"Uplifting" music

I know...I said the last post on heavy metal was the last post--but there's another issue that I skipped over the first time that I wanted to address.

First, a little personal history...

Take your mind back to the year 1988. The Reagen era was transitioning peacefully into the Bush (I) era. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Die Hard" wowed movie goers bringing in big box office! The new kids on the block in the pop scene were...the New Kids On The Block! And the US 'glam rock' scene was in full force. This was the heyday of Poison, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and any number of similar bands who wore makeup and sang about casual sex and drug use (anyone remember Britney Fox?) Yours truly, a junior high school student at the time, was involved with most of the above bands, in addition to the rawer and dirtier Guns N' Roses who had burst on the scene suddenly the year before with "Appetite For Destruction". (This was also three years before my baptism, if it matters...)

Then, as year came to a close, it happened...

I was watching MTV one day (this was back when MTV actually showed rock/metal videos...actually, it was back when MTV actually showed videos at all!) when a new and different video started into the rotation. The video featured four guys who didn't wear makeup, or prance around in weird-colored costumes, or anything "image" related. Neither did they sing about women or partying or loose morals or anything common to the bands I had been listening to at the time. This was a band that focused on the music--and what technically brilliant music it was!--not their 'image' and that just screamed integrity. I promptly bought their current and previous albums, abandoned the light, 'substance-free' glam stuff and never looked back...

Yes...the band was Metallica and the video was "One".

Let's start our discussion with this song--here are the lyrics if you want to look at them. There's no profanity, no obvious advocation or condonement of any violation of church standards. Yet...the song is about a World War I soldier who loses his arms, legs, and eyesight from a landmine and faces a dark, isolated existence. Doesn't sound like a happy, positive, uplifting song, does it?

And that's the key issue--many people, in their discussion of 'evil' music--say we should only listen to "happy, positive, and uplifting" music--in which case Metallica most certainly wouldn't qualify as most of their lyrics are...somewhat downbeat (to say the least). Yet, is 'uplifting' the same as 'righteous'? (In other words, is there something wrong with listening, reading, or watching things that aren't 'uplifting' and 'happy'?)

Suppose you say Metallica's "One" is not 'uplifting' and you shouldn't listen to it. Metallica didn't create "One" out of their heads, though... The subject matter of "One" is based on a 1971 movie called Johnny Got His Gun...which is based on a novel of the same name by Dalton Trumbo...which may or may not have some factual basis from World War I. The movie isn't any more 'uplifting' in its subject matter than the song--is watching the movie 'inappropriate', then? What about reading the novel? There are a lot of movies that, while clean from a strict standards standpoint, do not have 'happy endings' and wouldn't be considered 'uplifting'. Amadeus, one of my favorites, is one that isn't really uplifting--in fact, it's downright depressing, really--but could you really argue that it's not appropriate for church members to see? (I'm talking the original PG version, not the R-rated 'director's cut', of course)

"One" may not have a 'lesson' (other than 'war is hell', I guess), but other songs with potentially negative and depressing subject matter have a clear, socially-conscious lesson--often supporting LDS Church standards. Metallica has a number of songs on the horrors of drug abuse ("Master of Puppets","Harvester of Sorrow") and war ("Disposible Heroes") as do many other bands. (You might find "Master of Puppets" to be a scary song--but are you more or less likely to use cocaine after listening to it?) The incident in Tiananmen Square has inspired at least two heavy metal songs (Nevermore's "Tiananmen Man" and Testament's "Seven Days in May"), neither of which are 'happy' and 'uplifting', but isn't that the point?

Here's another example from my current favorite CD: "Skin Trade" by Grip Inc., which deals with modern-day slavery. Not a pleasant song by any means, but socially conscious and dealing with a real issue. Read the lyrics and decide for yourself whether they are 'appropriate'...

This is affected by personal taste, of course--some people just don't like watching sad movies where the main character(s) die at the end, for example--but again, does negative subject matter = 'evil'? I can't buy that... With me, I never feel depressed listening to a 'downer' song because--I don't know--I think it reminds me of the blessings in my life and how happy I am compared to other people. (Really 'upbeat' songs, in fact, have the opposite effect, because I think "Wow, this person sounds a lot more joyous about life than I am. I don't feel that happy...") I don't buy the idea that every choice we make in entertainment has to be 'happy' and 'uplifting' because, you know, life isn't very 'uplifting' at times and completely ignoring the negative in life is sort of like sticking your head in the sand and hoping things turn out okay later...