Metal music - still in the thought stage

[marct]

I just finished a paper that looked at technology, music, and protest. Social networks and mining play lists was part of the lit review. I think they are likely related.. Some resources.

Thanks, Sam, much appreciated. I'll see if I can track them down. If you have URLs for them, 'twould be appreciated.

[Ken White]

...I've got to ask - does an M-60 keep the rhythm during the song?

so does an M 134 Minigun fired in bursts.

[marct]

so does an M 134 Minigun fired in bursts.

I can see the video now ! To bad YouTube wasn't around...

[Surferbeetle]

Hi SB,

Okay, I just listened to Bodies on YouTube - definitely not Bach ! What about it says it all?

So what do you listen to when you get back?

Marc,

Music is an interesting method of human expression. I participated in music programs in elementary, jr. high, and high school. Coming through rotc we were often inundated with country songs while eating. In central america, well away from the cities I have stumbled across disco's that make the jungle shake. As i mentioned previously iraq has an interesting fusion of (for want of better description) classical mideastern melodies and pop although I enjoyed the call to prayer as well. Commercial german music was for the longest time pretty bad, italian, and spanish on the other was quite good. In short I am all over the board when it comes to music; mozart, coldplay, country, world, and of course rock. Like most it just depends upon my mood and geographical location.

Are you working on a paper referencing music? The US music industry shift from cd to mp3/4 (I started out with transistors and 45's) has been fairly dramatic. A reflection of the Nomad lifestyle?

Urban nomads have started appearing only in the past few years. Like their antecedents in the desert, they are defined not by what they carry but by what they leave behind, knowing that the environment will provide it. Thus, Bedouins do not carry their own water, because they know where the oases are. Modern nomads carry almost no paper because they access their documents on their laptop computers, mobile phones or online. Increasingly, they don't even bring laptops. Many engineers at Google, the leading internet company and a magnet for nomads, travel with only a BlackBerry, iPhone or other “smart phone”. If ever the need arises for a large keyboard and some earnest typing, they sit down in front of the nearest available computer anywhere in the world, open its web browser and access all their documents online.

Steve

[marct]

Hi Steve,

Music is an interesting method of human expression. I participated in music programs in elementary, jr. high, and high school.

Pretty much the same for me, although I started doing semi-pro classical singing when I was 9 (hey, weddings paid much better than paper routes !).

Coming through rotc we were often inundated with country songs while eating. In central america, well away from the cities I have stumbled across disco's that make the jungle shake. As i mentioned previously iraq has an interesting fusion of (for want of better description) classical mideastern melodies and pop although I enjoyed the call to prayer as well. Commercial german music was for the longest time pretty bad, italian, and spanish on the other was quite good. In short I am all over the board when it comes to music; mozart, coldplay, country, world, and of course rock. Like most it just depends upon my mood and geographical location.

Sounds like you've definitely heard a lot . That fusion in Iraq sounds interesting - pop and classical ME? Are we talking about the quarter tone scale ME stuff? I'm definitely going to have to try and track some of that down!

Are you working on a paper referencing music? I have noted that the US music industry has shifted from cd to mpeg (I started out with transistors and 45's). A reflection of the Nomad lifestyle?

It's still in the thought / concept stage. I'm putting the last touches on a paper tying singing Bach and taking a pilgrimage to the Thomaskirche in Leipzig looking at the interplay of performance, place, emotion and ritual (I've sung there twice now and we've been invited back for next year - it's a mind blowing experience!).

The Nomad lifestyle is an interesting one and, when it's combined with pervasive networks, it can produce some really interesting forms of music. Last month, I reviewed a book called Cybersounds for RCCS that looked at a lot of the changes happening in the music scene. One of the things that I thought, but didn't toss in the review, was that there is a real difference between a live performance, a recorded performance that is used as "background mood music" and a recording that is, for want of a better term, used as "mood shifting" music (I don't like that term, but I haven't come across a better one - suggestions welcome !).

I think there's a major difference, at the neurological and emotional levels, if we "sing" (perform even if it's in the car or shower) vs. just "listening". I think I need to take a trip up to Montreal and see if I can buy Dan Levitin a couple of beers and pick his brains .

[Surferbeetle]

These folks would cover some of the music we heard in town. They do not appear to have playlists (in english anayway) at this time...

Wikipedia's entry

[selil]

Thanks, Sam, much appreciated. I'll see if I can track them down. If you have URLs for them, 'twould be appreciated.

Email enroute.

[selil]

Are you working on a paper referencing music? The US music industry shift from cd to mp3/4 (I started out with transistors and 45's) has been fairly dramatic. A reflection of the Nomad lifestyle?

Caveat, I am a TECHNOLOGIST playing at sociology.

The paper I just finished made a good case for linking the technology shifts in playback equipment, venues, and instruments to audience volumes. What people listen to and share creates a commonality of experience. There is a certain level of indoctrination that occurs when music becomes a center point to a common experience. The actual message can be important, but the context is more important. Music indicative of protest has specific themes (especially folk music), but non-protest music can be just as important to the shared experience.

[Spud]

Music is one of the absolutes for any deployment (for me anyway) music is the opportunity to create a bit of personal space. All of my trips have a soundtrack of sorts that if I hear the song now it immediately makes me think of that trip or an aspect of it. It's also interesting that the introduction of MP3 players vs tapes and CD's means that on recent trips it’s far more eclectic and personal. The opportunity to throw in some headphones and zone out vs listening as a group is getting to be more important as I get older.

Timor in '99 was Santana's Supernatural (it was the only bloody CD we had for about 3 months).
Iraq '04 was a bit of a mix ... some Aussie rock, Green Day's American Idiot, Spiderbaits Greatest Hits and Boxcar Racer's self-titled album. It remains dominated by the music on AQ propaganda clips though as I spent far too much time going over those bloody things.
Iraq '05 funnily enough is summed up in one song .. Timo Mass' First Day. It was on high rotation on the UK version of Armed Forces Radio during a job we were doing ... I even bought the album when I got back.
AFG '06 ... I must be getting old ... Sitting out in the sun on a Sunday morning with a couple of smokes, a cold can of Pepsi giving my gat a thorough going over listening to Sarah Brightman (opera). That and whatever the Shakira song is that has the film clip where she pours sump oil all over herself ... I didn't go a to a single CJSOTF brief that didn't start with that clip with the boys all singing along in Spanish.

The team at the POTF had a range of stuff they'd throw on the loudspeakers when we tasked them ... most of it was Arabic/Pasthu/Dari but when they got the ####s with it it usually reverted to AC/DC (thunderstruck and Highway to Hell were always nearby), Drowning Pool (as highlighted above) and one of the speaker monkeys seemed to always find a copy of Outkast's Bombs over Baghdad (this was usually quickly shut down by one of his SGTs who preferred C&W)

Australian Artist (if you can call him that) George Gittoes did a program that is now available on DVD that supposedly covered the soundtrack to the war in Iraq ... most of it is young US kids rapping so not really my style but may interest you.

http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/produc...oductid=730844

[Surferbeetle]

Music is one of the absolutes for any deployment (for me anyway) music is the opportunity to create a bit of personal space. ... Sitting out in the sun on a Sunday morning with a couple of smokes, a cold can of Pepsi giving my gat a thorough going over listening to...

A simple and true pleasure when one is downrange...snarfing the local 'tika day judge' with tomatoes on the side would do much for my morale as well

[Xenophon]

Before an op: Metal. The harder the better. Gets the blood flowing. Slipknot, Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Drowning Pool, etc. Personal fav: Metallica's "The Four Horseman"

After an op: country

[Rank amateur]

What I am really interested in is the almost circular feedback loop between a state of consciousness and a genre of music or specific piece.

Have you looked at national anthems? Have you looked at other forms of "battle" i.e. a pregame football locker room? Or are you focusing on where and when people use metal to create this effect?

[marct]

Hi RA,

Have you looked at national anthems? Have you looked at other forms of "battle" i.e. a pregame football locker room? Or are you focusing on where and when people use metal to create this effect?

I'm focusing on perception effects creation - metal sprang to mind from some things a few people had said, but it certainly looks like many other genres are being used. Xenophon's before an op = metal after an op = country is an example of that.

I'd rather restrict it to in theatre use, but that's not an absolute . I do want to stay away from the pre-programmed response type, which would include national anthems (BTW, have you noticed how almost all of them are un-singable?).

On a related point, I haven't found any popular music that could be called "war music", at least in the same sense as WW I and WW II. To me, that points towards a disconnect.

[Ranger94]

I remember during OIF III, before we went out on a mission, during prep of gear, for some reason, alot of guys would sing to themselves "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. The movie was coming out on DVD and alot of guys were Cash fans. I really believe that it was more the quiet, tough guy persona rather than the association of the words to the possible consequences of conducting the mission.

[Bodhi]

Before an op: Metal. The harder the better. Gets the blood flowing. Slipknot, Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Drowning Pool, etc. Personal fav: Metallica's "The Four Horseman"

After an op: country

Xenophon, absolutely on target with the before op music selections. However, my before op and after op selections were identical--country makes me break out in hives. Tough to ever beat Metallica, Black Label Society, Megadeth, Pantera, Godsmack, Disturbed, Alice in Chains, GNR, Sabbath, Ozzy, and other guitar-fueled music...but that's just one man's opinion...
Semper Fidelis,

[Steve Blair]

Metal tends to run as a constant pump-up music in both combat and sports. I use it for writing myself, which isn't quite what Marc's asking about....

I think there's mention of music in many of the books written about Gulf War II. Pretty sure it comes up on more than one occasion in Generation Kill, for one.

[marct]

Metal tends to run as a constant pump-up music in both combat and sports. I use it for writing myself, which isn't quite what Marc's asking about....

Actually, it is - sort of . There's been a lot of work done on how controlling rhythm can manipulate states of consciousness, mainly by changing heart rate and, sometimes, blood pressure. There's been much less work done on how keys and chord structures manipulate perceptions - most of it observational and/or pre/descriptive rather than something solid like MRIs.

You use Metal for writing? Hunh! I use stuff like Charpentier's Messe pour Quatre Choeurs and Handle's Dixit Domine (actually, the conquesabit section is sort of like Baroque metal now that I think about it; all that chopping off heads...).

[Steve Blair]

Actually, it is - sort of . There's been a lot of work done on how controlling rhythm can manipulate states of consciousness, mainly by changing heart rate and, sometimes, blood pressure. There's been much less work done on how keys and chord structures manipulate perceptions - most of it observational and/or pre/descriptive rather than something solid like MRIs.

You use Metal for writing? Hunh! I use stuff like Charpentier's Messe pour Quatre Choeurs and Handle's Dixit Domine (actually, the conquesabit section is sort of like Baroque metal now that I think about it; all that chopping off heads...).

Actually I will use a mix. Iron Maiden tends to get my thoughts flowing, but I also use Stan Getz, Parker, and classical on occasion. But Maiden's always a trend-starter for me. Also been known to use the Eagles from time to time... but now I'm just hijacking the thread....

[Vic Bout]

on all three trips...pre-op was loud, hard and chaotic...Disturbed, Dope, Metallica... (and me at 50, listening to angry white-boy music...shaking head and tsk-tsking). I really believe the guys liked it because they viewed it as the sound track for the movie about us...and we had all grown up believing we were stars in our own movies, hadn't we?
"They make movies about guys like us." was a favorite saying amongst the team, especially in flight, pre-assault...

And generally afterwards, when we were scribbling OPSUMs and detention packets (and shamelessly breaking GO#1) we listen to some crazy irish (Drop Kick Murpheys; Shipping Out to Boston..."and I lost my legs!") and wonder at the irony of it

[marct]

Hi Vic,

on all three trips...pre-op was loud, hard and chaotic...Disturbed, Dope, Metallica... (and me at 50, listening to angry white-boy music...shaking head and tsk-tsking). I really believe the guys liked it because they viewed it as the sound track for the movie about us...and we had all grown up believing we were stars in our own movies, hadn't we?
"They make movies about guys like us." was a favorite saying amongst the team, especially in flight, pre-assault...

Really? A movie soundtrack? Now that is interesting! Did they mention any particular movies (or video games)? I'm wondering because of what Ranger94 said about Ring of Fire and the Johnny Cash DVD...

And generally afterwards, when we were scribbling OPSUMs and detention packets (and shamelessly breaking GO#1) we listen to some crazy irish (Drop Kick Murpheys; Shipping Out to Boston..."and I lost my legs!") and wonder at the irony of it

I'm getting the feeling that irony plays a major part in a lot of this .

Marc