Some help needed

[Eisbär]

Attention!: The following shit isn't meant to entertain, it gets heavy, so beware!

One question storms in my brain, the question why we listen to metal.
I know why I listen metal, but I want more bandwith. See this as a kind of survey.
I ask this now, 'cuz I have to write a scientific essay (have to write it on my own) about a topic of personal choice for the subject called ethics, and I chose one of my favorite topics, metal(surprise!).

The question stands, so answer if you want, but think sharp and reflect about yourself. I don't need shit like "You're a fag". I need "real" answers. Another reason is for asking here on this board is that I mostly have good experiences with discussions and topic-handling so I trust in you guys

Some ideas I have written down, which I could imagine for reasons, unsorted to create a basis for a discussion (if the interest exists) / additions are warmly welcomed:
- Are we looking (concious/unconscious) for some real shit?
- Are we tired of fakes and illusions?
- Are we looking for stuff called "strength"?
- Do we need a kind of valve for our aggressions we can't live in our surroundings for certain reasons such as point of view
of society, laws, etc?
- Is metal to be seen as a kind of rebellion (I think it results out of the points mentioned above, but I do ask anyway.
Perhaps somebody sees it different)
- Or are we just different?

But the final question is if music should be linked with explanations (means that theres more than just taste), or if music is "only" taste with no deeper sense, meaning, connections, etc? I don't mean lyrics, just the sound.
Its scientific proved that music influences & stimulates the human in certain ways, so thats really interesting & important.


If you're reading that there's one thing left:
THX for reading!!!

 

[Patric]

yeah this shit's heavy i need to think about it some more but currently I'm speaking to the Sultan and listening to his sleazy soul music, going to the toilet all the time, chatting with Cadarn and making snus balls so I'll reply when I'm home tomorrow ok?

 

[Eisbär]

Do as you wish Patric. I know that this isn't a "quickie" and answered in some secs.

 

[Kvlt Wench]

I mainly listen to metal because it sounds good. I think personallity has something to do with it as well. Since I'm only in eight grade, there isn't that wide a selection of musical tastes, but I do notice that I have a more cynical view of life than other people. Music does often shape personality, but not always.

Since metal isn't popular, people who listen to it generally are outsiders. I can definitely relate to that. I think that people who have always been outsiders are more likely to become metalheads because they do not have social standards to fufill and will try other types of music, and personalities, besides what is currently "in".

 

[Belgar]

yeah this shit's heavy i need to think about it some more but currently I'm speaking to the Sultan and listening to his sleazy soul music, going to the toilet all the time, chatting with Cadarn and making snus balls so I'll reply when I'm home tomorrow ok?

hahaha Patric, you sick densk....... when are you gonna email me the Patric pizza receipt we have been talking about ?????
As for metal, it is just something deep down inside, I did not get into it or anythng like that, it goes back to highschool like 13 years ago in history classes and all. It made me realize how important it was to be proud of my heritage. Got into the old school slayer, maiden, dio, ozzy, venom, sodom, destruction,...in late 80's, early emperor, bathory, immortal, and all the ealry BM and DM bands) .... then moved on to heavier stuff ..... first good show I ever saw was Sepultura and Obituary on their Beneath the remains tour, in 92 or 91. I am proud that nobody in my school had me follow a trend as I started listening to it on my own. Late 80's early 90's new-beat as they called it, wasn't my cup of tea. Naturally, you go to local shows (and I mean a lot), meet new people, listen to new bands and move on to newer stuff. Then in 97/98 I started listening to Amon Amarth and first saw them on tour in Belgium in 98 on their first European festival tour with Deicide and Brutal Truth (RIP), Naglfar and six feet under .......... I can listen to anything if I am in society with people who don't enjoy metal, but metal is my life and after more than 13 years listening to it I can say that I am somewhat of a trooper.
Metal to me has never been about being an outcast, just a music style that appealed to me better. Just like some Guinness & Jaeger, well I like both, some like techno, rap,.... just not anything I get into. Metal has the power to carry a bigger message, on all historical, religious, political,.... point of view w/o having to worry about what mass media will think. Just my 3 cents.

 

[DeathBlade]

I was talking to this guy at a concert and this is what he said, "Yea I dont like the other stuff, it doesnt do shit. It like if you listen to radio stations they play nirvana, nirvana, nirvna, and foo fighters. What the hell are the foo fighters anyway? Yea man i listen to metal cuase it gets you to your bones man." Or something like that.

 

[Patric]

For me it started when I was 13 and I picked up Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, though I'm pretty sure it was the Motörhead cover with the teddy bear who had chains and all that tempted me (don't worry I'm not into S/M or anything). I had shitloads of CD's that I borrowed from that same library, I wasnt' ready for any death/black though I rememeber I heard some melodic death that I thought was pretty fucking good. Anyway, time went on and I discovered all the classics. Maiden, Priest stuff like that and I still know every tune. Continued from there on to thrash metal like Testament, Sacred Reich, Megadeth, Metallica and so on. Somewhere during Xmas (it's quite logic, you know) I checked out some Black metal, Darkthrone and others, and eventhough I know think most of it's crap. So yeah there's some fases, and the only subgenre of metal I've stuck to through many years are Death metal, in all its forms though I've grown a bit tired of the Swedish scene (hey, who hasn't?). I order and buy death metal all the time. That doesn't mean I wear band shirts all day, for it it's a soul sense of joy to be a metalhead with the music, the friends and the lifestyle. All this shit about you HAVE to wear skin tight jeans revealing the bulge in your crotch or you have to wear that denmim vest etc. etc. is limiting yourself ad it's bullshit cause you shouldn't judge people from the outside even to begin with. And for fucks sake, not having a problem with other music doesn't lower your own musical standards. Like, when I'm with the Sultan on the computers (thats where many of the drunkened posts on this forum came up, cause we like a little kiwi apertif every now and then) I don't mind him playing DMX-Where the Hood At and yeah it STILL works for me to go home 5 minutes later and put VILE-stench of the deceased on. Live it the true way, never bother about these dumbass rules, have your own take on Metal. Metallic cheers

 

[metal devi]

I started listening to metal when I was 12. the first thing that i knew about metal was Iron Maiden, I was 11 then and my English was very bad and I was very naive. I thought Eddie or Freddie, or whatever his name is, was a real guy and his first name was Iron (Eeron) and his second name Maiden (Mayden). This is hilarious, I know.
My class mates passed me on tapes of Iron maiden, Ac/Dc, Guns 'n Roses, Metallica. These last two were my favourites.
Why did I listen to metal? I liked the music and it was rebellion too. I loved it when people were shocked when I told them I listened to metal!!
For a few years I didn't listen much to metal but to world music.
Now I listen to bands who are exceptional, concept wise. I like the Viking concept of AA. I've always been impressed by Vikings.

 

[Corporal McDick]

Well i started listening to metal over 2 years ago, when i was 14. it was a breed of HelloweeN and early AmorphiS. I liked it cuz..... it sounded very different from anything i heard before. Later i learned about more metal: Metallica, Death etc.

I listen to metal bcuz:

a. I like the music, although I try not to limit myself only in metal. Nevertheless, i listen mostly to it.
b. It is the things that come along - loud drinking parties and puking your soul out..... i suppose it has to do with the age too.....

 

[Eisbär]

This stuff is online for some days now, and I even got answers (hey!)

I want to thank everybody for their input, so... yeah, I better write this essay now

 

[Corporal McDick]

Have fun

 

[Tyra]

OK, I started listening to metal when I was around 11 or so because I liked how it sounded when other kids played it on the boomboxes in the hallway at school. That was different stuff, though ('cause I'm from the stone age, see), like Sabbath and Van Halen, but along the way, it evolved into what we now label death metal, black metal and all that. In the meantime, metal had become part of who I am and what I do, part of my identity. I thoroughly believe it works as a form of primal scream therapy to go to the concerts and bang heads and scream my head of, and you know, there are only so many times in a month that I get to do those things because most of the time, I am the mom of two, driving kids to school, cooking and doing laundry for my husband. Some of it, I think, is shock value. The angrier I get with the good Christian ladies at school that turn their noses up at my friend because she has a tattoo or whatever, the louder I crank the car stereo and roll down the wondow, because, I guess, it shows them beyond a reasonable doubt that I am not one of them and I do not with to be.

 

[BigFakeSmile]

hehe... "back in the day" 10 years ago when i got into metal it was just becuase i thought it was the coolest sounding music and i was very attracted to the guitars. i started playing and became one of those thrash worshippers... it was all about cool riffs and killer leads and people like alex skolnick (i never learned to sweep ) for me until i discovered scandinavian bands, and then it was more about... gayness? no jk, you know, combining brutality with pretty melodies and good song structures... now the bands i like, its still about music, i really connect with certain lyrics and sad/beautiful sounds, but i also get into aggression as a kind of release, and enjoy screaming in my car. does this have anything to do with my personality? yea, like most of the rest of us here ive been a misfit, and i see things differently than a lot of people, and i am disgusted by pop culture and the herd-thinking. but not everyone in metal is a nice sensitive computer nerd. theres plenty of meatheads too. but i think there is a variety of metal to appeal to everything from dumbass slayer fanatics to gay dark tranquilllllllity fairies (i love that band, btw). anyway... yea, seems the appeal of metal is very much about an enthusiasm for the ability to combine aggression with some degree of musicianship, not just chaotic shit rebellion like punk. and if we are lucky, devastating depressive lyrics like katatonia, or at least just catchy evil things to yell... like arch enemy.



i suppose people all like the music they like for similar reasons... like im sure people who like shit pop music genuinly enjoy it and are not just trying to piss us off. they are just shallow fucks. their loss if they do not appreciate the finer things.

:zombie:

 

[Patric]

My neck is broke from Amorphis last night, get me a doctor. AGAINST WIDOWS oh dear and I felt like an orgasm...

 

[Eisbär]

I'm back from a lil trip, so I hadn't any I-net access, but one thing is sure: I do thank everybody for inputs and everybodyies idea will have a place in the essay, even if I have to rearrange the whole shit

 

[Corporal McDick]

Well... I'm glad to be of asssitance....