How Metal Can Be Good for You Compared To
Pop
Though you may not think it, metal music is not all that bad and
can be good for you. Over the years, people has ridiculed and blamed metal
music for conducts of negative acts by teenagers and teenagers’ poor behaviors.
Most believed that metal will turn people into blood drinking devil worshippers
but nothing could be farther from the truth. Despite saying that metal can be
good for oneself, I have to admit that there are a few weird Metal bands out
there that often sing about death, pain and sadness but pop artists often
promote sex, alcohol and drugs in their songs too. This shows that pop and
metal do have their negative sides. Sadly, it is because of society’s narrow
mindset of only paying attention to the negative aspects of metal that causes
the positive aspects of metal to be overlooked by many. Society has to open up
and give metal a chance.
From the
entertainment point of view, Metal fans a.k.a Metal heads enjoy the songs in
this genre because these songs usually have fast paced riffs, exciting heavy
rhythms and awesome guitar solos. Whereas, pop music fans tend to enjoy the
catchy tunes of contemporary pop songs which are easy to remember. Pop music
fans often refer to metal songs as “noise” and find them rather frightening.
What they are not paying attention to is the lyrics of Metal songs. Most Metal
songs are about going through hardships, self-empowerment, release of negative
emotions and facing adversities in life. You’ll hardly find any metal songs
about sex, alcohol and drugs which are heavily incorporated in modern pop
songs. In fact, some metal bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Bullet
for My Valentine, Of Mice and Men, Upon this Dawning, Bring Me The Horizon,
Periphery, Black Veil Brides and many others do not sing about sex, alcohol and
drugs. Unlike pop, which endorses a herd mentality, metal speaks to those who
question authority and strive to find their own path. It’s music for people who
don’t want to conform and seek kindred spirits who crave the same visceral
experience. Metal establishes an understanding and a connection between the
artists and their fans. Their lyrics reach out to those who are hurting telling
them that they are not alone and that they have to fight on and face their
adversities.
What most pop music fans
around the world are practicing now is artists worship which is very unhealthy,
they look up to their favourite artists as role models and aspire to be just
like them, wanting to dress, talk and live their lives just like them.
Moreover, pop music fans are setting superstitious goals which are impossible
for most of them to achieve. Also, pop has heavily influenced most teenagers
nowadays to conduct negative acts such as having underage sex, smoking and
drugs because these teenagers desire to be just like their role models. In
addition, the lyrics in most pop songs suggest that smoking weed, having sex
and getting drunk is cool. Teenagers easily fall victim to the influence of
these lyrics because most of them fail to think maturely and believe that sex
and smoking will make them popular and accepted by society. As a result, pop
has given rise to a new class people who are self-centered, egoistic,
materialistic and reckless. In contrast to this, metal artists are telling
their fans that they are everyday people just like them and that they can get
through all the troubles in life if they work hard and fight on. Furthermore,
their songs do not pressure their fans to live a lavish lifestyle but instead
help their fans realize the finer things in life that are worth living for.
Therefore, we can say that metal artists are like pseudo-psychiatrist to their
fans as their lyrics guide their fans and motivate them to be stronger each
coming day. It reinforces their self-confidence that they can be someone who
can do great things in life.
“I get kids come up to me all the time who tell me they were
having a hard time in their lives and were on the verge of doing something
drastic,” says Five Finger Death Punch singer Ivan Moody during a press
conference. “Then they’ll say they heard one of our songs and it totally spoke
to them and convinced them to keep on fighting. To me, that’s more meaningful
than gold records or music awards because it means that these people that are
hurting relate to my pain and realize they’re not alone.”
Let us now
do a brief comparison between Lady Gaga’s song Love Game and Upon This
Dawning’s song Of Human Action.
Lyrics
for Love Game:
“Let’s have some fun,
This beat is sick,
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick”
This is an example of pop lyrics with a negative and
meaningless message. Clever and catchy but we can obviously tell that Gaga is
singing about sex. There is absolutely nothing meaningful about these lyrics
and may potentially influence teenagers to get involved in underage sex.
“Liar, I know you’re lying,
Your eyes are clearly speaking,
I see your mask, your double face,
I can see a world where,
Humankind know what love means,
And where we’re not alone.”
The lyrics here
are deep and meaningful. It tells us not to lose hope in life and not to be
fooled by people who believe that there is nothing to live for. It says that
there is still love and compassion in this world and that someone will be there
for us and we will never be alone.
Dear readers, for
myself, I listen to a fair share of pop and metal music but I found that metal
has helped me the most in coping with frustration, stress and anger. I’m not
saying that pop is completely bad and that metal is all good because there are
pop songs which are good and meaningful and metal songs which are ridiculous. I
just want some people to realize that pop has its negatives and metal has its
positives. All in all, I really recommend pop fans to try listening to some
metal songs. Pay attention to the lyrics and the message being conveyed by the
artist. As for the heavy vocals, you’ll get used to it over time.
Give
metal chance!
