Monday, December 20, 2010

Give me that Lennon bitterness

Instructions:
1. Play the first video. 
2. Read while you listen (also it keeps your eyes averted from the sad picture montage). 
3. Listen to how the song ends (the vid is accurate to the album version). Skip to the end when you start playing it, if you want to save time.
4. Pray for a quick end to your meager existence.
5. Play the second video, paying attention to the end of the tune.





So Lucy and I are just sitting around today, listening to Abbey Road. I've gotta say it's my favorite Beatles album. My favorite song on it is "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

Yes I know the period is outside of the quotation marks. It's my blog.

The way the song ends is what really attracts me. I've got to admit, I never noticed how heavy that song is until I heard the Type O Negative cover, contained within their song "Day Tripper (Medley)". So I'm basically asking you to watch both of these videos till the very end. They're both like over seven minutes long, so I apologize for that.

But it's my blog and you'll play by my rules.

It took a band from my time, whose style I really appreciate, to make me appreciate more a band from my parents' time. The Beatles were already in my tape player as a teenager, but I didn't really understand how cool they are until I got a little older.

With the TON version, you get a medley of The Beatles' songs "Day Tripper", "If I Needed Someone" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". I really like the IWY(SSH) part, because they only cover the very end of the song. The coolest part! What a great idea. The ending to the song is what's most important; what gives the song most of its character.

I can do without blues. I mean, blues is cool sometimes, and IWY(SSH) is pretty bluesy until it goes into the She's So Heavy parts, which are more dirge-y and rocking and slow and methodical and bitter. Fucking sweet. Give me the negativity, Lennon. I love that guitar line along with the bass line. Starr pulls off some pretty sweet drumming there, too.

The song itself seems to be a sort of smashing together of two songs--I Want You, and She's So Heavy. Maybe we should call them 'parts' instead of 'songs.' They must not have been complete enough on their own for Lennon, so he combined them into a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

When I heard that Type O Negative cover for the first time, I knew I was in love. It's probably my favorite cover of all time. They don't bother paying attention to the whole song, just the best part of it. Brilliant! I was unfamiliar with the Beatles' version at that time, so this was my first exposure to it. I though they were saying "Heaven" instead of "heavy" at first. It made the "she's so.." parts make less sense, but I liked thinking that those three voices all screaming "HEAVEEEEEEN" in perfect minor harmony was really cool.

I love the way TON slow every verse down, and I love the distorted bass and guitar playing together, and the keyboards playing the rhythm guitar part from the original. It's a beautiful moment for all music.

RIP Peter. I miss you.

There are enough people missing John and George. I don't need to. Peter was my one true gothic doom metal love.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Slow mixed with heavy

Metallica had a great idea with throwing their ballad tunes in the middle of the album. Of course a metal album's got to start strong and stay strong. You've gotta rock hard and start with lots of balls and maintain the energy. But the listener of metals usually needs a break from breakneck rocking after about two or three songs.

The problem with a lot of metal is that it's not that good. Just loud and not good. With bad metal, one needs a break after five seconds. But with some badass, confident shit like Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets" and "...and justice for all", three songs is great. Totally listenable. Then when they're done rocking you, they throw the ballad in there! It helps that those ballads are kickass. "Fade to Black," "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)," and "One" perfectly break up the albums they inhabit.

But when I think of Megadeth, and "Rust in Peace", I realize that that formula only works for some metal bands.

Friday, December 17, 2010

First post

Just created this blog. Still not sure if I like the name. My original blog was not encompassing of all I want to write about, like music and video games. So I think this blog will be about the music I've been discovering and that I've discovered and that I love and that I hate. There's not much I feel indifferent about.

Let me explain what I mean by "all modern metal sucks" : if it was at Ozzfest X, except for the closing band (LONG LIVE SABBATH), it sucks.