I recently watched a great documentary called Blood into Wine. It follows Maynard Keenan, the front man of Tool, as he works on developing a vineyard in the Arizona desert. If you’ve seen the movie, it’s relevance to this blog is apparent. Maynard is a guy who spent the greater part of his early adulthood screaming angry lyrics against Christianity, materialism, and conformity. The fact that he has recently taken to farming grapes on a peaceful vineyard in Arizona between tours is a testament to my goals for this blog. Maynard's life shows that we don’t have to confine ourselves to societal expectations and established roles, and that even as adults, we can reinvent ourselves and evolve. So, Mr. Maynard Keenan, metal icon and wine counisour, this post is for you.
Now onto the real reason I bring up the documentary, which is to reflect on a quote that Maynard makes in the film. In speaking about heavy music, he states “
“I write these songs to move through some pain or work out these issues; and if i'm successful in my art, in my expression; I shouldn't feel the same as I did when I wrote those songs anymore -- the problem with the music industry in general is that artists get into it because they have a desire to be desired and a desire to scream their heads off for whatever happened to them in the past; if you don't eventually feel better, then I'm not sure how effective your screaming was and how its going to help somebody else -- if the songs don't help me, how are they going to help you?”
I love what Maynard is getting at here, because while metal, hardcore, and punk are in some respects just genres of music, they are also the result of some serious emotional issues on the part of musicians and fans. I know because I’ve been there. I may not have known it at the time but when I was in high school and first getting into metal, I was sort of angry. I was getting picked by other kids, and no one in school or church or on the television seemed to be talking about anything that really mattered. And then I got introduced to this secret world of metal and hardcore, and these dudes were singing and screaming about things that actually made sense to me. They were talking about feeling isolated, and questioning authority, and thinking for oneself, and rejecting all of the world's lies and hypocrisy. Great stuff for any angry adolescent with half a brain. The only problem, and I think this is what Maynard is getting at, is that there ends up being all of this incentive to stay pissed off. Because it’s a lot cooler to hold onto the anger and keep screaming than it is to have to talk about your real feelings, all of the hurt and depression that lies beneath. And here’s where, as a more developed, intelligent adult, I have to take issue with the aggressive music I grew up with. Underneath all of those insightful lyrics, there is a lot of oppressive masculinity that perpetuates the whole “men don’t talk about any feelings other than anger” sort of thing, which, by extension, is related to violence, oppression, war, and lots of other stuff that I don't like.
So, I’m using this post to officially declare that I will from this day forward be working on being a more reformed and healthy metalhead. At the moment I still listen to a lot of silly, pissed off bands just because they’re “hardcore” or “heavy,” or just nostalgic in some way. And it’s just not a healthy thing, because it involves holding onto the past even when, in the present, I’m not so angry anymore. So I’m going to be a little more thoughtful about what I’m listening to and what kind of music represents me in the present. There are definitely some heavy bands that I still want to be a part of my life. Bands just like Tool, who don’t exist solely out of adolescent anger, but whose music and lyrics can actually fit with a healthy adulthood. So, with Maynard’s words in mind, here are a few heavy bands that are still relevant to a mature, adult identity.
Slayer (Okay, so maybe this choice isn't especially mature, but how could I not include Slayer?)
I should also add that I'm a pretty eclectic music fan. So future posts will be discussing not only the bands above, but pretty much everything from Indie Rock to Hip Hop to Classical.
No comments:
Post a Comment