MAMMOTH METAL PAPER
So I finished my introduction. Here it is. Tell me if it's shit, please, I've never written an introduction this long in my life.
20/21: Modernism at the Turn of Two Centuries and the New Heavy Metal
In the beginning of the twentieth century, classical music was at a cultural apex. A new wave of composers and musicians, the Modernists, were faced with the problem of distinguishing themselves in a sea of established, well-respected voices from the past. The great orchestras of the day promoted concert programs consistently grounded in the work of long-dead composers, primarily the result of the foundation Classical repertoire established in the preceding century. Composers from 1900 onwards were faced with the relatively new problem of competing with musical minds of the past over the audience of the present, in addition to simply trying secure a lasting place in history. This extraordinary pressure of comparison drove these composers to rethink and rework all elements of traditional music in search of their own unique voice, hoping that their efforts would at the very least distinguish them from the overbearing shadow of the past.
The ideas and thoughts which shaped the way each composer scaled this problem were relatively uniform, and can be thought of as the Modernist Program. Most modernist music increased the technical demands on instrumentalists, both in the orchestra and as soloists. Another hallmark is the purposeful expansion of acceptable tonal colors, known as the Emancipation of the Dissonance, which had been occurring historically to a much less intentional and pervasive degree. A third, and arguably the most consequent, idea common to the Modernists is a general rejection of “pleasantness” in favor of musical complexity. The central motivation which held these disparate currents together was a need, whether real or imagined, to expand the expressive palette of classical music to deal with more complex and extreme emotions and ideas endemic to the modern era. However, this new music was vastly unpopular, and quite expensive, and was by and large rejected by performers and audiences alike, causing the decline of classical music from a critical component of high society to an increasingly outdated and academic art form.
The experimental heavy metal of the late 1990s and early 2000s show developments of similar ways of thinking in response to similar problems. A growing canon of metal music from the 1960s onwards solidified and began to dominate airtime on radio stations as well as continuing to draw competitive live audiences, and even began to be referred to by some as “classic” metal. The consolidation and popularization of the Death Metal and Black Metal subgenres starting in the late 1980s completely recast all metal by simultaneously introducing enormous new expressive power in thematic content and tone, while also creating a space for more serious and mindfully artistic music, in a manner comparable to the way in which Beethoven redefined the instrumental composer as an artist pursuing self-expression rather than merely a musician who composed “to please their employer, or to gratify their audience.” (Burkholder 594) The metal musicians of the late 1990s and early 2000s inherited a medium with rapidly increasing musical capabilities, but also inherited the burden of a well-produced, well-marketed, and still quite popular traditional canon with which any serious musical effort would be juxtaposed.
The metal musicians of the early 2000s, beginning in the 1990s, faced some of the same problems and developed musical solutions strikingly similar to those of the Modernists of the early twentieth century. Many of the philosophical and stylistic hallmarks of the modernist program began to show up in heavy metal as well: increasing technical and compositional complexity, increased chromaticism approaching atonality, and consistent rejection of convivial digestibility in favor of persistent widening of the emotions and ideas compassable by the music. However, the flexibility introduced by electronic and digital sound processing, both live and in the recording studio, have created a much larger musical space to work from when compared with the techniques available to the Modernists. Further, the reduced size of ensemble and reduced cost of exposing music to the listening public have made metal a much more economical medium than the Symphony, the only medium available to the Modernists with anything approaching the massiveness of sound (both in volume and in broad-banded balance) of the contemporary metal band. To the extent that a small group of heavy metal artists can be considered the inheritors of the Modernist Program, metal has proven a more effective vehicle for the kind of musical progress advocated by the Modernists than the symphony, and metal musicians have furthered the agenda of musical modernity beyond the limits achieved by the Modernists themselves.
So yeah there it is. Let me know if you can't find the thesis or something. Or if this is like way too long for an intro. Basically every sentence or two here is going to be at least a paragraph, and I'm planning on introducing some interesting side information sections along the way that are related to the point but not directly involved in proving it. LIEK SRSLY the longest essay I've ever written was only twice this length, so I don't even know what I'm doing and I probably fucked something up.
Also, sorry if posting this on LJ is breaking some social mores and stuff, but this paper is consuming my life and I'm not really in control any more. :P kinda fun actually but it makes me a bit worried; I didn't have dinner, and I inadvertently listened to the same song like 5 times in a row because I was focusing too hard. eh. At least I'm not trying to write a NaNo at the same time unlike some of you crazy people.
20/21: Modernism at the Turn of Two Centuries and the New Heavy Metal
In the beginning of the twentieth century, classical music was at a cultural apex. A new wave of composers and musicians, the Modernists, were faced with the problem of distinguishing themselves in a sea of established, well-respected voices from the past. The great orchestras of the day promoted concert programs consistently grounded in the work of long-dead composers, primarily the result of the foundation Classical repertoire established in the preceding century. Composers from 1900 onwards were faced with the relatively new problem of competing with musical minds of the past over the audience of the present, in addition to simply trying secure a lasting place in history. This extraordinary pressure of comparison drove these composers to rethink and rework all elements of traditional music in search of their own unique voice, hoping that their efforts would at the very least distinguish them from the overbearing shadow of the past.
The ideas and thoughts which shaped the way each composer scaled this problem were relatively uniform, and can be thought of as the Modernist Program. Most modernist music increased the technical demands on instrumentalists, both in the orchestra and as soloists. Another hallmark is the purposeful expansion of acceptable tonal colors, known as the Emancipation of the Dissonance, which had been occurring historically to a much less intentional and pervasive degree. A third, and arguably the most consequent, idea common to the Modernists is a general rejection of “pleasantness” in favor of musical complexity. The central motivation which held these disparate currents together was a need, whether real or imagined, to expand the expressive palette of classical music to deal with more complex and extreme emotions and ideas endemic to the modern era. However, this new music was vastly unpopular, and quite expensive, and was by and large rejected by performers and audiences alike, causing the decline of classical music from a critical component of high society to an increasingly outdated and academic art form.
The experimental heavy metal of the late 1990s and early 2000s show developments of similar ways of thinking in response to similar problems. A growing canon of metal music from the 1960s onwards solidified and began to dominate airtime on radio stations as well as continuing to draw competitive live audiences, and even began to be referred to by some as “classic” metal. The consolidation and popularization of the Death Metal and Black Metal subgenres starting in the late 1980s completely recast all metal by simultaneously introducing enormous new expressive power in thematic content and tone, while also creating a space for more serious and mindfully artistic music, in a manner comparable to the way in which Beethoven redefined the instrumental composer as an artist pursuing self-expression rather than merely a musician who composed “to please their employer, or to gratify their audience.” (Burkholder 594) The metal musicians of the late 1990s and early 2000s inherited a medium with rapidly increasing musical capabilities, but also inherited the burden of a well-produced, well-marketed, and still quite popular traditional canon with which any serious musical effort would be juxtaposed.
The metal musicians of the early 2000s, beginning in the 1990s, faced some of the same problems and developed musical solutions strikingly similar to those of the Modernists of the early twentieth century. Many of the philosophical and stylistic hallmarks of the modernist program began to show up in heavy metal as well: increasing technical and compositional complexity, increased chromaticism approaching atonality, and consistent rejection of convivial digestibility in favor of persistent widening of the emotions and ideas compassable by the music. However, the flexibility introduced by electronic and digital sound processing, both live and in the recording studio, have created a much larger musical space to work from when compared with the techniques available to the Modernists. Further, the reduced size of ensemble and reduced cost of exposing music to the listening public have made metal a much more economical medium than the Symphony, the only medium available to the Modernists with anything approaching the massiveness of sound (both in volume and in broad-banded balance) of the contemporary metal band. To the extent that a small group of heavy metal artists can be considered the inheritors of the Modernist Program, metal has proven a more effective vehicle for the kind of musical progress advocated by the Modernists than the symphony, and metal musicians have furthered the agenda of musical modernity beyond the limits achieved by the Modernists themselves.
So yeah there it is. Let me know if you can't find the thesis or something. Or if this is like way too long for an intro. Basically every sentence or two here is going to be at least a paragraph, and I'm planning on introducing some interesting side information sections along the way that are related to the point but not directly involved in proving it. LIEK SRSLY the longest essay I've ever written was only twice this length, so I don't even know what I'm doing and I probably fucked something up.
Also, sorry if posting this on LJ is breaking some social mores and stuff, but this paper is consuming my life and I'm not really in control any more. :P kinda fun actually but it makes me a bit worried; I didn't have dinner, and I inadvertently listened to the same song like 5 times in a row because I was focusing too hard. eh. At least I'm not trying to write a NaNo at the same time unlike some of you crazy people.