Josh Joesten --
June 30, 2003I had to have been 6 or 7 when I was first exposed to
heavy metal. MTV was to blame. The year was 1983;
cable TV was the new thing just short of the VCR. My
parents being as broke as they were somehow managed to
have cable installed. My brothers and I were
dumfounded because we could not find PBS amongst all
these channels. In a frantic search one day for
Sesame Street, I inadvertently stumbled on MTV. The
first video I remember seeing was Frankie Goes to
Hollywood’s "Relax." It was strange for me to see
music being acted out on screen. A few days later I
saw my first metal video. I new it was something
extreme because it was the complete antithesis of all
the pop/new wave videos I had seen up until then. I
remember being awestruck by the long hair and
strangely pointed guitars, the loud raucous emitted
from the singer’s voice and all the gyrating, spastic
movements created by the musicians and fans. Twisted
Sister’s "I Wanna Rock" and "We’re Not Gonna Take It"
videos embodied what this era of metal meant to the
fans. Right away we see the irrational adult figure
talking down to the youth for his interest in Twisted
Sister. He is patronized and forced to admit what he
wants to do with his life. The response yields the
formation of the band, the start of the music and the subsequent yet temporary end to adult’s irrationality. Fuck it was beautiful!!! It always seemed in these videos a certain Us Vs Them motif was present as the fans were always up against the conservative and responsible adult world that simply did not understand and were never going to understand them or the music.
The saving grace was the bands themselves whom always
took their audience away from the daily conformities
called mainstream society and placed them with others
of similar interests in music. It meant something
back then to be a fan…
As I grew older, metal became who I was. At 8 and
much to my parents dismay I bought my first tape.
Ratt’s "Invasion Of Your Privacy" followed by Motley
Crue, Quiet Riot and OZZY! I don’t think my father
ever really understood my passion for music. It
seemed all I did was talk about it. I did not care
for toys or sports like all my peers. Lets face it
nobody in my third grade class had a copy of "Metal
Health." He saw what the media interpreted heavy
metal fans and took it as the gospel truth; his son
was going to be white trash. Not just beer swilling
white trash but cocaine snorting, Jack Daniel
guzzling, wife beating white trash. When I entered
middle school in the late 80’s I was knee deep in
tapes and vinyl records. I had a new found love for
Iron Maiden and was about to discover Metallica who
had not yet released "And Justice For All" and whom
will have introduced me to a newer and more aggressive
form of metal, thrash. I sought out and found the
stoners at my Jr. High school. We hung out together,
we went to each other’s houses to watch MTV, we bummed
smokes off the adults, we tried marijuana, we were
tight and we were scarce. Only a handful of stoners
existed at our school (as they did at every school).
The faculty hated us and the parents worried about
what kind of influence we had on each other and those
who were not apart of our group. We were often
approached by our other peers and asked why we liked
that "kill your mom kill your dad" music. The media
had found meaning to our music…it was beautiful and it
meant something.
High school came, grunge followed, and girls were my
new love. I met a few girls who introduced me to
alternative music. By the time I was a junior I had
ditched metal and was listening to other types of
music. Though, metal was always in the back of my
mind, I grew tired of it. I had listened to nothing
but metal for nearly ten years and was ready for
something new. All my metal friends were gone by
sophomore year weeded out by an uncompromising and
very conservative faculty. I managed to survive
because deep down I did not want to disappoint my
father who still never really understood me. High
school ended and college began and I had direction and
a path. I had exceeded what everyone thought of me
and was determined to prove to myself and my father I
could go even further. Punk was my new love and as
the nineties came to an end, I found myself at a new
crossroad. Various events and curiosities led me to a
Deicde show at the Cactus Club. This led to a new
found love for metal as I was really burned out on the pretentiousness of Emo and pointlessness of punk.
Once again the extreme qualities of metal re-attracted
me. Only it was death metal. I was hooked again. A
new bad was formed and friendships were forged. With
the onslaught of Nirvana, Alice In Chains, and
Soundgarden in the early nineties and the Green Day,
Rancid, the Offspring in the mid-nineties as well as
the rise of Korn and Limp Biscuit; I watched
mainstream society become increasingly tolerant of
non-pop music. Trends formed and reformed as kids
were finding identity in the success of mainstream
nu-metal, pop punk, and hardcore screamo bands. It
bothered me! Teen angst became the new marketing
strategy with MTV at the helm. This is not beauty!
What happened to parents hating their kid’s music?
Now parents were riding along to concerts. What
happened to the rebellion? Where is the meaning?
Today I am a schoolteacher and childhood is far
behind me. Times have changed, attitudes have been
readjusted and tolerance is high. Does it still
bother me that I see parents embracing their
children’s so called diversity because the media says
it’s okay? Does it still bother me that music is a
means to sell products rather than a means to oneself?
No, it doesn’t. As I finish typing this little
diatribe, I think about the people I see on a regular
basis and how we like the extreme side of things. The
music we know and embrace is too much for everyone to
enjoy. I think about all the shows I have played and
all the bands I have hung out with and how I see the
same faces at every event. I think of all the bands I
have seen and I think about all the parties at other
people’s homes with other metal heads. I think about
Rob and how we all came together to say goodbye and
embraced his life and what he stood for. I think
about the camaraderie and the real love for music that separates us from so many. I think about my father and how one day I might apologize for being such a weird kid but for now I am going to keep on living. It’s beautiful and it means something…
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| COBRA - 12/2/2004 4:10:53 PM
Well well well looks like powerslave has come to the central valley THANK GOD!Well people the voice for powerslave here is me COBRA if you wanna find me e-mail me at cobraskater@yahoo.com.
For now rock out with your cock out so says
COBRA | | RJ_The Tastefull Lemon_ - 10/26/2004 9:48:52 AM
i agree with alot of what you say but there are still many bands out there who havent gave in tto the new types of music. There are so mant sub-generes now i dont really think true metal exist. I have to give major credit to one band who has kept whats left of metal alive...KoRn back when they first started metal...all rock in general...was going to die. Then KoRn brought the spark back into metal and made sure it wasnt going to do so. Hopefully all the new stuff we have now wont kill the music we all love. I just hope all these smaller bands cakeep it alive.
| | Yorche - 12/4/2003 10:47:14 PM
Metal was really something back then, but there are a few of us that are trying to revive that era of music once more. In my bands case, we are on the search for a young kickass singer. it's been hard finding the perfect vocalist for our style of music. our stuff is very 80's european influenced, but I was hoping if any of you fellow musicinas know anyone who would fit the bill, please let me know. just visit Mythe.net and scope out our mp3 samples; the recording is very rough, but is for reference purposes only.
If any of you fellows can give a hand would be greatly appreciated.
Keep real Metal alive!!!! | | sixer - 8/17/2003 1:00:33 AM
I agree and most definitely relate to that post, but let us not forget paralalia so that heavy metal music is not necessarily bound by TREND, (although music can influence TREND) but indeed is an ART meant to be rediscovered, practiced and passed on. as the case with 'nu-metal. I for one discovered heavy metal in 1992. 1992 being an era in which being a metal head would (as according to TREND) would result in you being the recipient of much ridicule. thanks to in part, if not in whole to the media's failure to air metal music and the constant depicting of our culture as 'inept' and 'villainous' why? TREND. My love for my ART was in contradiction with TREND. now in 1992 was heavy metal "dead"? Where all the metal bands at the time "gone"? Did everyone stop listening to metal all together? of course not! there where still metal bands performing and being formed around the globe, some people still listened to and loved metal and it was most definitely not dead, and never will be why? ART. heavy metal is a music, music is an art, art influences culture, culture influences trend, trend influences art and so on. I believe Josh is a text book example of this. Was he a victim? A participant? A contribute? who has the right to say. but Josh, like me, discovered something, the same thing, an art. the art of metal. it matters not the era, but the yield, and the discovery of metal music will always and forever yield something special to that individual. headbang till you hearts content josh. | | - 8/9/2003 7:09:35 AM
Very well said. | | wannabe_poseur - 7/1/2003 11:45:33 AM
Right on brother! Passionate and well thought out. You pretty much put forth feelings that most people have but have a hard time explaining. May your love for music whether it's metal or something else always stay true.
Enjoyed the diatribe. Remember don't corrupt the youth of America too much (lol).
La2 |
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