Things You Just Don't Say To Metalheads

Let's face it- we live in a world where everybody talks about how open-minded they are, and how they don't believe in stereotypes, but metalheads are still mocked and are still prejudiced against by a good percentage of ignorant people. Such is hypocrisy at the finest, and I hear statements like the following far too often than I should for a world where everybody allegedly respects the tastes and beliefs of others.

1. "Are you drunk or stoned?"

Everybody has bad days or days when they are not feeling well and this is not a nice thing to say to anybody, even somebody who has a reputation for being this way. It is a harsh character judgement and implies you abuse substances to avoid coping with reality. Especially to a metalhead, this is a tremendous insult because it implies that you are a directionless degenerate just because of the music you listen to. Let me just say this, Kanye West is more likely to provide the soundtrack to a teenager's dropping out of high school than Black Sabbath.

2. "It's only metal. It doesn't mean anything."

Music is a source of inspiration and guidance to everybody to some degree. Just because somebody listens to metal doesn't mean that they aren't getting as many morals out of their music as somebody who listens to gospel music. It's all in your interpretation of things. 

3. "This song was written a long time ago. It's content is obsolete."

Many challenges faced by humanity nowadays were the same ones faces by humans a long time ago. The song might be old but the issues addressed remain the same. Why is the speakers voice any less important just because it occurred some time ago?

4. "Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a dove/bit the head off a bat/urinated on the Alamo/etc."

Freaking get over it. Did it hurt YOU in any way?

5. "This music is terribly satanic."

Nobody took satanism seriously. It was all a part of an image and of publicity stunts. Many metal musicians come from strictly religious and proper households and maintained that lifestyle in their free time.

"I don't wear a pentagram because I worship the devil. I wear a pentagram to piss people off." -Nikki Sixx

6. "Rock stars exploit women."

It isn't exploitation if it's voluntary. Don't judge the whole sex of females by the actions of these women, look at them as individuals whose actions are only affecting themselves.

7. "I don't understand the makeup/hair/costumes."

I don't understand Lady Gaga's meat dress or why all of One Direction dress the same way.

8. "Musicians make more money than they deserve."

A large percentage of musicians donate money to charity or even run their own organizations. Tons of them are spokespeople for important causes. Not to mention they work their asses off touring and making a name out of themselves and that they deserve any penny they get, and not to mention the fact that not all of them have as much money as you'd think they do.

9. "Pop music is better."

Playing good heavy metal requires skill, talent and effort. Pop music requires computer and some geek who knows how to use one. Any questions?

10. "You must not be all too smart because you listen to this kind of music."

I have no idea how metal fans became associated with stupidity because, I can assure you, the grand majority are not. Ones taste in music does not necessarily reflect their IQ.

One big rambling paragraph about how great the first two Ozzy Osbourne solo albums are

     "Blizzard Of Ozz" and "Diary Of A Madman" may very well be the two best albums Ozzy ever did. Correction. They might be the best two rock albums made in the 80s. Correction. They might be the two best rock albums ever made (to the exception of Led Zeppelin). Correction. They might be the two best albums ever made (to the exception of Led Zeppelin). I mean, listening to those albums again and again is convincing me more and more each time that they are rock and roll's true masterpieces. Each one is loaded with amazing songs- there isn't a bad one on either album. The music is heavy but melodic, memorable and radio friendly without being nauseatingly commcercial, enjoyable, lyrically fantastic, creative, distinct, unique and fresh. I mean face it- nobody is tired of Crazy Train. The radio stations play the shit out of it but you don't turn it off ever, do you? Because it still sounds great. The music on these albums is totally timeless and just so good that you couldn't get tired of it if it was all you ever listened to. They're a great mix of straight ahead rockers like Over The Mountain, political relevance like Revelation (Mother Earth), soulful like Goodbye To Romance, heartbreakingly powerful like You Can't Kill Rock And Roll and Tonight, hard driving like I Don't Know, catchily melodic like S.A.T.O, groovy and funky like Believer, sentimental like You Looking At Me Looking At You, dark and creepy like Mr. Crowley, Suicide Solution and the chilling Diary of a Madman. Of all of them I'll say I'm probably mostly a sucker for You Can't Kill Rock and Roll and S.A.T.O. mostly. And don't forget Dee. That's such a pretty, tasteful piece. The musicianship on the albums is particularly notable- the finest work of rock's finest guitarist Randy Rhoads. Ozzy's vocals are fabulous as well and just how tuneful and melodic the songs are without being any less hardcore is what defines Ozzy's style as his own. Okay. I'm done rambling now. Just go listen to these albums if you haven't already.

The Bar Fire Was Not Great White's Fault

It angers and sickens me to hear people- alleged rock and roll fans- calling Jack Russell and Great White murderers in connection to the infamous incident in which a bar they were playing in burnt down due to faulty pyrotechnics, killing a hundred people and injuring a couple hundred more. It cannot be disputed that what happened that night at the Station nightclub was an absolute tragedy and one of the worst things that ever happened to rock and roll, but in no way was it the fault of Great White, and the things that are being said about them because of it are being made in pure ignorance, because they are not to be held accountable at all. 

     First of all, it wasn't even truly a Great White concert. The name Great White means all the members of the band Great white- that is to say Mark Kendall, Michael Lardie, Tony Montana or Lorne Black, and Audie Desbrow, as well as singer Jack Russell. The band that performed that night was not Great White, it was Jack Russell's Great White- Jack was the only actual member of the real band who was there that night. Great White are being given a bad name for this incident when in reality only one member of the band was even implicated that night. How terribly unfair is that to the rest of the band Great White, to be held by name accountable for an event they were not even present for?

     Jack Russell himself cannot be blamed at all either. It may have been his performance that night that meant the end of the lives of all those people there, but it was not him that defined the circumstances which allowed such a great number of people to perish that night, and it was not him who lighted the fire. It should not be him who receives the blame. Jack was the singer that night, no more, no less, and everything that happened can be blamed on the other people there that night who did not make the music, but who were running the show. Let's blame them and not Jack. He had nothing to do with it.

     So who did? If Jack and the band Great White were not to blame, then who was? It was a lot of people who made this happen, let's name a few and their role and you'll agree that Jack had nothing to do with it.

1) The restaurant managers.  The club only had a seating capacity of 404 people, but 464 were present. The restaurant was past it's maximun capacity and so when pandemonium broke out, there was not enough room for them to move around. That's how they all got blocked in the entrance- there were too many people to evacuate fr the building and they couldn't all make it. Jack was not the one who let all those people in.

2) Daniel Biechele. The tour manager was the one who ignited the outdoors fireworks indoors, which flared some sparks which ignited the building. His impromptu pyrotechnics started the fire, not any actions of Jack's.

3) People panicked. Let's face it, humans are not rational creatures and do not keep their heads well in times of great danger. When everybody headed for the door they formed a messy stampede and blocked each other from the entrance. In no way can Jack be held responsible for a bunch of people acting a certain way, not according to rules of free will.

4) The bouncers. More than one person present at the event said that the bouncers blocked certain exits saying only the band was allowed through. Jack was not a bouncer and probably did not give these instructions, placing this blame squarely on the shoulders of those who were security that night.

   

     So have we straightened things out a little bit now? Can Jack Russell really be held accountable for the fire? No. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The people who were running the show did a really bad job and were ill prepared, and thanks to their carelessness, a lot of people were hurt. It could have been any band- it was just bad luck that Jack Russell happened to be the one performing that night. So please don't go around calling him a murderer again and hating Great White for the incident. It must be hard enough on Jack having to live with what happened that night and feeling some sense of responsibility. Don't show any moregreat disrespect for him, just a little sympathy. It wasn't his fault not was it Great White's. It could have been anybody.

No need to figure Mick Jagger out... Or to read Marc Spitz's biography

     I understand that after a couple dozen books about Mick Jagger have been written, it must be hard to come up with new things to say about him so that your biography is unique and not just a regurgitation of previous novels. Everybody who attempts to write a book about the illusive Mr. Jagger has to search for a new angle to write about, to make their book the one about Mick Jagger to read. (Even I don't have the patience to read every book about him out there.) With so many books about available I plan on only reading the good ones.

     I gave Marc Spitz's book Jagger: Rambler, Rock Star, Rebel, Rogue a chance because somebody bought a copy for me. Overall it wasn't an unreadable book, but it had one major flaw. The angle Spitz went for to make his book unique was the attempt to figure out Mick Jagger. His book was essentially a long rambling effort to answer the question "Who Is Mick Jagger?" And let's be honest, that is not a question that we should try to answer.

     This book did little to actually describe the life and times of Mick Jagger; for example, what I like in a biography is an account of important things that happen in the life of one of my heroes and how that influenced his music and his life henceforth. This was pretty much absent from the book altogether. Instead, it gives us a timeline of the different faces of Mick Jagger, the author always asking who he truly was, but never providing an answer or any good information which could lead the readers to create an answer of their own.

     Mick Jagger was a very complicated individual. He changed his image and his behaviour and his persona simply whenever he felt like it, whenever the times were changing and before he got bored of himself. He always stayed current and so he was always what the times were, but he was always himself. That's all that needs to be said, isn't it? Who is Mick Jagger? He is Mick Jagger. And I'm sure Mick Jagger knows who he is, and he's the only one who really needs to know. So why do we still keep talking about it? I think it's time to move on to more important Rolling Stones related questions like "How is Keith Richards still alive?" 

Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis - Song Interpretation

     First of all, I must start by explaining that this is only a personal interpretation of the meaning of the song's lyrics. Noel Gallagher, who wrote the song himself, stated it was not about anything. He wrote it while under the influence and the character "Sally" is not a real person, and that the line "So Sally can wait" was conceived when Noel was just goofing around and his brother Liam thought he was singing those words. They thought it sounded good and so they turned it into a song. For the full story, I refer you to Wikipedia.

     I guess the song isn't deep then, or wasn't intended to be, but nevertheless it is an amazing piece of poetry from which much meaning can be derived.

     So my personal interpretation of the song. The true meaning of the song is to say that everybody goes through bad breakups and that the best thing to do us just to move on, continue with your life while learning from your mistakes and just letting the bad times go. The specific story in Don't Look Back In Anger is about a breakup between the singer and his ex girlfriend Sally. In the song, the character Sally is anger and bitter. She wants to get back together with the singer, or she wants to make him burn to make up for what he did to her. The singer's attitude is relaxed. He feels like it's mostly the fault of the rock and roll lifestyle he leads, and wants to just forget the whole thing and move on. The two had obviously been a close couple until things went bad between them, and the singer- we'll call him our male protagonist- called it off. His tone is forgiving though- he doesn't really care anymore about what happened between himself and Sally, he's done and moved on, and the purpose of the song is that he is telling her to do the same thing. 

     The song opens with what is to me a clear drug reference:

Slip inside the eye of your mind

Don't you know you might find

A better place to play

     Most likely a reference to hallucinogens, this line is the singer telling Sally to go to a different part of her mind, and to think about things a different way, using drugs if she needs to. The next line

You said that you'd never been 

All the things that you've seen 

Will slowly fade away

     Is Sally stating that she has never done drugs before- we're probably talking about acid tripping here. Then the singer encourages her some more, telling her that all the bad things that have happened between the two of them will fade from her mind and she will be able to not think about it for a little while, which would benefit her.

     

Gonna start a revolution from my bed

Cause you said the brains I had went to my head

     This line here is a John Lennon reference. Lennon actually said almost these exact words himself once in an interview, and Gallagher tossed the lines in as an homage to his hero. The words almost certainly refer to Lennon's bed-ins in the late 60s. Beatles influences and references can be commonly heard in several Oasis songs, and the opening piano chords in this song are strongly reminiscent of "Imagine."

Step outside the summertime's in bloom

     In this line our singer tells Sally that everything is okay, and that she just needs to open her eyes and see that everything really is alright.

Stand up beside the fireplace

Take that look from off your face

You ain't never gonna burn my heart out

     Here he tells Sally to stop wasting her time. She is putting to much effort into trying to hurt him and to get back at him. He thinks she is taking the situation too seriously, and he's telling her to stop, because he's never going to feel bad about what happened.

     

     The second verse begins with what might be another drug reference-

Take me to the place where you go

Where nobody knows

If it's night or day

     He may again be implying that they should use drugs to alter their mental state so they can either cool down and look at their situation a different way, or just to relax and forget about their lives for a while. 

Don't put your life in the hands

Of a rock and roll band

Who will throw it all away

     This is the saddest and most humane part of the song. Here the singer accepts much responsibility for what happened between him and Sally. He admits that his profession caused him to do things in their relationship he may not have done otherwise- maybe seeing other girls while touring, or spending much time away from the house, or partying excessively, all common habits of rock and roll bands which greatly hurt the ones- particularly the women- they love. He tells her here that a relationship with a musician like this will only do her harm, and he begs her next time to choose a more stable partner, not to put all her heart into a musician who won't treat her as well as she deserves.

     Then the chorus:

And so Sally can wait

She knows it's too late as she's walking on by

Her soul slips away

But don't look back in anger I heard you say

     Here he says that Sally knows in her heart that things have gone bad between them and that they are never going to be together again. As they pass each other in silence, with no feelings from him for her anymore, her spirits fade because she realizes there is no hope left. He simply tells her that she should not look back in anger at what happened between them- the "you" would be the conscience of the main character- and to move on.

    At the end of the song, the chorus ends with;

But don't look back in anger

At least not today

     What is meant by this line in the song is that maybe one day the time will be right to look back on the situation and feel angry about it, but that time is not now, and until then, she should forget it and be happy with life. It isn't a situation to be worried about now. Maybe in the future, things will be bad and you can think about this angrily, but right now, all is well. Right now, Sally, don't worry about it. Put it behind you and move on, and please don't look back in anger.

    

Metalhead prejudice still an issue

     I don't mean to sound like yet another teenage metal fan who is convinced the world disrespects them because they are young, listen to heavy metal and wear a lot of black, by saying that adults in the world do not understand us and think we're a problem when we're really not, but well, it's true- the world does have a terribly unfair paradigm of metalheads as being bad news, and I'm really sick of it.

     I fall victim to this kind of prejudice every day. When I go out with my parents, they tell me to look respectable and to act well behaved and like a good girl. Especially when meeting people for the first time, they always yell at me to take my makeup off before we leave the house. The makeup in question here is not even heavy black eye makeup, but fun and goofy stuff like say, silver or gold eyeliner. Harmless. Yet even my own parents think that the way I appear on the outside and come across superficially is more important than my right to express myself and my individuality by the way I dress.

     Sorry for the rant here, but after all, this blog is called Rock and Roll Ramblings, and was named that for a reason! And this is hardly a personal rant either because I know a lot of people go through the same thing. I am far from being alone. 

     Beyond my parents, the teachers hate it too. As can be expected from people who have such little life experience and brain power as teachers, they're practically afraid of anything that moves, and the idea of an independently thinking individual human being in the public school system is enough to positively drive them up the wall. One of my teachers laughs outright at my outfits when she passes me in the halls, she marks my papers with an air of contempt, and tries to cut me down whenever she can- all her efforts are wasted because she never got to my head, and all her behaviour is made even more senseless because I am the top student in her class, and my grade is so much higher than everybody else's that I'm keeping the whole class average way up. She raises her eyebrows at the Mötley Crüe shirts and holds it against me, even though I am not a troublemaker, and I never started the problems in her classroom. She just always looks at me first when things go wrong.

     So why is everybody so fast to point their fingers at the kid who listens to metal when things go wrong? Do kids who listen to metal and dress and act the part actually burn down buildings, or worship Satan? Do people honestly still believe that musicians sell their souls for talent and that rock and roll is the devil's music? Can you give me some good examples of times when heavy metal music pursuaded people to do horrible, nasty things? This and so many other questions unanswered are the reason why I'm not asleep right now even though I really ought to be.

     I'm not a bad person. I'm a very, very good person. People who look past my exterior and my lifestyle and who know ME, not my taste in pop culture, well, know that I'm a loyal, happy person who will do anything for a friend and whom has helped out many people in need in her seventeen short years on the planet. People who are able to ignore my love for heavy metal love me. Everybody who actually knows me loves me. But too many people won't have anything to so with me because they find the idea of somebody who listens to metal too intimidating, and they think I'm dangerous. All those people who don't get to know people for being metalheads are truly depriving themselves of wonderful experiences and friendships, because I know what I'm talking about when I say that metalheads are among the best people you'll ever meet in your life, and if you don't believe me, it's your problem, your loss, and not ours.

Reviewed: "Low" by David Bowie (1977)

     As can be said about all Bowie albums preceding this one, Low is a very unique album and is unlike all albums released before by the Thin White Duke. Largely instrumental and with tones varying from cheerful and optimistic, to dark and brooding, and sometimes sinister and mysterious, there is not a hit single to be found on the whole record. With the possible exception of Be My Wife, the songs are as non commercial and single unfriendly as can be. It is truly an album which must be listened to as a whole, instead of broken down into its components- it is great proof that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The overall effect of the whole album is spacey and distant, like the soundtrack to a science fiction movie, a space rock opera. There is not a single catchy chorus or guitar riff to be heard, the whole thing is heavily synthesizer driven, featuring songs containing no structure. It is not a collection of songs the way his earlier albums are, the whole thing melts into one epic piece. I wouldn't recommend it to diehard fans of Bowie's glam era because they would be disappointed- this work is from a different artist altogether than the man who made Aladin Sane. It stands out to me in my mind as one of the most unusual and interesting albums ever released, and a true classic in its own sense, even if Ziggy Stardust 'tis not.