Tuesday, November 29, 2005
why'd you put the keys upon the table?
I love system of a down. For some reason, they get lumped in with Korn, and My Chemical Romance as "music angst/hormone-fueled, dumb teenagers listen to." But this is a gross oversimplification.
For some background, where I went to school we had a "women's slavic chorus." These were nice, maybe slightly nerdy woman who dressed up in embroidered peasant tops and aprons and sang slavic folk songs. slavic music doesn't work the same way western music does. It doesn't give those big, round, sweet harmonies. There is this strident note to them which is electrically emotional and a little bit screetchy. This created enough cognitive dissonance with sweet folks songs about peasant girls to be amusing, however; this musical element is perfectly designed for metal.
The urgency that the strident slavic overtones bring to SOAD's music is amazing. They are able to capture the swirling emotions of frustration, righteous indignation, and the fever pitch of life which typifies but is not limited to adolescence with the need to overstate the point with shouting and swearing; their style says for them what traditional metal bands have to spell out in groan-inducing lyrics. They rule.
p.s. I saw a video clip of the white stripes playing "Jolene" which is my favorite dolly parton song. I am normally against reversing the gender of obviously gendered songs because it tends to destroy the message of the song, but this is an exception. Jack was able to promote the fury in the plaintive helplessness of the song which is normally masked in female country versions.
pps. if anyone is reading this blog and has thoughts about anything, I would love to hear them.
For some background, where I went to school we had a "women's slavic chorus." These were nice, maybe slightly nerdy woman who dressed up in embroidered peasant tops and aprons and sang slavic folk songs. slavic music doesn't work the same way western music does. It doesn't give those big, round, sweet harmonies. There is this strident note to them which is electrically emotional and a little bit screetchy. This created enough cognitive dissonance with sweet folks songs about peasant girls to be amusing, however; this musical element is perfectly designed for metal.
The urgency that the strident slavic overtones bring to SOAD's music is amazing. They are able to capture the swirling emotions of frustration, righteous indignation, and the fever pitch of life which typifies but is not limited to adolescence with the need to overstate the point with shouting and swearing; their style says for them what traditional metal bands have to spell out in groan-inducing lyrics. They rule.
p.s. I saw a video clip of the white stripes playing "Jolene" which is my favorite dolly parton song. I am normally against reversing the gender of obviously gendered songs because it tends to destroy the message of the song, but this is an exception. Jack was able to promote the fury in the plaintive helplessness of the song which is normally masked in female country versions.
pps. if anyone is reading this blog and has thoughts about anything, I would love to hear them.
# posted by 8yearoldsdude @ 2:56 PM 
Comments:
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I know you must have entered this installment simply to draw me out of hiding. Actually, just FYI, I tried to reply twice to your Le Tigre post, but both times my reponses did not register. I thought perhaps that the moderator was not accepting my comments and so have refrained ever since...but you know I can't leave your statements unchallenged. I have made it very public that I hate System of a Down. And here is the reason. They just suck. You are right, the band should not be lumped with Korn, because frankly, Korn brings some pride to Bakersfield. System, on the other hand, is in league with SlipKnot, another band that makes its mark by being so bad that it can only be appreciated by pissing off parents and normal people with genuine social lives. Your explanation sounds like Justice Souter describing how 2 Live Crew's version of Oh Pretty Woman comments on the naivite of loving sentiments in a previous time because it ignores the ugliness of street life. Oh please. That song just used funny words to be funny. So I will now overstate my point with some swirling emotional swearing. THEY SUCK. LaLaLaLaLaLaLa. But let me just add that I will lobby George W to nominate you to the high Court if Alito finds a way to self-destruct. You'd be awesome.
I am reading! Also, I hope you're right about the GRE. I have been thinking about this statistical breakdown recently, but with respect to law school--it's pretty sad to think that there are people going into enormous debt so they can finish in the bottom of their class (maybe me!). But I guess the way they curve it, so that almost everyone's in the middle and only a few outliers occupy the extremes, minimizes that problem.
# posted by 
: 11:09 AM
: 11:09 AM
Britt don't get so sensitive! Some of us have better things to do over the holidays than make little comments on a Canadian blog.
I see that the American people fell for Mesmerize and then Hypnotize, so that both hit number 1 on the charts. Why should I be surprised...Bush was elected and then reelected.
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