I've never heard of this, and I've been a fan of theirs since the 80's. I think a lot of people talk about "Metallica Fans", and the actual fans are looking around for the napster-hating, "sellout"-shouting, haircut-obsessed chauvinists that everyone describes, because they're actually pretty rare.
Being a big Metallica fan, I think there is much more intetesting and useful stuff in their music to discuss, than was told in the video. For me the biggest mystery of their music is how do they make so killer catchy riffs and use to make the chromatic intervals sound so cool. I hope you will tell about that in the next chapter about Metallica))
I think the reason behind that both Lars and James are musically open minded and understand how to implement their influences into their music adding an aggressive thick sound to them. Their dual guitar melodies come from Thin Lizzy and King Diamond. The heavy riffing comes from Black Sabbath, and bands like Tank,Motörhead,Diamond Head,Blitzkrieg. Basically Metallica plays British Heavy Metal "americanized".
I like your channel. This video seemed to be less in depth than the others. It was more focused on the theme of machismo and less about the songwriting.
@@Holistic-songwriting The melodic elements of Metallica seem to increase with each album (with the exception being St. Anger). Consider the softer passages in songs like Fight Fire With Fire, Fade to Black, Battery, and Welcome Home (Sanitarium). They're each very melodic in nature and help to amplify the "male" nature of the rest of the song. Even in Welcome Home, most of the song is pretty sing-songy (though in a distinctly Metallica way). Or, consider the section in Master of Puppets after the second verse, where the band plays a i-VII-VI-VI progression (I think it's called and Andalusian Progression, but it escapes me at the moment). The soloing is extremely melodic (with one of the guitars playing and f# underneath the C as a melodic note). With that, Kirt always found a way to bring melodies into his soloing. As they progressed in their career, James gradually brought more melody into his singing. Looking at Hardwired... to Self Destruct, there are a number of songs that have almost anthemic chorus (Moth Into Flame, Halo On Fire). TL;DR: Though it's never been the sole focal point of the bands creative output, Metallica has (for the most part) always incorporated melody (or, at least, melodic tendencies) into their songs.
Thank you so much for FINALLY talking about how important the "St Anger" era is in Metallica's history. All these fanboys who can't stand that album are just purists who can't accept a more vulnerable side of the band, and that's such a shame. By the way, I don't know if that's because I'm more familiar with this theme, band and their music than with other ones, but I feel like you could've "analysed" the music more in depth rather than just focusing on all the "male" thing. Their music was ahead of their time, they used chromatic stuff all along their discography, they wrote 11 minutes long songs with bass solos and LOTS of time signature changes, they wrote beautiful and meaningful ballads, Hetfield is literally a human metronome who basically plays drums on his guitars, they influenced thousands of musicians... I gladly agree with the machismo factor in their career, but why should we sum their music up only with that? Danke schön für alle ihr Arbeit, Friedemann.
I agree with most of your comment, but I honestly have to question anyone who enjoys listening to St. Anger. It has literally the worst drum sound I've ever heard in a metal album (at least from a band that wasn't starting out recording their first demos in a garage). It's pretty much unlistenable regardless of whatever merits the songwriting may have.
@@lukesmusic317 The production doesn't have to be perfect to be able to enjoy the music itself. I personally think the drum sound reflects the aggression and mood the band was in at that period of time. But honestly, Metallica ALWAYS had issues for their production/mixing/mastering. You can't tell me seriously the general sound on Kill em all is better than St Anger, that'd be a lie. You might prefer it, but it's not "better" production wise.
The fans who rejected the St. Anger album didn't do so because of vulnerability. Metallica has been vulnerable many times in the past, and albeit, not without controversy, but without fans totally abandoning the work. Their first real power-ballad, "Fade to Black", was written by Hetfield's about his battles with depression and suicidal thoughts and feelings. Throughout their career, he's bared his soul in this way, from "To Live is to Die", where they mourn the loss of their co-founder, to "Mama Said", where he mourns his mother. There has been vulnerability, and there has been controversy, but no one abandoned them. The reaction from the St. Anger album was due to Metallica's abandoning some of the key aspects of their music, and generally, the fact like it sounded like a different band altogether.
I think it is funny that people commented being so offended and rude about how he discribes the tone of the song. What is sad is that they are too busy being offended to enjoy this great advice and FREE music theory lesson.
All this series are the "rosetta stoned", joining rythm, melodies, lyrics and storytelling, voices . Thanks a lot for this "male/gemenine" image, it is the best simple example to explain.
Als jemand der selbst Musikschaffender ist, bin ich echt froh darüber, dass du diese Videos machst! Gerade die Episoden über Nirvana, System und die, unter der dieses Kommentar steht haben mich sehr zum denken angeregt! Stay Gefährlich! P.S. Ich so hart lachen müssen wie ich dich das das erste mal sagen gehört hab, weil das ein Satz ist, den ich selbergern und oft (bzw. die österreichische Abwandlung davon "Bleibt's G'fährlich")
"You can make agressive music, without negative energy, and i dont think that anybody ever thought that would be possible. You can make music agressive and fucked up, but with positive energy between the people creating it" Lars Ulrich - 2003
My friend recently showed me your channel, and I'm really enjoying it. I absolutely love how you break down the music and how it expresses the emotions an artist is trying to convey. Thank you for creating such amazing content! There are also three bands I'd really enjoy hearing your take on: 1. Queen 2. Dream Theater 3. Coheed and Cambria
DAFUQ man, it REALLY feels like you're talking about something you don't know! I ussually love your videos but it seems like you didn't put the same passion in this one than in the others.... Metallica has a great sense of melody (they played a live with the San fransisco Symphonic, not a coincidence) and building tension, they're not always at 100% from start to finish. You are actually summering metallica's music to only Kill Em All and Ride The Lightning. Just listen to One, Nothing else matters, Fade to black, The Call of Cthulu, The Unforgiven, And Justice for all..... Anyway, everybody makes mistakes, just wanted to let you know that I don't share your point of view on this one (don't get all the female/male music neither though). I still love your videos and I encourage you to keep going!! By the way, If you like gojira, maybe you could make a video about this band? ;)
Great breakdown here! Was waiting to see this from you myself too! As for the gender thing (awkwarrrrd I know), the generally acceptable way to say that is "Masculine" and "Feminine" as in "more masculine" which you use in the descriptions of traits just great, so it nails that! It lends into the concept of expression (how you choose to express yourself in anything speech, fashion, body language and musical composition) rather than male/female which can seem (totally accidentally) like a gender identity thing - in places where you say "more female traits" it'd be more clear that you mean expression if you said "more feminine traits" when drawing the distinctions. But I respect your prefacing the whole concept and making your intentions clear, since it's such a minefield. Awesome as always!
Thanks for covering Metallica! And thanks for the whole season in general. While chord progression content can be found on the internet (big up Jake Lizzio!), the parts of your videos in which you outline similarities and patterns in vocal melodies and how the image of an artist is slowly built over time is something I cannot find anywhere else, aside from your channel as of now. So thank you for that - I know it can take a lot of time to produce these kind of videos. I am writing this because I just wanted to weigh-in on the image of Metallica. They resemble aggression, I think everyone can agree upon that fact, but that doesn't sound like the most optimal way for describe them to your parents or your children. 16:44 - 16:48 really sums up their image best. The feeling after you've been to a Metallica concert or if you have just finished listening to one of their albums is very... relieving. You've let so much anger go and that same musical therapy was discussed when James Hetfield was a guest on Joe Rogan's podcast. There also might be a quintessential side of the band that was left out in the video - the 80's aggression paralleled with Cliff's melodic harmonies that became the pinnacle of thrash metal and spawned many prog metal bands soon after, fighting the glam movement by being down-to-earth (e.g. on stage, the band would wear what they would normally, like Cliff's denim jacket) to James' more lyrical side during the 90's, having spent an entire decade experimenting and getting a lot of shit from fans, which takes ball if you, at one point, 'ruled the world', as the cliche went. I am from Europe and I feel like Metallica is way more known for their ballads, especially by casual fans. I used to tell people I am a thrash metalhead just to see how they react, and most just viewed it an aggressive niche of music that is too chaotic to listen to. But if I played them the preludes of "Master of Puppets" or "To live is to die", they would go on about how big Metallica were and how great their music is. That is why I really enjoyed that you touched upon the logical structure of their songs, because the the sound of the band may seem chaotic at first, but once you are in their world it really isn't. Although Metallica can't write sheet music, in the recent AJFA 30th anniversary they showed mountains of papers in which they had written down the architecture of their songs (intros, bridges and so on). I feel like Metallica transcended their genre, because I've had so many people citing some of their songs as their favorite ones, whilst listening to completely different styles of music (usually not 'fans' of metal). The only artist or band I can think of right now is Kendrick Lamar, in the sense that he makes people who aren't into hip-hop listen to hip-hop (just as a disclaimer, I am not comparing him to Metallica in any other way, as it would be valueless). And one final thing, I remember reading a book about the band's biography when I was a kid and the first few hundred pages were quotes from James and Lars that emphasized on their jamming, but the word 'jam' was never referenced. It was more along the lines of 'sweating in the garage, playing those killer riffs'. I remember thinking how awesome the devotion to their craft sounded to me. I've always associated 'jamming' with funkier bands like RHCP or Extreme , although it might be a subjective thing. For example, when Iron Maiden write their songs, you imagine Steve Harris playing the bass and whistling the melodies for the guitarists to pick up and come up with galloping riffs and while the verb 'jam' technically covers this activity, I don't necessarily see it as jamming, it's more of a... riffing kind of thing? Just wanted to share my few cents, because I know that, for better or worse, I have found myself subconsciously changing how I view an artist' image based upon similar in-depth videos on UA-cam, with yours being the most effective currently, and I have enjoyed reading your comments pages for more information on particular bands or artists. Anyway, have a great day, Friedemann! Man, how cool does one have to be in order to share a name with Bach himself...
Ha! ;) well Bach was called Johann Sebastian of course, but it's true, his son, also a composer, was named Friedemann as well! Thanks for all the insights, I spend a ton of time on research for each of these videos but alas it's impossible to learn catch up with a fan of 20 years. Not for a lack of trying though!:)
Guess I was sleepy, yeah, I meant one of his sons, no idea how that came out. I can tell you're doing tons of research, because you are doing it for too many artists and there's only so much that you can be a massive fan of :)
Oh yeah, Hoagie from Day of the Tentacle! I really considered what you said about using male / female archetypes to music but I don't find it a very useful or illuminating way of understanding music. I can understand using words like chaotic, martial, straight, aggressive, loose, fast, intense, melodramatic etc. but masculine and feminine is too broad and vague to be useful. That's just my opinion. Interesting video though.
Well, different strokes for different folks I guess. It's a concept I use quite a lot actually, for example to contrast two sections against one another, Male against Female tends to work very well. Glad you spotted the day of the tentacle reference ;)
I've watched quite a lot of these, and enjoyed them. But, this one didn't come across as that insightful, and honestly seemed like some more research could've been a good idea. For me, boiling the most important trait of Metallica down to "male" isn't that accurate. And, talking about "male" rhythms, "male" melodies etc. etc. Seemed unnecessary. You could've just as easily called it for what it is, simplicity, effective simplicity. Nothing to do with gender. For me a way more important trait would be "zero fucks". They've always made music that was true to themselves, whether that entails making long instrumentals, more straight to the point groovy songs, ballads (Nothing Else Matters, Mama Said, Bleeding Me, Fade to Black etc. etc.), or even doing an album with Lou Reed fusing spoken word poetry with Heavy Metal. I'm not denying that there is a fair bit of machismo-attitude in their sound and image. But, boiling it down to that being the defining characteristic of Metallica just doesn't feel right to me. I'm not a fan of Metallica because of the machismo-attitude. If anything, I'm a fan of them, in spite of that, not because of it. Sorry, but this video came across as not having that good an understanding of what they're about as a band, and also kinda sexist. Dividing things like rhythm and melody in to gender-boxes and even stating that "women have more drama", I mean, come on, seriously. Could've put a little more thought in to that statement. And, I'm not saying you can't do insightful analysis based on gender and gender-performance. But, you need to have a motivated reason to do so. Like, let's say, doing an analysis of how women are portrayed through the camera lens in a horror film. The conclusion has to kind of justify bringing up gender, beyond simply reasoning, "I feel this is male", or "this is male to me". That's just too subjective for this subject matter.
Agreed. The 'male' vs 'female' thing didn't help the video at all. It made the musical explanations harder to understand, while also being very distracting from the message. The other mysoginistic comments, like "my wife runs around a lot and all soap operas are bad", also came across as pretentious and annoying.
Metallica also uses a lot of acoustic guitar compared to most metal bands, especially for their intros.I was hoping you'd talk abou that. Being a non metal person this is what attracted me to their music. Aggressive but with a sense of calming.
Amazing! i really liked that you explained a lot of their character with "male" or "female" makes it much more easier to understand and to apply to other bands as well Cant wait for the next episode Thank you!
DUDE... Watching this just made me realise how much of an impact Metallica has left me songwriting wise. Although I don't listen to them much anymore from day to day as I do with Karnivool, Toska, or Dorje which most of the time, according to this discussion, is more 'female'. And despite all of that, I almost always hold on to the tonic when creating riffs just like James and whenever I want something to sound heavy in my demos I subconciously, or sometimes not, program the drums to sound like what I'd imagine Lars would play for that part. I discovered Karnivool about 2 years ago along with Toska and Dorje, and it has definately improved my writing and has pushed it more in a 'female' direction for my aural pleasure(and it helps that Rabea Massad and Ian Kenny are geniuses) I honestly kind of thought my days of learning basically every single Metallica song and learning everything about them was past me and that I'm a completely different player than I was 5 years ago. And I guess in some ways I am but some things just never change. For reference: I'm currently 20 years old so that makes me 18 when I found Karnivool and I started playing guitar when I was about 10-11 and until I was about 17 did eventually I develop a taste for other things than JUST Metallica. This was a very nice episode BUT.... *inhale* WHEN DAFUQ ARE YOU GOING TO DO ONE ABOUT KARNIVOOL? SRSLY?! YOU'VE DONE ONE FOR TOOL AND DEFTONES COME ON!!!!
You pointed out very well their evolution as a band. As you mentioned, they couldn't stand being always rude and agressive. They are humans like anyone else and only after accepting it, Metallica could go on.
For a solid minute after your Ron Burgundy joke, I was sitting here thinking... "This man is a funny guy, I like this man". Liked and subscribed just for that!
Man was I happy to see this video! I strongly agree with the idea of metallica's sound quintessentially encompassing a "male" approach. I see a lot of people debating that the video didn't touch on some of the more nuanced moments in metallica's music like their ballads and the classical influences on their sound, I view these elements as still very masculine because they are usually instrumentally used as moments of brevity to build a sense of grandeur that compliments the "macho" heavy riffs. and lyrically their lighter more ballad like songs are always written from a male viewpoint and deal with very masculine emotional responses to more sensitive/emotional subjects like: love (nothing else matters) rejection and shame (the unforgiven) depression/suicide (fade to black) and pretty much falling out of love? (bleeding me). there's probably much more i could elaborate on but those are just some of my opinions.
I had initially watched this video over 4 years ago, when I was fresh out of college. At that time I didn't agree with most if not all the things you'd said, as was evident by the click on the thumbs down button. Revisiting this video after 4+ years, as a more mature musician but probably more importantly as a more mature person, even though I still might not agree with everything you say, I definitely understand and appreciate where you're coming from. Congratulations on putting this video together, you definitely raise some interesting and fascinating points. Great job. You have earned my like, genuinely. I'll look forward to more such content. Cheers! \m/
Nice video! I would have liked to see a deeper look into the more progressive, melodic, thrashy and mellow parts of Metallica, though. I think the examples here were of some of the most straight forward stuff, which to be fair is perhaps most popular, but to me personally the least interesting. Keep up the great work!
The word that describes Metallica for me is "riff". Seriously, one Metallica song has so many riffs that other rock band would make a full album from them - take for example Halo on Fire, that song changes so many times. It's even their composing habit or peculiarity - James comes with a bunch of riffs and they (Lars + James) try to find out which riff goes well with another riff, and another, and another, until they get an extremely complicated song. I love Metallica for this, because the songs are not boring!
Hey Mr Findeisen For this band I would say: 1. Pre 2. Pubescent 3. Angst I don’t mean to be funny, but even tho I love metal and they were a band that showed the way for the only metal band, I just even got them... or maybe I had grown up by the time I got to hear them... On that note... please... may you do one of these band next time? 1. Meshuggah 2. The Mars Volta 3. Canvas Solaris 4. King Crimson 5. Rolo Tomassi 6. Opeth Sorry.. I know that is a lot.. I have more.. but just to mix it up: 7. Owane 8. Talk Talk 9. Alva Noto - Ryuichi Sakamoto I am sure you will find a lot to break down when looking into any of these.. Thanks for your videos….. They are Holistic… :)
Wow! One of the best episodes ever!!! Brilliant! Great season finale! I thought I wouldn't like this one so much since I'm not a great fan of Metallica myself either. But this was very instructive and insightful. Congratulations! You even helped me understand what bothers me about Metallica! And what makes me enjoy more complex styles, like jazz. It's clearly because I'm a girl, loll, at least my musical brain is. Btw, took me a while to remember who the typical Metallica fan you portraited was, lol, the guy from Day of the Tentacle.
You look at the metal bands that led up to Metallica, such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. They always have an overlay of mythology. Only on "Enter Sandman" does Metallica flirt with mythology. Correct me if I'm wrong. Consider "Nothing Else Matters." It's all based in reality, not fiction. The genius of Metallica is stretching the boundaries while keeping it real.;)
Metallica flirts with a lot of mythology. One could argue that the Lovecraftian influence on songs such as "The Thing that Should not Be" and "The Call of Ktulu" is mythological in nature. They also touch on Christianity in songs like "Creeping Death" and "The God that Failed". It's not an overarching theme to their music but it pops up from time to time. Also, Sabbath, Purple, and Zeppelin have plenty of songs that are based on reality.
Agree with Skyler. As pointed out, Metallica uses a looot of Christian imagery (what Skyler mentioned plus "The Four Horsemen," "The Judas Kiss," "Leper Messiah," "St. Anger," etc.) as well as Lovecraftian inspiration. Just wanted to add that they also sometimes reference Greek mythology ("Orion," "Atlas, Rise")
Yo, you've gotta do Slipknot, Soundgarden and Foo Fighters next season. That'd be sick! (Also really appreciate the content, have learned a lot from watching you)
I actually got pretty well the whole male/female thing, is not that confusing. And I think this the first time I agree completely with one your videos in these series. Is not that I don't agree with the others, they're awesome, is just that I always have a very diferent view of the image and sound of the bands you describe or maybe is that I feel you don't talk about the things I consider to be the most important, but it's always enjoyable to see different points of view and I always end up learning something I didn't know. I would love to see an episode on Queens of the Stone Age although I'm sure as hell we're definitely not going to have the same views on that one hahaha but it would be very interesting to see your take on them. Keep on the good work, man. Love your videos.
Thinking about the "yeah" and the "hey"s, in the very early days of Metallica, even though the yeahs were already there, Hetfield tended to end some lines with melismatic syllables -which, using this videos terminology, would be a femenine attribute-. You can listen to what I'm saying in early versions from Hit the Lights for instance, such as the Metal Massacre or the No Life 'Til Leather demos. When they released Kill 'em All, the melismas were no more.
I came up with an interesting comparison that St. Anger era Metallica to the original Shield run from late 2013 to February 2014. There were tensions within the group then had a therapy session then resolved the issues. After that, they continued without any problems.
As a teenager, Metallica’s music became part of my DNA. Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, And Justice for All, these albums were an emotional attack on the senses. Emotion and dynamics thrive in those albums. From the double melody transition in Master - which still brings chills, and even tears to the unsuspecting, to the last verse in One - which leaves you emotionally exhausted and gasping for breath, the music was guttural, and as phenomenological a musical experience can be. By contrast, their posing and uní-dimensional humanity - or seemingly lack thereof - even back then, never sat well with me. These were guys who were inspired by Hemingway and Trumbo, for crying out loud. Yet, all we saw from Metallica the band were posers, pissing on other musicians and being assholes on interviews. I stayed a fan because their music was a tour-de-force experience in auditory theatre, drama literature. I stayed despite of them. Metallica didn’t lose fans because they were finally seen as complete persons. They lost fans because their music can now be easily summed up in a short UA-cam video and broken down into two-four drum beats, fifth chords, and near-robotic repetition in both dynamics, volume, and cadence. They lost fans not because they became pedestrian, but because their music did.
For season 3, we need Dillinger Escape Plan or Primus. They use dissonance and incorporate different musical influences, but on opposite sides of the emotional spectrum (anger vs humor).
Fast, Heavy, and Versatile were my three. The first two are simply because of their speed, being usually up around 170 on their quote unquote *PURE* thrash albums (Kill 'em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice for All) and their sound, which, in my opinion has always been heavy for whatever kind of music they play, whether or not the TYPE of music they play (a la the alternative metal of the Load and Reload era, nu metal with St. Anger, etc.), while the last one is more of a reflection of studio albums like The Black Album, Load, Reload, St. Anger, and other albums such as the much disliked Lulu and S&M, along with Garage, Inc. This band has shown that they aren't JUST a thrash metal band throughout their careers. Sure, that's what their KNOWN for, but that's not ALL they are. For another example, Eddie Van Halen is best known for reviving (not inventing, as is misquoted and spread as fact) the tapping technique on guitar. But, he was also known because of tap harmonics, tremolo picking, and for having some lowkey complicated rhythms while he played. Just like Metallica, he's best known for one thing, but he's versatile. I also take issue with the very first point, about groove. That's not the point of Metallica, or most thrash metal in general. Sure, there are some bands who incorporate more funk or jazz groove in their drumming, but Metallica doesn't. And that's fine. Lars has never been a perfect DRUMMER, but he is perfect for METALLICA. The boys have never been about groove, or "dancing to the beat". They have said in multiple interviews from the early days that they are there for one reason: To kick your head in with metal. And Lars playing the way he does lets the other three do exactly that. Also, James IS a metal God. Not WAS, but IS.
This video made sense and I'm for very happy to watch it. Specialy the part explaining the use of Tonic in Metallica's music. And asking what we associate with Metallica cause me to actually think what all those words actually means. Appreciate that.
I really wished that The Tragically Hip was larger outside of Canada. Gord Downie's song writing is brilliant and I would love to have you do an episode on him and the band.
I'm really curious to see what you could come up with on an analysis of some more extreme metal bands like Cattle Decapitation. I've been enjoying this series a lot. Hope there's much more to come!
Hi Friedemann, big fan of you channel and great analysis! And… Please rethink using these dualistic gender stereotypes. I understand that you are talking about archetypes, but... 1. I think most people don’t get the difference and by always reinforcing this male/female dualism the stereotypes get perpetuated 2. you are going against your own archetype argument by using sidelines like „just like my wife“, suggesting that in fact women are more likely to show „female“ qualities and vice versa. It’s hard enough for women especially in rock music (who don’t match the sweet sexy singer-songwriter with a breathy voice image) to express tough and aggressive qualities without being judged as manly and weird. If we keep thinking and communicating in these categories we make it harder for both women and men and everyone else to express their true selves not just in music. I am sure you could present the whole analysis without using this ancient dichotomy. Labeling a more syncopated, light beat or more complex melody writing as „female“, and a clear downbeat and an orderly song structure as „male“ seems oversimplified to a point where it gets absurd. It just takes away from your intelligent and differentiated viewpoints. Just my two cents… Rock on! 🤘🖤
Great video as always ! For the next one, I suggest you take At the Gates into consideration. With very unique sound and plots for songs they should take a place in these videos, I believe.
If you haven't done it already could you please do Avenged Sevenfold? I'd love to see how they do (or don't) write a chord progression or song. Keep up the good work. I always love watching these. Ty.
Shinedown would be cool to get into. Interesting East coast sound - or maybe just the east coast rock. I love their composition and the way Eric Bass seems to be the actual genius.
Really interesting analysis ! I had never thought about the "alpha male" aspect of their sound though. Their music has always been on the nose, like literally an in your face experience. This is why songs like Damage Inc or Battery are so satisfying, they don't beat around the bush. They have always written overly long songs with a lot of repetition but with a billion great moments in it to make up for it like the mellow part of Master of Puppets or the great guitar work on Ride The Lightning. You also can't deny the talent of Hetfield in songs like Until it Sleeps or The House Jack Built, even when Lars keeps bashing his drums like hell. But I agree, most of the time, it's all about not taking shit and speed up head down like a crazy train !
I’d like to see a video about queens of the Stone Age. The brutal and groovy but still fragile songs full with anxiety like “i appear missing” and “first it giveth” is very interesting to me
Would to see a series on the image/sound/style of a genre. Maybe like grunge or Neue Deutsche Harte. As for individual artist I personally love the Editors or Depeche Mode.
For me metallica is a super talented band who created their legendary hits during the period of 'aggressivness', i.e. before Some Kind of Monster. As soon as they solved their interpersonal issues, became friendly and respectful, their music lost something essential. They are still super talented dudes creating awesome music, which sounds aggressive and metal, but i don't know man.. something got lost along the way, it just doesn't grab you as much as their previous work. It's interesting how such factors influence musicians and their creativity..
1. YEEEEAH
2. OOOOOH
3. WAHWAHWAHWAH
Don't forget 4. NNNEEEVAAA'!
Woah- Ohhhh!
"I don't sound like that....
YEEEAHHH!!
...I guess I do."
Hetfield, 2003
psteeg that was funny as hell.
lmao
First word that came to mind was "YEAH!"
I knew I was by far not the only one, haha
YEA HEEAAAH
Oh yeah? OH YEAH?
First word was Drink.
Second word was Drunk.
Hahah yeah
If fans left because James took his kid to ballet practice, then they were EXTREMELY shit fans to begin with.
T Timeler, there are plenty of reasons to leave Metallica, but that is definitely not one of them.
agreed
I've never heard of this, and I've been a fan of theirs since the 80's. I think a lot of people talk about "Metallica Fans", and the actual fans are looking around for the napster-hating, "sellout"-shouting, haircut-obsessed chauvinists that everyone describes, because they're actually pretty rare.
Being a big Metallica fan, I think there is much more intetesting and useful stuff in their music to discuss, than was told in the video. For me the biggest mystery of their music is how do they make so killer catchy riffs and use to make the chromatic intervals sound so cool. I hope you will tell about that in the next chapter about Metallica))
I think the reason behind that both Lars and James are musically open minded and understand how to implement their influences into their music adding an aggressive thick sound to them.
Their dual guitar melodies come from Thin Lizzy and King Diamond.
The heavy riffing comes from Black Sabbath, and bands like Tank,Motörhead,Diamond Head,Blitzkrieg.
Basically Metallica plays British Heavy Metal "americanized".
And how they can use the same 5 chords or so over and over again without really repeat themselfs
Good point dude, spot on 🤟🏼👍
@Shockheadd45 all their albums except for St anger and some songs like sad but true or the thing that should not be are in e standard
@@TheKartoffel101 Also Death magnetic and the last one. Oh, and the half tone down in all load and reload. And I disappear
GIMME FUE! GIMME FIE! GIMME DABAJABAZA! OOHH! YEAH!
Made my night
@@kp8923 ditto
Goobin Pls gimme food gimme fries gimme salad on the side OOOH YEAHAAW
lmfao
no
My words were
1. YEEAAH YEEEAAAH
2. WAAAAAAHWAAAHWAH
3. Endless Downpicking
This video is the equivalent of an essay written for a university class you didnt show up for the entire semester.
My am smart guy *inclines fedora*
I like your channel. This video seemed to be less in depth than the others. It was more focused on the theme of machismo and less about the songwriting.
aggressive
melodic
Burton
Melodic... interesting! Wouldn't have made my list for sure. Mind elaborating on that?
@@Holistic-songwriting The melodic elements of Metallica seem to increase with each album (with the exception being St. Anger). Consider the softer passages in songs like Fight Fire With Fire, Fade to Black, Battery, and Welcome Home (Sanitarium). They're each very melodic in nature and help to amplify the "male" nature of the rest of the song. Even in Welcome Home, most of the song is pretty sing-songy (though in a distinctly Metallica way). Or, consider the section in Master of Puppets after the second verse, where the band plays a i-VII-VI-VI progression (I think it's called and Andalusian Progression, but it escapes me at the moment). The soloing is extremely melodic (with one of the guitars playing and f# underneath the C as a melodic note). With that, Kirt always found a way to bring melodies into his soloing. As they progressed in their career, James gradually brought more melody into his singing. Looking at Hardwired... to Self Destruct, there are a number of songs that have almost anthemic chorus (Moth Into Flame, Halo On Fire).
TL;DR: Though it's never been the sole focal point of the bands creative output, Metallica has (for the most part) always incorporated melody (or, at least, melodic tendencies) into their songs.
I'm thinking Amy Lee, Chad Kroeger, Chris Daughtry, or Shaun Morgan.
What does Tim Burton got to do with it?
@@MrParkerman6 Tim Burton, the legendary bass player who died way too young and brought the goth sound to Metallica.
I always thought it went like this: James and Lars fighting verbally. They write down their words. Put music to it. New song.
Rammstein next?
it would fit btw damn good because rammstein's new album will be released in January ^^
Thank you so much for FINALLY talking about how important the "St Anger" era is in Metallica's history. All these fanboys who can't stand that album are just purists who can't accept a more vulnerable side of the band, and that's such a shame. By the way, I don't know if that's because I'm more familiar with this theme, band and their music than with other ones, but I feel like you could've "analysed" the music more in depth rather than just focusing on all the "male" thing. Their music was ahead of their time, they used chromatic stuff all along their discography, they wrote 11 minutes long songs with bass solos and LOTS of time signature changes, they wrote beautiful and meaningful ballads, Hetfield is literally a human metronome who basically plays drums on his guitars, they influenced thousands of musicians... I gladly agree with the machismo factor in their career, but why should we sum their music up only with that?
Danke schön für alle ihr Arbeit, Friedemann.
I agree with most of your comment, but I honestly have to question anyone who enjoys listening to St. Anger. It has literally the worst drum sound I've ever heard in a metal album (at least from a band that wasn't starting out recording their first demos in a garage). It's pretty much unlistenable regardless of whatever merits the songwriting may have.
@@lukesmusic317 The production doesn't have to be perfect to be able to enjoy the music itself. I personally think the drum sound reflects the aggression and mood the band was in at that period of time. But honestly, Metallica ALWAYS had issues for their production/mixing/mastering. You can't tell me seriously the general sound on Kill em all is better than St Anger, that'd be a lie. You might prefer it, but it's not "better" production wise.
Luke's Music sorry, that's pathetic.
That you're not able too hear beyond the production, which is obviously not bad, but different
The fans who rejected the St. Anger album didn't do so because of vulnerability. Metallica has been vulnerable many times in the past, and albeit, not without controversy, but without fans totally abandoning the work. Their first real power-ballad, "Fade to Black", was written by Hetfield's about his battles with depression and suicidal thoughts and feelings. Throughout their career, he's bared his soul in this way, from "To Live is to Die", where they mourn the loss of their co-founder, to "Mama Said", where he mourns his mother. There has been vulnerability, and there has been controversy, but no one abandoned them. The reaction from the St. Anger album was due to Metallica's abandoning some of the key aspects of their music, and generally, the fact like it sounded like a different band altogether.
I just can't get over the trash can.....I mean snare
do pink floyd!
Zackapo YES
Zackapo yes please
Pink floyd has to happen
It's too good
YUP
I think it is funny that people commented being so offended and rude about how he discribes the tone of the song. What is sad is that they are too busy being offended to enjoy this great advice and FREE music theory lesson.
1. Yeah
2. Yeah
3. Yeah
I am the Table
All this series are the "rosetta stoned", joining rythm, melodies, lyrics and storytelling, voices . Thanks a lot for this "male/gemenine" image, it is the best simple example to explain.
Pls do Slipknot
I was about to ask if he did slipknot yet
strange. mafia yessssss
PLS dont. slipknot sucks.
"who is the typical Metallica fan?"
Me: a nerd innocent looking girl thst no one believed her loving Metallica.
First!
nice :D
Ha ha
well done!! xD
Even if you "went" last..............you CAN go first :P
I could swear you are Metallica fan. The research you’ve done is commendable.
Cool video. But I really wished to see analysis on their brilliant songs like fade to black and one, which are more of ballads than riffage
Based on A minor. Arpessios.
Lol yeah but James sings while doing it !! I cant even strum and sing
he obviously chose songs they are known for which match their overall image. duh?
MrParkerman6 One isn’t based on A minor arpeggios.
This is the best video in the whole internet about metallica song writing. Goodjob man. It was awesome.
Als jemand der selbst Musikschaffender ist, bin ich echt froh darüber, dass du diese Videos machst! Gerade die Episoden über Nirvana, System und die, unter der dieses Kommentar steht haben mich sehr zum denken angeregt!
Stay Gefährlich!
P.S. Ich so hart lachen müssen wie ich dich das das erste mal sagen gehört hab, weil das ein Satz ist, den ich selbergern und oft (bzw. die österreichische Abwandlung davon "Bleibt's G'fährlich")
Please do QUEEN next! 👑🎤🎹🎶
he doesnt want to waste his time on gay bands,
@@monkeyrobotsinc.9875 Learn to deal with the fact that a band has a gay member
I've always respected Ron Burgundy as a drummer.
Simon Burford I WAS SO CONFUSED
Flutist
"You can make agressive music, without negative energy, and i dont think that anybody ever thought that would be possible. You can make music agressive and fucked up, but with positive energy between the people creating it" Lars Ulrich - 2003
My friend recently showed me your channel, and I'm really enjoying it. I absolutely love how you break down the music and how it expresses the emotions an artist is trying to convey. Thank you for creating such amazing content! There are also three bands I'd really enjoy hearing your take on:
1. Queen
2. Dream Theater
3. Coheed and Cambria
You said "by the end of January", it's April now, I miss this section!
'Epic' was the first word that came to my mind when I thought of Metallica.
DAFUQ man, it REALLY feels like you're talking about something you don't know! I ussually love your videos but it seems like you didn't put the same passion in this one than in the others.... Metallica has a great sense of melody (they played a live with the San fransisco Symphonic, not a coincidence) and building tension, they're not always at 100% from start to finish. You are actually summering metallica's music to only Kill Em All and Ride The Lightning. Just listen to One, Nothing else matters, Fade to black, The Call of Cthulu, The Unforgiven, And Justice for all.....
Anyway, everybody makes mistakes, just wanted to let you know that I don't share your point of view on this one (don't get all the female/male music neither though). I still love your videos and I encourage you to keep going!!
By the way, If you like gojira, maybe you could make a video about this band? ;)
Metal
Aggressive
Scooped Mids
Great breakdown here! Was waiting to see this from you myself too!
As for the gender thing (awkwarrrrd I know), the generally acceptable way to say that is "Masculine" and "Feminine" as in "more masculine" which you use in the descriptions of traits just great, so it nails that! It lends into the concept of expression (how you choose to express yourself in anything speech, fashion, body language and musical composition) rather than male/female which can seem (totally accidentally) like a gender identity thing - in places where you say "more female traits" it'd be more clear that you mean expression if you said "more feminine traits" when drawing the distinctions. But I respect your prefacing the whole concept and making your intentions clear, since it's such a minefield. Awesome as always!
Interesting! Thank you. :)
12:05 Tries to start the car.
12:12 Windscreen wiper goes on.
12:18 Tries to close stubborn door.
12:23 Drives away.
Bro 🤣🤣🤣
We need season 3! Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Prince, Michael Jackson, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Kendrick Lamar!
favourite channel ever thanks for a wonderful season. Look forward to the next!
Thanks for covering Metallica! And thanks for the whole season in general. While chord progression content can be found on the internet (big up Jake Lizzio!), the parts of your videos in which you outline similarities and patterns in vocal melodies and how the image of an artist is slowly built over time is something I cannot find anywhere else, aside from your channel as of now. So thank you for that - I know it can take a lot of time to produce these kind of videos.
I am writing this because I just wanted to weigh-in on the image of Metallica. They resemble aggression, I think everyone can agree upon that fact, but that doesn't sound like the most optimal way for describe them to your parents or your children. 16:44 - 16:48 really sums up their image best. The feeling after you've been to a Metallica concert or if you have just finished listening to one of their albums is very... relieving. You've let so much anger go and that same musical therapy was discussed when James Hetfield was a guest on Joe Rogan's podcast.
There also might be a quintessential side of the band that was left out in the video - the 80's aggression paralleled with Cliff's melodic harmonies that became the pinnacle of thrash metal and spawned many prog metal bands soon after, fighting the glam movement by being down-to-earth (e.g. on stage, the band would wear what they would normally, like Cliff's denim jacket) to James' more lyrical side during the 90's, having spent an entire decade experimenting and getting a lot of shit from fans, which takes ball if you, at one point, 'ruled the world', as the cliche went.
I am from Europe and I feel like Metallica is way more known for their ballads, especially by casual fans. I used to tell people I am a thrash metalhead just to see how they react, and most just viewed it an aggressive niche of music that is too chaotic to listen to. But if I played them the preludes of "Master of Puppets" or "To live is to die", they would go on about how big Metallica were and how great their music is. That is why I really enjoyed that you touched upon the logical structure of their songs, because the the sound of the band may seem chaotic at first, but once you are in their world it really isn't. Although Metallica can't write sheet music, in the recent AJFA 30th anniversary they showed mountains of papers in which they had written down the architecture of their songs (intros, bridges and so on).
I feel like Metallica transcended their genre, because I've had so many people citing some of their songs as their favorite ones, whilst listening to completely different styles of music (usually not 'fans' of metal). The only artist or band I can think of right now is Kendrick Lamar, in the sense that he makes people who aren't into hip-hop listen to hip-hop (just as a disclaimer, I am not comparing him to Metallica in any other way, as it would be valueless).
And one final thing, I remember reading a book about the band's biography when I was a kid and the first few hundred pages were quotes from James and Lars that emphasized on their jamming, but the word 'jam' was never referenced. It was more along the lines of 'sweating in the garage, playing those killer riffs'. I remember thinking how awesome the devotion to their craft sounded to me. I've always associated 'jamming' with funkier bands like RHCP or Extreme , although it might be a subjective thing. For example, when Iron Maiden write their songs, you imagine Steve Harris playing the bass and whistling the melodies for the guitarists to pick up and come up with galloping riffs and while the verb 'jam' technically covers this activity, I don't necessarily see it as jamming, it's more of a... riffing kind of thing?
Just wanted to share my few cents, because I know that, for better or worse, I have found myself subconsciously changing how I view an artist' image based upon similar in-depth videos on UA-cam, with yours being the most effective currently, and I have enjoyed reading your comments pages for more information on particular bands or artists.
Anyway, have a great day, Friedemann! Man, how cool does one have to be in order to share a name with Bach himself...
Ha! ;) well Bach was called Johann Sebastian of course, but it's true, his son, also a composer, was named Friedemann as well! Thanks for all the insights, I spend a ton of time on research for each of these videos but alas it's impossible to learn catch up with a fan of 20 years. Not for a lack of trying though!:)
Guess I was sleepy, yeah, I meant one of his sons, no idea how that came out. I can tell you're doing tons of research, because you are doing it for too many artists and there's only so much that you can be a massive fan of :)
Oh yeah, Hoagie from Day of the Tentacle! I really considered what you said about using male / female archetypes to music but I don't find it a very useful or illuminating way of understanding music. I can understand using words like chaotic, martial, straight, aggressive, loose, fast, intense, melodramatic etc. but masculine and feminine is too broad and vague to be useful. That's just my opinion. Interesting video though.
Well, different strokes for different folks I guess. It's a concept I use quite a lot actually, for example to contrast two sections against one another, Male against Female tends to work very well. Glad you spotted the day of the tentacle reference ;)
I've watched quite a lot of these, and enjoyed them. But, this one didn't come across as that insightful, and honestly seemed like some more research could've been a good idea.
For me, boiling the most important trait of Metallica down to "male" isn't that accurate. And, talking about "male" rhythms, "male" melodies etc. etc. Seemed unnecessary. You could've just as easily called it for what it is, simplicity, effective simplicity. Nothing to do with gender.
For me a way more important trait would be "zero fucks". They've always made music that was true to themselves, whether that entails making long instrumentals, more straight to the point groovy songs, ballads (Nothing Else Matters, Mama Said, Bleeding Me, Fade to Black etc. etc.), or even doing an album with Lou Reed fusing spoken word poetry with Heavy Metal.
I'm not denying that there is a fair bit of machismo-attitude in their sound and image. But, boiling it down to that being the defining characteristic of Metallica just doesn't feel right to me.
I'm not a fan of Metallica because of the machismo-attitude. If anything, I'm a fan of them, in spite of that, not because of it.
Sorry, but this video came across as not having that good an understanding of what they're about as a band, and also kinda sexist. Dividing things like rhythm and melody in to gender-boxes and even stating that "women have more drama", I mean, come on, seriously. Could've put a little more thought in to that statement.
And, I'm not saying you can't do insightful analysis based on gender and gender-performance. But, you need to have a motivated reason to do so. Like, let's say, doing an analysis of how women are portrayed through the camera lens in a horror film. The conclusion has to kind of justify bringing up gender, beyond simply reasoning, "I feel this is male", or "this is male to me". That's just too subjective for this subject matter.
Totally agree! 👍
Agreed. The 'male' vs 'female' thing didn't help the video at all. It made the musical explanations harder to understand, while also being very distracting from the message.
The other mysoginistic comments, like "my wife runs around a lot and all soap operas are bad", also came across as pretentious and annoying.
The male female thing is stupid but so is "no fucks given".
Thank you. I was thinking the same thing
Well put, if I had attempted a post like this, it would have been much more trolly and I don't like to be trolly.
Did you just assume the gender of Metallica’s music?
That joke isn't overused, not at all.
danzoil No shit, he said it’s a controversial topic these days I’m just being a smart ass
When I read your comment, I expected to see "4 years ago" above it, not fuckin "11 months ago" lmao
Would love to see you do Pantera, love the series!
Metallica also uses a lot of acoustic guitar compared to most metal bands, especially for their intros.I was hoping you'd talk abou that. Being a non metal person this is what attracted me to their music. Aggressive but with a sense of calming.
Amazing!
i really liked that you explained a lot of their character with "male" or "female"
makes it much more easier to understand and to apply to other bands as well
Cant wait for the next episode
Thank you!
DUDE... Watching this just made me realise how much of an impact Metallica has left me songwriting wise. Although I don't listen to them much anymore from day to day as I do with Karnivool, Toska, or Dorje which most of the time, according to this discussion, is more 'female'. And despite all of that, I almost always hold on to the tonic when creating riffs just like James and whenever I want something to sound heavy in my demos I subconciously, or sometimes not, program the drums to sound like what I'd imagine Lars would play for that part. I discovered Karnivool about 2 years ago along with Toska and Dorje, and it has definately improved my writing and has pushed it more in a 'female' direction for my aural pleasure(and it helps that Rabea Massad and Ian Kenny are geniuses) I honestly kind of thought my days of learning basically every single Metallica song and learning everything about them was past me and that I'm a completely different player than I was 5 years ago. And I guess in some ways I am but some things just never change. For reference: I'm currently 20 years old so that makes me 18 when I found Karnivool and I started playing guitar when I was about 10-11 and until I was about 17 did eventually I develop a taste for other things than JUST Metallica. This was a very nice episode BUT.... *inhale*
WHEN DAFUQ ARE YOU GOING TO DO ONE ABOUT KARNIVOOL? SRSLY?! YOU'VE DONE ONE FOR TOOL AND DEFTONES COME ON!!!!
I was 12 when the Black Album came out and Enter Sandman still makes me smile and is the reason I started taking guitar seriously.
You pointed out very well their evolution as a band. As you mentioned, they couldn't stand being always rude and agressive. They are humans like anyone else and only after accepting it, Metallica could go on.
For a solid minute after your Ron Burgundy joke, I was sitting here thinking... "This man is a funny guy, I like this man". Liked and subscribed just for that!
Man was I happy to see this video! I strongly agree with the idea of metallica's sound quintessentially encompassing a "male" approach. I see a lot of people debating that the video didn't touch on some of the more nuanced moments in metallica's music like their ballads and the classical influences on their sound, I view these elements as still very masculine because they are usually instrumentally used as moments of brevity to build a sense of grandeur that compliments the "macho" heavy riffs. and lyrically their lighter more ballad like songs are always written from a male viewpoint and deal with very masculine emotional responses to more sensitive/emotional subjects like: love (nothing else matters) rejection and shame (the unforgiven) depression/suicide (fade to black) and pretty much falling out of love? (bleeding me). there's probably much more i could elaborate on but those are just some of my opinions.
great video, my favorite band and the reason why I play music today. love your stuff man, cant wait for more
1. Downpicking
2. Wah
3.YEEEEEAAAAAAHHH!!!
Yes, we're alive James.
do you listen to any music from South America? What about giving Soda Stereo or Charly García a chance?
Lo mejor de Argentina papá
Te sumo a Spinetta a la lista
I had initially watched this video over 4 years ago, when I was fresh out of college. At that time I didn't agree with most if not all the things you'd said, as was evident by the click on the thumbs down button.
Revisiting this video after 4+ years, as a more mature musician but probably more importantly as a more mature person, even though I still might not agree with everything you say, I definitely understand and appreciate where you're coming from. Congratulations on putting this video together, you definitely raise some interesting and fascinating points. Great job.
You have earned my like, genuinely. I'll look forward to more such content. Cheers! \m/
Nice video! I would have liked to see a deeper look into the more progressive, melodic, thrashy and mellow parts of Metallica, though. I think the examples here were of some of the most straight forward stuff, which to be fair is perhaps most popular, but to me personally the least interesting. Keep up the great work!
The word that describes Metallica for me is "riff". Seriously, one Metallica song has so many riffs that other rock band would make a full album from them - take for example Halo on Fire, that song changes so many times. It's even their composing habit or peculiarity - James comes with a bunch of riffs and they (Lars + James) try to find out which riff goes well with another riff, and another, and another, until they get an extremely complicated song. I love Metallica for this, because the songs are not boring!
Aggression, Shredding and Timeless
Pearl Jam next!
What's up everyone? This is Rima if it doesn't ballistics are running, and you're watching the Artist Series.
(transcribed by automatic subtittles XD)
:D
My reaction to having watched two of your videos and getting to the end of this one:
HOW HAVE I NOT HIT SUBSCRIBE YET?
Hey Mr Findeisen
For this band I would say:
1. Pre
2. Pubescent
3. Angst
I don’t mean to be funny, but even tho I love metal and they were a band that showed the way for the only metal band, I just even got them... or maybe I had grown up by the time I got to hear them...
On that note... please... may you do one of these band next time?
1. Meshuggah
2. The Mars Volta
3. Canvas Solaris
4. King Crimson
5. Rolo Tomassi
6. Opeth
Sorry.. I know that is a lot.. I have more.. but just to mix it up:
7. Owane
8. Talk Talk
9. Alva Noto - Ryuichi Sakamoto
I am sure you will find a lot to break down when looking into any of these..
Thanks for your videos….. They are Holistic… :)
-Heavy
-E minor
-MASTER MASTER
Wow! One of the best episodes ever!!! Brilliant! Great season finale! I thought I wouldn't like this one so much since I'm not a great fan of Metallica myself either. But this was very instructive and insightful. Congratulations!
You even helped me understand what bothers me about Metallica! And what makes me enjoy more complex styles, like jazz. It's clearly because I'm a girl, loll, at least my musical brain is.
Btw, took me a while to remember who the typical Metallica fan you portraited was, lol, the guy from Day of the Tentacle.
I love your thoughts on how image and music combine. It's really shaped how I write music.
Thank you! Hearing that I my videos help always means a lot.
I'd be really glad for a video about Ben Howard. In my opinion he's a great songwriter and quite underrated.
Or Bon Iver, his first two albums are just a game changing in this decade.
What a fantastic analysis! You put into words everything that I felt during years listening Metallica!
You look at the metal bands that led up to Metallica, such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. They always have an overlay of mythology. Only on "Enter Sandman" does Metallica flirt with mythology. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Consider "Nothing Else Matters." It's all based in reality, not fiction. The genius of Metallica is stretching the boundaries while keeping it real.;)
Metallica flirts with a lot of mythology. One could argue that the Lovecraftian influence on songs such as "The Thing that Should not Be" and "The Call of Ktulu" is mythological in nature. They also touch on Christianity in songs like "Creeping Death" and "The God that Failed". It's not an overarching theme to their music but it pops up from time to time. Also, Sabbath, Purple, and Zeppelin have plenty of songs that are based on reality.
@@branecollision Thanks for the info!:)
Agree with Skyler. As pointed out, Metallica uses a looot of Christian imagery (what Skyler mentioned plus "The Four Horsemen," "The Judas Kiss," "Leper Messiah," "St. Anger," etc.) as well as Lovecraftian inspiration. Just wanted to add that they also sometimes reference Greek mythology ("Orion," "Atlas, Rise")
You're majority wrong. They've had mythology from their first album, like Phantom Lord and Metal Militia.
first word i thought of was "loud" and then i couldn't think of anything else that came across as valid across their whole career, as long as it was.
Yo, you've gotta do Slipknot, Soundgarden and Foo Fighters next season. That'd be sick! (Also really appreciate the content, have learned a lot from watching you)
I actually got pretty well the whole male/female thing, is not that confusing. And I think this the first time I agree completely with one your videos in these series. Is not that I don't agree with the others, they're awesome, is just that I always have a very diferent view of the image and sound of the bands you describe or maybe is that I feel you don't talk about the things I consider to be the most important, but it's always enjoyable to see different points of view and I always end up learning something I didn't know.
I would love to see an episode on Queens of the Stone Age although I'm sure as hell we're definitely not going to have the same views on that one hahaha but it would be very interesting to see your take on them. Keep on the good work, man. Love your videos.
“Jumps around just like my wife?” Man what happened to you bro?
3:33 I like how literally everyone is creative
Thinking about the "yeah" and the "hey"s, in the very early days of Metallica, even though the yeahs were already there, Hetfield tended to end some lines with melismatic syllables -which, using this videos terminology, would be a femenine attribute-. You can listen to what I'm saying in early versions from Hit the Lights for instance, such as the Metal Massacre or the No Life 'Til Leather demos. When they released Kill 'em All, the melismas were no more.
Please do Architects next
That would be awesome
I honestly don't believe he can do them justice...
I love his videos though.
Hey
Friedemann, Fred(?) I just finished your book a couple days ago and it has really made my songs less boring and more engaging. So thank you.
oh hi me from a year ago
YEEAHH! Slipknot would be another awesome video. Or Incubus!
I came up with an interesting comparison that St. Anger era Metallica to the original Shield run from late 2013 to February 2014. There were tensions within the group then had a therapy session then resolved the issues. After that, they continued without any problems.
As a teenager, Metallica’s music became part of my DNA. Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, And Justice for All, these albums were an emotional attack on the senses. Emotion and dynamics thrive in those albums. From the double melody transition in Master - which still brings chills, and even tears to the unsuspecting, to the last verse in One - which leaves you emotionally exhausted and gasping for breath, the music was guttural, and as phenomenological a musical experience can be. By contrast, their posing and uní-dimensional humanity - or seemingly lack thereof - even back then, never sat well with me. These were guys who were inspired by Hemingway and Trumbo, for crying out loud. Yet, all we saw from Metallica the band were posers, pissing on other musicians and being assholes on interviews. I stayed a fan because their music was a tour-de-force experience in auditory theatre, drama literature. I stayed despite of them. Metallica didn’t lose fans because they were finally seen as complete persons. They lost fans because their music can now be easily summed up in a short UA-cam video and broken down into two-four drum beats, fifth chords, and near-robotic repetition in both dynamics, volume, and cadence. They lost fans not because they became pedestrian, but because their music did.
Hey. This is the first time I've watch one of your vids. I like the analysing. It rang true. Subscribed!
The new season should include some post rock bands like Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Don Caballero, and Explosions In The Sky.
How FOO FIGHTERS write their songs could be fun ! The difference between Nirvana and Foos ! 👌
Thanks for taking my request for a Metallica video! 👏👏🤩🤩
For season 3, we need Dillinger Escape Plan or Primus. They use dissonance and incorporate different musical influences, but on opposite sides of the emotional spectrum (anger vs humor).
Fast, Heavy, and Versatile were my three.
The first two are simply because of their speed, being usually up around 170 on their quote unquote *PURE* thrash albums (Kill 'em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice for All) and their sound, which, in my opinion has always been heavy for whatever kind of music they play, whether or not the TYPE of music they play (a la the alternative metal of the Load and Reload era, nu metal with St. Anger, etc.), while the last one is more of a reflection of studio albums like The Black Album, Load, Reload, St. Anger, and other albums such as the much disliked Lulu and S&M, along with Garage, Inc. This band has shown that they aren't JUST a thrash metal band throughout their careers. Sure, that's what their KNOWN for, but that's not ALL they are. For another example, Eddie Van Halen is best known for reviving (not inventing, as is misquoted and spread as fact) the tapping technique on guitar. But, he was also known because of tap harmonics, tremolo picking, and for having some lowkey complicated rhythms while he played. Just like Metallica, he's best known for one thing, but he's versatile.
I also take issue with the very first point, about groove. That's not the point of Metallica, or most thrash metal in general. Sure, there are some bands who incorporate more funk or jazz groove in their drumming, but Metallica doesn't. And that's fine. Lars has never been a perfect DRUMMER, but he is perfect for METALLICA. The boys have never been about groove, or "dancing to the beat". They have said in multiple interviews from the early days that they are there for one reason: To kick your head in with metal. And Lars playing the way he does lets the other three do exactly that.
Also, James IS a metal God. Not WAS, but IS.
This video made sense and I'm for very happy to watch it. Specialy the part explaining the use of Tonic in Metallica's music.
And asking what we associate with Metallica cause me to actually think what all those words actually means. Appreciate that.
I really wished that The Tragically Hip was larger outside of Canada. Gord Downie's song writing is brilliant and I would love to have you do an episode on him and the band.
I'm really curious to see what you could come up with on an analysis of some more extreme metal bands like Cattle Decapitation.
I've been enjoying this series a lot. Hope there's much more to come!
I think you’d have fun researching and analyzing how Coheed and Cambria write music!
Hi Friedemann, big fan of you channel and great analysis!
And… Please rethink using these dualistic gender stereotypes. I understand that you are talking about archetypes, but...
1. I think most people don’t get the difference and by always reinforcing this male/female dualism the stereotypes get perpetuated
2. you are going against your own archetype argument by using sidelines like „just like my wife“, suggesting that in fact women are more likely to show „female“ qualities and vice versa.
It’s hard enough for women especially in rock music (who don’t match the sweet sexy singer-songwriter with a breathy voice image) to express tough and aggressive qualities without being judged as manly and weird. If we keep thinking and communicating in these categories we make it harder for both women and men and everyone else to express their true selves not just in music.
I am sure you could present the whole analysis without using this ancient dichotomy. Labeling a more syncopated, light beat or more complex melody writing as „female“, and a clear downbeat and an orderly song structure as „male“ seems oversimplified to a point where it gets absurd. It just takes away from your intelligent and differentiated viewpoints.
Just my two cents… Rock on! 🤘🖤
This stuff from Some Kind of Monster, reminds to that The Shield (Reigns, Rollins, & Ambrose) the tension between each other.
I think Queen deserves an analysis. It would be a good start for the third season! :)
I know this probably won't gain much traction but you should do a video on how mitski writes a song and/or melody
Great video as always ! For the next one, I suggest you take At the Gates into consideration. With very unique sound and plots for songs they should take a place in these videos, I believe.
If you haven't done it already could you please do Avenged Sevenfold? I'd love to see how they do (or don't) write a chord progression or song. Keep up the good work. I always love watching these. Ty.
Shinedown would be cool to get into. Interesting East coast sound - or maybe just the east coast rock. I love their composition and the way Eric Bass seems to be the actual genius.
Really interesting analysis ! I had never thought about the "alpha male" aspect of their sound though. Their music has always been on the nose, like literally an in your face experience. This is why songs like Damage Inc or Battery are so satisfying, they don't beat around the bush. They have always written overly long songs with a lot of repetition but with a billion great moments in it to make up for it like the mellow part of Master of Puppets or the great guitar work on Ride The Lightning. You also can't deny the talent of Hetfield in songs like Until it Sleeps or The House Jack Built, even when Lars keeps bashing his drums like hell. But I agree, most of the time, it's all about not taking shit and speed up head down like a crazy train !
Thanks again for another great video ! I’d love to see you breakdown the sound of Korn if you haven’t already
I’d like to see a video about queens of the Stone Age. The brutal and groovy but still fragile songs full with anxiety like “i appear missing” and “first it giveth” is very interesting to me
Would to see a series on the image/sound/style of a genre. Maybe like grunge or Neue Deutsche Harte. As for individual artist I personally love the Editors or Depeche Mode.
For me metallica is a super talented band who created their legendary hits during the period of 'aggressivness', i.e. before Some Kind of Monster. As soon as they solved their interpersonal issues, became friendly and respectful, their music lost something essential. They are still super talented dudes creating awesome music, which sounds aggressive and metal, but i don't know man.. something got lost along the way, it just doesn't grab you as much as their previous work. It's interesting how such factors influence musicians and their creativity..
I'd love to see an analysis on Emperor. Their songs are so complex, yet still easy to follow.
You are so right! The look behind is so important ! Very impressive ! Very good !
Love your series, please do Queens of the Stone Age!