Comments on: Redistribution of wealth: Earache, Psycroptic

By: Graeme

Graeme — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:58:25 +0000

Thanks for the link. I initially meant to post a response here in the comments, but it didn’t take so I turned the main ideas into a blog post of my own.

By: Invisible Oranges

Invisible Oranges — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:31:13 +0000

For a good, detailed response to this post by a Canadian, see:

http://hocemolinakafu.blogspot.com/2008/10/for-government-subsidised-goregrind.html

By: Helm

Helm — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:35:54 +0000

karate-kicking teens who roam Sweden in sweatpants, kicking young death metal dudes — amazing.

By: Invisible Oranges

Invisible Oranges — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:57 +0000

bacon – Your school will require significant property tax increases to fund it. Also, you forgot: Hammerfall curling.

ian – The bit about karate-kicking teens absolutely blows my mind. Thank you for the thoughtful comment. (Though the way things are going, social security won’t be “crazy money” for long.) Anyway, that reminds me – I gotta buy that Swedish Death Metal book.

By: Ian Christe

Ian Christe — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:59:59 +0000

Before anyone learns the Swedish national anthem and tries to emigrate, you should know that the age of government sponsored mayhem is pretty much over. They've realized that the authority dream of every young Swede playing Chopin was badly perverted and totally crushed. So the free Marshall amps and government-funded youth center concert halls are much rarer. Ask a Swede about their government's attempts to influence culture, though, it's pretty fucked up and so wrong. Or check out the kicker pseudo-documentary Stockholmsnatt, which every young kid saw during school; maybe you noticed a few references to "kickers" in the Swedish Death Metal book. Those were karate-kicking teens who roamed Sweden in sweatpants during the 1980s kicking everyone, especially young death metal dudes. There were five in the country until the film was shown in schools. Afterwards, Mikael Akerfeldt and Nicke Andersson lived in FEAR! (see book)

Anyway, I've thought about this funded arts question for years, too, and after scraping by myself envying Europe through many lean years I have to say at this point I'm happy the American system discourages creative pursuits. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? I don't think a comfortable safety net would have improved the music of Black Flag, Morbid Angel, Eyehategod, or Converge. Desperate circumstances have created some excellent desperate music in the USA. And in Brazil. And now in Afghanistan. There's an honesty in making music for survival. My 18-year old self is wrinkling up his nose at this, but he didn't know very much.

Also, the US doesn't exactly need government support of music -- this country already has an insanely over-developed music industry that supports every kind of recorded contrivance known to man. From blips to squawks, there's a huckster ready to take your tape to market.

But if you really need assistance, just piss your pants and go see a social worker to apply for social security -- crazy money. You won't be able to vote, but you'll be free to follow your muse and eat lentils all day.

Too brief, but already too long.

IAN

By: bacon and blastbeats

bacon and blastbeats — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:48:47 +0000

Instead of P.E., you could pick among the following programs:

A crust apocalypse simulator, similar to a paintball course, but instead of a gun, you are armed with granola bullets and tofu grenades. You get to wear body armor straight out of Mad Max and you get to dodge bullets and escape evil police robots.

A power metal horseriding class, the classes will progress with basic horseriding, while the advanced classes involve jousting, horseriding while weaponry such as swords and axes, and the ultra intense mountain course with a fierce dragon at the end.

A black metal church burning class, where you would have to break in and enter a church, start a fire, and get out unnoticed in under a minute.

A grind blast beat endurance class, where the students will train to endure the rigorous task of completing blast beat marathons.

Instead of yachts, there will be a viking metal sailing class, where in teams, participants can learn how to run a viking ship and the final exam will be a trans-Atlantic voyage to Greenland.

By: Invisible Oranges

Invisible Oranges — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:41:43 +0000

Wow, you guys took this more seriously that I expected.

onerode - I have people in mind who could teach the Stoner Metal concentration.

bacon - There's a movie called Carrie...

helm - OK, Necrophagist just for teaching diminished arpeggios.

By: Helm

Helm — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:03:05 +0000

I think there should be Metal Appreciation Class where they discuss the history and aesthetics of the form and listen to great records but for the love of god, don’t teach them to play the stuff from an early age! Necrophagist? A fate worse than death! No more super-proficient metal guitarists with fingers faster than their brains please! It’s it’s effortless to do, it’s meaningless!

By: bacon and blastbeats

bacon and blastbeats — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:04:34 +0000

Here's an elective for high school metal band:

High School Black Metal Musical.

Instead of having the prom in a dimly lit gymnasium with balloons and disco balls, it will be held at the local forest preserve with torches, bonfires, fake blood and carrion hanging from the trees.

By: onerodetoasabay

onerodetoasabay — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:05:07 +0000

Mixed feelings on the Necrophagist, just not my cuppa. Although they should be included purely for technical reasons, especially because of Muhammed. I kinda think Years 1-3 could be crunched into one year (year dedicated to being an intro to metal) and the other dedicated to exploring and appreciation of different genres, maybe a different subgenre per term. I’d also definitely emphasize teaching some non-metal genres to compare/contrast and to enrich breadth of musical taste.

All that said, I’m with helm. Metal is best when it’s born in a more DIY fashion.