Music Meme #4
Aug. 25th, 2010 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
exhilarationDay 04 - A song that makes you sad
Why this is a sad song and why this song makes me sad are really two separate things. It's a sad song because it's about the band's lead guitarist who died (twelve years ago). He caused his own death. That's sad. The band member who wrote this song (the drummer) pretty much hid in his house for over a year after his friend died, he was that upset. That's sad too. The story goes that he wrote this song while drinking a bottle of wine at his friend's grave. And that is very sad.
Why does the song make me sad? A lot of reasons. When you listen to it, yes, I know this is a metal song. But do you also hear that the chorus is the chords of Pachabel's canon? You know, the descending major/minor/major/major (I V iv iii IV I IV V) chord progression that is used in so much classical music, and has been adapted into a chord quartet that is now used in SO MANY popular songs (I V vi IV) - those four magical chords I'm always talking about? Pachabel's canon in itself is a very emotionally evocative composition. I mean when my cousin got married, that's what she walked down the aisle to. And... I teared up. Not because omg she was getting married - I'm not particularly close to my cousin, don't know her husband at all, and it was no kind of "oh they're so in love, this is such a beautiful moment" kind of thing. It was just the song.
So already, it's a song that has the ability to tug at my heartstrings.
Then... see, as a guitarist, one of the things that really drew me to this band was their amazing guitar solos. Do you hear an amazing guitar solo in this song? Yeah I didn't think so. Me either. I hear a bunch of noise. I hear the new guitarist doing something, but that is definitely not a legendary X Japan guitar solo. Not even close. So, okay, it's a different sound. This is a brand new song - there IS no official recording yet, even. So of course it isn't going to sound like what they wrote fifteen years ago. But to me it just sounds... empty. Like it's missing... you know. A band member. Which I am sure is deliberate, because the new guitarist is totally capable of playing different but equally amazing solos, and I heard him do it at Lolla and I was duly impressed. So... I think they wanted it to sound empty and incomplete like that.
Then the words kill me. Slowly and sneakily, too. It's a hopeful sort of song if you listen to the lyrics. It's basically saying that even tragedy is beautiful, imperfection is beautiful, sadness is beautiful, and love is forever. In itself - that is not sad! This band (I know you don't know who they are or what else they write!) is known for being overly dramatic and writes all kinds of songs about all kinds of things - and a lot of those things are very dark and depressing. This song is particularly (and uncharacteristically) uplifting for them.
So why is that so sad? It's sad because... that sense of sorrow lifting, of "everything is going to be okay now," of life continuing on, of holding on to the remaining beauty... somehow to me that's even sadder than any initial tragedy. You know when something terrible happens, and you're just reeling from the shock, and of course you have these violent and intense reactions, and then eventually, everything calms and you sort of look down at yourself from some other perspective and think, "it's done with, and everything is going to continue on, it's going to be all right." And then, with that fresh perspective - suddenly it's tears again. Because that's when it sinks in that it REALLY happened, and it's REALLY permanent.
And that's why this is a sad song that also makes me sad.
So... when I saw X Japan in Chicago then, did I cry during this song? I did, a little bit. I mean just for like twenty seconds. During the last chorus. I mean I was happy and having a fantastic day and... it still got me. This is them at Lolla. That first video is them in Japan, just a few days after Lolla, but it's their official concert video so the sound is fantastic. The Lolla video is just a fan's camera, so the quality isn't that great. But, um, you can see just what a big deal these guys are. Just not, you know... here.
ETA: This is a nice compilation of their legendary guitar solos, if you are that curious.
Why this is a sad song and why this song makes me sad are really two separate things. It's a sad song because it's about the band's lead guitarist who died (twelve years ago). He caused his own death. That's sad. The band member who wrote this song (the drummer) pretty much hid in his house for over a year after his friend died, he was that upset. That's sad too. The story goes that he wrote this song while drinking a bottle of wine at his friend's grave. And that is very sad.
Why does the song make me sad? A lot of reasons. When you listen to it, yes, I know this is a metal song. But do you also hear that the chorus is the chords of Pachabel's canon? You know, the descending major/minor/major/major (I V iv iii IV I IV V) chord progression that is used in so much classical music, and has been adapted into a chord quartet that is now used in SO MANY popular songs (I V vi IV) - those four magical chords I'm always talking about? Pachabel's canon in itself is a very emotionally evocative composition. I mean when my cousin got married, that's what she walked down the aisle to. And... I teared up. Not because omg she was getting married - I'm not particularly close to my cousin, don't know her husband at all, and it was no kind of "oh they're so in love, this is such a beautiful moment" kind of thing. It was just the song.
So already, it's a song that has the ability to tug at my heartstrings.
Then... see, as a guitarist, one of the things that really drew me to this band was their amazing guitar solos. Do you hear an amazing guitar solo in this song? Yeah I didn't think so. Me either. I hear a bunch of noise. I hear the new guitarist doing something, but that is definitely not a legendary X Japan guitar solo. Not even close. So, okay, it's a different sound. This is a brand new song - there IS no official recording yet, even. So of course it isn't going to sound like what they wrote fifteen years ago. But to me it just sounds... empty. Like it's missing... you know. A band member. Which I am sure is deliberate, because the new guitarist is totally capable of playing different but equally amazing solos, and I heard him do it at Lolla and I was duly impressed. So... I think they wanted it to sound empty and incomplete like that.
Then the words kill me. Slowly and sneakily, too. It's a hopeful sort of song if you listen to the lyrics. It's basically saying that even tragedy is beautiful, imperfection is beautiful, sadness is beautiful, and love is forever. In itself - that is not sad! This band (I know you don't know who they are or what else they write!) is known for being overly dramatic and writes all kinds of songs about all kinds of things - and a lot of those things are very dark and depressing. This song is particularly (and uncharacteristically) uplifting for them.
So why is that so sad? It's sad because... that sense of sorrow lifting, of "everything is going to be okay now," of life continuing on, of holding on to the remaining beauty... somehow to me that's even sadder than any initial tragedy. You know when something terrible happens, and you're just reeling from the shock, and of course you have these violent and intense reactions, and then eventually, everything calms and you sort of look down at yourself from some other perspective and think, "it's done with, and everything is going to continue on, it's going to be all right." And then, with that fresh perspective - suddenly it's tears again. Because that's when it sinks in that it REALLY happened, and it's REALLY permanent.
And that's why this is a sad song that also makes me sad.
So... when I saw X Japan in Chicago then, did I cry during this song? I did, a little bit. I mean just for like twenty seconds. During the last chorus. I mean I was happy and having a fantastic day and... it still got me. This is them at Lolla. That first video is them in Japan, just a few days after Lolla, but it's their official concert video so the sound is fantastic. The Lolla video is just a fan's camera, so the quality isn't that great. But, um, you can see just what a big deal these guys are. Just not, you know... here.
ETA: This is a nice compilation of their legendary guitar solos, if you are that curious.
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Date: 2010-08-27 05:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-27 01:18 pm (UTC)