By Vishwa Shah, Youth contributor
It’s vile, sick, gory, and brutal. To an untrained ear, it’s just noise. Then again, music ahead of its time is generally misunderstood.
Death is a metal band, a pioneer of the death metal genre, and proof that music is more than a four by four rhythm with catchy lyrics and high production value. It’s art.
Heavy metal, better known as ‘that horrid noise young kids listen to these days’, is a musical genre that often worries parents. After years of teaching children to ‘never judge a book by its cover’ the irony is most parents make this fatal mistake themselves.
There are several reasons people listen to such extreme forms of music, myself included. The vocals are deep and guttural; the lyrics are dark, evil and wicked. The guitar work is fast and technical, and the drumming is physically straining and complex. But there is more to it than the desolate appearance.
Death metal isn’t noise rotting your child’s head—it’s a very complex form that is the musical equivalent of jazz, regarded as the most complicated form of music.
It is the complexity of the music that is of great interest: each guitar riff, the drumming, and the slapping of the bass. I don’t merely listen to the music; I understand it—the time signature, the notes, the polyrhythmic compositions, and the melodies (yes, they do exist if you give your ears time to adapt to the low sound).
The point of the lyrics isn’t to inspire satanic worship or to burn Jesus. It’s a lyrical theme. Why does Chris Martin sing about love? Why does Jay-Z sing about poverty or rags to riches? Why does Britney Spears sing about sex?
It’s about relevant themes. The brutal lyrics are meant to be vile. They’re intended to separate the entire world from loving the music purely on a superficial level.
Just like something difficult to understand, it separates the posers from those who truly appreciate it on an artistic level. Every form of music is different, and invokes different emotions and reactions. The deep vocals, low-tuned guitars and blasting drums all play a part in this catharsis.
As told by Aristotle, the purgation of emotions is a very important thing, especially in a world like ours that corrupts and rots as time tends to infinity.
Violent children will always be violent. A sociopath before listening to death metal or black metal or doom metal has as many chances of butchering his family as he does after listening to it.
Stated by child psychologists across the world, it’s the lack of an understanding by parents that causes children to act out. Not the fact that music ‘controls’ them. This music is an outlet, an acceptance of the fact that the world isn’t all chocolates and rainbows. There are times of anger, hatred, depression, and solitude. And the expression of these emotions rids us of them.
Music is over-interpreted as a direct connection to a person’s actions. This is a false claim. When someone hears “Toxic” by Britney Spears, you don’t see them turn into nymphomaniacs.
Music is an art. Don’t ruin it. Don’t censor it. Don’t cover your child’s ears as it plays, in the hopes that you are preserving his innocence or saving him from a violent life, because by sheltering him, you are giving rise to his upcoming rebellion. Children are rebellious, because believe it or not, like it or not, we do have a mind and opinion of our own. Instead of doubting our choices, have faith in the fact that you taught your child well. Don’t blame the music.
Don’t blame the music…How true!!!The voices of gloom and doom have exchoed through every age of musical development warning of dire consequences ..Did charleston -considered immoral and provocative in its time- bring with it waves of immorality to a saintly nation?immorality was there before and was there after the craze disappeared….and did jazz -initially condemned for its origins in houses of ill repute-lure millions into such establishments for their lovc of music ?of course not .. infact this intricate and continously developing form has captivated both the public and musicians of all genres for decades..how much was the moral fabric of society damaged by gyrations of Elvis,the elctrifying stage performances of Jimi Hendrix,the Beatle mania ,the dress sense of Boy George,the Punks and so on …the truth is that it is their music that is remebered and loved above all else ..so ..Don’t blame the music.
The Death of Music
We’ve all got told off at some point in our lives for listening to inappropriate or violent music. When I was small, my father bought a rap CD. I came home one day to my living room filled with music with a great beat and memorable sound. I asked my father what it was, and he replied, “This guy calls himself Eminem. But he’s no good, he says a lot of bad words.” I stared blankly at him but continued to listen to the music. There came a part where a cuss word came out louder than all the other ones, and my dad didn’t lower the volume at the part. He covered his face in frustration as if he had done something horrible and ruined me. But in fact, he had done something incredible.
Most kids my age would listen to the songs that were impossible not to have heard of, or the ones directed to kids their age. But I had a different taste in music. I had developed a taste for a good beat, and I had something for strong expressions you could feel in the lyrics of a song. My parents were starting to get worried because I kept asking them to play Eminem every time we were in the car. But I knew that they liked the music as much as I did, because they would listen to it as much as me. Knowing about Eminem from a very early stage in my life helped me shape my taste in music, and listen to different things and have diverse taste. It lead me to appreciate music as an art, and as it said in “The Death of Music” should not be censored.
I feel connections to music and try to understand the message and I am very open to different types and tunes. This started from a very early age. I would pick up songs around me and if I liked it, I would not stop until I found out the name of the song. It didn’t matter what other people were listening to, it only mattered what seemed to have an effect on me. So I agree, do not try to hold back your children from listening to music, it’s only an expression that should be heard.