LE #3 Notes

Question 1

What is important about Anarchy in the UK?

Answer 1

• Ramones important influence
• Punk forms in the UK
• no attachment to Blues, Psychedelic or classical
• no virtuosity
• Rejection of Pretence, elitism
• rejection of materialism
• celebration of anti-virtuosity
• punk helped found thrash
• brought, unrefined, speed, shared metal penitent and attitude
• Punk returns rock to its roots

Question 2

How are Metal and Punk Similar?

Answer 2

Similar:

• attitude
• rejection of cultural norms
• protest
• Ramones influence both metal and punk
• both born out of club scenes
• both look to 1950’s 1960’s rock for influence (metal to lesser extent)

Question 3

What is important about the Ace of Spades?

Answer 3

• NWOBH influenced by Punk
• speed metal is fast and melodic
• starting point for thrash metal
• rhythms reminiscent of punk
• virtuosic solos of metal
• Lemmy’s bass tone could be influenced by Geezer Butler
• pushing forward of rhythm/ blues section
• Simple, minimalist song structure
• emphasis on authenticity and lack of pretentiousness because of simplicity(structure, length, musicality)
• After punk, greater emphasis on shorter song
• reconciliation between older ideas and minimalism

Question 4

What is important about Runnin’ with the Devil/Eruption?

Answer 4

• Eddie Van Halen’s guitar style is unique
• Classical Influence
• Sounds like an updated proto-metal
• Vocal Vibrato like Uriah Heep
• Still minimalist
• use of dive-bombs, very technical and virtuosic, tapping solo
• got idea of tapping from Jimmy Page’s heartbreaker solo
• Modded guitar, locking nut to prevent guitar from going out of tune during divebombs
• perfects dive-bomb

Question 5

What is important about the Number of the Beast?

Answer 5

• Steve Harris is bass player and founding member
• Debut of Bruce Dickinson; very operatic and photo-metal influenced
• Dickinson saw Iron Maiden playing in a London club and new he had to join as his previous band wasn’t professional or tight enough
• Influenced by Deep Purple
• Virtuosic guitar solos and licks
• emphasis on speed
• typical vocal inflection
• similar to Uriah Heep
• different to Gypsy because of lack of guitar offs and more than one riff, is also less distorted
• occult theme is the influence of sabbath
• Analogue vs. digital
• Analogue changes playback each time
• solos are not extended
• song starts with quote from book of revelations
• Inspired by Steve Harris watching The Omen 2

Question 6

What is important about I was made for Lovin’ You?

Answer 6

• sounds disco/pop influenced
• use of synthesizer/strings
• past the era of extreme live improvisation
• post-punk aesthetic of simplicity
• John travolta as the common man that dance empowers is what disco represents and why its popular
• Ace Freely said it was kisses attempt to gain success again after Destroyer and that they were looking for new influences
• Kiss Alive was the album that propelled them to success and Destroyer was their biggest album
• got flack for overdubbing tracks on Kiss Alive
• Kiss was a bizarre mix of glam rock and heavy metal
• Impressive stage theatrics(floating drum solos)
• Gene and other member had comic book appeal to appeal to a new audience (creative differences)
• Paul and Ace wanted to go heavier
• written by Paul quickly to show how easy it was to write a disco hit
• relatively static drumbeat until the solos/ lack of rhythmic subtly

Question 7

What is important about The Payback?

Answer 7

• rhythmic emphasis on downbeat typical for funk
• samples attempt at connecting with a greater history just like the re-purposing of Blues ideas
• This empowered the following generation by providing authenticity and authority again similarly to Blues
• James Brown had the image of the unbeatable man
• song lyrics displaying anger/protest/rebellion
• music easy to dance to/not many changes repetition of small musical figures and deceptively simple
• grandiose visual elements
• “On the One” Emphasis on the first beat for musical accompaniment
• Abandonment of melody/ proto-rapping w/ syncopated rhythms
• Use of contemporary sounds; horns sound like a siren, vocals sounds like an argument

Question 8

What is important about the Cult of Personality?

Answer 8

• Living Colour all African-American
• funk drumbeat for verse
• heavy metal guitar riffs
• Second guitar solo very virtuosic and the first is really short
• protest reminiscent of Boom as they both attack many people
• breaks the mould of 80’s glam metal
• really unmelodic guitar solo thats dissonant like Robert Fripp of King Crimson
• attacks Ghandi, Stalin, Mussolini, and Kennedy just like Boom attacks Tony Blair, Bush, Sadam Hussein and Bin Laden

Question 9

What is important about the (2112)Overture/Temple of Sphinx?

Answer 9

• Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture is used within 2112
• Overture is (First section of the song 2112), It’s a big grand introduction Usually instrumental and found at the beginning of an opera
• Typically uses material that develops over the course of the narrative
• Uses foreshadowing of characters and the story within this overture
• Basically the “Colesnotes” or small summary of the drama

Question 10

What is the story behind the 2112 album?

Answer 10

• There is a protagonist and an antagonist
• The protagonist finds a guitar and his very own creativity to make music
• He is overjoyed by this discovery and takes it to the Priests of Syrinx (antagonists) who control every aspect of life
• They dismiss his discovery despite the protagonist trying to convince them of its worth
• But the priests smash it, since it is what destroyed humanity and it was something of the past
• He has a dream where he is empowered, but eventually wakes up to find it was a dream and its all false
• This saddens him and eventually, he commits suicide
• Then we hear conflict in the background and it sounds like some other entity has taken control, but we don’t know if they are good or bad
• This was the album (4th album) that put Rush on the map. - The first 3 albums weren’t that successful but, first 3 albums were a gradual maturation process of the group.
• Rush began to gather more success outside the confines of Toronto as well
• Original drummer left due to health issues and Neil Peart eventually came into their band and is a perfect fit
• He becomes the lyricist to the band even though Geddy sings
• So the writing became more sophisticated and developed and somewhat fantasy based as opposed to the straight ahead simple lyrics that the band wrote about before Neil came in
• The preceding album Caress of Steel was not successful so there was pressure on the band
• 2112 was an example of getting away from the rock roots and moving towards a progressive feel
• The band was into that aggressive, powerful sound that melded with psychedelic. 2112 was a crossroads for this genre
• 2112 album was a huge success and shows progressive rock influences
• 1981 was platinum status for this album. It was a multi-movement suite since it covers the whole album. It was an significant heavy metal concept album
  But the band took a lot of flak for this album
• This was because of a bizarre perception of the band being very right winged
• Many of the critics called them “Little Hitlers”
• This is because 2112 is loosely based on Ayn Rand’s “Anthem” which takes place in a futuristic setting
• The book dealt with the dispensing of individuality
• Ayn Rand is pretty far right on the political scale, which was quite extreme for that time and rattled a lot of cages
• On the inside of the album, Neil gave a small dedication to Ayn Rand
• The band offended many people due to Rand’s right wing values and they spent some time trying to downplay and backpedal on this reference/association with Rand
• The imagery on the album cover “the star-man” cowering at the star symbol

Question 11

What is important about the Moor?

Answer 11

• typical prog death features (long songs, key and tempo changes)
• elusive lyrics because of death growl
• technical aspects of jazz to an extent classical are incorporated (main chromatic riff)
• folk is also incorporated to connect with the theme of the album and song
• use of motif riff reminiscent of psychedelic and blues
• extreme juxtaposition of clean and distorted caused by abrupt changes in vocal timbre, guitar timbre, and instrumentation (inclusion of piano during clean parts)
• Timbre of vocals suggest internal and external conflict
• death growl during lyrics expressing anger with external world
• clean vocals for lamenting over lost love with Melinda
• this paints the protagonist as a very complex character
• this parallels the complex music
• song functions as the overture for the concept album

Question 12

What is the story of Opeth’s 4th album, Still Life?

Answer 12

• Takes place in early Christian society
• protagonist is expelled from society for losing faith
• Returns to find his first love, Melinda (named after his daughter Mikael Achetfeld’s daughter)
• She is being married off against her will
• He is hung by the end of the album

Question 13

What is important about Revolution Begins?

Answer 13

• Contrast of clean and distorted parts
• Use of Strings
• Distorted vox over clean instrumentals creates weird dynamic
• melodic death metal is the genre and is the pinnacle of anti-establishment music
• extreme anger in voice, surprising for female
• revolution in this vocal style, guitar playing and lyrics
• females grasping empowerment of metal music
• vocalist of this song replaced a previously male vocalist without any backlash from metal community

Question 14

What is important about the Magician’s Birthday?

Answer 14

• They look to psychedelic music for a more legitimate influence than blues
• fusion between prog and proto metal
• mystic lyrics
• song divided into 3 acts and completely flips
• use of keys in second part
• bpm change and virtuosic solo that is extended
• whammy bar use
• wah wah pedal use
• 2nd part sounds really improvisational
• triplet feel and then regular feel for 3rd part
• changes in vocal timbre and treatment change as the song progresses
• natural voice and smooth treatment for voice at the beginning
• solo foreshadows entry of bad guy
• different and forced vocal register for bad guy
• production includes echo that sounds unnatural, sinister and larger than life
• hero wins the day when the falsetto kicks in

Question 15

What is important about Killing in the Name?

Answer 15

• Album cover photo of Vietnamese buddhist monk lighting himself on fire
• Released around 1992 riots in LA, 5 police officers beating black man for resisting arrest
• Officers in beating were acquitted, protest arises as a result
• Accidentally played on BBC radio in 93
• funky verse riff and drums
• protest lyrics
• heavy sabbath inspired riffs
• bpm change post chorus/ second verse
• eclecticism of psychedelic music (cowbell at the beginning)
• experimental guitar solo with pitch-shifter pedal
• bloods and crips joined together for this riot
• minimalist but effective lyrics
• direct comparison with kkk (burning crosses and cops wearing white)
• Rage combines music of black and white people, acts as a medium to communicate between cultures