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defrogI hinted at this in this post, but when it comes to rockinrolls horror films, one of the classics that sticks in my mind is Shock Em Dead.
Which has Traci Lords in it. As you can see.
The premise is as basic as it gets: loser-guy sells his soul for rock’n’roll and becomes the best heavy-metal guitar player in the world, but has to kill people to maintain his talent.
It’s godawaful low-budget fun, but in some ways it also embodies the absolute worst tropes of heavy metal – namely, the notion that it's not metal unless yr playing solos at ludicrous speeds.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big metal fan, and I appreciate the talent it takes to play well, let alone fast. But I’ve never equated speed and virtuosity with musical quality. To me it’s more about showing off for the sake of it.
Like say, playing two solos AT THE SAME GODDAMN TIME.
Like so.
That’s not a fake scene. Michael Angelo Batio – who served as the guitar stunt double for all the guitar-solo scenes – actually does this in concert all the time.
Like so.
I’m not saying showmanship has no place on a rock-concert stage. I’m just not a big fan of musicians who mistake stage flash for substance. When it becomes less about the music and more about showing people how good you are at playing it, I am not impressed.
Look: Frank Zappa can play every bit as fast, but he doesn’t distract you from the actual music he’s playing. Conversely, Dave Gilmour takes his sweet time with a guitar solo, gives it space to breathe, and the results are brilliant. He’s living proof you don’t need to go all squiddly dabbly doo / widdly widdly wee all over a song to blow people away.
It’s all a matter of taste, obviously. And I’m probably biased because I used to get earfuls of pompous lectures from metalhead roommates about how metal is like classical baroque music only, you know, kick-ass. (My response would usually be to play my Black Flag records at full blast at 2am – “Now THAT is kick-ass, you poodle-haired fuckers!”)
And, as I say, I actually liked metal as a music genre. But I hated the pomposity of virtuosity that came with the package sometimes.
Anyway.
Shock Em Dead – I’m sure it’s available on Netflix or something. If not, that’s a damn shame, Jim.
EXTRA CREDIT: For more low-budget heavy-metal horror B-movies (and there are a surprising number of them), Horror News has a nice list.
And yes, Jon Mikl Thor is on it.
If it ain’t baroque don’t fix it,
This is dF
Which has Traci Lords in it. As you can see.
The premise is as basic as it gets: loser-guy sells his soul for rock’n’roll and becomes the best heavy-metal guitar player in the world, but has to kill people to maintain his talent.
It’s godawaful low-budget fun, but in some ways it also embodies the absolute worst tropes of heavy metal – namely, the notion that it's not metal unless yr playing solos at ludicrous speeds.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big metal fan, and I appreciate the talent it takes to play well, let alone fast. But I’ve never equated speed and virtuosity with musical quality. To me it’s more about showing off for the sake of it.
Like say, playing two solos AT THE SAME GODDAMN TIME.
Like so.
That’s not a fake scene. Michael Angelo Batio – who served as the guitar stunt double for all the guitar-solo scenes – actually does this in concert all the time.
Like so.
I’m not saying showmanship has no place on a rock-concert stage. I’m just not a big fan of musicians who mistake stage flash for substance. When it becomes less about the music and more about showing people how good you are at playing it, I am not impressed.
Look: Frank Zappa can play every bit as fast, but he doesn’t distract you from the actual music he’s playing. Conversely, Dave Gilmour takes his sweet time with a guitar solo, gives it space to breathe, and the results are brilliant. He’s living proof you don’t need to go all squiddly dabbly doo / widdly widdly wee all over a song to blow people away.
It’s all a matter of taste, obviously. And I’m probably biased because I used to get earfuls of pompous lectures from metalhead roommates about how metal is like classical baroque music only, you know, kick-ass. (My response would usually be to play my Black Flag records at full blast at 2am – “Now THAT is kick-ass, you poodle-haired fuckers!”)
And, as I say, I actually liked metal as a music genre. But I hated the pomposity of virtuosity that came with the package sometimes.
Anyway.
Shock Em Dead – I’m sure it’s available on Netflix or something. If not, that’s a damn shame, Jim.
EXTRA CREDIT: For more low-budget heavy-metal horror B-movies (and there are a surprising number of them), Horror News has a nice list.
And yes, Jon Mikl Thor is on it.
If it ain’t baroque don’t fix it,
This is dF
