"Dear Claudio, we'll make it if you believe."
"Your own personal Jesus: someone to hear your prayers, someone who cares."
"All this pain is an illusion."
"I won't let you fall apart."
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
We're fighting the war and using music as a weapon
"Dear Claudio, we'll make it if you believe."
"Your own personal Jesus: someone to hear your prayers, someone who cares."
"All this pain is an illusion."
"I won't let you fall apart."
Friday, February 29, 2008
Maynard's Musical Autobiography
One story which has had a profound impact on my own life is Maynard James Keenan's autobiographical tale of drug addiction and recovery told in three parts on his band Tool's 1996 release "Aenima." His use of lifelike analogies and his personification of heroin as a villian create a concept very unique to today's music.
In "Stinkfist," Maynard introduces his heroin addiction as something he loathes yet can't let go of. "It's not enough, I need more, nothing seems to satisfy. I don't want it, I just need it to breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive." He explains his despair over being trapped, wanting to get away but being unable to have a moments' peace from his tempter. "There's something kind of sad about the way that things have come to be, desensitized to everything." He very accurately portrays how drugs suck the life out of the mind and body, leaving an addict to feel nothing outside of his or her addiction. He introduces the concept that he only wants to find a better way to life his life, find a way to feel happiness again. "I'll keep digging until I feel something." Almost every drug addict became addicted only trying to find some way to feel good again. It's a constant chase to get back the feeling of the first high, a chase it is impossible to win.
In the second part of his epic, "H.", Maynard personifies heroin as a snake hissing at his ankles, chasing him down. "Venomous voice tempts me, drains me, bleeds me, leaves me cracked and empty, drags me down like some sweet gravity." The tone of the song is very distraught, and conveys the hopelessness the addict feels. He explains how the drug becomes the addicts' identity, and the addict himself becomes the drug. The addict is aware that he is dying even as he takes his drug, and it is a very despairing emotion to feel, creating much self-loathing and disappointment in oneself. The listener begins to feel Maynard's pain as the music picks up to a roaring crescendo and he screams, "I am too connected to you to slip away, to fade away. Days away I still feel you touching me, changing me, and considerately killing me." As the last line, "and considerately killing me," is sung the tempo drops and this line is almost whispered to convey the hopelessness he is feeling as he knows he is dying and yet cannot stop.
Maynard goes on to offer hope in his conclusion, "46 and 2." For those of you not familiar with rehab programs, allow me to offer some background info. If a person who checks into a rehab center is high when he or she gets there, they are usually sent into a 48-hour detoxification, which is often in isolation. Maynard writes these words when he is 46 hours into his detox, with 2 left to go until he makes it out the other side.
This time he very artistically personifies heroin through his own shadow. When a person is locked inside a room with the light on, there is no possible way to escaped his shadow. Your shadow is always touching you. He sings that he is attempting to crawl "through" his shadow and come out the other side, free of his drug demons. He poetically describes his despair as he tries to find a way to free himself. "I've been crawling on my belly clearing out what could have been. I've been wallowing in my confused and insecure delusions. I want to feel the change consume me, feel the outside turning in. I want to feel the metamorphosis and cleansing I've endured in my shadow." As he begins to see the light, being sober for the first time, he can feel himself changing into a more pure individual. "Feel my shadow changing, stretching up and over me. Soften this old armor, hoping I can clear the way by stepping through my shadow and coming out the other side. Stepping through my shadow with 46 and 2 just ahead of me." By the time this emotional piece is done, he has come out the other side clean and free of his burden for the first time in years, and it provides hope where there was no hope to be found before.
This final song demonstrates an incredible degree of poetic composition that can only be found in music. Humans have 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. I believe Maynard has created a double analogy. Not only does 46 and 2 represent his time spent in detox, but also what most scientists consider would be the next logical evolution of the human being, receiving an additional chromosome from each parent. Maynard presents that he has evolved into a better person as he escapes drug addiction. It truly is a freeing feeling.
Reading his story alone cannot possibly convey the emotion that is conveyed when he sings his story accompanied to music. This epic, along with every album his band has produced, is a testament to the fact that music evokes emotions that mere words cannot. Were it not for music in our lives, we would all be lost.
Full lyrics of all 3 songs can be viewed here.
In "Stinkfist," Maynard introduces his heroin addiction as something he loathes yet can't let go of. "It's not enough, I need more, nothing seems to satisfy. I don't want it, I just need it to breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive." He explains his despair over being trapped, wanting to get away but being unable to have a moments' peace from his tempter. "There's something kind of sad about the way that things have come to be, desensitized to everything." He very accurately portrays how drugs suck the life out of the mind and body, leaving an addict to feel nothing outside of his or her addiction. He introduces the concept that he only wants to find a better way to life his life, find a way to feel happiness again. "I'll keep digging until I feel something." Almost every drug addict became addicted only trying to find some way to feel good again. It's a constant chase to get back the feeling of the first high, a chase it is impossible to win.
In the second part of his epic, "H.", Maynard personifies heroin as a snake hissing at his ankles, chasing him down. "Venomous voice tempts me, drains me, bleeds me, leaves me cracked and empty, drags me down like some sweet gravity." The tone of the song is very distraught, and conveys the hopelessness the addict feels. He explains how the drug becomes the addicts' identity, and the addict himself becomes the drug. The addict is aware that he is dying even as he takes his drug, and it is a very despairing emotion to feel, creating much self-loathing and disappointment in oneself. The listener begins to feel Maynard's pain as the music picks up to a roaring crescendo and he screams, "I am too connected to you to slip away, to fade away. Days away I still feel you touching me, changing me, and considerately killing me." As the last line, "and considerately killing me," is sung the tempo drops and this line is almost whispered to convey the hopelessness he is feeling as he knows he is dying and yet cannot stop.
Maynard goes on to offer hope in his conclusion, "46 and 2." For those of you not familiar with rehab programs, allow me to offer some background info. If a person who checks into a rehab center is high when he or she gets there, they are usually sent into a 48-hour detoxification, which is often in isolation. Maynard writes these words when he is 46 hours into his detox, with 2 left to go until he makes it out the other side.
This time he very artistically personifies heroin through his own shadow. When a person is locked inside a room with the light on, there is no possible way to escaped his shadow. Your shadow is always touching you. He sings that he is attempting to crawl "through" his shadow and come out the other side, free of his drug demons. He poetically describes his despair as he tries to find a way to free himself. "I've been crawling on my belly clearing out what could have been. I've been wallowing in my confused and insecure delusions. I want to feel the change consume me, feel the outside turning in. I want to feel the metamorphosis and cleansing I've endured in my shadow." As he begins to see the light, being sober for the first time, he can feel himself changing into a more pure individual. "Feel my shadow changing, stretching up and over me. Soften this old armor, hoping I can clear the way by stepping through my shadow and coming out the other side. Stepping through my shadow with 46 and 2 just ahead of me." By the time this emotional piece is done, he has come out the other side clean and free of his burden for the first time in years, and it provides hope where there was no hope to be found before.
This final song demonstrates an incredible degree of poetic composition that can only be found in music. Humans have 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. I believe Maynard has created a double analogy. Not only does 46 and 2 represent his time spent in detox, but also what most scientists consider would be the next logical evolution of the human being, receiving an additional chromosome from each parent. Maynard presents that he has evolved into a better person as he escapes drug addiction. It truly is a freeing feeling.
Reading his story alone cannot possibly convey the emotion that is conveyed when he sings his story accompanied to music. This epic, along with every album his band has produced, is a testament to the fact that music evokes emotions that mere words cannot. Were it not for music in our lives, we would all be lost.
Full lyrics of all 3 songs can be viewed here.
Music can soothe even the most savage of beasts
We can further see the powerful effect music has on us when we examine our attitudes, behaviors, and mindsets when given a certain playlist. Music has the ability to alter a mood in an instant. I've found this through my own personal experiences with different types of music.
As a teenager in high school, I surrounded myself with angry and aggressive music all the time. Bands such as Slipknot, Godsmack, Mudvayne, Disturbed, and Drowning Pool all have an ambience of hate and anger surrounding their music. It is not just the lyrics referencing angst towards authority and life in general that affect the mood. The electric guitar played with certain distortion paired up with pounding drum and bass lines create an aggressive feeling in a person regardless of what is going on around him or her. Hearing the forceful guitar intro to Godsmack's "Keep Away" gets the blood and adrenaline pumping faster before any lyrics have been sung. Due to this anger that I constantly surrounded myself with, I spent most of my time angry and bitter. Anything that happened in my life that caused anger or hurt was fueled by repetitious hard rock.
In the past few years, I have discovered that there are so many more sides to music that I never allowed myself to appreciate when I was younger. The peaceful acoustic guitar and melodic lyrics of The Postal Service, the electronic ambience of Aphex Twin, or the love-filled lyrics of Bob Marley can soothe a troubled mind simply by playing in the background. Slower songs with simpler guitar lines and softer drum beats can affect a mood in a much more positive way than that of aggressive and upbeat music.
As a teenager in high school, I surrounded myself with angry and aggressive music all the time. Bands such as Slipknot, Godsmack, Mudvayne, Disturbed, and Drowning Pool all have an ambience of hate and anger surrounding their music. It is not just the lyrics referencing angst towards authority and life in general that affect the mood. The electric guitar played with certain distortion paired up with pounding drum and bass lines create an aggressive feeling in a person regardless of what is going on around him or her. Hearing the forceful guitar intro to Godsmack's "Keep Away" gets the blood and adrenaline pumping faster before any lyrics have been sung. Due to this anger that I constantly surrounded myself with, I spent most of my time angry and bitter. Anything that happened in my life that caused anger or hurt was fueled by repetitious hard rock.
In the past few years, I have discovered that there are so many more sides to music that I never allowed myself to appreciate when I was younger. The peaceful acoustic guitar and melodic lyrics of The Postal Service, the electronic ambience of Aphex Twin, or the love-filled lyrics of Bob Marley can soothe a troubled mind simply by playing in the background. Slower songs with simpler guitar lines and softer drum beats can affect a mood in a much more positive way than that of aggressive and upbeat music.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Music as a story
For centuries, music has been used to tell a story. Traditionally, opera is considered the primary format for musical stories. Jacopo Peri's 1597 work "Dafne" was the earliest composition to be considered an opera. The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy, has housed the perfomance of musical stories since the 18th century.
Some of the most famous stories in the world became famous only after being set to music. Les Miserables, the 1862 novel by French author Victor Hugo, became well-known only after becoming the third-longest running show in Broadway history. Andrew Lloyd Webber took Gaston Leroux's French novel entitled "The Phantom of the Opera" and set it to music in 1986. Dozens of writers and artists, including Elton John and Tim Rice, collaborated to take the popular Disney film The Lion King to the Broadway stage in 1997.
However, it is no longer only operas and orchestra's which demonstrate the power of stories in music. Many modern, alternative artists have begun to tell their stories through music. Brian Warner, better known as Marilyn Manson, set his personal story to music in a 3-part epic which released over five years with 1996's "Antichrist Superstar," 1999's "Mechanical Animals"and 2001's "Holy Wood." Claudio Sanchez took his relatively unknown comic book series, "The Amory Wars," and gave it a voice through Coheed and Cambria, a band whose studio albums chronicle the adventures of Claudio Kilgannon, the protagonist of the comic series.
Many other bands have taken their stories and set them to music, including The Mars Volta, Dream Theater, and Tool. Whether you like the style's these musicians play or not, the talent and artistic ability required to create separate worlds and tell intricate stories is far beyond that of the average three-minute radio-friendly pop ditty artist.
Some of the most famous stories in the world became famous only after being set to music. Les Miserables, the 1862 novel by French author Victor Hugo, became well-known only after becoming the third-longest running show in Broadway history. Andrew Lloyd Webber took Gaston Leroux's French novel entitled "The Phantom of the Opera" and set it to music in 1986. Dozens of writers and artists, including Elton John and Tim Rice, collaborated to take the popular Disney film The Lion King to the Broadway stage in 1997.
However, it is no longer only operas and orchestra's which demonstrate the power of stories in music. Many modern, alternative artists have begun to tell their stories through music. Brian Warner, better known as Marilyn Manson, set his personal story to music in a 3-part epic which released over five years with 1996's "Antichrist Superstar," 1999's "Mechanical Animals"and 2001's "Holy Wood." Claudio Sanchez took his relatively unknown comic book series, "The Amory Wars," and gave it a voice through Coheed and Cambria, a band whose studio albums chronicle the adventures of Claudio Kilgannon, the protagonist of the comic series.
Many other bands have taken their stories and set them to music, including The Mars Volta, Dream Theater, and Tool. Whether you like the style's these musicians play or not, the talent and artistic ability required to create separate worlds and tell intricate stories is far beyond that of the average three-minute radio-friendly pop ditty artist.
Music and its importance
I believe that music is one of the most important things in our lives, perhaps even more important than language itself. Every civilization, major and minor, in all of documented history has had music intertwined within its society.
Eunuch's were bred from birth throughout the middle ages for the sole purpose of singing for the nobility. Almost every ancient king from Xerxes to Nero had his own private choir. Daniel Levitin has written a book entitled "This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of Human Obsession," which presents the idea that there is so much going on in your brain when you hear music of any kind that even the world's top scientists and psychologists cannot explain it.
Attached is a link to Levitin's website, which explains a bit more about the subject matter contained in the book, as well as support from some names you may have heard of, including performing artist Sting, Black Sabbath manager Sandy Pearlman, and the New York Times.
Click here to visit Levitin's website.
Eunuch's were bred from birth throughout the middle ages for the sole purpose of singing for the nobility. Almost every ancient king from Xerxes to Nero had his own private choir. Daniel Levitin has written a book entitled "This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of Human Obsession," which presents the idea that there is so much going on in your brain when you hear music of any kind that even the world's top scientists and psychologists cannot explain it.
Attached is a link to Levitin's website, which explains a bit more about the subject matter contained in the book, as well as support from some names you may have heard of, including performing artist Sting, Black Sabbath manager Sandy Pearlman, and the New York Times.
Click here to visit Levitin's website.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Coheed and Cambria - welcome home
Claudio Sanchez (lead singer/guitarist/songwriter) is one of the most brilliant and talented artists of our generation.
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