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Water down the lawn, not my music
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Monday August 20, 2001 |
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Record companies are bought and sold on a regular basis, but rarely is a company like Island/Def Jam involved in buying a major independent label like Roadrunner Records - which makes me scared, wondering how this is going to affect the music I listen to.
Is the label going to release music that still has the same face-smashing intensity of previous records? Or will the company move into a more mainstream direction with its musical vision?
Home to acts like Soulfly, Slipknot, Type O Negative and an onslaught of other heavy, in-your-face acts, Roadrunner has been at the forefront of truly hardcore metal for years. Using a vicious blend of guitars and vocals that makes your ears bleed, the company has made a success out of being loud and aggressive.
So why would the company want to merge into a large corporation? Well obviously money is the No. 1 reason, but I want to know if the money is going to sacrifice the sound of music I have grown accustomed to on this label.
The reason for Island/Def Jam's interest in the label is the success of the nine masked men that make up the group Slipknot. So far, the band has sold more than a million copies of its debut album, which is almost unheard of, considering the group is notorious for its antics on and off stage. Beating one another up is a nightly routine on stage, and with larger-than-life triple sixes onstage, you would think the group might have trouble selling records - but they don't. Each night is a new vision of entertainment set forth by this group, a circus act with a soundtrack that will leave you on the floor. That is what any fan of the group has come to expect from Slipknot and each of the other bands in the Roadrunner family.
Many "heavy metal" acts that have been hitting the music scene lately are not even worth listening to - The Union Underground and Skrape, to name a few. These new groups have been watering down what once was a genre parents were afraid of. Now it's cool for mom and dad to listen to overplayed groups like Linkin Park and Papa Roach because they get so much airplay on the radio - and dare to call it metal.
Listen to what you want - but don't dilute the raw energy I have come to know as hardcore and metal. The force once dominated by this genre is quickly going soft in the mainstream with a reintroduction of the power ballad into the mix - another scary thought.
In the end, I am feeling safe with this new merger and the direction of this new metal because of the chance I had to hear some of the music Roadrunner will be releasing this month. The new Slipknot album - which is finally coming out at the end of the month and is probably the most disgustingly loud and obnoxious album I have heard in a while - is going to redirect the way we listen to music once again.
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© Copyright 2001 - The Arizona Daily Wildcat - Arizona Student Media
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