Metal has always been misunderstood, sometimes by its own
proponents. Chuck Klosterman, who has
dubiously been anointed as some kind of expert on Metal, doesn’t see the value
of guitar solos. Yet appreciation of
instrumental virtuosity has always been one of the primary elements of the
metal scene. People who think that the
defining characteristic of Metal is the celebration of gore and perversion are
dead wrong. Metal has a great deal in
common with Jazz. Maybe that’s why
Springsteen-loving critics of the Rock-will-save-the-world school can’t stand
it. As John Lennon once said of Jazz:
“I’ve been trying to avoid it all my life.”
…
