Post #11: Heavy Metal as an Art Form

I've considered myself a metalhead since I was in seventh grade, when I first started listening to Metallica in the weight room during the football offseason. Ever since then, my collection of metal CDs and memorabilia has mushroomed from a few lonely albums on my shelf to a serious accumulation of all things metal-related--including a wardrobe of T-shirts bought on eBay or at concerts, several hundred albums, autographed posters and band gear, etc.

I guess the main reason I listen to metal--or the main reason anyone else listens to it, for that matter--is to feel empowered. Metal grew out of a general dissatisfaction with the status quo of the late '60s and early '70s, and that tradition continues to this day. Metal bands often speak about mediocrity, conformity, and submission in overtly negative terms. We metalheads seek to rise above the herd of everyday society; we're looked upon as outsiders, but that's OK with us, because the rat race isn't something we like to put up with. We like being different, we like being individuals, and we're not shy about showing it, whether through long hair, tattoos, shocking imagery, or really loud music. No one listens to metal to feel weak or helpless, which is the way society wants you to feel so you stay plugged in, so to speak; metal is all about bettering yourself through disconnecting from polite society.

There are a multitude of bands I could use as examples of why metal makes me feel this way, but the one I'm going to use is Arch Enemy, a Swedish band with a female (!) vocalist who play a subgenre of metal known as "melodic death metal" (i.e., harsh growling vocals combined with melodic guitar harmonies, sometimes involving the use of keyboards). Below is the music video for their song "Revolution Begins," from their 2007 album Rise of the Tyrant.



This song has everything that a good metal song should: a fist-pumping chorus, anarchistic lyrics, raw vocals, powerful and prominent guitar leads, thundering drums, and a steady pounding bass. The video shows normal kids tearing off their suits and ties, under which they wear their street clothes with a red armband (note: this is NOT a Nazi connotation; red is a color often associated with revolution), and running to watch Arch Enemy play. Also, note the pyrotechnics firing behind the band. The band (particularly vocalist Angela Gossow) describe themselves as political anarchists, and the lyrics confirm their stance: "Never too late to stand your ground, revolution begins...in you, in me...this is revolution!" Since I believe this country is in dire need of a revolution of some kind--maybe not a violent one, but SOME kind of revolution is necessary--I count this song as one of my favorites.

In the unlikely event I were given the opportunity to teach this song in the classroom, I would ask my students to pay special attention to the lyrics. How does the band advocate revolution, and what kind of revolution is it? Is it an actual political insurrection, or is it more of a personal revolution against the things that hold you back from truly experiencing life?

Post #10: Teaching Documentaries

The documentary I chose for this activity is Michael Moore's Slacker Uprising (2008). I chose it not because I'm a Moore fan (far from it, even though I lean pretty far to the left), but because of the message it conveys. Moore's intent was to get "slackers" (a catch-all term that applies to all apathetic voters, but primarily those apathetic voters who fall within the 18-25 age range) to "get off the couch" and vote in the 2008 presidential election. In this documentary, he uses close-up shots of the crowds at his speaking engagements to show his slacker viewing base that the people who show up to hear him speak are just like them: young, disaffected potential voters who want change but don't think their vote will make a difference. His word choice is key too: "The young people of America--you're the ones that are gonna do it! You're leading the revolution!" Phrases like that give the crowd a sense of agency, that they really do make a difference at the polls. Of course, Michael Moore is well-known for his one-sided portrayals of issues in previous films like Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, and nothing changes here, so viewers looking for evenhandedness are going to be disappointed. However, Moore succeeds in stirring up his fans enough to get out and vote, so the documentary was successful at least in that sense. As a person who feels that the youth of America have the potential to be empowered but remain apathetic for whatever reason, I feel that a documentary like this is not only successful, but necessary.