All Known Metal Bands
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McSweeney's - publishing imprint of Dave Eggers, author of such books as You Shall Know Our Velocity and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - has put out a book called All Known Metal Bands. It is simply that, a list of the names of over 50,000 metal bands. (This reminds me of a young Frank Zappa, who got in trouble in school and had to write a 2000-word essay or face suspension. He turned in a list of the R&B records he owned, as well as ones he planned to buy. See this black hole of an interview; one of the interviewers is Simpsons creator Matt Groening.)
On one hand, this would surely make great coffee table reading. On the other hand, it is just as surely a copy-and-paste job from metal-archives.com. Essentially, the book is a print version of that website as of sometime last year. The fact that this book has an "author" (a Dan Nelson) is somewhat ludicrous. Does metal-archives.com have a potential intellectual property claim against Nelson/McSweeney's for theft of its idea, process, and/or content? Regarding the latter, probably not; metal-archives.com doesn't own the names of the bands it lists. However, it arguably owns the method of organization of these names, even if it's simply alphabetical. No other site has as complete a list of metal bands, and something feels wrong about a major commercial entity profiting off the backs of an all-volunteer community. In any case, metal-archives.com most certainly lacks the resources to pursue any action against McSweeney's.
Here is metal-archives.com, constantly facing server problems and asking for donations. Over there is McSweeney's, who copied the site's text in probably less than an hour and whipped it into a $22 hardcover ($17 on sale). The least McSweeney's could do is help defray the IT costs of metal-archives.com.
On a happier note, McSweeney's magazine The Believer is currently on its music issue. It contains an essay on USBM by my Pitchfork colleague Brandon Stosuy, and a "A Brief Oral History of U.S. Black Metal" (by various US black metallers), excerpted here.
10 Comments:
About the essay on USBM I feel compelled to stand on a bit of a soapbox, sorry for abusing the comment space for this.
Although black metal isn't my main point of interest in my HM fixation, my fascination about the broader genre grew in parallel to that scene (1994 or about so and onwards) so I had ample opportunity to follow it as it developed and as I'm sure most would agree, you develop a special bond with the scene that is happening and vital exactly when you're around and a youngster for it.
What I have to comment on that essay is that (besides minor factional inaccuracies) it seems to suffer from what most such recent texts on the matter suffer because it was written by someone who has assembled a picture of the scene of the times in his head through anecdotes, sensationalized press and interviews. Obviously back in the nineties Greeks like me also heard the stories and the rumors so it's not like I grew up in Olso to know things first-hand, but a vital difference from when these things were happening and today is that back then the whole situation (from the personas to the scene and especially the music) were open for interpretation. Nowdays it seems the story has solidified in a sort of canon, a - still imaginary - version that is considered more likely and circulated in such a way that fuels the more irrelevant aspects of that whole time in Heavy Metal, namely the inbetween-time from making music: the people, their passions and personal failings. Everybody seems to have Vikerness and Euronymus figured out these days and the implied tone in which that situation is handled is one and the same as the tone in which people discuss what happened in the latest episode of their favorite soap. That is a dangerous mode in which to invent an - oral or otherwise - history of black metal (the music and cultural phenomenon), as it's very much based on interpretations of PEOPLE with the music itself taking a back seat and in most cases reduced to a familiar, inoffensive 'closed system' (of which you Cosmo have made several mentions in reviews of bands like Wrath of the Weak and so on). Exactly just as people have figured out Vikerness, they've also figured out "Norwegian Black Metal" and it evidently has to do with a vague - but effectively binding! - notion of grim snowstorms and detached melancholy. Black metal, as most HM was once not a closed system, it could be many different things as a vessel of individuality and in such terms it flourished until it didn't. In why it stopped there is a valuable observation to make: once it was transformed into spectacle and encased in cliche it was no longer a human venture. To now take inspiration from this comfortable caricature of it and make your own american BM band (or a thousand) is a big shame. It's really discouraging to see one version handled as canon to the point where someone begs the question (sorry to paraphrase) "does USBM seem inauthentic because we didn't have our very own satanic murders to stamp us as badasses?". The murders were the worst thing that happened to black metal the music and it strikes me especially bankrupt intellectually to discuss and retell 'the fable' without thought paid to what that perpetuates. The worst is when Norway believed its own hype and felt it had to stand up to their cultural legacy of that closed system of black metal.
If I could suggest one thing to the writer it would be to stop reading ancient interviews of notorious liars, and do a historical search of the genre, listen to the music itself with an open demeanor, not trying to verify their preconception of what that scene was and realize that what there is to hold from that vital time in HMs evolution is not the grandstanding of black metal teenagers deep in black metal play-acting, but that promise of something deeper. It is in the music, I am certain of it: a fervent inspiration to turn ugly or pathologic aspects of every-day human life (especially the entropic quality inherent in comfortably spent though dejected youth that most of us with our very own computers and lots of CDs can readily identify with) into something transcendent and beautiful (even if ugly beautiful): Meaningful. A general mythos and a personal legacy. A meaningful life. Surely Americans most of all cultures, chest-deep in regurgitated pop-culture ment to be digested and shat out in minutes know how hard it is to have a meaningful life. This is why they make their own black metal and that is not a point I see raised often enough. That is what black metal should be remembered for (and indeed, most potent Heavy Metal) and not the people behind the scenes and their bickering. Remember the entity that is Burzum, the entity that is Darkthorne or Master's Hammer or Fleurety because they are much more than the sum of the parts of the personality of Vickerness, of Fenriz, of Franta Storm or of Hatlevik. No murders required for a history of that legacy.
Oh, goood lawd. Can't say I'm terribly shocked with either one of these "efforts." Maybe I should start circulating fotos of Jazz "cats" all junked out and sitting in their own poo. Surely in a year Jazz would have accumulated as much deviant mythos to warrant a copy 'n' paste of the entire Blue Note catalog into cut pages. It'd rate at least ah novella length.... Dave Eggers,my suite, are you reading?!
great comment from Helm. speakin trooth. when i listen to that old black metal, burzum, emperor, etc, i see some things in it that matches the story everyone knows and has figured out, but much more that has been ignored... lately people tend to talk about one dimension of Burzum for example. the "epicness" and so on, leading into this "shoegaze black metal" (if that actually exists). but the sloppy drumming, crazed naked screams, and the relative shittyness/goofyness of the first two burzum albums ("this is... HUNH... whorah!") seems to be left out of the "discussion". maybe because that early music doesnt jibe so well with the current official shorthand story that casts burzum as god of the sublime 15 minute "epic"?
Helm, I agree that the church-burning thing is both overblown and abused in the media. However, that's been the gateway for many into the music. Black metal would not have the worldwide popularity it has now if it weren't for those events. That's important, because the health of the genre lies outside of Scandinavia now. Sensationalism was not the best way for black metal to spread, but it carried the music with it. Discerning artists and listeners will know how to weigh the press and the music. The author does mention the fact that American black metallers deal with the music more purely, free of the sensational aspects. To make this point, he needed to establish that there was an orthodox mythology to rebel against, though I think (a) he didn't dig deep into this rebellion, and (b) the time and word count he devotes to the orthodox mythology make clear he is in its thrall himself.
The article wasn't bad. It would have been better if he'd been able to fit in a sentence or two on why some black metal is worth listening to and thinking about. (It has nothing to do with chuch-burning or authenticity.) That kind of writing is harder to do though. Awesome comment from Helm.
Clarification from the author himself - the essay and oral history are excerpts of the same thing, an upcoming book of oral histories of USBM. The passage on Norway is just the introduction to the book. Believer Magazine chopped up these pieces and allocated them in a way not intended by the author. Basically, what's published online is a fragment of the book, which will no doubt treat the subject matter more in depth.
Thanks Cosmo. I appreciate that. Just wanted to clarify that the piece is organized right and proper in the paper version of the magazine -- the Believer did a great job with it. It was only separated on-line. We're adding a note at the site tomorrow so it makes more sense.
Cool article. US black metal bands don't really look up to the European groups as much as people think they do...at one time many musicians here did because it was the most exciting thing going, Norwegian black metal, but that was a long time ago. Many things have changed and most US bands have moved so far past those early days that one can't even hear the influence anymore. America is a great place for inventive and experimental black metal to develop as we're all so far apart, geographically, and also so...crazy, having descended from a long line of crazy people... ;) Just like the Australians.
Very much in agreement with Helm's comment. It's a mistake to become entralled by the personalities creating the music instead of by the music itself. Human drama is played out everyday in its full spectrum of banality -- the only thing that makes the suffering, melancholy, negativity, etc. compelling is how it's channelled by the artists into the music. I for one am not interested in watching a black metal fashion show or popularity (infamy?) contest; came for the music, stayed for the music.
Actually reminds me of what the electronic dubstep artist Burial stated once in an interview (himself very press-shy), something about how the music he grew up on -- pirate radio jungle and garage tracks -- was faceless, in that he had no idea who made it, what they looked like or thought. In this way he was free to fully engage the music without the personality of the author overshadowing the tunes -- a concept BM madonnas might consider adopting.
Cosmo:
"Helm, I agree that the church-burning thing is both overblown and abused in the media. However, that's been the gateway for many into the music."
Sure, but once one is in it for the music, a responsible listener and aficionado of black metal, they would pay special care to not carry the sensationalism forward, right?
"Black metal would not have the worldwide popularity it has now if it weren't for those events."
Fully aware of the contradiction this carries with it - after all, I bought 'A Blaze in the Northen Sky' at a major CD store chain too - perhaps BM (and good HM) are not meant to be popular worldwide. Perhaps a more human method of approach would most fit music so fantastical. One without myspaces and black metal documentaries and Lords of Chaos and and and...
"(a) he didn't dig deep into this rebellion, and (b) the time and word count he devotes to the orthodox mythology make clear he is in its thrall himself."
Alright.
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