Guitar Center Syndrome

Waksman referenced Buzz Osborne’s interview with Guitar Player magazine from 1996 in which he claims guitar players have fallen victim to “Guitar Center Syndrome in in which guitarists felt compelled to display the fastest, flashiest, and most flamboyant aspects of their technique for the sake of other guitarists to prove their capabilities.”  As a guitar player myself, I can actually imagine the scene he is describing, because not only have I witnessed it, I too have experience the Guitar Center Syndrome. 

Guitar Center is a large chain of music distribution outlets throughout the country.  They specialize in Guitars, but have a wide variety of musical equipment available.  They have to allow the customers to play a guitar or test out an amp before they make a purchase, and of course hundreds of customers a day come to plug in and jam out right there in the store.  Now, when a guitar player plugs into an amp in front of people, it might as well be considered an audience.  All guitar players want to sound good, and look good when playing the guitar.  So what’s the first thing they play?  Stairway to heaven, as famously mocked in Wayne’s World, possibly.  Most likely they will start shredding the guitar and doing their best Eddie Van Halen impersonation trying to impress the other 50 guitarists within the vicinity.  Guitar Center even acknowledges that a lot of talented guitars do come into their shop to test out the best gear, and they hold a yearly regional competition to for guitarists to settle the score and decide who is the most metal guitarist.  Soon, everyone was a guitarist trying to become the next big thing discovered at the Guitar Center.  Then, a unique sound started to get some attention out of the Pacific Northwest.  Grunge bands started getting record deals and soon the Seattle sound would spread.

Seattle has a rich musical history, producing many great musicians including Jimi Hendrix, a guitarist know for his unique use of the guitar and recording techniques that were revolutionary.  Soon bands like Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana would follow that tradition and use strange tunings, new tones, and defiance against the musical norms around them to craft a musical movement.  Technical musical prowess was not important to these bands, because the music was more personal and creative.  It didn’t follow the same pentatonic progression.  It was wild and unpredictable, often using dissonance to create tension.  The shredders had contributed to the very disenchantment of music that heavy metal intended to combat, and people were vocally upset about it.  The Guitar Center Syndrome is an insult intended to illuminate this problem within the musical spheres that existed after the mainstream success of heavy metal musicians such as Van Halen, Metallica, and shredders like Yngwie Malmsteen.  I personally loved to play the guitar as fast as I could because I thought it was the most challenging.  However, after a while it is not fun at all to play the same patterns over and over again, and the music sounds the same after a while.  Grunge music gave a soulful, blues inspired aspect of bringing back the true importance of music and making it individual.  Being from Portland, a lot of these Seattle bands were intensely popular when I was growing up, and I was not only a fan of Metallica but also Nirvana, an interesting contrast as they were almost directly at odds musically.      

NWOBHM

New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM)

Neal Kay created a scene at the Soundhouse, giving metal heads in the UK a mecca where the heavy metal product of the crossover scene of heavy metal and punk music in England during ’77-79 would give rise to the new wave of British heavy metal.  Bands like Iron Maiden worked their way from garages to arenas by taking a lesson from the growing influence of Punk music.  They scrapped together as much money as they could for studio time and started recorded exclusive productions (EP’s).  These rough but raw sounding EP’s would go on to define the NWOBHM sound.

            Iron Maiden’s legendary Soundhouse Tapes referenced Neal Kay’s importance in shaping the scene around the music.  With a venue to showcase their unreleased, raw talent, bands like Iron Maiden, Praying Mantis, Saxon, and Def Leppard gathered momentum and buzz throughout the streets of London and across the Uk.  The Metal for Muthas compilation started to feature these bands and help distribute the sound.  This coupled with the Sounds weekly publication of Neal Kay’s collection of the top requested tunes at the Soundhouse gave metal fans around the nation a reference on what was hot in the scene.  Soon, the new wave was ready for its invasion of America, but their success across the pond was viewed with varying levels of betrayal from their loyal fans and critics back home. 

            These crude forms of distribution were channels to reach the larger record deals, which in turn lead to the lucrative American market.  The issue of “selling out” has always been in heavy metal, and independent success is viewed as a true sign of success.  Def Leppard is often questioned as catering to the American audience and sacrificing some of their original sound in order to sell more records.  Also, the departure of original vocalist Paul Di’Anno in favor of former Saxon signer Bruce Dickenson ended the discussion if Iron Maiden was a crossover punk/HM band, and they made it clear that the working class was not where they wanted to stay.  By the release of Def Leppard’s album Pyromania, both bands enjoyed international success and fame, while most of the NWONHM had lost that momentum created by the Soundhouse.  But now, Def Leppard faced charges of not being genuine came from their critics.  Lead signer Joe Elliot even wore a Union Jack shirt on stage to show his loyalty to England.  However, this didn’t satisfy the critics.  Waksman makes a good point that although the true spirit that encompassed the NWOBHM didn’t survive the commercial boom of the ‘80s, it was directly responsible for it.  The atmosphere at the time created a sound and attitude that propelled these bands to giant arenas around the world for decades, and these phenomenons can't survive because they are a result of a multitude of factors at a specific time and place in history.

Youth and Metal

Youth and Metal

The Dictators and the Runaways represented the youthfulness of rock’n’roll.  They talked about things that teenagers or young people can relate too, like being late to class and midnight joy rides.  The themes of their music appealed to teenage angst.  The feeling young people have when they are growing up, they don’t quite feel like they fit in, but when they listen to this style of music they can forget it all and become a part of something.  They walk a fine line between individuality, being different than the “status quo,” being a part of the “teenagers in hate” that Waksman describes, and giving up the “status quo” to be a part of this rebellious style of music, heavy metal.  These bands add another level of re-enchantment to the equation.  Alice Cooper brought the theatrical element, now there is the element of no-holds-barred teenage rebellion, a powerful concept throughout history.  Kids during this period had heavy metal to hold onto, something that their parents couldn’t rip from their grasp even if they tried.  Something fierce, unpredictable, uncontrollable.  Heavy metal was not about being a virtuoso.  It was the kind of music that was forged in the garage.  It was about being low-tech but in an “in your face” kind of way, unlike the remnants of rock from the ‘60’s.  I feel this is at the core of rock music.  Young people always feel alienated in some way or another while growing up, but music is such a visceral form of communication.  It has such a powerful physical component, being at the concert hearing the booming bass wave over your body.  It is an all-encompassing experience that takes the teenage angst and channels it into raw, distorted guitars.  The Runaways also added that extra appeal of sex, theme that runs throughout music and especially heavy metal.  As seen here, they advertised that they were rebellious through sex.  This also relates to teenage angst.  They looked and acted like teenage runaways, and this made their music real.  It made kids believe in them, and want to be a part of this movement of heavy metal.

Crossing into the next dimension: Heavy Metal

 Grand Funk Railroad sold its commercial appeal with their ability to play to large crowds, creating an atmosphere that would transform concerts forever.  Larger and larger crowds demanded bigger and louder amplifiers, belting the heavy, abrasive sounds of bands like Grand Funk Railroad.  This moved the concerts into the big leagues, literally.  The large arenas represented heavy metals version of the Roman Coliseum.  The masses gathered to witness something spectacular take place right in front of their eyes.  This allowed heavy metal to become a large part of the mainstream music scene.  Now bands were getting recognition for the performance, not just the record.  The crowd became empowered by sheer numbers.  They became a powerful force, a mass unified by music. 

            When Grand Funk Railroad sold out Shea stadium, it marked the new echelon of heavy metal, and soon there were more heavy metal acts taking to large arenas.  Just like the Beatles in ’65, Grand Funk Railroad and heavy metal was pushing the boundaries of being a phenomenon.  In these massive crowds, people lost themselves and their inhibitions from daily modern society.  They became empowered by the energy in the atmosphere.  It is impossible to feel the energy in an arena filled with people focused on a common goal, whether it’s a political rally or a heavy metal concert.  Once you enter that concert space, that alternate dimension, everything disappears except that moment.  Work, religion, and social classes are all pushed aside to experience that moment with 100,000 other people.  It is an incredibly powerful phenomenon, and bands such as the Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin started filling arenas with thousands.  This allowed heavy metal to grow on a giant scale, as the constraints of small concert venues was removed and replaced with giant arenas.