Categories: music
Tags: metal, Lou Reed, Metallica, Lulu
Date: 26 January 2012 12:05:06
As the slogan goes, you either love it or you hate it.
However those who I speak to who hate metal are usually those who have never listened to it properly. Or those who find it disturbing.
Well it is disturbing. Come to think about it I find Marmite disturbing too, but this is not a blog about Marmite. Chord sequences going to the minor third of a major scale (e.g. E major to G Major) or to the flattened fifth take listeners outside the comfort zone of the root, subdominant, dominant seventh three chord trick (or their relative minors) that makes up most of the music that is heard in the West.
What exactly makes up metal? The term heavy metal for music came from the lyrics of Born to be wild by Steppenwolf. However what was called heavy metal in the 60s would not be regarded as heavy enough today. Musical categories are fluid.
Which brings me to the latest album in my collection, the album Lulu by Lou Reed and Metallica.
With Lyrics written by Reed based on plays by German dramatist Frank Wedekind this is not easy listening. It is written from the point of view of a woman who has relationships with men without emotional involvement and who is abused by those she meets the album manages to be both deeply disturbing and yet uplifting at the same time. Plus it has killer riffs.
And that is what metal as a musical genre does best. It isn't just heads down no nonsense mindless boogie, it also makes you think. Mindless music for intellectuals.