Tuesday 5 January 2010

You'll Have to Speak up...

...I'm listening to METALLICA!!!

LOUDLY!!!

Music can soothe even the most savage of beasts, except when that music is heavy metal. Heavy metal seeks instead to enrage the savage beast.

Hidden deep in the murky, cloistered recesses of my being, somewhere near my pancreas, is a savage beast. Mostly she lies dormant, happy to be still, to pass the days in serene meditation and bodily fluids. However, every now and again, she needs some air. But she's not easily shifted, it takes a powerful energy to release her from her visceral home and get her moving.

Music is a powerful energy; melody and harmony can heighten tepid emotions, energize and inspire. But melody and harmony alone are not enough to lift my savage beast (whom I've named Stella) from her inertial existence. For this, Stella requires an electrified onslaught of maximum voltage, reverberating through jarring steel, pumped into bands of distortion, and imbued with a primal scream!...

...Stella is awake now...

...and she's hungry...

...and enraged...

...but first she needs a cup of tea and probably a chocolate wheaten biscuit...

...then she'll go out hunting...

...for the Sandman...

...the very same from Enter Sandman by Metallica. And the ever reliable youtube has some awesome Metallica footage, including that which I've embedded below (from the Monsters of Rock concert in Moscow, 1991):

[Things to note in video: helicopters, Red Army, flags, band members hair (why do heavy metal musicians always have curly hair?), unrestrained masculinity.]

[Also, I don't know what the music is at the beginning but it's pretty groovy.]

[Also, also...it's just the beast under your bed, in your closet and in your HEAD!!!]



Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep If I die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take...


[Update (11th Jan 2010): I now have exciting new knowledge regarding the music at the beginning of the Metallica clip. It is called "The Ecstasy of Gold" by Ennio Morricone, a part of his score for the film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". The piece has been used by Metallica since 1983 as introductory music to their concerts. I also have exciting new knowledge regarding the helicopters in the clip. The concert took place at an airfield! Those guys will play anywhere.]

3 comments:

Mr D said...

How can these young men be outside in only their undergarments? It's indecedent! Not to mention they'll get a terrible chill.

Ah, Moscow. If only I could tread upon you once again with corporeal feet.

bro said...

dearest effulgent .. have been away for a couple of weeks and returned to the blog to find quite a musical journey .. from the prayer of st francis to metallica .. impressive !! also congrats on reaching page 700 of the brothers .. i also had a journey .. not of music .. but of words .. i managed to read almost one whole edition of vanity fair from cover to cover .. there were WAY more words in that mag than i ever imagined

Nicole_Effulgent13 said...

bro - I'm having a bit of time away from "the brothers" this week, watching DVD's instead. A bit of a break might be just what I need to revitalise my enthusiasm and get me through the last 200 pages.
Now that you've read 'Vanity Fair' the magazine, you could have a go at reading 'Vanity Fair' the 19th century novel by William Makepeace Thackery. There is much wordiness to endure...I mean, enjoy.

Mr D - "indecedent"?? that's pretty bad, right?