Intro/Throwback Metal

Professor Chop Organgrinder Welcomes You!

Welcome to the first of the Metal Skööl blogposts! For my students who've been formally following these lessons via email correspondence, I hope this little format change doesn't turn you away. For newcomers, welcome! I hope you find this series informative. By way of an introduction, this little project began when two students approached me on my musical tastes and I desired to educate them on the soothing notes of rage. I believe in making the world more metal, which requires allowing young hipsters into the metal sandbox. As a people, metalheads have a strong tendency to exist on the societal fringe; as a result we often don't take too kindly to cool kids wanting to hang. The other Metal Faculty and I believe this is a great shame and offer this olive branch to those who can no longer subsist on indie-rock and dance-pop. Past lessons will be revamped and posted here for those who might be interested in previous discussions.

Throwback Metal

I first became aware of Throwback Metal when I stumbled across this little gem by White Wizzard:

Bassist and founder Jon Leon created the band as a response to what he felt was the overabundance of Metalcore and lack of more traditional metal in the current scene. It's a bit goofy in places, I'll admit, but goddamn I drive really fast listening to it! After Leon purged White Wizzard of its other founding members, many of them went on to form the similarly themed Holy Grail, whom I had the tremendous pleasure of seeing live in March.

A bit less tongue-in-cheek self-awareness, which is just fine with me. My son's two current favorites are these guys and Disturbed, which really goes to show that a traditional aesthetic can still resonate with a younger audience.

White Wizzard's video suggests they might just be pulling our leg a little bit. Steel Panther doesn't really hint so much hold up a sign reading "we're taking the piss here!" with their outrageous glam-metal styling and lyrics that cause me to blush to my bones. Don't listen to this at work or in front of your mom.

Finally, let's take a look at Sweden's tragic-laden glam-metallers Crashdïet. Stockholm is far more frequently the home of death-metal than hair, and it's easy to see a death-metal aesthetic in the video (bloody plastic-wrapped corpses, etc.) if not the lyrics.

It's like if Poison had a video directed by Eli Roth.

Upcoming posts will likely be redux for veteran skoolers, but new to those who stumble-upon us.

\m/
Prof. Organgrinder