Nathan_393

For those of you that do not know of the Dimbag Darrell Abbott, allow me to briefly fill you in: he was a heavy metal legacy and a guitarist who appeared on no more than twelve records and was the sole guitarist for Pantera, Damageplan, and Rebel Meets Rebel.  Those of you that listen to my music or have read my profile know that I am a metalhead, and Dimebag is one of my favourite guitarists.  He was shot and killed on December 8th, 2004 by a crazed fan Nathan Gale.  Please read this entry on Wikipedia to gain a full understanding of the murder of Dimebag Darrell (just read the part about his death): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimebag_Darrell

A follow-up criminal investigation went on to reveal Nathan Gale was a paranoid schizophrenic who believed the band members of Pantera "could read his mind, were stealing his thoughts, and laughing at him" (Wikipedia).

This was a tragic day in music history, regardless of whether one was a fan of metal or not.  Rarely is a musician assassinated, let alone one who had influenced as many people as Dimebag Darrell had.  Vigils were held.  People mourned.  The metal world had not experienced anything like this since Cliff Burton (of Metallica) suffered a tragic death in November 1986.

To add insult to injury, an arts critic named William Grim posted an article on the Internet called "Aesthetics of Hate: R.I.P. Dimebag Abbott, & Good Riddance".  To save you the tribulation of looking up this article yourself, here’s the link: http://www.quickrob.com/weblog/?p=1074

This article inspired Machine Head's song "Aesthetics Of Hate" from their 2007 album The Blackening. 

Seeing as this article was published three years ago, I know I am a little late to offer my two cents.  But, you've read this far and I assume you'll read further to see my personal opinion of the article and of William Grim's prejudism. 

Grim makes many legitimate points, believe it or not.  I agree with him that rap isn't really music anymore.  And Dimebag Darrell was no Bach or Mozart, and I can easily acknowledge Bach as perhaps the greatest composer who ever lived.  His music is timeless and perfect.  Mozart, on the other hand...I'm not saying I can do better, but apart from "Requiem", most of his work is full of fluff; that is to say, it leaves something to be desired.

Despite the fact that Bach and Mozart are both better writers than Dimebag, I still find Pantera much more entertaining than either of them simply because the music is faster-paced, easier to swallow, and more fun for me to personally listen to.  So perhaps I am biased, but Dimebag Darrell was no abhorrent piece of filth like Mr. Grim claims. 

Let's take a look at the two things I consider to be most offensive in this article - and if you appreciate any form of music or social liberty, you'll more than likely agree with me.  First of all, Grim lambastes heavy metal and its fans and plasters the genre with every stereotype the Conservatives have thought up for it over the year, none of which are true.  Here's some direct quotes:
On heavy metal music:
"The squalor, inhumanity, filth (both in the metaphorical and hygienic senses), depravity, ugliness and ignorance of everything that heavy metal represents..."
"I cannot use the noble term music in a description of heavy metal."
"Haydn and Beethoven are numerous steps further along the evolutionary trail than Dimebag Abbott." 
"It would be wrong to ignore Mr. Abbott's complicity in contributing to the soul-deadening culture of death, ugliness, depravity and inhumanity."
On Dimebag Darrell:
"He was an ignorant, barbaric, untalented possessor of a guitar and large amplifier system. Freakish in appearance, more simian than human, he was the performer of a type of "entertainment" that can be likened only to a gorilla on PCP. Lacking subtlety, wit, style, emotional range and anything approaching even the smallest iota of intellectual or musical interest, Mr. Abbott was part of a generation that has confused sputum with art and involuntary reflex actions with emotion. "
"The murder of even a semi-human barbarian like Mr. Abbott..."
--The other quotes I have already listed also fit Grim's description of Dimebag.
On heavy metal fans:
"As far as I am concerned, those who advocate a dumbed-down liturgy and schlocky pop music substitutes for Bach, Handel and the masses of the Renaissance, are as offensive as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and his perverse sexual politics."
"If we ... don't teach [our children] to realize that Johann Sebastian Bach is superior to Dimebag Abbott, we have failed as parents and mentors."
"It was an assemblage of ignorant, semi-human barbarians who were filthy in attire and manner, intellectually incoherent and above all else, hideously ugly to the point of physical deformity. Here is a definite case in which the outer appearance of these "fans" accurately represented the hideousness of their souls. That the physical deformity of their ugliness was self-inflicted makes the spiritual tragedy of their misspent lives all the more tragic."

I suppose I'm an ignorant, semi-human barbarian incapable of forming any kind of thought sincerity or any kind of abstract art.  May my parents be deeply saddened by the ugliness I possess, and may I forever misspend my life listening to Metallica instead of Britney Spears and Kid Rock.  My children will be as uncivilized and barbaric as I am.  I will end up teaching them how to hunt with a club and a pre-Mesopotamia-era knife-like weapon.  I am covered in warts and my long hair makes me uglier than the filthy dog that roams my neighbourhood at night.

And yes, that was all sarcasm.  Ironically, the man who wrote this article wears elitist sun glasses and black golf shirts to disguise the fact that he is actually obese.  And he is balding.  I'm not joking; look up his picture on Google images if you don't believe me.

Clearly, I am quite capable of thought.  I am intelligent and open-minded (poor Mr. Grim only possesses one of those two qualities).  I don't drop the f-bomb every time I open my mouth, and I am far prettier than Grim.  I definitely have more hair.    Perhaps Grim forgets that most metal fans are teenagers and therefore are ugly, acne-covered slobs.  Grim probably doesn't remember or doesn't want to remember, but I bet he was just as pimply when he was a teen.  And how much do you want to bet he listened to Deep Purple or Aerosmith back in the day?  Heaven forbid teenagers me teenagers and listen to a music for the young.  Please Grim, forgive us for lacking the civilized manners and ideology you seem to possess. 

Not only that, but Nathan Gale, as mentioned previously, killed Dimebag because of his schizophrenia.  It had nothing to do with metal music "encouraging murder".  That is both close-minded and uneducated of Mr. Grim to claim.

Dimebag Darrell was also much better at guitar playing than Grim believes, perhaps one of the greatest guitarists on the earth.  He won practically every guitar contest in Texas and was asked to be a judge for them later on.  His music earned international acclaim.  This is an affront to his life and certainly a disgusting way to insult him after he's buried.  It's insulting to the music community as a whole.

The second thing that Grim claims is Conservatives need to be imposing their views on their children.  That's disgusting.  You cannot force a child into believing anything, especially not their parent's views.  Children are meant to create their own opinions, whether they are right or wrong is neither important nor acknowledgeable.  It is through these opinions that children gain life experience and begin to show maturity.  In fact, if you as a parent believe your children are your clones, then your children are either lying to you or you do not know your children at all.  They will rebel on purpose because every prior generation is seen as a travesty to children.  Let your children know your opinion, but to impose said opinion is an abhorrence to mankind.  It's the precise reason why Christianity is a hated religion and exactly why teens invest their time and money into drugs, alcohol, and sex. 

Some other things I have problems with: education does not teach you to appreciate fine art.  That is something you must discover on your own.  Education is there precisely to teach you how what you'll need to know as an adult and as a parent.  It is there to give you more knowledge, not treat you to art galleries and classical music. 

Also, metalheads are not stupid.  We are highly intelligent, and our music often is as well.  If you look beyond the commercial metal bands and go deeper, you discover bands that are deeply dissatisfied with the way things work and sing about it: their anger covers politics, murders, rapes and general travesties of mankind.  Many metal bands exist to generate anger, but that anger is supposed to be aimed at close-minded people like Grim and politicians who have failed their country and the world (need I say Bush?)

Attributing something as common as metal, the third-best selling musical genre in the world (after rap/hip hop and country), to something as common as ignorance or ugliness is like saying that all serial killers wear sneakers and thus sneakers influence serial killers.  We all are intelligent enough to understand that what we wear on our feet does not make us smart or stupid.  It is rather our education and how much work we put into it and how much time we take to learn during our own private time.

Also, there are many unintelligent people who don't listen to metal.  Consider politicians: most politicians, including Bush and his current members of Congress, have no idea what to say unless it's been prepared for them by a speech writer and written plainly on the screen in front of them.  And yes, many metalheads are unintelligent because they are TEENAGERS.  Teenagers do not have very many years of life experience and thus cannot be as intelligent as a forty-five year old man like Grim.  Does Grim even have children of his own?

Finally, in comparing heavy metal to classical music, Grim proves he does not listen to the music - otherwise he would know that metal is closer to classical music than any other genre in existence.  For a metal guitar player to not have a good understanding of classical music is suicide.  So, metal can be considered classical music on steroids.

In closing, it’s obvious that Grim’s article is a plain attack on heavy metal, its fans, and perhaps even modern music itself.  His ignorant views make a bad name for Conservative Christians everywhere.