Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

High art or high con? Re-examining Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music . by Jonathan Garrick Gamecock Critic Lou Reed’s 1975 album Metal Machine Music has been fodder for rock critics since its initial release. Few albums have received such detailed analysis as Reed’s white-noise opus. From study by aca demic music theorist to lowbrow myths, MMMhas accumulated a large book-sized collection of criticism. Twenty-five years after its release, the controversy must still be raised: Is MMM Reed’s masterpiece of avant-garde music or is it a fraud made by a man with a malicious hatred for his record label and audience? The facts surrounding MMM are few and far between. MMM is Reed’s seventh solo album after leaving his highly influential and group the Velvet Underground. MMM also shows his record label RCA’s faith in Reed. The album was Reed’s first double LP and re ceived large amounts of promotion from RCA until its commercial and critical backlash. Other than the fact that it was recorded at Reed’s Long Island studio, the truth about the album’s recording is conjured up mostly from rumors and myths. The most obvious element to MMM is the absence of any mu sical instrument or human voice. Instead, Reed combined a multi tude of electronic sounds and organic industrial materials to create a distorted sound and frequency. What ultimately was created is a “harmonic!’ buildup of almost pure feedback that pulsates in and out of both stereo channels. In an act of either aesthetic contempt or tongue-in-cheek pretense, Reed included the following statement on the back cover of the album: “No Synthesizers. No Arp. No In struments. No Panning. No Phasing. No.” Now enters the question of why Reed decided to create this al bum. The period of 1973-75 was Reed’s highest point of populari ty. His 1973 album Transformer had placed Reed in the highest ranks of the exploding Glam movement. He had achieved commercial suc cess with the single “Walk on the Wild Side.” His androgynous look had the public in awe. It was a golden time for Reed. Howev er, when he returned to Long Island in the spring of 1975, Reed was tired and angry from his most recent world tour. This would prove to be the spark for the criticisms of MMM as an act of hatred for both his fans and the record industry. Did Reed create MMM sim ply to anger his listeners? The biggest argument that critics have towards MMM is Reed himself. In interviews, Reed hinted on manager disputes during the recording process a need to fulfill his RCA contract with two albums (hence a double album) and a growing following of teen-age boys who were drawn to his “Walk on the Wild Side” single as factors in the making of MMM. The album cover does not help MMM achieve a correct analysis as a work of the avant-garde. It shows a peroxide haired, leather-clad Reed in his signature sunglasses. This led many of Reed’s “Whlk on the Wild Side” fans to rush to buy what appeared to be another Reed Glam record. However, most critics of MMM fail to acknowledge that Reed had always held his artistic vision over the “pleasure” of the listen er. His work with the Velvet Undeiground, namely the songs “Eu ropean Son” and “Sister Ray,” blurred the line between rock and the avant-garde. The overt distortion on “Sister Ray” is a painftiJ-fek>w to the hippie-pop of 1967 and is still one of the most distorted songs ever recorded. Also, critics tend to view MMM alongside the other trends in popular music of 1975 (Bowie-inspired Glam rock, Led Zeppelin guitar rock) and fail to see the album’s importance as an artistic cre ation in tdiget to an audience of the avant-garde. In interviews. Reed constantly evoked the names of avant-garde composers La Monte Young and Lannis Xenakis as the main inspirations on MMM. It is also important to note other “controversial” albums released in 1975 Yoko Ono’s Fly and John Cage’s Variations V. Viewed with Reed’s Transformer or Led Zeppelin TV, MMM is a fraud, but compared with other works of the avant-garde produced in 1975 — MMM is a masterpiece. Twenty-five years after its release, the same question still re mains about MMM. Is it a grand statement of electronic, avant-garde composing or a fraud created in contempt for his manager, label and fans? Whatever the answer, it is certain that MMM is one of the most controversial albums ever made in rock history. With the possibility of re-release this summer looming, the controversy is on ly sure to grow. Pantera: reinventing themselves and revolutionizing metal by Jonathan Dunagin Gamecock Critic In their first studio effort since 1996, Pantera proves, as they stated on an earlier album, that “heavy metal rules.” Their March 21 release, Reinventing the Steel, is a testament to fans and others that they will remain a firm, steel rod amid the ever changing heavy music industiy, which is full of sell outs and new faces. According to Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell in a recent interview conducted by Guitar World magazine, “Wfe realized that we were one of the on ly bands that stuck to our guns, so we decided to go ahead and kill this mother three times over.” And they did. Even though Reinventing the Steel isn’t Pan tera’s best, it’s the best heavy music has heard this year, and perhaps the best heavy album recognized by mainstream music since their last release. On this album, Pantera redefine themselves. They haven’t sold out, and their sound hasn’t changed, but they’ve matured Their music has come into its own, but above all, frontman Philip Anselmo has developed into a more viable vocalist Primal screams and throat-tearing grunts abound throughout their songs, but some have been replaced with strong vocals and smart lyrics. The overall ef fect causes a different structure in Pantera’s music. But don’t worry, long-time Pantera fans. The screams are still there, just in less abundance. Pantera’s musical maturity is never more pre sent than in the album’s strongest radio-friendly song and hit single, “Revolution is My Name.” This song combines all that is good about heavy music (fast riffs, pinch harmonic squeals and palm-muted string pounding) injected with Anselmo’s new vocal styling. In the end the effect is incredible. Other stand-out tracks on the album include “Yesterday Don’t Mean Sh*t” and “Hellhound” “God**mn Electric” is especially note-worthy be cause it pays tribute to Black Sabbath and Slayer and their consistency and ability to stay tme to what they believe. It includes an amazing ending solo by Slay er guitarist Kerry King. Incredibly enough, this so lo was recorded live, in one take, in a backstage bath room following an Ozzfest performance. Darrell de scribed the solo best, following the recording when he exclaimed, “Don’t touch that! Pck, that’s hot!” Though all of these songs are outstanding tracks, my favorite song on the album is “I’ll Cast a Shad ow.” This song is old-style hard-core Pantera at their best. The beat of this song is mesmerizing and the pounding and palm-muting of the guitar is enough to cause anyone to bang Iris head in agreement. Sim ply put, this is a track that you need to check out for yourself. Overall, this is one of the best albums I’ve heard in a while, but I can’t give it four stars. The reason is because of my high expectations for the album. I mean, it’s a great album, but it’s been four years since their last studio effort, and I expected something that would shock heavy music back to life. I expected an album that would cause other 1 bands to recognize how they had gone astray from their metal roots, and that they would feel ashamed for what they had done. And although I don’t think this album will cause such a revolution, it cer tainly stands well on its own. 1 Artist: Pantera Album: Reinventing The Steel Rating: out of &&&•&