At the end of the day, yes, Metal is my favourite style of music. I won't go in to specific sub-genres ... there's a rant coming about that at a later date. For me, metal is metal. Done.
The point I want to make is that I would never judge a song on it's source, believe it or not. There are songs/tunes I like for different reasons, but they all boil down to music and the sound of the music. I'll bet no one can guess my number one favourite musical moment, which will be the last thing in this post.
For one thing, if it has a great harmony sound then I'm hooked straight away. Bring that with a beautiful melody and I'm having it played at my funeral. The masters of this? The Bee Gees. No question. The first time I heard them do Massachusetts I was stunned and in awe. I'm sure more than one person would be surprised this is one of my all time favourite songs. The video below doesn't demonstrate what I just said the best, but I remember the first time I saw it and it's still my favourite version ....
Something else that always grabs me is a hook, or just a moment that gives a special moment or sound. Another track that I wouldn't turn off or skip is Voodoo Child by Rogue Traders. I'm not joking. There are some moments in there that just GRAB me! Right from the start, there are some great sounds in there. The vocal effect on "Baby, Baby, Baby" and the slight vocoder on the second "my voodoo child" ... it's a great sound. Yeah I know that it's a lot of production, but who cares! It sound great. When you hit the chorus section it works for me. The "Here come the drums here come the drums", the vocoder stuff, the "oooweee-ooo" bit.....it's all just sonically interesting an makes me listen. I can't get enough of the vocoder part that says "It's supernatural, coming undone". Then you get the Wah guitar part that just talks to the tune. You get the idea.
Another thing I love is counter points / counter melodies / counter singing. Seriously, I am constantly amazed when someone can have two different vocal lines that should clash, but work. The best example for me is Warren Zevon's Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner. Listen to the song/video below. At 1:39 is exactly what I'm talking about. The strong bass behind a main vocal with a counter melody vocal that harmonises at the end .... just wow. If I could be even a quarter musically clever as Warren Zevon was I'd be loaded ... or an obscure artist watching X-Factor thinking "F*** you!".
I'm guessing you can see where I'm coming from. I like a lot f music. I love music. I could put up videos from Queen to Stevie Ray Vaughan, to ZZ Top via Testament and Napalm Death. Then you could come see me and I'll be listening to Classical music or Native American chants.
A great song to highlight a lot going on in a track that grabs me is a Weird Al track. There are so many Weird Al tracks I could have picked, but this one is just phenomenal. From the first chorus part (at (0:54) to the vocal crescendo (2:30 - 3:01). That vocal harmony alone is worth listening to the whole track!
I used to hear a guy in the village I grew up in playing a dance/rave tune that had this Amazon type flute part that made me want to listen to the whole thing. This is someone I would never talk to or want anything to do with, but I went and asked him about it. I wish I could remember what it was.
One thing I'm going to throw in because I can't hear enough of it is Con Te Partirò done by Andrea Bocelli.
I'm not going to explain it or why I love it. Here it is. And it doesn't get better than this!
Like I said, I will never say anything sucks just because of where it comes from. I will always judge any song or tune on it's own merits, even if it comes from an artist/band I really don't like.
I'll bet a years wages that my iPod/iPhone has more divers tunes than yours!
I have to give mention to another thing that gets me going ... live music! I don't mind the use of post production and auto-tune in places, but I really love to see it live. Some bands over complicate things in the studio, which ends up with the live show seeming a bit flat. Others keep it simple in the studio then go hell bent for leather live which makes it seem too much live and it doesn't work.
Other bands get it spot on. Noteable mentions go to Oasis, KISS, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, Paul Weller....even Chas 'n' Dave. For me though, top drawer and gold star go to Trivium. The band consistently knock it out the park in the studio. The amazing thing is the quality of their live performances. The have the main front man, Matt, who sings growls and plays. The you've got Paulo, the bass player, who can sing the nice parts/harmonies. You then have Corey, the leas guitarist who can growl with the best of them. This vocal cross over gives you the best live representation of some great great songs.
Trivium had to get a mention as they were the first band in years to get me excited about new music. For a while I was very much stuck within the circle of a few bands, but when I heard Trivium it made me sit up and listen again. They opened me up to cool new things in metal.
Right, my all time favourite/top piece of music is below. For me the Bagpipes are so limited that it forces people to be creative and I get goosebumps every time I hear this!
Please note: this ISN'T The version I wanted to put up, but I couldn't find a streaming link for the one I wanted to use.
I hope you get what I'm trying to get across.
There's more to me than metal.
Take it easy!
Ross
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