Archive-name: heavy-metal/metal-as-concept-2
Posting-frequency: semimonthly Last-Modified: 16-Mar-2006 See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge 2.2 Culture Metal culture is what keeps the music from becoming like everything else that's in the consumer market - products. Products want to do something so visibly, it is entirely distinctive, while not doing anything beyond the norm so there are no objections to purchase. Culture keeps spirit alive by serving as an interpretive landmark of existential questions, delivering to the interpreter a sense of combining the metaphor of the art with the catalogue of past experiences in life that might be relevant. In metal, our culture is not to make music for people who want entertainment; our culture is to make epic and powerful things out of the forces and remnants of destruction. There's a reason for everything we do. 2.2.1 Meaningful Post-Rebellion One function of metal culture is to provide some sense to post-rebellion use of consciousness as an interpretive guide to reality. To get into what we do, they must fall - from the Heaven of oblivious iconistic belief - and accept what will come next, which is the transition to nihilism. Crossing the void occurs not just in a philosophical sense, but in a proto-adulthood state also, where it is the question of what to do after the shaped existence of childhood is replaced with the patterned survival of an adult, all while the clock of mortality races through its orbit. In this sense, metal is a mirror of what the self faces and observes the self reacting to in a modern existence after the twilight of the kingpin of idols/ikons, "God." "That depends on how you see Utopia. In a sense, an ideal society would be a static society, and any such society is an evolutionary dead end. Happiness is a byproduct of function, purpose, and conflict; those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war." - William S Burroughs 2.2.1.1 Culture has caught up with rebellion Mainstream culture long ago appropriated rebellion as its source of "cool", by replacing the values of the previous generation with a new lessening of restriction. From James Dean to Jeff Spicoli, our heroes went from being people of action to coalescing into ultimate introverts who issue a complaint and then reject it all, but with no idea, fluster and collapse into the same morass of pessimistic conservatism which hides the fears of the rest of the herd. Metal is about a rebellion which comes from a disagreement, less of a complaint than a challenge and a rebuke, as it was when the metaphorical Satan looked toward God and rejected Heaven's law for a freedom he could not explain, but felt a thirst toward - an escape from the fixed behavior of holiness to the random and dynamic possibilities of an unformed land - Hell! "In his book-length essay The Conquest of Cool, Thomas Frank explores the ways in which Madison Avenue co-opted the language of youthful '60s rebellion. It is "the story," Frank writes, "of the bohemian cultural style's trajectory from adversarial to hegemonic; the story of hip's mutation from native language of the alienated to that of advertising." This appropriation had wide-ranging consequences that deeply transformed our culture--consequences that linger in the form of '90s "hip consumerism." (Think of Nike using the song "Revolution" to sell sneakers, or Coca-Cola using replicas of Ken Kesey's bus to peddle Fruitopia.) " - book review on amazon.com of Thomas Frank's "The Conquest of Cool : Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism" Metal does not wish to fall into the pit of becoming another "fad" which is hyped-up, sold out, and then worn into the ground as it is rehashed and overhyped. This is the way of the transient. Metal is about finding lasting value in nothingness and one's own creativity together - not in fads, meaningless indulgences, mindless "entertainment" or other forms of life-denial. 2.2.1.2 Inversion of values in media hipness Media hippies are public-identity characters that are composed from statistical reasoning to reach the broadest band of people who could project their insecurities into an avatar of that character and in that identification, become loyal consumers following the instructions in the ads that came with that show. Marilyn Manson, Korn, Pantera, "new" Metallica, Motley Crue, Ani DiFranco, Rage Against the Machine, Cannibal Corpse, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Dark Funeral and Marduk provide this same function - these are "sold out" bands who move their music not with an internal drive to express but with a desire for the material reward they get in exchange for experience, including the experience itself. Metal believes in an inversion of the inversion of values which constitutes the media hipness, meaning that values had to be taken to a greater complexity of abstraction, as they are in lyrics such as Slayer, Morbid Angel, Burzum, Gorguts or Death. 2.2.1.3 Metal rebels against the reason why there are things to rebel against Many genres feature bands which find something to rebel against and fight it, hard. Metal rebels against the need to rebel by taking a metaphorical look at the process of power, in a method similar to William S Burroughs' "Naked Lunch." The metaphors of killing, death, destruction, sodomy, infection, possession, suicide, hate, violence, and necrophagia/coprophagia found in the songs and imagery of metal music are not meant as literal objects but implications that they are everyday objects - denied objects - which confronts the listener with a more morbid fate than nightmare, reality as a neutralized dream. 2.2.1.4 And by understanding destruction, is aware of creation Destruction is the force that clears the way for creation, or opens opportunity, at least. A world that is cluttered, murmured the author, describes our world. There is too much: other people, requirements to society, debt to commerce (rent/health), excess information, marketing information, terrifying news. We wish to kill the waste and clear away the irrelevant - hence the enticing motifs of forest fire, battle, winter, genocide, and apocalypse. 2.2.2 Meta-Rebellion The rebellion against the parameters of power doesn't stop at the next generation of rebellion. As this facet of metal ideology is assembled of the roots of romanticism, it is best to see it as a celebration of the uniqueness of the individual. 2.2.2.1 objectless desire to be unconstrained Metal expresses a desire for mental clarity and a limitless power for self-motion. The impulse is to have nothing interfering in motion so that there is no constant obsession with material intrusion. 2.2.2.2 to derive thought independently Individualism and its trademark, independent thought, are highly valued in metal culture and lyrics. 2.2.2.3 to exist in organic harmony with death and life A recognition of death and the forces of decay in metal prompts a revelation of its philosophy of integration, an embrace of the impermanent in life by recognizing the time to life for all things in a larger, naturalistic development. 2.2.3 Mythos Mythos is the science of placing together a sequence of metaphors in order to build a living structure, a story which is always in the process of evolution while maintaining its integral character. This mythos is the key of self-identification within a subculture, in that it allows one the space in which to create a character matching its own ideals. 2.2.3.1 Introduction In a subculture, beliefs have to work alongside a sequence of tenets which run contrary to the subcultural beliefs. Hence most mythos from this area focus on the individual, and how to develop that to freedom. 2.2.3.1.1 Mythos a method of expressing character A personality mythos carries with it the character of warrior or journeyman ethos: to be free, to work when that's needed and to play/pillage otherwise. The hedonistic modern Hessian descends from Vikings and Vandals of ages past. 2.2.3.1.2 Personal decisions political choices In the modern age, we realize that personal decisions imply a political value system, or at least filtering system. The Hessian cultural movement reaches out to network personal choices by knowledge rather than force. 2.2.3.1.3 Mythos defines a public personal ideal When one is able to speak the metaphorical language of a personal mythology, one is able to express a subtle but powerful reminder of who one is and why. There is not scorn in "We who are not as others" but a hope brought by enlightened choice. 2.2.3.1.4 Ubermensch The idea of overcoming, or surpassing fear and transcending limitation, to become a personal god or omnipowerful human being is rooted deeply in metal, a genre of people who work hard under adverse circumstances to do very complex things. 2.2.3.2 Metal Mythos The value of Hessian mythos can be seen in what it manifests: a gentle ideology based in a placement of self instead of a self image, a hopefulness for environment and humans alike. However, such a progressive view greatly clashes with contemporary social values. 2.2.3.2.5 Mythos of Job Job is the patient servant who waits dully for a task that will free him from worrying about his choice for another few hours. That is why in the Bible, when Job is tortured in a battle between "God" and Satan for Job's soul, his faith is so firm to him - he wishes to know nothing but to what he can adapt, since he has ascribed all his choice to divine power. Hessians dislike Jobs and avoid them at all costs. 2.3.2.1.2 Mythos of selling many albums Similarly selling many albums is recognized as mythically important, at best. Most people consume without ever thinking about even the contents that they are able to digest and repeat. So selling more albums could even mean reaching fewer people, if society is a sliding scale from awareness to oblivion. 2.3.2.1.3 Mythos of sexual appeal Newer metals (speed and newer) do not use gender-related words, as they work toward the abstract. Once leather-clad metal warriors were sexual powerhouses. Now they are powerhouse warriors because they are almost asexual in their abstraction (yet earthy in their behavior). 2.3.2.1.4 Anti-convention Conventions are the calcification of a working process. The independent yeoman information farmer of the new frontier steers away from the known once it becomes obvious how redundant it is. 2.3.2.1.5 Anti-tonesome The self is envisioned as out of place, dissonant, by the nature of its recomposition and so nothing is whole, or perfect, ever; this is the essence of tonal degradation. 2.3.2.1.6 Subculture Participation in a subculture frees the ego and subconscious from explanation, or justification, in the same way drug addiction frees a madman from his dark and morbid destiny. 2.3.2.1.7 Lasting ethos of ideology Ideology is the essence of what is communicated as mythos: a series of abstractions based on character value which create a sense of uniqueness, or differentiation, for the Hessian population. As such, they hold to their ideology fiercely, as it is essential for both self-image and self-placement in a time where information filtering is the first line of defense. 2.2.4 Living after Midnight Hessians are both abstract thinkers and Hedonists. The latter means a fair amount of partying, e.g. social behavior involving the forbidden fruits of intoxication and/or sexuality, even while thinking (and vice versa). 2.2.2.1 Activities Hessians are known to smoke a lot of pot, drink beers, take ephedra, play loud music, form unlistenably distorted bands, destroy religious icons, play video games, watch horror movies, go to concerts and smoke a lot of pot as commonly accepted social interactions, while Hessians as individuals and more informal groups engage in wide varieties of probably weird and lurid behavior. 2.2.2.2 Intoxicants Hessians favor a wide range of intoxicants for differing reasons. The most common Hessian intoxicant is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the major active ingredient in marijuana, hashish, bhang and kif) for the following reasons: - Ease of availability - Mild or no long term effects - Ease of consumption - Hallucinatory/Psychedelic properties - Non-capitalist distribution system - Social activity - Not an artificial "happy" reality Some Hessians drink, but recently more have been rejecting it in favor of a less corporate existence, as have many smokers. Many Hessians used to take speed, or methamphetamine, but more are taking the less-harmful ephedrine. Blood of illegitimate children of priests is also intoxicating and delicious. 2.2.2.3 Events Major events in the Hessian community include: concerts, radio shows, drug parties, demolitions, fires. 2.2.2.4 Dialogues One of the most important activities as a Hessian is communicating. Hessians as part of an intense structuralist desire articulate many different things, and are more than willing to share information, guaranteeing another at least temporary connection in the matrix of the subculture. 2.2.5 Language Hessian language is an abstract but organic rendition of English (or other native language) into an abstract and psychedelic descriptive field of structural importance. Hessians are often highly technical, and their language follows this model. 2.2.5.1 Relation to human animal One very postmodern trend in metal is to declare the dependence on a "human animal" and to speak of that duality, between abstract mind and human flesh, with familiarity. Its major function in the ideology of metal is to make individuals aware of their distinctiveness, or what they gave up when they let it go. 2.2.5.1.1 Gender pronouns Metal uses few gender pronouns, at least in recent genres, as a way of distancing from the flesh and the entire question of physicality of avatar. 2.2.5.1.2 Self-reference There is little self-reference in metal for the ostensible purposes of identification, but quite a bit in the description of personal experience (as in, of decay) or observations of physical occurrence to the self. 2.2.5.1.3 Abstract The most important aspect of metal's language is its reliance upon abstract, Latinate and Germanic structures as a method of describing something for recognition as if by antigen. From the dooming blast of old Slayer with its mythological lyrics to bands like Morbid Angel with their philosophical guide to post-Babylonian religion, death metal integrated a fundamental change to the way we view language in metal. 2.3 Ideology Although not a vital component of the music itself, the ideology that propels metal reflects the range of spirit which enables one to create music that is both free and structural. An evolving history of ideas is presented briefly here. 2.3.1 Ideals As all of us are, metallions are children of history who look to the past to explain the thinking behind the present. Here is a brief sampling of the identifiable movements metal's got into. 2.3.1.1 Romanticist As a philosophical movement romanticism predates existentialism in its desire to explain life to the individual, as if entertaining the theodicy of Milton as a Protestant necessity for personal self-actualization. It was about breaking free of social confinement and finding the transcendent self which could see the beauty in all things, an extension of the egalitarianism of the Deists who founded commercial America. Much of its focus included a dialogue with death, a morbidity, an insouciant desire to experience life as it occurs, a hedonism, a fascination with the ancient, a querying of self in vast universe, and a desire to achieve that which is unique for its precision expression of self. This movement empowered emotion to lead the human on wild adventures, while setting logic free in a world of its own to dream. Some say this is the last time people in Western society reported significant experience. A fragment from the OED defines romanticism as "tending towards or characterized by romance as a stylistic basis or principle of literature, art or music; designating to a movement or style during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe marked by an emphasis on feeling, individuality and _passion_ rather than classical form and order, and preferring grandeur or picturesqueness to finish and proportion." This snippet defines both the style and content of romanticist works, at least as commonly known; investigating metal reveals their inspiration. The distinguishing characteristic of metal throughout its history has been its youth-culture rejection of the established world (youth reject their world for they can afford to; once they are educated to lose hope they find themselves in an easier existence) and declarations of autonomy from the surrounding world and its disease of bourgeouis commercialism, sexual elitism, intellectual denial or spiritual cowardice, depending on what generation of metal is expounding. In this metal has affirmed the rejection of proportion/symmetry and the overthrow of external principles which would control \ such as morals and aesthetics (finish); the root of this tendency is the dependence on passion that takes over when one has accepted science (see Nihilism, 3.1). The romantic movement of literature in Europe (predominantly England and France) inspired poetry and existential literature such as Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein_, the story of a creature brought to life finding his essence unfolding as he grows, only to realize the conditions of his life doom him to obscurity and isolation. These works are the ancestors of the seminal modernists James Joyce, William Faulkner, and W.S. Burroughs, as well as the genesis of genres such as science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The fascination with the eldritch and morbid, the biological and the destructive, as well as the unfolding question of humanity's place in a technological world, are hallmarks of this movement leading a clear trail through history to today's metal movements, especially black metal in which all logic is rejected in favor of total emotional hatred and nihilistic passion for the abstract. These lyrics explain best: Mayhem, 1993, "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" Life Eternal A dream of another existence you wish to die a dream of another world you pray for death to release the soul. One must die to find peace inside, you must get eternal I am a mortal but am I human ? How beautiful life is now when my time has come A human destiny but nothing human inside What will be left of me when I'm dead, there was nothing when I lived "What you found was eternal death no one will ever miss you" 2.3.1.2 Existentialist Existentialism is the science of the evolving individual, and how to understand human development from a psychological, sociological and metaphysical view. "Existence before essence," as it has been summed in the past, depicts existentialism as the concept that without any inherent purpose, we "wake up" when we are born here and then must find some way to explain value into our lives. As we grow we become more of what we are, or wander in a personalityless materialism. 2.3.1.3 Postmodernist The inversion of value so that its inside might be seen, postmodernism is about mirrors. A mirror of the self, so that it can be seen as the subjective in a world of objectives that it is; a mirror of the world and a mirror of that mirror, to keep consistent projections (time). What makes postmodernism most distinctive is its absorption of intensely "chaotic" theories such as quantum physics or non-linear mathematics, by virtue of its foundation in technology and looking past superstition, but also peering beyond the intellectual process of illusion to see how the universe functions as organism, with universal principles of growth. Founders such as James Joyce, Thomas Pynchon, William S Burroughs, and Emperor make this movement valuable for what it is: a violent fist against the aesthetic remainder of rationalism, where an illusion of public good and intent is manipulated to justify vast thefts. Afflicted with knowledge, postmodernism tends to emphasize the "subtext" of each situation, where there is an acknowledged reality and an underlying larger picture which often has nothing to do with the material props at hand. As such, dreams of death and great journeys past the land of the dead are complex and intriguing material. "The people in power will not disappear voluntarily, giving flowers to the cops just isn't going to work. This thinking is fostered by the establishment; they like nothing better than love and nonviolence. The only way I like to see cops given flowers is in a flower pot thrown from a a high window." -William S Burroughs 2.3.1.4 Mysticism The basic belief of a mystic is that events and objects are interconnected in a structure that is larger than immediate material parameters and as such can be accessed if one is open to transcendence, or letting go of the visible for the abstract. The mystic finds significant experience in interpretation of everyday events. 2.3.1.5 Shamanism A shaman is a tribe's seer sent forth into the wilderness of his own personality in order to dig forth the answer to the question everyone is blinded from asking. A master of finding the obvious behind a whole structure of reality designed to hide it. 2.3.1.6 Nihilism Nihilism leaves a complex etymology in the Oxford English Dictionary: "Total rejection of current religious beliefs or moral principles, often involving a general sense of despair and the belief that life is devoid of meaning." This gives a historical sense of the word as something anti-religious, anti-moral, and anti-meaing, but does not explain the root of that: a belief in the lack of arbitrary values except the immanent and contextlessness function-value. Nihilism rejects conventional valuations and replaces them with the pragmatic assessments of science and atheism, allowing freedom of movement before considering precedent and normativity. In modern times nihilism is a dual entity, composed of emotional nihilism or the breakdown of all values or caring (closer to apathy) as well as the nihilism described above, which is merely a removal of arbitrary illusion as imposed by social conditioning. Metal has always espoused some form of nihilism, from its roots in god-rejection and social cynicism to its over-glorious heavy metal days when no excess was enough. Death metal took nihilism to new extremes of rational description of human irrationality, fragility, and doom, but black metal takes nihilism a step further and assumes it as a weapon against conventional moral and spiritual restrictions. "My name is Varg Vikernes and I play in Burzum. Burzum means either darkness or light, depending on how you see it really. If you're a Christian it probably means darkness." - Varg Vikernes, http://www.burzum.com/ 2.3.1.7 Organicism The tendency of mathematical systems to go from the linear, or vector measurement, to chaotic multidirectional entities is a measure of its organicism, or the point at which it moves from chartable projections to the zone decided only by theory. Organicism is a philosophy of information science which holds that in order for something to articulate itself independently, it must be of an unmeasurable state of chaotic motion. It's as if in escaping Heisenberg one becomes integrated into a system in which all measurements are variable in chaotic patterns, e.g. without linearly predictable jumps (a pattern with linear jumps suggests the order is evident within that pattern, where a pattern with chaotic jumps suggests an order behind the evident pattern) and therefore a science of fuzzy logic and organic decisions is needed. The sheer relentlessness of the fact that the human mind still so far outperforms our computers a comparison is ludicrous indicates that a more powerful and efficient logic than our stacks of decimal calculations will be needed. Hence an emergent organicism in many things, including metal, which approach problems in which binary solutions (those composed of yes or no, off or on, right or "wrong") lead to illusion, since the binary nature is a projection of the intelligences observing the situation and not emergent from the properties and methods of the system itself. 2.3.1.8 Naturalism A belief in or intense study of nature, Naturalism is a fundamental component of metal's fascination with the natural and the dual appearance of natural order. In order to appreciate the beauty of a system including its most brutal and predatory moments, one must understand it as a whole to see the function which this tendency plays, and for what conceptual development to reality. The inexorable but chaotic order is studied through musical emulation and lyrical hyperbole in a genre partially dedicated to transcendence of natural boundaries, with an appreciation for the strength and continuity of nature. 2.3.1.9 Individualism Strongly in favor of the independent evolution of individuals so to allow them space to grow without the persistent damage of scar tissue formed to avoid intervention by the arbitrary appearances of demands by others, the individualist genre metal has developed a subculture with focus on the development of the individual as a force of chaos and change in the otherwise patterned material/causal world. The reasons for individualist thought usually center around the idea that those who know what they want for personal fulfillment will not project that on to others for purposes of control. Individualism is a property of art and any other discipline which demands independence and focus; systemic and/or chaos thinkers understand it as a form of parallelism. ================================================================ (c) Copyright 1994-2006 Hessian Studies Center @ www.hessian.or User Contributions: 1 define chloro ![]() Aug 14, 2021 @ 11:23 pm hydroxichloriquin https://plaquenilx.com/# chloroquine and plaquenil Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic:
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