padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
expanding on above
reading you discuss pop context, I begin to understand a couple things - for one your unwillingness to grasp the divorce of guitars from pop song logic (including, yes, the scalar frenzy of shredding)
the initial sonic point of departure for heavy metal - where guitars depart pop structure - is the liberation of the riff from the song, via the power chord, which as mobile fifths can, unlike regular chords, be moved rapidly along the fretboard without incurring harmonic obstruction. that proceeds gradually but ineluctably to a logic of phrasal composition, song as collection of riffs - its mature, fully realized form in the atonal tremolo riffing of death and/or black metal
"Rock + Roll Queen" still exists fully within pop logic, ofc, but the impulse is there - it's a power chord riff, liberation of the song from the chord, the riff from the song
divorced from pop structure, the guitar riff and guitar lead no longer serve a pop function - hence in a context where everything is judged by its relation to pop functionality, they are indeed useless ("pointless intensity")
leaving aside metal - let's not try that again - for something more critically acceptable, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the original hardcore (i.e. punk) to the degree that you're familiar. its departure point is a better later and achieved thru pure speed and/or energy but the result is the same - divorce of the song from the chord and ultimately, pop logic. specifically, it generally follows your usual best-known equals best - Black Flag, Minor Threat, Discharge, etc - but (like metal) not only does best have nothing to do with pop logic, the music's vitality actively decreases exactly to the degree it is recaptured by pop - i.e. hardcore's ethos of "noise not music", it's single defining anthem if any is "Nothing" by Negative Approach, etc
I'm curious to see the irresistible force of your pop logic meet an immovable force beyond pop logic
for reference, the ultimate and perfect distillation of stupid prescient teenage nihilism
and/or literally any song off Why
and consider one or either an entry in the game, why not
luka would just recoil in horror, but I have faith in your natural critic's instinct to be on the ride side of history
reading you discuss pop context, I begin to understand a couple things - for one your unwillingness to grasp the divorce of guitars from pop song logic (including, yes, the scalar frenzy of shredding)
the initial sonic point of departure for heavy metal - where guitars depart pop structure - is the liberation of the riff from the song, via the power chord, which as mobile fifths can, unlike regular chords, be moved rapidly along the fretboard without incurring harmonic obstruction. that proceeds gradually but ineluctably to a logic of phrasal composition, song as collection of riffs - its mature, fully realized form in the atonal tremolo riffing of death and/or black metal
"Rock + Roll Queen" still exists fully within pop logic, ofc, but the impulse is there - it's a power chord riff, liberation of the song from the chord, the riff from the song
divorced from pop structure, the guitar riff and guitar lead no longer serve a pop function - hence in a context where everything is judged by its relation to pop functionality, they are indeed useless ("pointless intensity")
leaving aside metal - let's not try that again - for something more critically acceptable, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the original hardcore (i.e. punk) to the degree that you're familiar. its departure point is a better later and achieved thru pure speed and/or energy but the result is the same - divorce of the song from the chord and ultimately, pop logic. specifically, it generally follows your usual best-known equals best - Black Flag, Minor Threat, Discharge, etc - but (like metal) not only does best have nothing to do with pop logic, the music's vitality actively decreases exactly to the degree it is recaptured by pop - i.e. hardcore's ethos of "noise not music", it's single defining anthem if any is "Nothing" by Negative Approach, etc
I'm curious to see the irresistible force of your pop logic meet an immovable force beyond pop logic
for reference, the ultimate and perfect distillation of stupid prescient teenage nihilism
and/or literally any song off Why
and consider one or either an entry in the game, why not
luka would just recoil in horror, but I have faith in your natural critic's instinct to be on the ride side of history