For reasons I alluded to in Blitzys thread about the end of uni, Ive been listening to The X-Factor quite a bit lately and using it as a cheap form of therapy. Whether or not its helped with my own woes is debatable, but its given me a few things to mull over.
In The Unbeliever, what sort of faith do you think Arry allowed to drift away? Im the product of an all too religious family who (philosophically speaking) left the flock over a decade ago, so Ill always go for the secular answer over the theological one. I want to believe he was talking about his faith in himself and his ability to get his life and his band back on track after a couple of rough years.
Judgement Of Heaven, however, contradicts my comfortable little theory. This song (never a favourite of mine) is the testimonial of someone whos fallen into a very dark pit and got his mojo back thanks to a renewed belief in Im Oopstairs. Steve has never been as outwardly churchy as Nicko, but it sounds here as if hes found God and through that discovery, had also found the confidence to carry on.
What about Sign Of The Cross, you say? The opening track on the album and undoubtedly one of its best talks about the Spanish Inquistion, just one of many shitty things the Catholic church has done in the name of the one (or is that three?) it was created to honour. The narrator of the song criticises this and rightly so, and in asking why then is God still protecting me/even when I dont deserve it? he questions whether or not the religion that persecutes him has anything to do with the God who will look after him no matter what. My answer to that is a resounding no.
Run To The Hills, the third edition of which I got for my birthday, sheds a bit more light on what Arry was going through when The X-Factor was written and recorded. If the breakup of his marriage and the loss of Bruce can inspire an album that still speaks volumes to me ten years later, then theres hope that my current bout of writers block (served with a side dish of crippling self-doubt) might actually be good for something other than driving me mad. That which does not kill us makes us stronger, or something
.
W
In The Unbeliever, what sort of faith do you think Arry allowed to drift away? Im the product of an all too religious family who (philosophically speaking) left the flock over a decade ago, so Ill always go for the secular answer over the theological one. I want to believe he was talking about his faith in himself and his ability to get his life and his band back on track after a couple of rough years.
Judgement Of Heaven, however, contradicts my comfortable little theory. This song (never a favourite of mine) is the testimonial of someone whos fallen into a very dark pit and got his mojo back thanks to a renewed belief in Im Oopstairs. Steve has never been as outwardly churchy as Nicko, but it sounds here as if hes found God and through that discovery, had also found the confidence to carry on.
What about Sign Of The Cross, you say? The opening track on the album and undoubtedly one of its best talks about the Spanish Inquistion, just one of many shitty things the Catholic church has done in the name of the one (or is that three?) it was created to honour. The narrator of the song criticises this and rightly so, and in asking why then is God still protecting me/even when I dont deserve it? he questions whether or not the religion that persecutes him has anything to do with the God who will look after him no matter what. My answer to that is a resounding no.
Run To The Hills, the third edition of which I got for my birthday, sheds a bit more light on what Arry was going through when The X-Factor was written and recorded. If the breakup of his marriage and the loss of Bruce can inspire an album that still speaks volumes to me ten years later, then theres hope that my current bout of writers block (served with a side dish of crippling self-doubt) might actually be good for something other than driving me mad. That which does not kill us makes us stronger, or something
. W
