, and haved liked some of their stuff ever since.