11:11pm, central standard time (make a wish!). I've got a CLEP test at 8:30 tomorrow morning, so I'll try and keep this short(ish) but I have been thinking quite a bit about this topic, so we'll see where it goes. Plus, I just really love music. Talking about it, writing about it, singing it, listening to it, thinking about it, dreaming about it, evaluating it... you get the picture.
I've counted myself a fan of most heavy music (anything involving singing, screaming, growling, shrieking, and other varied vocal utterances [and any combination of the aforementioned] performed over grinding, chugging guitars with occasional solos and double or triple kick drumming) for *thinks* probably four and a half to five years. Dead Poetic's excellent album New Medicines (2004, SolidState Records) was my first real purchase of a hard music album, and I just kinda broke into the scene gently from there. I enjoyed it all- the scene-friendly sounds of Underoath, Norma Jean, and The Devil Wears Prada, the more straight-laced modern heavy metal of Becoming the Archetype, and the patchwork of influences that make up bands like He Is Legend and mewithoutYou. I loved it. Correction. I love it. The use of past tense is improper in that context, because I do still love hard music. It's full of incredible, powerful, momentous music. There is an undeniably impressive amount of talent and thought put into some of the artistry found in the heavy music scene (if you look in the right places). For a while, heavy music made up between 20 and 30 percent of my entire music collection. I'd listen to it, indulge in it, experience it, become energized by it.
But 2009 was different. I don't know when it happened, but the amount of heavy music I listened to began to precipitously decline. Albums that I used to be able to listen to beginning to end- and then all the way through again- I now could only get three or four tracks into. It just didn't captivate me the way it used to. What happened? Why? I've been thinking about this as I reflect on 2009, and I came up with a couple ideas, neither of which I am settled upon as being fully representative of the truth of the matter.
1. My tastes changed. 2009 was the year that I kinda left everything else (musically) in the dust and returned to a whole-hearted loving embrace (a bear hug, really) of the melody. Don't get me wrong, I've always loved a strong hook, but '09 was different somehow. I got (back) into anything that was filled with melody. Coldplay, Belle and Sebastian, Ben Folds, Rosie Thomas, Sufjan Stevens, The Beatles, Eisley, and most importantly Copeland. Heck, I even got into classical music! I enjoyed it in my earlier years, but more as a matter of principle than of pleasure. That's all changed now, (as a side note, I only see that trend growing in 2010) and I count songs such as Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro among my current favorites. SO, what does all this have to do with heavy music? Not much. And that's the point. In all honesty, while I love the energy and passion of heavy music, the amount of melodies to be found in that world- especially those easily replicated through singing or humming- are few and far between in most cases. In my opinion, one has to leave the dark, thick heart of the heavy music scene and stray more towards the fringes to find a good variety of melodies. Of course there are exceptions- I think Chiodos and Blindside do an exceptional job with melody, as well as Demon Hunter. But for the most part, in 2009, more often than not, I wanted to hear a good melody, and when I did, well, I didn't go running to bands like As I Lay Dying.
2. The “art reflects life” idea. The concept as it applies to me personally, is this: Things really went swell for much of last year for me, and I found myself looking for upbeat and bright music to add to my joy. Don't get me wrong, I do not, now that life is aglow, frown at or look with disdain upon heavy music as though it were the musical embodiment of all things evil, trouble, depressing and otherwise gloomy, but based on my own personal experience of the past few years, and doing my best to look at it at least relatively objectively, I do believe there is a moderate to strong connection between the level of my inner calmness, peace, emotions, thoughts, etc. and my preference for a particular musical style or genre. This one I've really been turning over back and forth in my head, because I think if it's more accurate than the previous idea, it opens up a whole different box of thoughts on a very different level, one that I don't care to get into here. So let us move on.
3. A shift towards a preference for strong song writing. This idea I'm not super keen on, because of the three, I think it's the farthest from hitting the bulls eye on the matter, but it may play a small role. As I've gotten older (all of 21 years, ha!) and more settled as a whole (and another ha!), I'd like to believe that I'm better able to not only chew on, but swallow and digest lyrics and ideas that several years ago wouldn't do much more than go in the ear drum, get to the brain, and then make me go “What? What does that mean?” It's been my experience with heavy music that one will find one of two extremes: very simplistic lyrics with only an occasional phrase or idea to perk the ears and mind, or lyrics so foggily shrouded in metaphor that it is nearly impossible to find a starting point from which to decipher them. Add all this to the fact that in not a few cases, the lyrics are rather hard to understand without the help of lyrics from a web site or CD booklet. Again, don't get me wrong, I'm as much a fan of that deep, guttural growl or insanely high shriek as the next metalhead, I would just prefer vocalists not sacrifice ALL form of enunciation to achieve it. But that's a whole different topic. Song writing... yes, I just find myself with a deeper appreciation for a well penned song than in years past.
So where does that leave me? I dunno. It's just a loose collection of thoughts and ideas. I don't really hold to any of them too dearly. >shrug<>
Which reminds me, I got the new Switchfoot album for Christmas, and it's got some GREAT hooks in it. Especially “Your Love is a Song.” :)
