Jump to content

Does humour have a place in music?


RelentlessOblivion

Recommended Posts

5 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Aww... you burned Johnny's only TON studio drum performance? :( Dead Again definitely had to grow on me. I also have the Bloody Kisses digipak, somewhere. I used to be much more into goth stuff in general. I still love some of that stuff... and I mean, Swans is one of my favorite bands ever, you can't get more humorless than that.

Yeah, Swans are about as humourless as it gets. Too weird for my taste, really.

That 'Bloody Kisses' digipak is glorious. I want it buried with me in my casket. 

It's no secret that Peter Steele was in a very dark place personally for the last ten years of his life, and you can sort of trace his mental descent through those last albums. A lot of the beauty and elegance was largely gone and the songs are really cold and cynical. Just not my bag.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Requiem said:

Yeah, Swans are about as humourless as it gets. Too weird for my taste, really.

That 'Bloody Kisses' digipak is glorious. I want it buried with me in my casket. 

It's no secret that Peter Steele was in a very dark place personally for the last ten years of his life, and you can sort of trace his mental descent through those last albums. A lot of the beauty and elegance was largely gone and the songs are really cold and cynical. Just not my bag.

Swans are pretty strange, but they went through a lot of phases. I bet you could find something that would click if you were interested. I'd be happy to steer you in one direction or another. I'm not hugely into their newer stuff, although "To Be Kind" is really impressive. I have yet to check out "Glowing Man".

As far as cynicism goes, yeah, I see that with some of Pete's lyrics, but definitely not all - there's a lot of vulnerability on World Coming Down and Life Is Killing Me. Something about the lyrics seems more honest to me, even the goofy parts, and I prefer that to the cheesy pop sensibility of some of the mid-late 90s stuff. To each their own!

I've probably said it in here before, but I like humor in grind and death metal as well - early Cephalic Carnage slays me; I also enjoy the humor in some black metal, whether or not it's intentional. But in general I do tend to gravitate towards more serious and cerebral music.

It's a mood thing, I guess. I'm a moody guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only Swans albums I own are 'Soundtracks for the Blind' (scary and weird) and 'Children of God' (haunting and weird). Not sure I really want to delve further unless I'm missing something really special with them. Certainly nothing funny about Swans from what I've heard so far.

The best jokes are usually the unintentional, like the video for Immortal's 'Call of the Wintermoon'.  Classic stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Children Of God" is probably my favorite - honestly, if you don't enjoy that album, you are missing something really special IMO. But that's not a criticism of you, I know they're an acquired taste. I don't know how far away from metal you'd veer, but some of their 90s material might do something for you. A lot of the best material from the late 80s-early 90s albums was collected on a 2-disc set called "Various Failures", and the best songs on there are transcendent to me - "Why Are We Alive" (the Various Failures version), "The Golden Boy Who Was Swallowed By The Sea", "Eyes Of Nature" are all prime cuts. You may dig "The Great Annihilator", too, it's more coherent and less overtly weird, with some truly beautiful sounds at times. I'll see if I can update my Swans thread with some new links.

But none of it belongs in the humor in music thread! Maybe it would be funny to post that stuff here anyway...

I have a hard time believing that Immortal video wasn't meant to be utterly hilarious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

 

I have a hard time believing that Immortal video wasn't meant to be utterly hilarious.

That's what's so goddamn funny about it hahaha. That witch guy running around bent over like that. And all the darting out from behind logs and rocks and things. Oh man what were they thinking? I reckon it's one of the funniest things you'll ever see on the internet. And I've been a massive black metal fan for 22 years so there you go.  

I remember reading an interview with Abbath much later and he was saying that the director just told them to run around in the forest, which he now regrets for obvious reasons. 

And here is the masterpiece in question:

Quote

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it´s a matter of balance and the occation. Sometimes humor can be the carrying thing and work great. Gems like Massacration and Alien fucker ie.. There are some artists who wish to make a statement, or tell a story, or just give serious food for thought so it´s understandable that it will not fit in for every artist. The way i see it, some humor here and there is a valuable trait, when you take yourself too seriously all of the time it must be exhausting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

IF  many layers of societal sarcasm is funny, then yes. Humor or not I do like to get  that at least in some sense, the band is enjoying themselves, and there is some type of fun to convey.

That dont smile, thats not metal business is BS.

Lemmy used humor on stage. Song lines like,"It was them it was not me," are pretty tongue in cheek funny. And I do enjoy them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 27/12/2016 at 7:57 AM, GrayscaleDawn said:

Forgot to mention this band that greatly benefits from humor too.. 12 foot ninja. They are pretty awesome! :)

 

 

This is hilarious. They play in Melbourne all the time but I've never seen them - maybe I should check them out. A good friend of mine really loves them. 

I think to understand the humour here you sort of have to be Australian. Everywhere you go people ask you if you've been busy. No joke, I went to the dentist the other day and the guy goes, "How have you been?" and as I open my mouth to answer he says, "Busy? Yeah, busy". It was so funny. Afterwards my wife and I made a point of commenting on it to each other as we had both noticed the verbal idiosyncrasy. 

So yeah, very funny stuff if you're an Austraaaaaalian. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Come to Australia and you'll see plenty of people that the video parodies, that's for sure hahaha. But yeah, I'm sure it has a lot of cross-cultural value. Great video. 

In fact I just sent a text to that friend I mentioned to say I saw the video and he texted back, "You been busy mate???" hahaha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/10/2019 at 9:14 PM, luke192 said:

Yes I think it's good to have humour in music, like you said metal especially takes itself way too seriously and its good to have bands in the genre that are there for comic relief (Alestorm is the best example for me)

Gloryhammer comes to mind (since you mention Alestorm). I still laugh every time he sings about the army of unicorns riding into the fray. 

I  agree metal takes itself too seriously. I mean of course if you tell a story, like Rhapsody of Fire or Blind Guardian most of the time, then it depends solely on the story if humour is appropriate. On an album like "Nightfall in Middle Earth" there's no way humour would fit in. But generally I think it has its place.

Of course metal taking itself too seriously has the side effect that some bands are unintentionally funny. I saw Darkthrone on Summerbreeze once. I confused them with another band and went to see them. It was an experience of intense suffering.

EDIT: That I mercifully decided to cut short after a song or two.

EDIT 2: It's interesting though how much tastes differ, I read on some forum once that someone found Hansi Kürsch's vocals hillariously awful. Which to me is just inconceivable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

I can't imagine Tool or many of Maynard's project without humour.

One of my friends is forming a band in New Zealand and is worrying because his lyrics are too humorous. From what I've heard, they are really creative and that's all that matters. That they capture the imagination and are entertaining is most important.

So I think there is plenty of room for humour in all music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Evil Scarecrow == Good use of humour.

Tenacious D == Bad use of humour

Why? I think (and this is obviously just my opinion) groups like Evil Scarecrow genuinely love metal but can also burst the bubble of pomposity that sometimes surround it.

Tenacious D on the other hand just seem to take the piss out of metal.

Ergo, humour coming from a good place is healthy. Taking the piss for the sake of it is just annoying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I do believe that humour plays an enormous part in Death Metal especially, Cannibal Corpse lyrics are supposed to be tongue in cheek, otherwise do the guys really fantasise about chopping people up or having their (own) faces smashed in with a hammer?

Venom lyrics again were supposed to be humorous, it's a sort of dark twisted sense of humour that hangs over the metal umbrella genre really, and the ones who are most hilarious are often the ones who deny it!!!

 

Oh damn, how old is this thread?!?! hahaha

On 4/24/2020 at 11:48 AM, noblastbeats said:

Evil Scarecrow == Good use of humour.

Tenacious D == Bad use of humour

Why? I think (and this is obviously just my opinion) groups like Evil Scarecrow genuinely love metal but can also burst the bubble of pomposity that sometimes surround it.

Tenacious D on the other hand just seem to take the piss out of metal.

Ergo, humour coming from a good place is healthy. Taking the piss for the sake of it is just annoying.

AxCx were definitely a pisstake band, they really ripped it out of the Grindcore scene, I really enjoy a bit of grindcore, but then I also really enjoyed hearing AxCx totally mug them all off...

I'm certainly no fan of the D, but I have no problem with them poking fun at Metal, a bit of humility goes a long way...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Sabazios said:

I do believe that humour plays an enormous part in Death Metal especially, Cannibal Corpse lyrics are supposed to be tongue in cheek, otherwise do the guys really fantasise about chopping people up or having their (own) faces smashed in with a hammer?

It's interesting too how indistinguishable humor in extreme music can often be from serious interest.  Cannibal Corpse always seem like they are joking, Fornicator or Bizarre Uproar not so much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Balor said:

It's interesting too how indistinguishable humor in extreme music can often be from serious interest.  Cannibal Corpse always seem like they are joking, Fornicator or Bizarre Uproar not so much.

I can't say I'd heard of either of those bands before, but Fornicator's demo was entitled "She Died on My Dick", come on if that is not intended as humour I don't know what is! The humour comes from the desire to cause maximum offence, I mean my first band was called Coathanger Abortion and we had a song called "Cot Death" and another called  "No Tears for dead Queers", none of us were homophobic at all, the title was intended to piss as many people off as possible, thus amusing ourselves... I will say that was 20 years ago now so please don't judge too harshly! I'm gonna get kicked out... :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Join Metal Forum

    joinus-home.jpg

  • Our picks

    • Whichever tier of thrash metal you consigned Sacred Reich back in the 80's/90's they still had their moments.  "Ignorance" & "Surf Nicaragura" did a great job of establishing the band, whereas "The American Way" just got a little to comfortable and accessible (the title track grates nowadays) for my ears.  A couple more records better left forgotten about and then nothing for twenty three years.  2019 alone has now seen three releases from Phil Rind and co.  A live EP, a split EP with Iron Reagan and now a full length.

      Notable addition to the ranks for the current throng of releases is former Machine Head sticksman, Dave McClean.  Love or hate Machine Head, McClean is a more than capable drummer and his presence here is felt from the off with the opening and title track kicking things off with some real gusto.  'Divide & Conquer' and 'Salvation' muddle along nicely, never quite reaching any quality that would make my balls tingle but comfortable enough.  The looming build to 'Manifest Reality' delivers a real punch when the song starts proper.  Frenzied riffs and drums with shots of lead work to hold the interest.


      There's a problem already though (I know, I am such a fucking mood hoover).  I don't like Phil's vocals.  I never had if I am being honest.  The aggression to them seems a little forced even when they are at their best on tracks like 'Manifest Reality'.  When he tries to sing it just feels weak though ('Salvation') and tracks lose real punch.  Give him a riffy number such as 'Killing Machine' and he is fine with the Reich engine (probably a poor choice of phrase) up in sixth gear.  For every thrashy riff there's a fair share of rock edged, local bar act rhythm aplenty too.

      Let's not poo-poo proceedings though, because overall I actually enjoy "Awakening".  It is stacked full of catchy riffs that are sticky on the old ears.  Whilst not as raw as perhaps the - brilliant - artwork suggests with its black and white, tattoo flash sheet style design it is enjoyable enough.  Yes, 'Death Valley' & 'Something to Believe' have no place here, saved only by Arnett and Radziwill's lead work but 'Revolution' is a fucking 80's thrash heyday throwback to the extent that if you turn the TV on during it you might catch a new episode of Cheers!

      3/5
      • Reputation Points

      • 10 replies
    • I
      • Reputation Points

      • 2 replies
    • https://www.metalforum.com/blogs/entry/52-vltimas-something-wicked-marches-in/
      • Reputation Points

      • 3 replies

    • https://www.metalforum.com/blogs/entry/48-candlemass-the-door-to-doom/
      • Reputation Points

      • 2 replies
    • Full length number 19 from overkill certainly makes a splash in the energy stakes, I mean there's some modern thrash bands that are a good two decades younger than Overkill who can only hope to achieve the levels of spunk that New Jersey's finest produce here.  That in itself is an achievement, for a band of Overkill's stature and reputation to be able to still sound relevant four decades into their career is no mean feat.  Even in the albums weaker moments it never gets redundant and the energy levels remain high.  There's a real sense of a band in a state of some renewed vigour, helped in no small part by the addition of Jason Bittner on drums.  The former Flotsam & Jetsam skinsman is nothing short of superb throughout "The Wings of War" and seems to have squeezed a little extra out of the rest of his peers.

      The album kicks of with a great build to opening track "Last Man Standing" and for the first 4 tracks of the album the Overkill crew stomp, bash and groove their way to a solid level of consistency.  The lead work is of particular note and Blitz sounds as sneery and scathing as ever.  The album is well produced and mixed too with all parts of the thrash machine audible as the five piece hammer away at your skull with the usual blend of chugging riffs and infectious anthems.  


      There are weak moments as mentioned but they are more a victim of how good the strong tracks are.  In it's own right "Distortion" is a solid enough - if not slightly varied a journey from the last offering - but it just doesn't stand up well against a "Bat Shit Crazy" or a "Head of a Pin".  As the album draws to a close you get the increasing impression that the last few tracks are rescued really by some great solos and stomping skin work which is a shame because trimming of a couple of tracks may have made this less obvious. 

      4/5
      • Reputation Points

      • 4 replies
×
×
  • Create New...