Still working on my personal project to revisit old albums from my younger days. Been amusing so far with lots of surprises. I am discovering hidden gems – albums that I remember disliking when I was younger for stupid reasons, but now I actually enjoy them. On the flip side of that coin, I am also rolling my eyes at some of the crap I liked when I was a teenager. I am too ashamed to mention them.
Earlier this week, I was thinking about the differences between rock/metal music of today versus some of its earlier eras, trying to figure out what it is about the latter that seems so much more enjoyable that the modern descendants.
Maybe many of the best riffs were written then and there are no good ones left. Maybe the freshness of sounds and styles has been exhausted. We really did try every mix and conglomeration in the 90s in order to resolve this issue. The past decade has brought up some melodic variations of aggressive music (most are failures), but those are not a huge stretch from the radio-friendly fare 20-30 years ago.
What I think is missing from rock music these days is an element of heartfelt and authentic joy. That sounds like the lamest characteristic to put into metal, but hear me out.
I was thinking about Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All, a classic album that the band recently played live from start to finish at their Orion music festival. It is still one of my favorites of all-time, but I like the Rasmussen Trilogy better. But the biggest difference between that album and all of the band’s subsequent music is that was an album made by teenagers writing about the things they enjoyed – the close-knit metal society, touring, motorcycles, and chest-thumping destructive fantasies. It has a raw enthusiasm that makes no apologies. They were out to carve a place in a world that rejected them; and they made sure to do so with everything they felt they were about.
An extreme example would be Anthrax’s thrash albums, specifically Among the Living. Although much of their first two albums has the same professed love for all things metal, this popular album was the biggest fanboy statement because almost every track was inspired by or a tribute to pop culture – Stephen King stories, Judge Dredd comics, and even honoring one’s ancestors. Even their liner notes are full of references to favorite items from the late 80s. As cheesy as it might be to hear them play “I am the Law” so many years after Dredd was popular (although the recent movie wasn’t that bad), you can’t fault them for being true to themselves.
(Although honestly I always got this sense that they considered their thrash music to be part of some big inside joke, but who knows. At least up until John Bush became their singer and they started really kicking ass. I miss those days.)
Maybe I just don’t pay enough attention to today’s lyrics, but you can’t blame me since we went through two decades of heavy bands whining and bitching about their numerous personal issues in all manner of ways. I got tired of hearing meatheads and knuckledraggers bellow about their ex-girlfriends or other people that rubbed them the wrong way. After a short while, it got old. It seems like every few years a new crop of metal artists arrive with the same chips on their shoulders as all the previous incarnations. This cycle just will not die.
Where are the bands that want to make metal fun again? And I don’t mean by writing about the usual rock staples like sex and drugs. That’s nothing new and is overdone to the point of being lame now matter how young and horny you are. Where are those songwriters that want to craft a brutal ode to a cool fantasy novel or a sci-fi/horror movie? Seems like no one wants to take the risk of coming off as unaccessible to those not-in-the-know or, like early Anthrax, cheesy. Everyone in metal wants to make sure they are taken seriously, to be the most brutal and aggressive force to hit the states since the latest hurricane.
Them and about five thousand other bands. Give me a band that just loves to blend metal with other things they enjoy. Even if the album seems dated years from now, I’m willing to be the pure emotion and energy will continue to thrill many future generations.
So, anyone know of a few bands doing what I’m talking about? Would love to know.
Wrantnwrave 