Eruptions: heavy metal appropriations of classical virtuosity

Abstract

We have now heard him, the strange wonder, whom the superstition of past ages, possessed by the delusion that such things could never be done without the help of the Evil One, would undoubtedly have condemned to the stake – we have heard him, and seen him too, which, of course, makes a part of the affair. Just look at the pale, slender youth in his clothes that signal the nonconformist; the long, sleek, drooping hair … those features so strongly stamped and full of meaning, in this respect reminding one of Paganini, who, indeed, has been his model of hitherto undreamt-of virtuosity and technical brilliance from the very first moment he heard him and was swept away.

Heavy Genealogy: Mapping the Currents, Contraflows and Conflicts of the Emergent Field of Metal Studies, 1978-2010

“…This re-framing can be seen to lead to a shift in research focus towards examining the genre conventions of the music itself (Friesen and Epstein 1994) and to an exploration of its dominant thematics, as understood by its musicians and fans (Friesen and Helfrich 1998). It is surely not coincidental that this shift occurs at a time when there is a distinctive emergence of a musicological approach that begins to apply a popular cultural aesthetic to the understanding of the composition and performance of heavy metal music (Walser 1992;Harrell 1994;Brown 1995;Berger 1997;1999a,b).…”

“…An example might be "The poetics of destruction: death metal rock", where Harrell argues that "the politics [and] philosophy of death metal [are] a response to and reflection of modern culture" (1994, p. 91). Another might be Walser's (1992) exploration of the baroque-classical influences on heavy metal guitarist's pursuit of the art of virtuosity; a piece that has the added value of demonstrating a virtuoso cultural-musicological critique in its exposition. But perhaps the most irrefutable example would have to be the group of papers, produced by academic philosophers, exploring the themes to be found in the lyrics of Metallica songs (Irwin ed.…”

Popular music analysis and musicology: bridging the gap

“…Furthermore, Van der Merwe (1989), Moore (1993), Brackett not only would their denotations and conno-(1992), Hawkins (1992) and Walser (1992) exem-tations have to be taken into account in a full plifies this point. Furthermore, Van der Merwe (1989), Moore (1993), Brackett not only would their denotations and conno-(1992), Hawkins (1992) and Walser (1992) exem-tations have to be taken into account in a full plifies this point.…”

Is there such a thing as the ‘blue note’?

“…Moreover, as 5. I use this term as commonly understood as a Walser (1992) argues, the point is not that of translation from the German Funktionslehre. claiming blues, pop or rock to be 'high art' -However, it also embraces traditional Western as opposed to 'low' -but that even 'classical harmonic analysis, where major and minor music' is a relatively recent cultural construct tonalities can be viewed as very distinct.…”