On Metal: Fighting Ignorance.

Many people don't listen to metal. This paucity is a breeding ground for stigma. And people have not let us down. Indeed there is a set of stereotypes associated with metal. They are angry, screaming, screeching, Satan worshipping rebels who scream, screech (and not sing) just for the sake of rebellion. Oh and also there is that whole "cidal" idea that has been dragged into metal: homicidal and suicidal crazymen.

But this is not the point of metal. By thinking of metal in this sort of way, you have done yourself a great disservice. Metal is not a sort of "dumb" genre like those that have taken form in our modern day. If you are aware of the things people dare call music today, you will know what I'm talking about. Friday? Caillou? Beiber? Do any of these ring a bell? But, mind you, I'm not trying to disparage these songs. No. If you have a purpose to your listening, like entertainment, and these songs serve this purpose for you, by all means, do listen to them. But if you seek to attain a higher level of truth in your music, an intellectualism of sorts, I suggest you listen to metal. Metal provides the gateway to intellectual enlightenment to break away from the socially conditioned chains that entangle us to the dogma of the conformists and force us to accept, not think. Any other genre is simply a form of anti-intellectual Civil Society, which in and of itself is a paradox. Metal is the only form left today whose sole purpose is progression!!!!

Metal is a legacy of 60s and 70s counterculture. It is appropriate therefore that metal is but a subculture, lost in the labyrinth of intellectualism, away from the mainstream, today. For what has happened to counterculture? What happened to appreciating difference? It has gone underground. Our society has become more conformist. But it has become more tolerant only BECAUSE of this conformism. And it has become more accepting of other cultures only because it is socially unacceptable to not. Why else are there, demographically, more homophobes among rural areas than more-urban areas. There is a tendency to conform. Note: I'm not saying being tolerant is wrong, but being a conformist (9 of 10 times) is. 

Being a conformist puts you in the dark. It may be proven by science (since, for some reason, a result of our advertising world, I guess, objective rhetoric is worth more than subjective reasoning) that people live in their subconscious when in a conformist world. They don't think outside of the box, indeed that is the definition of conformity. So, I ask, how is progress supposed to arise from this system? The only way is if thought is obsolete. Are we done with normative thought? Are we in a post-normative world in which the only way to progress is technical? 

If this were true, mainstream music has definitely reflected that. In our modern mainstream music, the top-of-the-chart music, hahaha the successful songs, are ones with advanced engineering and complicated mixes. Indeed this is the result of millions of dollars and wonderful technology (which are not mutually exclusive). 

But what happened to intellect? Thought? The Aryan Cause--to destroy ignorance? (If you think I'm talking about 20th Century Fascism here, I have no words for you). Is there no place for that in our modern ever so advanced market place? Obviously not. They are weird. Who would ever want to listen to them? Or my favorite: "they're depressing."

Yes, they are. And they need to be. How else can you break ignroance? If "ignorance is bliss," isn't the only way to attain the light, or at least one way, to shed this bliss, to realize that this bliss is just a farce? That the real bliss will come when we rid ourselves of these problems, instead of just ignoring them. This is true even for black metal and death metal. The main purpose of these controversial pieces is not a hatred for life, necessarily, thought such a hatred can be implied, and even if it can be implied, such a hatred only comes after a love for death. Metal goes beyond just conditioned thought, in a very intellectual way.

For the sake of comparison, consider Jay-Z. Shawn Carter, his original given name, grew up in the Marcy Projects of Brooklyn. And, no doubt, he had suffered. He says so himself. But despite a few lyrics (like those from "Success" on American Gangster, "truth be told I had more fun when I was piss poor" and "I got watches I ain't seen in months/Apartment at the Trump only slept in once") there is this sort of pro-capitalist feel, by which he puts his back on his past. Instead of being the self-professed "mail man" that he claims to be on the very same album, he instead has become the very evil he sought to destroy, an effect that has clearly been cast by this whole conformist mentality. I have never heard anyone who shares his background utter anything even resembling "Get a job, my nigga." (from Jay-Z's "Say Hello," another song from American Gangster) This ideological incongruency, a neglect of constraint, is nothing more than just a practice of an all-too-real theory embodied in James Madison few words, "Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything." What does Jay-Z stand for? What does rap stand for? What is their purpose? To state verbatim the many things we hear in objective independent film? Or to make cash? Indeed metal goes beyond this.

The lyrical prowess of metal music operates on a higher plane than any of these "modern" forms, at least in comparison to their mainstream elements (metal has no mainstream form!!!!). It has literary merit and philosophical constraint not seen by other forms of music, especially in other music, which does exactly what Jay-Z says it does. It serves, ironically, as a "mailman," an aloof entity. Metal, however, delves into the depths of thought, from existentialism into Vedic Hinduism. If I were to throw an umbrella generalization, no doubt, I would be the biggest sort of hypocrite. Moreover, I would not like to make the arguments that just seem so obvious because they don't work. Not all rap is about "bitches, cars and cash." I give you Damian Marley's "Stand a Chance." But, lyrically, the literary merit of metal is on a higher plane than our "modern" music. It practices constraint because it based on a strict ideology.

So let it be known that metal has no sort of mainstream involvement. The reason is paradoxical. Metal is being hurt by the thing it is trying to destroy. Metal, in its obsession with destroying ignorance, is hurt by ignorance. The ignorance of the truth behind the art, behind its philosophy. This is a scary concept. How can people listen to you, your call to arms against ignorance, if they are filled with a bias - a result of ignorance. It takes no genius to realize that ignorance causes a LOT of problems, but ignorance cannot be fought if is a part of the status quo.

That being said, and being obvious enough, no matter how "deep" rap may go, it doesn't go enough. This is because of their accepted ideology. A nothing ideology. An ideology that doesn't constrain itself to anything. There is a ignorance in these artists that is a result of ignorance. They are not educated and they are obsessed with the sort of "street smarts." As compelling as it may be, "street smarts" is nothing without "bookish" smarts. It can, at best, be a supplement. How can people like fucking Kanye West and Jay-Z be wearing Occupy Wallstreet shirts and saying shit like "What do you think I rap for, to push a fucking Rav-4?" This ignorance is embazed in all they do. They are not furthering our society but pushing it back. They have become the same politicians that they so disdain. They do not believe anything but mirror all the shit they hear to appease to audiences. They clearly aren't even helping their cause. The right looks to THEM to make anti-poor and anti-Black policies. What the fuck ARE you rapping for?

But this sort of ignorance reaches beyond just the chart-toppers. And delves deeper into the crevices of the underground. Some will argue that literary merit is all that is required of an artist's lyrics. This is wrong. Universality is a key component, essential to the most basic elements of music: understanding. And what better way than to manifest in your piece the thoughts of Men before you. Ask any of these "modern" artists who Nietzche, Kant or Orwell are. They don't know. Its stupid to ignore all this great thought and "start fresh." What happened to "standing on the shoulders of giants?" THIS IS REGRESSION!!!!

And people will even say that metal's high level thought is esoteric or elitist. It is not. Intellectualism is not a bourgeios take. Intellectualism is not a bourgeios construct. It is a human construct. Thinking is everyone's right. And the self-inflicted punishment that people today sentence themselves to is shocking. It is what is destroying our society. There is no reason to listen to it. Music played by ignorant Men amounts to just the very thing we are inevitably progressing towards: a world run by ignorant Men. To progress we must stray off the ignorance people dare call an aberration and blaze our own path. A path of intellectual righteousness. One that doesn't have to look and say I don't know. The one that is true to itself. It is not about appeasing to anyone. It is about doing what is right because it is right.

So if you look at me weird when I'm listening to my Bathory, Necrophagist or Rudra, keep in mind that, at the end of the day, I'm living on the cutting edge. I tear the chains that enslave everyone else: be it intellectual or economic, though they are not mutually exclusive. And the beauty of all this is: I want to free you to.