That Music Is So Noisy!

Being a musician and a proud metalhead (A person who enjoys listening to metal music) the argument that metal music is 'just noise' comes up time and again.

In recent years however, it's become very rare. Musical preference is amazingly subjective and when I realized that, I noticed that I inadvertently made my activity of listening to music a highly personal activity and consequently less subject to criticism.

But there is still the occasional person who will make a wild comment like : "You can't understand what they're saying", "It doesn't make sense", "It's too loud", "It's not musical".

So, I sat down one day, not initially to try to make an argument to retaliate but rather, to ponder upon the reasons why I grew to like such an amazing genre and why certain people don't enjoy it the same way I do.

Essentially, I reached these points. It is amazing really, when you discover how the human mind perceives music.

Let's start addressing the generic arguments made:

Statement 1: It's not even music, just noise.

By all means, metal music is validly described as 'music'. Why? Well..

Taken from the Oxford Dictionary:music (ˈmjuːzɪk)
noun
Vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.

Most people fail to realize that such statements actually mean "This type of music does not conform to my personal idea of music".
And that's perfectly understandable. People who aren't too heavily invested into music of any particular type are usually found to be listening to pop (popular) music or 'chart-topping hits'. This music is generally quite simple and minimalist. Music that is easy to follow is easily enjoyable when heard even for the first time and almost always guarantees financial success. They form an opinion of such music being the standard since this type of music receives more exposure on all forms of media.

What's a little unnerving is that anything that is stylistically different and doesn't conform to this type of music is automatically branded as 'not musical'. Even alternate vocals like screaming are tackled with this argument with statements like "They can't sing" (The reason for such vocals is explored in further statements).

On analysis we find that metal music is more 'musical' and relies widely on technical proficiency and the artistic expression of the musician. Subgenres such as Progressive Metal, Technical Metal, Djent etc are some of the most complex and technical forms of music in the contemporary world.

Statement 2: There's no melody to it.

There are two different retorts to this statement.

Firstly, a lot of metal subgenres have amazing amount of melody in them. NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) and Melodic Death Metal are two good examples where we observe this among literally thousand others that fall into the generic idea of 'melody'.

For other subgenres? Well, untrained ears have a difficult times perceiving the melody because of how it is incorporated. It's different from the aforementioned generic idea of 'melody'.

Secondly, melody is not a requisite for music. A lot of music doesn't possess melody but is still enjoyable. Music that is almost entirely percussive is one example as is with a lot of Indian classical music.

Statement 3: It's too loud.

Yes, metal music is loud.

There isn't anything wrong with loud music. On the contrary, scientific studies show that you actually hear things differently at different volumes due to a number of factors. Most important among these is your brain's sensitivity to midrange frequencies - this is where you'll hear snare drums, human voices, etc. At lower volumes, you're not picking up on the richness of the full sound. 

Because your ears are less sensitive to low and high-frequency sounds, you have to turn up to a certain level before the sound "flattens out" and you can hear them as well as you hear the mid-range sounds.

So loud music is actually more attractive to human beings. And why would that be a bad thing?

This statement is supposedly made by people who physically cannot bear loud music. This includes people from any age group but does mostly consist of people over the age of 30.

The quality of a 'musical ear' plays a huge part here too. A general correlation is that heavy metal listeners have a more evolved perception of music as compared to casual listeners of mainstream music. They can pick out details which aren't obvious to casual listeners even at higher volumes. 

One final point is that  casual music listeners tend to use generic speakers/headphones while listening to music. Metal music possesses a dense orchestration which is not done justice to by the low quality easy-selling selection of listening devices available in the market today. 

Statement 4: It's angry and incites hatred.

Many people tackle the fact that music feels aggressive and heavy sounding. This argument is extensive to retort and is beautifully covered in the following link:


http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/07/26/why-aggressive-metal-can-be-healthy-music-therapy/

This link demonstrates how aggression in this controlled format has a positive effect on the listeners.

The assumption that metal music incites hatred is a claim that is pulled out without any actual observation of metalheads. Metalheads are amongst the calmest people there are. This is a fact best observed in person. Take the chance to socialize with metal listeners and observe it for yourself.

Statement 5: I can't understand the words/They are just screaming.

Let's try an experiment:

List your top 5 songs on a sheet of paper.

Then one by one,begin to recite the lyrics while simultaneously writing them down. Once done, compare your notes to an official source of the lyrics of the same songs. You might just be surprised at how wrong you are.

What you will come to realize is that most people aren't aware of the lyrical content in most of their 'favorite' pieces of music. They may know the chorus and a few verses but even the accuracy of that is largely debatable.

Further, if you cannot understand particular vocals then it has more to do with factors like accent and vocal range. One usually listens to guttural vocals with a lyric sheet.

Yes, 'screaming' is important to metal music but it is incredibly ignorant to say that the music is bad because of this. Vocals such as these are used to put across different emotions as compared to traditional singing. They are not trying to emulate traditional singing and they shouldn't be judged as such. Free musical expression is what it at play here.

Screaming, growls and guttural vocals is usually mixed in with melodic singing on most metal but in those subgenres where there is next to no melodic singing, the vocals are used as an instrument adding a dynamic to the other instruments that are the highlight of the song.

Statement 6: I don't like such types of music

Well, while this isn't exactly a generic criticism of metal . I wanted to talk about what part that opinion plays within this context as we have already seen tin some of the last few retorts.

Musical taste is amazingly subjective. It depends on your cultural background, the music you were exposed to growing up, your philosophies, the music you are exposed to on a daily basis, your musical ear and even heredity.

You don't like metal?

Okay.


Metalheads understand that the level of musical complexity is not for everyone and so isn't the inherent loudness.

What people fail to realize a midst all the claims about metalheads is that metalheads are some of the most open-minded individuals around. They do realize that people have different tastes and also understand that it took a long time for themselves to appreciate the art and it doesn't just happen to someone in a moment.

But as with everything, metal music should be open to criticism and questioning since it is not mainstream. This way more people will learn about the beauty of this amazing genre.


These are just some of the most popular arguments against metal. What do you think about metal and it's general perception? Let me know in the comments.


Signing Off,

Shawn Kenneth Fernandes.