Team Schwermetallanalyse: Metallkätzchen mit Krallen

Was hat es denn nun mit Metal auf sich? Wie klingt Metal? Hier nochmals eine Spurensuche mit Zitaten aus den Zeitschriften „Goldmine“ und „Guitar Player“:

In August 1968, Jimmy Page recruited Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones to join a band created out of the ashes of The Yardbirds. This set in motion events that would create a new musical genre that would generate contempt and admiration in roughly equal proportions.

This contrast of reaction is due to the fact that heavy metal provides both the best of times and the worst of times. Migraine-inducing guitar breaks, science-fiction imagery cringe-makingly reminiscent of adolescent fantasies and posturing misogyny (that offends even people who find feminists irritating) mean that when heavy metal is bad, metal is without exception the single most tedious and objectionable musical style in existence. However, when it is good — when that formula of hypnotic riffery and anthemic soar is on the button — there is probably nothing more exciting the human eardrum can experience. (Sean Egan, Goldmine (1 June 2001))

In these days when musical genres are constantly mixed-and-matched, it’s actually refreshing when one word describes a band’s sound. With Canada’s Kittie, that word is unapologetically „metal.“ (Darrin Fox, Guitar Player (1 March 2003))

Womit ich beim Thema wäre (wenn auch viele Metalheads der Meinung sind, die Band Kittie sei keine echte Metal-Band, wie verschiedene Diskussionen im Metal-Archives-Forum zeigen).  Hier ein offizielles Video der Band – die meine Kollegin bereits erwähnt hat – für einen ersten Eindruck:

[youtube width=“425″ height=“355″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsuTuAVJrF8[/youtube]

Die kanadische Frauenband wurde 1996 gegründet, die Mitglieder waren damals noch in der High School. Mittlerweile haben sie erfolgreich sechs Alben veröffentlicht und sind nach wie vor aktiv. Manche ihrer Songs wurden wegen der Texte aus dem amerikanischen Radio verbannt.

Um an meinen vorherigen Beitrag anzuschliessen, möchte ich auf Gewalt zu sprechen kommen. In „Daughters down“ geht es – wie so oft in Metal-Lyrics – um Gewalt an Frauen. Hier jedoch nicht aus der männlichen Perspektive, sondern aus der weiblichen. Als Opfer, und gleichzeitig von ausserhalb des Geschehens, anklagend:

Daughters Down

I feel helpless, stare in disbelief

How can you still sleep at night?

Hold her with just one look,

Just one foot she’s innocent

Put your hands around my neck

Stripping me of all my dignity

Vendetta black against her

Your bloody mouth against her

Raped of everything she owned

It’s so lonely at the bottom

Putting pieces of a puzzle

Back together we’ve forgotten

Throw your daughters down

Hold your daughters down

Seeing beauty turn to waste

Let your ego be the death of me

Hand held tight behind my back

Stealing all that’s precious to me

Would you do this to your own?

Breaking, lying to my face

I can see you’re still the same

Kill before and kill again

I WILL FIGHT UNTIL THE DEATH

Hier ein Video von einem Life-Auftritt mit diesem Song:

[youtube width=“425″ height=“355″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UydYlRkUFc[/youtube]

Auf kurze und schonungslose Weise, wenn auch nicht explizit ausformuliert, prangert der Song sexuellen Missbrauch von Mädchen an, also ein sehr provokatives Thema, welches eher selten in Metal-Lyrics zu finden ist. Ausserdem ist die Thematik klar geschlechtlich aufgeladen: Es geht um Männer, die ihre eigenen Töchter (Mädchen) und ihre Vertrauensposition missbrauchen. Dies ist eine klare patriarchale Machtausübung. Mir gefällt, dass Kittie sich mit solchen Themen auseinandersetzt und die Gesellschaft kritisiert, auch als Kontrapunkt zu zahlreichen Mainstream-Metal-Texten. Ein weiterer Song geht in eine ähnliche Richtung: In „Die, my Darling“ wird jemandem für seine/ihre Untaten sehr explizit der Tod gewünscht.

Die, My Darling

Now the party’s over

The last stone is cast

Your days of destruction

Will surely be your last

Just swallow this pill

YOU’LL SUFFER UNTO ME NOW!

One foot into the grave

[Chorus:]

Die! Die! My darling

I wanna see you fall tonight

Die! Die! My darling

I wanna see you fall…

Now it’s curtains for you

You’ve done wrong

You’re so vain, I think you’d take

Credit for this song

The blue pill, the red one?

YOU’LL CUT YOURSELF DOWN ONE DAY!

One foot into the grave

[Chorus]

COME CLOSER! STILL CLOSER!

I WANT TO SEE YOUR EYES DIM!

COME CLOSER! STILL CLOSER!

I WANT TO SEE YOUR EYES DIM!

Die! Die! My darling

I wanna see you fall tonight

Die! Die! My darling

I wanna see you fall tonight

Die! Die! My darling

I wanna see you fall tonight

Die! Die! My darling

I wanna see you fall

I want to see you fall

Fall, fall, fall…

Vor dem Hintergrund von „Daughters Down“ nachvollziehbar. Andererseits, beim Ansehen des offiziellen Videoclips zum Song wurde ich doch stark an Carnifex (Lie to my face, siehe meinen vorherigen Blogeintrag) erinnert. Aber urteilt selbst:

[youtube width=“425″ height=“355″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ287HJfoZY[/youtube]

P.S. Ein kleiner Bonus…  zum Thema Frauen in der Metal-Szene möchte ich Euch diese Zitate einer Diskussion aus dem grossen Forum Metal-Archives nicht vorenthalten (http://www.metal-archives.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49544&hilit=kittie):

– The general sexism towards women in metal is a completely reasonable idea. Considering how the vast majority of women in bands function as nothing more than lilting-voiced eye candy and most of the female fans are ignorant of even basic aspects of the genre, the sexism is really all for the best.

-The burden is really on the women here, they have to stop using their liking of the genre as some sort of attention-grabbing gimmick.

Edit: Actually, it’s on everyone, as the men have to stop gawking at every female metalhead like she’s the 8th wonder of the world. So I suppose we’re all responsible in this one.

– what!!!! It’s sexism like that which makes metal such a male dominated genre. I agree that alot of female metal bands are just eye candy and know nothing about true metal. These bands are irritating and cringing and give a bad perception of female metal bands, some of which actually do know they’re stuff! A little more open-mindedness is required.

– Why exactly is it required, and why exactly is it wrong for the genre to be male-dominated? And why exactly is it sexist if you want something to be male-dominated? Metal is fine the way it is with the gender ratio the way it is now.

– Metal should definitely remain a male-dominated genre, although I think everyone likes meeting the occasional metal chick (and this is indeed rare as I don’t meet many metalhead guys either).

If I ever meet a girl who likes metal who doesn’t have lip piercings, and who appreciates the classic stuff like Maiden, Sabbath, and isn’t obsessed with Korn. Also likes late 80s death metal. And black metal.

Anyway… I would also like to mention that female vocalists (especially ones that growl) irritate the fuck out of me.

– I suspect the aversion of many males towards females in metal is due to metal being a kind of male comfort zone for many, not unlike a Victorian gentlemen’s club where women were not allowed, a place where boys can be boys if you will. With all its emphasis on conflict, outsiderdom, primeval barbarity etc. etc. metal seems traditionally to be more tailored to typical male values or, probably more truthfully, values that have been typically embraced by males rather than females.

– I’m generally fine with girls being metal fans or being in metal bands. Sure, female „metalheads“ who are either posers or scenewhores are more prominent than males of that variety, but all the true female metalheads I’ve met are as devoted as your average male metalhead. I’m a girl and I don’t see myself as any less of a metalhead than if I had a penis.

by CR