Starting down the road to Metaldom

I once asked a guy I worked with why he listened to the music he did. "It reminds me of when I was young." He answered.

Nostalgia is hard to argue with. If something takes you back to better days, I say get more of that thing. Music has a great way of taking us back. Much like a familiar aroma, the first few bars of one of our favorite songs wakes us up and helps us remember why it's good to be alive.

For me, the opening to the Beach Boy's "California Girls" is just about the closest thing to pure aural joy I can think of. It takes me back to when I was young and listening to "oldies". Sure, you can probably stick with the familiar all your life and experience no small amount of happiness. When we're young, everything is new, and so we get pretty good at processing new things. As we get older, the need for the new diminishes somewhat, leaving us standing our ground in familiar territory.

As a fan of music, I have kept looking. I believe that if someone maintains a constant flow of discovery, then new things are brought on board with ease, since the experience of new experiences becomes familiar in itself.

In the early days, I'll call them the 90's, I was predominantly interested in Classic Rock. Jimi Hendrix, Dark Side of the Moon (sure, there was The Wall, but I never really listened to it), Boston, Queen, the Beatles and so on. Grunge came along and offered the first chance for me to participate in my generation's music. I jumped in. There were good grunge albums, and bad. Listening to grunge, alternative, classic rock, golden oldies, with the occasional Hip Hop cut thrown in, I had enough music to keep me busy.

The only exposure to Metal that I had in my early days was listening to Metallica's self-titled "Black Album". I had to be told that Led Zeppelin were basically heavy metal. This didn't sound right to me, but, as my friend put it, "What would you call them?" I suppose you could say that being aware of the stigma that still gripped conservative America in the 90's with regards to Metal (and it's supposed satanic properties) was part of what colored my views on Heavy Metal. It was intriguing, but due to my religious upbringing, I was not allowed near Metal. The same was true of Hip Hop. Viewing both genres through the lens of forbidden fruit, I could see them both as very different types of fun. How ironic that, if I'd been listening to Steely Dan with their rampant drug references and sexual innuendo, I might have been left to it by my superiors.

Apparently Metallica had gone soft once I had gotten my hands on them. Guns and Roses was hard rock, but not really Metal. AC/DC was pretty metal. Their chunky riffage, while perfectly stimulating, is pretty sparse for Metal as we know it now. Still, Metallica was a good indicator of a world of music I had yet to crack into, even if I had no idea how big that world was.

Van Halen - Fair Warning

I would actually like to thank Van Halen. Van Halen is probably best labelled Arena Rock, but some of their stuff is pretty interesting. I have recently cracked into Van Halen's album Fair Warning, and given my copy of 5150 more play. I've always felt that Van Halen was underrated in a strange way, left to the jocks and meat-heads cruising the strip in their awful cars. If you can get past the woefully dated cover art, 5150 is a great showcase of the band's sound. David Lee Roth was a good frontman, but don't try to convince me that Sammy Hagar is somehow cheesier. They are simply different brands of the same type of womanizing cheese. Still, their antics never really spoiled the show (they could both wail). Van Halen were a great band that had a highly polished sound. It is nice that these days we can appreciate an established and distinctive sound for what it is, instead of lambasting these musicians for being too "commercial."

Still, Van Halen is not Metal. They are Party Rock, or whatever you want to call them. They are one of dozens of musical acts that could be seen as a gateway to Metal. I believe Led Zeppelin fall into this category, because they are many things besides Metal. I hesitate to call Def Leppard metal, but they are among the bands that have been kicking around my playlist these days. Why? Because I am slowly making my way down into the Valley of Metaldom, and Def Leppard seem to have been there once or twice.

Since the mid 90's, my musical journey has taken me to many places. Talking Heads are really the band that revived my interest in music. Worshiping Remain In Light led me to discovering King Crimson, David Bowie (you can discover that guy like four times, I swear), Brian Eno and others. When I was first listening to Talking heads, having stolen my friend's sister's Sand In The Vaseline anthology, I took another CD (honestly I don't think she wanted them anymore). The other album I took was Rush's Moving Pictures. Basically I was making off with both ends of the Rock 'n' Roll Cool-o-Meter spectrum.

So between Rush and King Crimson (I started with their 80's material and then went back to In The Court of the Crimson King later on) I was ushered into Progressive Rock. My Classic Rock days had me prepared for this, even though a lot of "Prog" sounded like musical insanity at first (there's Jazz in them thar peaks and valleys). I was out for the interesting stuff, the bold and daring music. Music doesn't get much more daring than In The Court of the Crimson King. 

 Genesis - Nursery Cryme 

I was always very entertained whenever any of these Progressive Rock bands of the 60's and 70's busted forth with anything close to Heavy Metal. A lot of Genesis' early stuff could be considered Metal. Jethro Tull was always one effects pedal away from going full-metal, and ended up getting the award for Metal album of the year from MTV at one point. When King Crimson got heavy, nothing sounded more sinister played loud. When you're into Prog, Metal is always in the air.

When I first heard Metal, I understood it right away. Metal is a natural progression of earlier Rock music. It always made sense to my ears. Many view and treat Metal as some sort of musical deviant, something not designed for humans. The fact is, Metal is very often highly melodic. Iron Maiden sounds as musically cut-and-dry to me as a lot of Pop Rock does, for example. Most music you would want to hear played by a Symphony would translate well to a decent Metal band's act. For all Metal's aural impact, when played at a low volume it makes perfectly fine background music.

Sure, a lot of Metal can be criticized for its artistically blunt characteristics. However, once the appeal makes sense, we begin to see that Metal has developed its own set of rules. As I have come to understand over the years, one does not have to sacrifice artistic integrity in the name of fun. This is certainly the case with a lot of Metal bands. Sometimes it seems that the technical ability of these musicians is valued above their respective band's artistic qualities (I am reminded of the dazzling drudgery of Joe Satriani and others). While musical athleticism is all well and good, it doesn't always give a Rock band the edge it needs.

Metal is nothing without drama. The sound of Metal is the sound of doom, despair, dread, insanity, evil, violence, hate, vengeance, pain, torment,  corruption, defiance; all pretty dramatic. You're not going to pick up a banjo and start telling folks a convincing tale of doom and violence. No, Metal exists in a permanent state of darkness. You can't have happy Metal. Metal can make you happy, energize you in a certain way, but Metal itself is always scary. Metal is played on a stage, and how fitting. There is a lot of acting, a lot of theatrics. To be "in the mood" for Metal is to be ready for a bit of the fantastic. Album art is a huge part of Metal, as it is another chance to engross the listener in the experience.

Thanks to the overwhelmingly nerdy population of Metal fans, there exists extensive cataloging of the thousands of Metal albums and their respective bands. These resources, along with a few friends who are deeply into Metal in all its incarnations, will help as I take the path many have traveled before me.

I feel the need to start from the beginning of Metal, because I like old stuff. I assessed my record library for Metal content. Black Sabbath's Paranoid. An early Sabbath greatest hits comp (cover art shown above). Captain Beyond (self-titled) were pretty Metal. It is said that Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was the first Heavy Metal album, and two of Iron Butterfly's members helped form Captain Beyond. Captain Beyond were a bit like if Lynyrd Skynyrd had taken more drugs and gone Psychedelic.

I suppose that Psych Rock spawned both Progressive Rock and Heavy Metal simultaneously. There were a few intersections between the two genres throughout the 70's, but they really are two separate roads. Blues also had a hand in forming Heavy Metal, as many Blues guitarists were using chunky riffs by the 60's. The lyrical themes put forth in Blues were carried by some Metal bands in their early days, but the genre's identity wouldn't allow for it by about 1980. A bluesy track on a Metal album in the 80's was an oddity. Here in Metaldom, we don't get "the blues," we go straight to black.

Still, I like the early stuff. According to the internet, the band Blue Cheer laid down the first ever Heavy Metal song with their cover of Summertime Blues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5uDozoSSM

In the name of pulling out some heavier Rock 'n' Roll, early Metal pioneers such as Blue Cheer were laying Metal's foundations. I am very interested in these early Metal bands, as their stuff plays right into a lot of what I already enjoy about early 70's Rock. A lot of early Metal bands are unheard of (Iron Claw, Jerusalem) but some are simply not often thought of as Metal, due to the transformation Metal has made in the past four decades (Iron Butterfly, Uriah Heap).

So I need to go back and check out Deep Purple, something I never really did extensively. Black Sabbath's first three albums are three of my favorite albums, but I guess it's time to check out their later stuff (the records aren't hard to find). I do own Sabbath's Born Again, oddly, because it contained the track "Stonehenge" which I thought was a killer atmospheric track. As it turns out, Born Again is perhaps Black Sabbath's most maligned of all their albums, despite several critics support of the record. Having listened to it quite a few times, I'd give my two cents by saying that it's as good as plenty of other mainstream Metal albums I've heard from its time.

I remembered a recommendation to check out Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, a very important Metal group who started in 1975 (still considered very early in Metal history). I think it was my finding and purchasing The Best of Rainbow (2LP set) at Rainy Day Records that got me on this road to Metaldom. Ronnie James Dio (Sabbath's second vocalist) is perhaps the greatest singer in Metal history, with all the dramatic showmanship you could ask for. The guy seems to have really enjoyed his work, and apparently he was a totally righteous dude. I'll take this chance to say rest in peace, Dio, your work has immortalized you.

Not content to let a greatest hits comp control my enthusiasm, I have since purchased a fine copy of Rainbow's Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978). The album exceeded my high expectations. Dio's lyrics add to the fun of the music. It is powerful and somehow elegant all at once. If I went no further into the world of Metal, I would have benefited greatly in discovering this band alone. I plan on picking up Rainbow's Rising next, and maybe their debut.

Seeking out what I knew to be the next logical step: Judas Priest, I happened upon a promotional copy of their third album, Sin After Sin (1977). I had always been curious about Judas Priest's early stuff, ever since I read that they started in the early 70's. To me, Judas Priest has always been more interesting than Iron Maiden. I understand that Iron Maiden is pretty much flawless, Metal perfection from start to finish, but I would say that Priest is a few steps up as far as the art of Rock is concerned. On first listen, Sin After Sin impressed me, sounding every bit as much as the historical Metal document that it is. I feel that I can't finish writing this without mentioning the closing track "Dissadent Aggressor". I don't think I've heard a Metal song this compelling since I heard Mastodon's "Blood and Thunder" years ago.

The Metal Gods seemed to be smiling on me, as the next time I went shopping I found the next album on my list: Judas Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny (1976). Then, it seemed that Rob Halford himself had blessed me when I was able to pick up both British Steel (1980) and Defenders of the Faith (1983). Defenders of the Faith sees Priest well into their more commercially focused arena sound. I really think that Judas Priest's earlier stuff is of interest to people who might not consider themselves Metal fans. For Metal aficionados, the classic Priest albums represent the early development of Metal. To me, they are very interesting pieces of work in their own right. Rob Halford is a tremendous vocalist, and the band just seems to be able to put out a catchy, badass Metal song as if it was second nature. Judas Priest: I am a fan.

Why Metal? Why start climbing this mountain now? Because it seems to be a well of unending fascination for people like me. It doesn't mean that I'm going to stop buying Jazz records or stop listening to my precious 80's pop. Metal, like Jazz, requires its own mood. I like this mood I'm in when I listen to Metal. I know there are others like me out there who are just getting started. If you read this, thank you, and hope to see you at the record shops.