The best of intentions

. . .

“How can you listen to so much metal???” she asked. My friend of 15 years and I were walking down the street.

“Don’t you know me?” I thought. I didn’t say it, though.

Instead I said, “Do you like spicy food?”

“Yes”, she said.

“Do you like the feeling of speed?”

“Well, I like acceleration”.

“If you put those two together, you get metal”.

“Hm”. She sounded unconvinced.

. . .

Only women have asked me why I listen to metal. No man has ever said to me, “You and your metal” in a sarcastic tone. Guys get it. The ones I hang around, anyway. They understand that ridiculous things like bodybuilding or fighting for sport are just guy-ness taken to the next level. Listening to loud music is playtime in comparison.

. . .

You should read this blog: A Lifetime in Dark Rooms. It’s about horror movies, which of course should appeal to many of you. But it’s really about movies in general, and, by extension, art and life. It’s the type of writing about art that I like: probing, insightful, lucid.  Not only does author Cliff Evans know what to say, he knows what not to say. He’ll describe a horror movie so vividly that I get scared without having seen it, yet leave out enough so that I still want to see it. In fact, I’ll want to see it more than ever, thanks to his thoughtful analysis. I don’t have time to watch movies anymore – but if/when I do again, I’ll head straight for Evans’ selections.

You should also read this blog: The Liberated Voice. It’s about singing. Only some of us sing, but all of us listen to singers. This blog is really about self-improvement in art and life. Author Claudia Friedlander is a voice teacher in New York City whose teaching spans everything from opera to extreme metal. Her writing is also insightful and lucid – so much so that I read her avidly even though I don’t sing. Friedlander’s approach is both technical and philosophical. It reminds me of Steve Vai’s columns on guitar playing – see his writings here, especially his Martian Love Secrets columns. Their teachings have stuck with me for decades.

. . .

Friedlander, incidentally, was one of the women who asked me why I listen to metal. I didn’t answer in terms of spicy food or speed. Instead, 1349 came to mind, specifically the song “Hellfire”. Cheekily enough, it’s 13:49 in length. It’s a grind to hear – and it must have been quite a journey for drummer Frost to record. “Journey” is the operative word. This music is an adverse experience with a positive payoff. Why do people lift weights or run long distances or undertake whitewater rafting? It’s because at the end one is sweaty and spent, and stronger for it. Weak art is by the weak for the weak. Strong art is the opposite.

1349 – “Hellfire”
[audio: 1349_HELLFIRE.mp3]

I would also direct Friedlander to Evans. He has a wonderful post, “On Torture Porn”. In it, he dissects pop culture’s use of the term “porn”: “food porn”, “house porn”, and so on. He explains – to those who need explaining – that violence is not per se bad as an aesthetic device. Sometimes extreme violence is necessary to get a point across. (His example is the movie Hostel.) This argument, of course, is applicable to metal. Metal is not low-class because it is violent. Of course, it can be low-class if it is mindlessly violent. But often the best stuff is the most violent because extremity is necessary to effect altered states, or to convey horror, if that is the intent.

“Intent” is the operative word. The intent to make good art is not necessary to make good art – see Wesley Willis – but it sure can help. Friedlander would agree. She has a great post on performing with 100% focused intent. If the intention is not pure, the impurity will be obvious. This is a core precept of metal. When a Black Album or Cold Lake comes along, fans see through it. They do so because they’ve undergone Kill ‘Em All and Morbid Tales. Those are violent, transformative experiences. They are lessons in strength and purity. They are why we listen to this music.