A question about murder/slasher songs

[Idlewilde]

Ok, I'm writing my diploma paper. My subject is "The roots and purpose of the American murder ballad:chaos vs order" Don't worry I won't question your knowledge about folk songs Since I'm working in the direction "What makes people write songs about cold-blooded murders so much that they turned into folk ballads" I would like to ask you: why do you think there are songs about murder, crimes, rapes, incest? I don't need anything so fancy as an answer, not a whole theory that says it all and leads to one single conclusion (cause I don't believe in such stuff). Just the first thing that comes to your mind, something simple that will give me some food for thought&research. Why do we need such stuff?

[Frostaudn]

Because you can't write metallyrics about lovely flowers and stuff?

[BlutAusNerd]

Re: A question about murder/slasher songs Macabre topics are fascinating for many reasons. Trying to understand motives that are far outside of your perspective, lack of prevalent in-depth discussion on dark topics, and mankind's general fascination with death all play into it. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

[RelentlessOblivion]

I think it stems from our fascination with the macabre, as we encounter images of death less frequently our fascination with death becomes greater.

[Idlewilde]

I think it stems from our fascination with the macabre' date=' as we encounter images of death less frequently our fascination with death becomes greater.[/quote'] that is a good point, thanks!

[Idlewilde]

Because you can't write metallyrics about lovely flowers and stuff?

yup but you see, not every metal band writes about murder n crime. many write about war, signs, metal in general, history, books...and yet in the peaceful universe of Helloween lyrics pops up a song about incest. That's what I find interesting.

[Scullicon]

Just as turning the cross upside down provoked the general opinion of whats right and wrong. Singing about murder and decapitation may still have some value of provocation.

[Idlewilde]

thank you Scullicon! I'll wait and collect some more opinions until I tell you my idea about it. It definetely has to do with provocation I totally agree!

[RelentlessOblivion]

It isn't just about provocation though. As metal is such a free genre and its practitioners are free to write about a far broader range of subjects then any other genre we see metal musicians writing about what interests them, so Kerry King of Slayer writes lyrics which are heavily critical of religion whilst in the same band Tom Araya writes songs about serial killers because it is a topic which fascinates him. You also have bands that write lyrics spewing propaganda such as those in the Nazi black metal scene, or lyrics about these fictional heroes such as those of HammerFall. Songs about death and dismemberment may be more common in the more extreme sub-genres because extreme music invariably demands extreme subject matter.

[Idlewilde]

yeah but what interests me goes beyond genre. As I said earlier, my term paper will be about folk ballads n not at all about metal:) Of course some people are horrified of the idea to write a song about murder, but it seems to be a sticking tendency to have such songs, in metal especially. Of course it's about personal interests too - as I said above some are disgusted by this idea. But it seems people need such songs, and that this is a need that is beyond personal differences. We are fascinated by it as one of you said earlier.this is what i find extremely interesting, that murder-based folklore stuck through all the existence of humanity and that obviously is somewhere in all of us-some let it emerge, others suppress it, but everyone takes a look at the car crashes, no? By the way thanks to all of you for the activity it's awesome when you're not shut up with "american songs suck"!you're awesome!

[RelentlessOblivion]

I believe Slayer said it best in the song Disciple when they wrote "The beauty of death we all adore" There's a reason the media spend so much of their time reporting on the atrocities man commits against man. As for your point about folklore absolutely on the money. looking at one of the oldest pieces of folklore, the christian bible, it's full of gruesome descriptions of morbid events like the crucifiction of Jesus, or stories of "God's Wrath" in the old testament. Going futher back to the Ancient Greeks and their tales of war and murder, or jumping forward to William Shakespeare's works such as Hamlet. You even see it today with authors like Stephen King. As a species we are naturally attracted to violence whilst at the same time being repulsed by it.

[Scullicon]

Of course its not all about provocation, but it could be a reason. Another thing that came to mind. Some people might not be ok with writing lyrics about murder. But they might still be fond of violent movies, including murder and more. I know people who thinks a movie is just a movie, while a piece of violent lyrics is treated as disturbing.

[Iceni]

There's a reason the media spend so much of their time reporting on the atrocities man commits against man. As for your point about folklore absolutely on the money. looking at one of the oldest pieces of folklore' date=' the christian bible, it's full of gruesome descriptions of morbid events like the crucifiction of Jesus, or stories of "God's Wrath" in the old testament...You even see it today with authors like Stephen King. As a species we are naturally attracted to violence whilst at the same time being repulsed by it.[/quote'] Your last sentence is quite correct. I really can't elaborate on it... I think that writing about violent occurrences can do a number of things: if I had to explain the folklore murder songs, it's to simply recount life at the time. As I understand it many of these songs were written in the late 1800s when murder and death were very prevalent. As for serial killer songs, I assume it's to help people understand what's going through the killer's mind to explain his or her motives. Sometimes songs just use particularly violent images to be realistic or simply to communicate the severity of a given action. As for your point on the Bible, there's actually something quite interesting. Most Christians are extremely reluctant to write violent literature, being loth to include anything even remotely gory or even detrimental, because they think it's somehow inappropriate. Ironically, this means that Scripture is by far the most violent bit of literature we ever read! I'm trying to write a story about combat between the Virtues and Vices in the mind, and I've done a number of violent drawings for it...which you can see in the Artwork section if you want. I've got more on this but maybe it should go in another thread.

[Metallisydän]

Hrmmm... it may be a stupid thought, but I'd also like to believe that it's because that's a way to denounce those kind of sick-minded crimes. En tiä, it may look cool, strong or "heavy-like" to listen to a song which speaks about a murder, but if you stop by and think about it, it's something just for listening. When I listen to songs about sick-minded persons who enjoy giving an end to another's life, I don't even think I'd do something like that, but indeed there's people who do... Sometimes they're just stories to tell about, as in Death Unlimited, by Norther (I love really much that song, do not missunderstand me), but I don't think they're songs which speak about ideals or what to do with life... Not as Warriors of the World United

[Iceni]

When I listen to songs about sick-minded persons who enjoy giving an end to another's life' date=' I don't even think I'd do something like that, but indeed there's people who [i']do... Sometimes they're just stories to tell about, as in Death Unlimited, by Norther (I love really much that song, do not missunderstand me), but I don't think they're songs which speak about ideals or what to do with life... Not as Warriors of the World United

Nah, Manowar isn't really the band you look to in troubled times for advice. I do think you have a point. 'Judas Immortal' by the phenomenal Persuader fits this bill to a tee. By the way, your avatar is hilarious.

[Metallisydän]

Nah, Manowar isn't really the band you look to in troubled times for advice. I do think you have a point. 'Judas Immortal' by the phenomenal Persuader fits this bill to a tee. By the way, your avatar is hilarious.

Hahaha it was the first example which came to my mind. In fact, that song has an awesome idea that, if it was followed, it'd be fabulous, and it's that metalheads should respect themselves and so on, 'cause in the end we all belong to a same taste. I hate when people nowadays say that a band is shit or things like that... There are bands I don't like and I just say that I don't like them, I don't disrespect anyone for liking them... Beh, guess you got my point already. Yeah, thanks! I found it some time ago and I fell in love with it immediatly :D

[Idlewilde]

Well, I will tell you now what I think. If I compare a murder ballad and a tale that both are a part of folklore, we can see that the first one aims at chaos, the second-at order (the good ones are always rewarded and the bad ones punished in the end). If the tales try to calm us down and tell us that if we play by the rules everything will be ok in the end, the murder songs, that usually end with a murderer that is convinced that he did the right thing and has no remorse, have the opposite function. I think with them people express their doubts about the system in general - not everything turns out perfect for you, even if you do good. Instead, murder songs for me are an expression of free will-by breaking taboos like murder,incest, rape etc people are encouraged to take their faith in hands and forge it instead of relying on the system. I dunno how it sounds to you, but for me a murder in a song is more of a metaphor, at least it turned into one-which will explain the fascination of regular folks with it:) Does it make sense to you?