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Heavy Metal: The Unsuppressable Voice of Truth
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Copyright 1987 Robert E. Szekely 76276,1026
This article is being written to refute some of what, I
feel, are glaring inaccuracies in Al McAnespy's article of July
1985; as well as addressing some of the accusations opponents of
Heavy Metal have directed at it.
Since Mr. McAnespy's article was written, the bands he named
as being the true spirit of Heavy Metal have indeed come of age.
What were the struggling, hungry spirits of 1985 have become the
lucrative commercial commodites of 1987.
However, calling the forefathers of Heavy Metal such as
Zeppelin, Sabbath et. al., "charlatans", or in contemporary
usage, "poseurs", is analogous in its implication to building a
house from the roof down.
As Robert Plant was once quoted as saying, "You can't escape
your roots." The 'roots' that Led Zeppelin's lead vocalist spoke
of are the only indigenous American musical form: The Blues; the
Roots of Rock and Roll.
Rock and roll was spawned in the Missippi Delta; and among
its grandfathers, men such as 'Blind' Lemon Jefferson and Albert
King; these Delta Bluesmen and their peers were the humbled
descendants of proud African men and women who had been shanghied
and enslaved by our forefathers. Their ancestors, pressed into
service as slaves. No respect for their dignity or
rights as human beings for the most part. So as they worked in
the fields, cultivating the cotton crops, they sang of their
misery. They sang as a catharsis, to cleanse their souls of
'the blues'; the pain of being persecuted and oppressed. Sad and
yet beautiful, they spontaneously broke into song; a music crying
out to the heavens. In this music, they found a voice that could
cry out pain in song, and so release it. From deep inside their
hurt and their inner beings, the black american slaves sang their
pentatonic melodies, rich and soulfully expressive of their
feelings in their chromatic inflections. Melodies which evolved
from the music of the deeply spiritual tribal chants of their
homeland; from the African Tribes, to whom religion and their
relationship with God was the focus of their lives. A religion to
which music was inextricably linked. It imparted to their
culture a strong sense of community, order and purpose; as well
as giving them strength to go on in times of need. Times such as
the black slaves faced almost daily; often whipped and treated
virtually like animals, their voices sang out their pain to God,
loud and clear, to apply the salve to soothe their aching souls.
To imply that Punk and Metal are kindred spirits is in
effect saying that Jesus and Lucifer are soul brothers. A
tenuous association at best, and highly inaccurate due to its
vague generality. True, they do exhibit the same adrenalin-
powered fervor in their music but overall, their intents are
polarized 180 degrees opposite each other.
It is the cursory analyses of Heavy Metal, which result
in often unsubstantiated accusations of the music causing social
degeneration and ultimately destruction, which I reject. These
ill-conceived accusations are a product of an ill-conceived,
half-assed mode of thinking which amounts to a doctor performing
circumcision on an infant boy with an axe. Too many can see
either only black OR white, but no grey.
The true spirit of HM, at its best, is the clarion call
of victory over seemingly insurmountable odds. If you don't
believe that, read some of Black Sabbath's lyrics from their
'Master of Reality' album.
True Punk Rock espouses nihilism. 'The System sucks!' says
the Punker. So what does he offer as a solution? 'Destroy it!'
So then what does the Punker suggest to replace what he wants to
destroy? Not a damn thing.
We'e known since the 1960's that music can often be a
powerful social influence. The fatalistic philosphy of the
hardcore Punker is social suicide; they are the Kamikaze
revolutionaries whose party line is the annihilation of
all order and civilization.
Heavy Metal is the princely scion of the most visceral
music; the purest contemporary form of blues. It is
sincere and in touch with reality and the times. Listen to it,
even softly...what do you hear? The soulful cries of blues
guitars pumped up louder and faster than Ol' Father Blues; so
their cries of "Let My Voice Be Heard!" can pierce the din of
strife, deception and corruption which are manyfold more
deafening and occuring at much a faster pace than just two
generations ago. They simply have to be louder and faster than
previous generations in order to be heard above the maddening
noise of current society.
No, HM is not above reproach. There are those desperate
fools who cash in the current commercial marketability of the
concepts of degeneration and decay. The pathetic popularity of
the themes of Death, Doom, Destruction and Damnation make for a
high return on investment at present: a large profit made in a
short amount of time, with minimal investments of time, effort
and money.
And our youth desperately reaches out for a voice to guide
them through the confusion; latching on and hanging tightly to
the first thing that sounds remotely like a message of guidance.
Fearing nothing better can come along, they make the most of
trying to form values from the thematic and lyrical bullshit of
groups like Mercyful Fate and their ilk; the purveyors of 'Black
Metal'. The only sin of the audience of Black Metal is their
injudicious choice of filling the brains with dangerous garbage,
and modeling a lifestyle of deadly fantasy upon it.
But the answer here is not suppression. The more you try to
hide or run away from something, the more doggedly it pursues
you. The more you try to ignore it, the stronger it grows; until
finally, it overwhelms you, completely. Then, it's too late.
By the same token, to fall victim to the fallacy of this
common sweeping generalization, "All Rock and Roll/Heavy Metal
is evil/Devil music.", is as bad as saying that all Jews are
cheap, all Germans are Nazis, all Italians are Mafia and all
Puerto Ricans are thieves. It is IGNORANT and DANGEROUS to think
that way. Because in fact, with those so-called 'views', you
ACTUALLY ARE NOT thinking at all: you've heard or repeated the
epithet so many times that now you're brainwashed into believing
it. But if you honestly sit down and ask yourself why you
'believe' it, or how you arrived at that point of view, you
either go blank, or start mechanically spouting some more
dogmatic cliches in order 'rationalize' 'your point of view'.
WHICH WASN'T YOUR POINT OF VIEW TO BEGIN WITH!
And that's the point I argue in favor of True Heavy Metal.
Music doesn't damn people; people's actions do. Ignorance and
clever deception the semantic sleight-of-hand are the dangerous
influences we should all be on the watch for. True Heavy Metal's
saving grace is its unrelenting candor; we calls 'em as we sees
'em. So if things really look bad we're gonna tell ya, loud and
clear, just how bad they are, so we can make sure that you get
the message, so together, we can all do something about making it
better. Heavy Metal, in its pure, true form; as it's meant to be,
carries a sincere, crystal-clear message to all, singing it
voice loud hard and fast, to ring out over all the interference
Der ScheissMeisters through in its path to try to prevent truth
from being heard and acted upon.
In conclusion, it is the promoters of Black Metal and their
allies who are the true "poseurs"; they are the danger, or put
more succinctly, the idiots. But suppression and eradication is
not a solution. Education is. Knowledge is power; and only
knowledge of what is and what isn't true can give us the power to
fend off the negative influence of Black Metal, Hardcore Punk AND
THEIR KIN.
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