When I talk to people who are into heavy music, it’s always interesting to ask how they got into metal. Everyone has their own story I suppose, and it’s nice to look back. For the next couple of weeks, you can expect us here at Heavy Blog Is Heavy to regale you on how we got into heavy music. I have to thank our writer Chris for setting this in motion. He’s currently working on a piece of his own and I saw the draft and beat him to the punch. Sorry Chris, your idea was too sweet to pass up!
I think it’s safe to say that if it weren’t for the band Korn, I wouldn’t be as deep into music as I am now. Not just heavy music, but music in general. Despite not being a huge fan for a while now, I have yet to find another band that has captured my heart and attention like Korn did in my early high school years. Between the Buried and Me came close, but they haven’t reached that level. I don’t know what it is, but it’s kind of sad to think about. Here’s where my love of music got started:
Before I was into anything even closely resembling metal, I listened to a lot mainstream popular music. You know, stuff that you’d hear on the radio. I was 12, and we had recently upgraded to satellite television in the way of Dish Network, and I was glued to MTV2 and Fuse, where my doors for music swung open. At that time I was moving in and out of my rap phase thanks to Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit sort of bridging that gap between rap and rock. I would listen to rock bands, but nothing overly heavy. Eventually, I saw a “Making the Video” feature on MTV2 for Korn’s “Alone I Break” and fell in love with the song.
I soon heard another Korn song in the way of “Thoughtless” and I once again loved the song. Around this time I had discovered the magic of bittorrent. We still had dial up at this time, so most of my music downloading took a good while. Early one morning, before my mom got up and expected to use the phone, I fired up a torrent of their Greatest Hits album and waited several hours to get it. When I finally got it, I burned it to a CD and took it back into my room to listen. At that point, my music listening habits changed forever. Their blend of grunge, metal, funk, and hip hop elements through the course of their career made for the perfect gateway.
Comments From Hell (04/11-04/17)
Chris Catharsis brings you the week in review of metal bullshit every Sunday. All the news you might have missed and whatever else is on the chopping block!
Well here I am – writing my first post for HBIH. It’s a humbling moment, not unlike my first trike ride or back alley BJ. I’m no stranger to the metal blogosphere, having been the owner and primary writer for Spine Language for practically a full year now. Good times were had by all over there. I interviewed some great bands, had some original concepts, and even started an Internet war with Otep (check that one off the god damn bucket list). My posting there has been infrequent as of late because it takes a lot of time and effort to make quality content that satisfies my perfectionism, but my partner Dasher is doing a great job of making it seem like I know what I’m doing.
But now it’s time to start a new chapter with HBIH, and it begins with this weekly metal wrap-up column. I don’t intend to cover absolutely everything, just what I take notice of. Think of it like the CNN ticker, except with choice comments from the dirty asshole I call a mouth. The point is to stimulate discussion and catch you up on things you might have missed; we’ll see if either of those objectives are actually fulfilled in the end (my prediction: highly doubtful).
Time (or rather word count) is of the essence – so let’s begin.
View Full Article »