sherouse@unc.UUCP (George W. Sherouse) (02/08/84)
x The call has come in mod.ber to liven things up a bit. Here goes... I for one am shocked and horrified that heavy metal has crawled back out from under its rock. The apparent success of these leather-bound crotch-rockers is disappointing to say the least. I thought we'd survived that once and for all, sort of like the mumps. And have you seen how they portray women in their videos? Usually in slit-to-here leather (of course) cave-woman-type getups and always standing against the light legs spread in anticipation of the arrival of the guitar-phallus. How could this be happening (again) in this age of relative enlightenment? Some observers have suggested that this is a reaction to the "sterility" of synthy-pop. The return of the guitar hero is one thing, but the tone of the music and associated videos seems to me to be frighteningly anti-social and violent. These are not the ravings of an anti-rock fanatic. Hell, I like the *Ramones*. And I was a big fan of some of the prototypical HM bands in my (their) youth. But something is just not right. Can anyone explain this to me? Good tunes to you... (the real) George W. Sherouse <decvax!duke!ncmc!unc!sherouse> "I got tired of counting all these blessings...and then I just got tired."
sherouse@unc.UUCP (George W. Sherouse) (02/10/84)
Matt Taylor mailed this to me and asked me to post it for him. Here you go, Matt... ================================================================== From: udenva!mtaylor@denelcor Date: Thu, 9 Feb 84 17:01:05 mst (I wanted to post this to the net, but couldn't since DU is not currently letting users submit mail. So, I am sending it to you. Maybe if you want you could repost it for me? I sure hope this message finds you somehow.) I have played in various bands for 12 years and have noticed a cyclic nature to the evolution of music with an increasing amplitude in either direction. In other words, heavy metal was bound to reappear. The guys who I play with have discussed this amongst ourselves and have decided that heavy metal *garbage* (There is a difference between heavy metal and heavy metal garbage), is indeed an emotion response to the now defunct (at least in Colorado) synth-pop. True there are other reasons, but I believe this to be the major one. An interesting phenomenon is that while synth-pop is at one extreme of the musical texture and heavy metal at the other, they both have the same qualities of having a very simplistic compositional style. *flames anyone?* True there are subtle licks, riffs, lyrics, etc; but having the same rhythm and chord changes for 8 bars and then a 1 bar change just doesn't cut the mustard for me personally (although it does cut the tape apparently). I am willing to bet a blank 5 and 1/4 inch floppy (big spender eh?) that heavy metal garbage (not heavy metal) will die very shortly. Heavy metal itself is going to stick around for a while now that it is reborn so to speak. A personal note: The band I play in now plays original rock, not too hard, but certainly not synth-pop. We are rather pleased that after synth-pop came heavy metal. We are sure that after everybody has had their ears blasted off, they will desire a compromise between synth-pop and heavy metal. Matt Taylor University of Denver udenva!mtaylor =========================================================== BTW, there seems to be agreement amongst those who have mailed to me that not all heavy metal is awful. Even I have no argument with that. My point, however, is that the *bad* heavy metal seems to be disproportionately popular these days. Ta. Good tunes to you, (the real) George W. Sherouse <decvax!duke!mcnc!unc!sherouse> "I got tired of counting all these blessings... ...and then I just got tired."