SATURDAY MORNING EDITION
Halfway through writing this I realized that two articles feature heavy cartoon references. Oh well.
Oh hey the new format is sticking. This time we’re diving into people crying about what is and isn’t metal, how Ariana Grande is continuing her long time collaboration with the Nickelodeon brand, and how a guy who lived in Japan and probably didn’t listen to much metal turned me into a metalhead.
METAL IS DYING PART 3895725478
I hate to saddle you all with extracurricular reading, and yet I’m doing it anyway. This article takes a somewhat shallow dive into the state of modern popular metal, tracing the path from its heyday with the big four of thrash, its evolution into nu-metal and metalcore, and finally to its current state of washed up acts and pop masquerading as metal. While I don’t disagree with the core of the article, which supposes that the popular metal of the day is not really metal anymore, I do disagree with the unspoken insinuations of the article.
The author of the piece is right to feel a type of way about how popular metal is comprised of aging veterans with nothing left to say (Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, System of a Down, etc.) and not-quite-metal-metal-acts (Bring Me The Horizon, Ghost, Sleep Token). I too am frustrated that nothing with any sort of edge has broken through recently. At the same time, metal that has an approachability to it is essential for the longevity of the scene as a whole.
While driving to a concert with a friend, I was soft-launching this take, and landed on the idea of the middleman band. Most people who get into heavy music need a middleman band. Even those whose parents exposed them to metal don’t usually dive in with Cattle Decapitation. Making the jump from Odesza to Vein.fm is a bit of a stretch, but when you jam a band like Rammstein in between those two, the taste pipeline becomes feasible.
All of the bands identified in the Stereogum piece are middleman bands. Spiritbox is not the end point of metal, it’s not even close. But if you like Megan Thee Stallion, you might find the Spiritbox collab/remix of her song “Cobra” which in turn could send you to one of their shows. While at the show you could see a much heavier opener, or see someone wearing a shirt for another cool band that you go on to check out later. Thus, a new metal fan is created, not because Spiritbox is so undeniably and brutally trve cvlt metal, but precisely because they aren’t.
Yes, it’s annoying (to some) that metal isn’t what it was in the 80s or even the 2000s, but maybe that was a weird blip, an anomaly that is never going to happen again. Maybe genres are cyclical and we haven’t even completed a cycle yet. The music industry is young, popular rock music began in the late 50s, so we’ve only had around 65-70 years to understand music trends, and that’s without accounting for the ways technology changes it. So to be honest, I’m not worried about these bands being too wimpy. If anything I’m happy they’re a friendly gateway to the world of metal.
If you feel differently, that’s chill and all, but be careful what you wish for. Stadium tickets are a lot more expensive than tickets to a show at your local bar.
Regretfully, Ariana Grande’s Morally Questionable Song is 🔥🔥🔥
This being a metal newsletter, I don’t assume everyone here is familiar with the Ariana Grande saga as of late. Put succinctly, she cheated on her partner with someone else’s partner and everyone is in a tizzy about it. It’s all great drama, and also a bit morally queasy given that this is at least the third time Grande has been party to cheating allegations.
As a famous musician, Grande decided that this was all excellent song fodder. Regretfully, she was right. The song in question, “the boy is mine” isn’t just a great Ariana Grande song, it’s one of her best. Every element of the track maximizes her unique vocal talents (mostly an exceptional range and gentle but focused tone that rings clear on even the most crowded tracks) and guides the listener from verse to chorus in spectacular fashion. That particular transition is the best part of the song. The verse builds in power and slightly tilts up in speed before stuttering down to about half the pace, slowly enunciating “the, boy, is, mine” before snapping into a full speed earworm of a chorus.
Prior to this song, I was finally starting to sour on Grande a bit. Among pop stars she’s been one of my favorites for a long time, but without any releases and a — lets say, fraught — personal life as of late, it felt like my time praising her was over. But no, she had to drop an absolute banger about stealing the stage actor for Spongebob in Spongebob the Musical.
DBZ, Toriyama, and the Making of a Metalhead
As children of mass media and the internet, we all owe our taste to countless cultural reference points. Dragon Ball Z was one of my main cultural touchstones.
This anime, celebrated for its outsized characters, eye-catching spiky-haired designs, and multi-episode screaming matches, was also a major gateway into heavy music. The show itself embodied a nu-metal and thrash metal ethos, (though thrash had long since fallen by the wayside by the time DBZ made it to the states) huge, almost grotesquely muscular men battled it out against shredded aliens. The emotions were big, but not quite as large as the laser beams that cracked planets in half.
When the show came to America, publishers decided the dub needed a musical face lift, and the movies got it. The one I watched the most, Cooler’s Revenge, featured tracks from Drowning Pool, Finger Eleven, Disturbed, and most notably Deftones’ “Change (In the House of Flies).”
I bring all of this up because on March 1st, Akira Toriyama, best known as the creator of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, died. His passing sent me through a minor rabbit hole, thinking of all the ways that a silly show about boys punching each other and crying had influenced me over the years. And while it was mostly entertainment, its impact on my taste, particularly as it relates to heavy music, is undeniable. So thank you Toriyama, for all the memories, and for making me a metalhead, even if you never intended to.
Some Music of Value
Hold still, there’s something in your eye
We had a few really excellent albums drop in April and March. In particular, the metal side burst to life in early April, so there’s a lot to go through there. Anyways, here’s what caught my ears.
Couch Slut - You Could Do It Tonight: Do you like Chat Pile, grimy horror movies and songs about depraved lifestyles? If so, Couch Slut might have made your AOTY.
ScHoolboy Q - BLUE LIPS: ScHoolboy Q continues to prove the strength of the original TDE class by delivering another album of exceptional beats, hilarious bars, and stellar flows.
Olof Dreijer - Coral: Packed to the brim with a combination of dreamy synths and rousing electrical depth, Coral is poised to soundtrack the vibiest house parties or the most intense cooking sessions. It’s just the type of dance music that adjusts to your needs.
Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us: After a lightly disappointing return with Father of the Bride, Vampire Weekend rounds back into form with an album that stands squarely alongside their impeccable original trio.
Loscil - Chroma: Need to get some work done this week? Treat yourself to an “ambient” organ record loosely themed after the vibes given off by various colors.
Necrot - Lifeless Birth: If you read that Stereogum article and said “he’s kind of right, the death of THE RIFF has killed metal” listen to Necrot as a salve.
Melvins - Tarantula Heart: Monstrous, blown out, feedback-laden riffs lace this album from front to back. Melvins may be over 30 but they haven’t lost a step.
Lanark Artefax - Metallur: Well worth your time whether you need to bust out your weirdest dance moves or listen to dance music alone in a dark room. A squelchy, percussive beast of a record.
Once again, thanks to everyone for reading. Share this around if you found anything interesting and please shoot over any music you want me to hear. Fingers crossed I’m better about getting the next one out sooner (I probably won’t be).